Pedal-Driven: I-5 Colonnade from Howell at the Moon Productions on Vimeo.

Here’s yet another super-long news roundup. Lots of good stuff. What do you all say? Do you like the longer ones, or do you want me to be more picky? Do you want them more often, or is it already too much? Let me know in the comments.

• The Bicycle Alliance wants Washington fifth graders to make posters about how bikes are awesome. Winner gets a bike and other fun stuff.
• Wow. Some Maple Leaf residents are fighting a proposed street mural featuring cute puppies. One commenter who supposedly lives near the bug street mural in Wallingford complained of “an increase in children and adults walking, biking and playing in the middle of the intersection.” Um… Some people will fight anything, I guess.
• Anne-Marije takes a ride with Chris Ragsdale, a Ballard resident and ultra long distance cycling champion and record-holder.
• Dylan from Beacon BIKES goes to get pizza (and shows you a good route to get there).
• Crunch Gear talks to Capitol Hill’s Clean Republic, makers of e-bike wheels that I wrote about here.
• The alleged “world’s oldest cyclist” is still riding at 103. He was born the year Model-Ts started rolling off assembly lines. Never liked the things.
• One year study confirms that the $2.5 million noise reducers on I-5 in Eastlake have basically done nothing. For those keeping track, $2.5 million is half the controversial increase in Walk Bike Ride funds the mayor proposed last year. That’s not to say I am anti-noise reduction, but it puts the cost of highway mitigation in perspective.
• In what may be the most heartbreaking story I have read since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, a man in Minamisanriku, Japan, put his family in the car and told them to flee from the incoming tsunami. He was going to finish shutting up the house, then get out on his bicycle. He rode to safety and watched the waves come in and destroy the town. Half the town’s 20,000 residents died are missing. His family never met him at their meeting place. They got stuck in traffic.
• Chicago Mag and Josh at The Bicycle Story attempt to understand why driver’s “hate” cyclists. Car Free Family asks, Do they really hate us?
• After all, people in the midst of road rage are prone to irrationally attack anyone, not just the two-wheeled. Like this guy in Ballard who stabbed someone from another car in early February.
• However, sometimes drivers do attack cyclists. And it is their rotten luck if the person they try to run over happens to be a cop.
• Maybe all drivers just need to ride up a few escalators before getting behind the wheel.
• Bring on more cargo bike business. Vancouver’s on it, with their cargo bikes pulling as much as 600 lbs. The future of urban freight.
• Check out this yoga mat made from recycled bike tubes.
• Hempfest and the city settle their dispute.
• Witnesses help Bellevue police track down a driver who killed a pedestrian and fled.
• Social sharrows are adorable. I think the MUTCD recommends them for “streets with a lot to talk about”…
• Study shows that trolly buses are the cheapest and most environmentally friendly option for replacing Metro’s aging trolly fleet. Duh. Anyone who has ever ridden uphill behind a diesel bus could tell you that.

Wow, this roundup is long. Intermission time. If you’ve got a problem with that, watch this:
 

• Okay, tunnel time. The City Design Commission rejects the planned deep bore tunnel’s south portal. One problem: New overpasses would block views of the waterfront. Wait, I thought freeing up the waterfront was the whole point of this thing.
• NPR does a piece on highway removal.
• Here’s Seattle’s history of fighting highways. Some successes, some failures, but proof that we can do it.
• Seattle Transit Blog explains how the surface option works.
• Seattle’s potholes suck, but at least we don’t have to deal with beetle-slicks.
• A u-lock that is also a wrench. Beautiful.
• I want a wallet like this, but with the Seattle Bike Map.
• Seville went from zero percent bike share to seven in just five years. Incredible. Also, here’s an awesome promo video of Velo-City, which they hosted this year: