Waiting for the lower bridge. Photo from the WSBC facebook page.
Do you live, work or play in West Seattle? Do you ever feel like West Seattle is behind the rest of the city in safe, continuous bike routes? You’re not alone.
West Seattle Bike Connections formed recently with the primary goal of making sure West Seattle needs are included in the Bike Master Plan update, which is currently underway.
The group’s first outreach event is Thursday morning, when folks will be hanging out on the west end of the lower bridge meeting commuters:
Thursday, October 25 from 6:45 – 9:45 am, rain or shine
West Seattle Bike Connections will be meeting, greeting and treating bike commuters at the West Seattle lower bridge where the Alki, Duwamish, and West Seattle Bridge Trails converge.
Homemade cookies, Halloween treats, and information about how to get involved in our mission to provide advocacy and assistance for those traveling by bicycle to, from, and around West Seattle
The group was formed by a dozen West Seattle residents, including two recent graduates of Cascade Bicycle Club’s free Advocacy Leadership Institute. From Cascade’s blog:
“West Seattle needs alternatives to the clogged bridge, the closing Viaduct, and the tolled tunnel with no exits downtown,” [ALI graduate Don] Brubeck stated, expressing a need for more safe bicycle routes that cater to people of all abilities.
With a mission statement to “provide advocacy and assistance for those traveling by bicycle to, from, and around West Seattle”, WSBC hopes to engage its community members who are interested in bicycling to advocate for improvements in bicycling infrastructure, and provide a cohesive input to decisions that could affect bicycling in the West Seattle area.
Want to get involved online now? The group recently asked people to list their top West Seattle spots where bike infrastructure improvements are needed.
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If Seattle wants to dramatically increase the number of people commuting by bicycling making a major improvement in access from West Seattle could provide that growth. I don’t feel it’s that West Seattle is “behind” the rest of the city in safe cycling infrastructure. I feel we have not been given an adequate piece of the funding pie when it comes to those improvement dollars.
I commented to the Puget Sound regional council on the list of projects around the city for the 2013 draft regional transportation improvements and asked why there was so little set aside for West Seattle for bicycle/ped related improvements. The answer I got was that the new spiffy rapid ride bus stops with those amazing curb bulbs was what we got this year. Who makes these choices?
@Seattle Bike Blog: THANK YOU for the notice on West Seattle Bike Connections.
@Raincity: We’d love to have your desired list of projects for West Seattle to get them included in the Seattle Bike Master Plan Update, and later on, to lobby City Council to fund them. If you list them on in the discussion on our Facebook page or in our West Seattle Blog Forum, we’ll include them in the tally. You can give us and West Seattle credibility with SDOT and Council if you “like” us on Facebook, or post to WSBlog, or stop by on Thursday morning at the bridge, and sign our banner!
Elevator up Avalon please
Treebeard, that’ll be right in there along with my wife’s request for a moving sidewalk up Admiral Way, if you post it on our Facebook page or the West Seattle Blog forum. Might be a funding challenge, but hey, Portland has a gondola in place.
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