Take the city’s ‘visioning’ survey about the future of Lake Washington Blvd.

The Seattle Parks District has budgeted $404,000 to develop a new design for the Bicycle Sundays section of Lake Washington Boulevard, and they need your input on what is important.

Take the city’s “Visioning Process Survey” now to let them know. This is a whole new survey, so fill it out even if you already completed the 2021 survey last year. It is relatively short and easy.

The survey notes that “since January 2015, there have been about 100 reported collisions between people driving and people biking along Lake Washington Boulevard.” That alone should be reason for city leaders to move quickly through this process so that it can be made safer as soon as possible to prevent further serious collisions.

“Sharing the road” is not a viable solution to Lake Washington Boulevard unless vehicle access is dramatically reduced to essentially only serve driveway access (much how Bicycle Sunday has operated since 1968). Otherwise, separated and protected space on the roadway is the only viable solution. And we need a 24/7/365 solution, not just an expansion of Bicycle Sundays to cover more days.

We already know how this can work because we’ve been holding Bicycle Sunday events for more than half of the roadway’s entire existence. There are plenty of solutions that preserve car access to every driveway and parking lot while also making it safe for people outside of cars.

Here are Seattle Neighborhood Greenways’ suggested survey answers:

The survey can be a bit confusing. We recommend supporting the following solutions in question 6:

1. “Provide dedicated space along the boulevard to separate people driving and people that ride bikes”
2. “Increase the number of days, weekends, or seasons the road is temporarily closed to cars and open to people that ride bikes, walk, and use mobility aid”
3. “Add traffic calming devices such as speed humps”

We recommend supporting the following solutions in question 8:

1. “Provide more sidewalks and wider walking paths”
2. “Improve pedestrian crossings with marked crosswalks, tactile push buttons, and raised crosswalks at key pedestrian crossings”
3. “Stop signs, flashing lights, and other devices to stop traffic and allow people walking and using mobility aid to cross the street”

For question 11 we recommend encouraging the city to use half of the street for a trail and the other half for an access lane, and to improve access to Lake Washington Boulevard from nearby bus stops.