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  • Which ballot dropbox is the most bike-friendly? + It’s not too late to register or get a replacement ballot

    Selfie of the author wearing a bike helmet about to put a ballot into a drop box with gas works park in the background.
    I dropped my ballot here Saturday evening and received a text Monday morning saying it has been counted. This is how voting should work in every state. Track your ballot’s status and sign up for alerts via the King County Elections website.

    I biked my ballot to the drop box near Gas Works Park the other day, which got me wondering: Is this the most bike-friendly ballot drop box in Seattle? It’s across the street from the Burke-Gilman Trail, so that’s got to be hard to beat. I threw together this map overlaying ballot drop box locations on the Seattle bike facilities map, and there are a lot of bike-friendly drop boxes around town. This close to election day, it is best to take your ballot to a drop box rather than use the mail just in case it doesn’t get postmarked by election day or get lost en route.

    Map of Seattle with bike facilities and drop box locations marked.
    Use the King County Elections website for an interactive map of all county drop box locations and addresses. Other county drop box maps: Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish.

    Speaking of voting, if you are already registered in King County but lost yours or never received it because you forgot to change your address, there is still time to print out a replacement ballot online. If you have not yet registered, you missed the deadline to do so online. But you can still register in person up to and including election day by going to the King County Elections Office in Renton (919 SW Grady Way, Suite 100, Renton, WA 98057). Election info for other nearby counties: Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish.

    Both Lime and Bird are offering a pair of free rides through election day to encourage people to vote. Use code VOTE2024 in the Lime app or code RockTheVote2024 in the Bird app.

    There are still volunteer opportunities to help pass Seattle’s Proposition 1, the Seattle Transportation Levy. The No on I-2117 campaign is also hosting a big get out the vote phone banking day tomorrow. You can join from anywhere. The polls have looked decent, but we also have no idea how accurate they are this year. It seems like polls get shakier and shakier each election cycle as fewer people answer unknown numbers. We have to assume these two measures that are vital to biking and walking safety in our region will come down to the wire and that we will need every last vote we can get.

    By 8 p.m. Tuesday, no home should contain both a bicycle and a ballot. Let’s win this thing.

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  • Saturday: I’m speaking at the Center for Bicycle Repair’s 6th Year Anniversary Party

    Illustration of the Center for Bicycle Repair storefront with a colorful tree in front. Text: Saturday November 2nd at 1 pm. Sixth Year Anniversary! Special Guest: Tom Fucoloro.
    Poster design by @kiocell.

    Join me at the Center for Bicycle Repair‘s 6th Anniversary party 1 p.m. Saturday (November 2) at their shop on Jackson Street between 10th and 12th Avenues.

    I’ll be giving a presentation about some of my book research followed by a conversation and Q&A with Center founder Cory Potts. I’ll also be happy to talk and sign books afterwards. There will be snacks and drinks. More details from the Center for Bicycle Repair:

    The Center for Bicycle Repair and Restoration became a business on Halloween, back in 2018. Since then, the shop moved from a condemned store front space below an Odd Fellows lodge in Kent to a former florist and jewelers in Seattle’s Little Saigon Neighborhood.

    On November 2nd, at 1pm, we’re celebrating our anniversary with a talk and reading in the shop by Seattle Bike Blog’s Tom Fucoloro, who will be speaking about his book, Biking Uphill in the Rain. Everyone is invited: we will have treats and Seattle Bike Blog swag for you.

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  • SNGreenways storymap shows how the 2015 transportation levy ‘made Seattle a safer place for walking, biking and rolling’

    Screenshot of the storymap showing a map of seattle with 9 projects marked. The first is about the downtown Seattle bike network.
    Check out the full feature.

    The 2015 Move Seattle Levy added nearly 100 miles to Seattle’s bike network, repaired or replaced 44 public staircases, built 1,600 new accessible curb ramps, made 293 transit improvements, repaired 220 blocks of sidewalk and built 350 new blocks of sidewalk. This is in addition to all the other road and bridge maintenance work.

    It’s easy to forget how much Seattle has accomplished since voting in 2015 to nearly triple its transportation levy. Now that voters are in the process of deciding whether to increase the levy by yet another 88% annually by voting YES on Seattle’s Proposition 1, it is worth revisiting what the expiring levy has accomplished.

    Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, which has endorsed Prop 1 and has been working to get out the vote, created a StoryMap highlighting just a few of the projects that only exist because voters in 2015 approved the levy. Some of my favorite projects that they didn’t list include the Duwamish Trail connection just south of the West Seattle Bridge, the SW Admiral Way bike lanes (do you all remember how scary that climb used to be?), and the Rainier Valley Neighborhood Greenway (though it’s not an effective alternative to Rainier Ave bike lanes, it is a great project on its own). A few more major levy-funded additions are still pending construction, including the Georgetown to Downtown bike route, the Alaskan Way bikeway completing the Elliott Bay Trail, and the in-construction project on 11st/12th Ave NE that will connect to the Eastlake bike lanes as part of the under-construction RapidRide J project.

    I, for one, am excited to see what SDOT can accomplish with 86% more annual funding for Vision Zero, 105% more funding for sidewalks, curb ramps and crosswalks, and 108% more funding for bicycle safety. Vote YES on Proposition 1! If you want to help further, sign up for a volunteer effort to get out the vote.

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  • Seattle Cranksgiving 2024 is November 23

    Event poster for Seattle's 15th Annual Cranksgiving with stylized angled lines in fall colors with a person dressed as a chicken next to a bicycle.
    Download the PDF version of the poster to print one out and help spread the word. Design by Anita Elder.

    The 15th Annual Seattle Cranksgiving is November 23. Last year’s Cranksgiving was a record-breaker, with 168 riders hauling 3,699 pounds of donations. Can we do even better in 2024?

    Seattle Bike Blog is once again partnering with Cascade Bicycle Club’s Pedaling Relief Project to host the annual food drive bike ride to benefit Rainier Valley Food Bank, University District Food Bank and The Market food bank at Byrd Barr Place. Central Cinema will host the after party.

    Invite your friends and join us for a day of smiles, silly challenges and serious love for your community. It is free to enter, and there is no pre-registration. Just show up at the start with a bike, a bike lock, a pen, a way to carry groceries and some cash to buy them. You can ride solo or as a team of up to four people. We ask people to spend a minimum of $20 on purchases for donation, but most riders end up spending more. You are basically going grocery shopping but for your community.

    At the start line, we will give you a list of items the food banks have requested as well as a list of places to buy those items. You get a point for each place you shop and each item type you purchase (no points for duplicate items, though the food banks will appreciate them). You can also score bonus points for completing some extra challenges. Much like an alleycat race or scavenger hunt there is no set route, so it will be up to you and your team to use your bike navigation skills.

    Meet up starting 9 a.m. in front of Byrd Barr Place (722 18th Ave, between Columbia and Cherry Streets) to check in. The ride starts promptly at 10 a.m. Must finish back at Byrd Barr Place no later than 2 p.m. After party at nearby Central Cinema goes from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.

    Teams will start by heading to either University District Food Bank or Bike Works, which is hosting a drop off point for Rainier Valley Food Bank, hitting shopping points along the way. There, they will get a second list with items and shops to hit on the way back to the start line. Total riding will be somewhere in the 12–15 mile range depending on your route choices. We will also have a shorter round-trip option (3–5 miles) if that seems more your speed. There will be prizes for the top point earners as well as a prize raffle (must be present to claim).

    We ride rain or shine.

    In order to make sure it all runs smoothly, we need volunteers! Check out Cascade’s Cranksgiving volunteer sign-up page. If you would like to donate a prize or have any other inquiries, email me at [email protected] and/or Landon Welsh at landonw (at) cascade.org.

    Cranksgiving began 1999 on the east coast as a bike messenger event in New York City. The idea has since spread across the nation. I started Seattle’s Cranksgiving in 2010, and I’ve been organizing it through Seattle Bike Blog every year since. The event quickly became one of Rainier Valley Food Bank’s largest food drives, with riders restocking their shelves during their busiest week of the year. After two very scaled back versions in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and the loss of our usual start and end venue, the event was at risk of falling apart. That’s when Cascade’s Pedaling Relief Project and Central Cinema partnered with Seattle Bike Blog to revamp the event in 2022, building it into the fun multi-stop version it is today. This is my favorite version of Seattle’s Cranksgiving, and I hope you all enjoy it.

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  • SDOT set to start Aurora-Licton Springs healthy streets upgrades on N 100th St, Fremont Ave N

    Map of the full Aurora-Licton Springs healthy streets project. The segments soon to be completed are on N 100th Street from 1st Ave NW to Linden Ave N and Fremont Ave N from N 87th Street to the Interurban Trail at N 110th Street.
    Work on segments with orange outlines will begin soon while segments with yellow outlines are scheduled for 2025. Map from SDOT.

    SDOT is starting work on a series of new and upgraded healthy streets in the Aurora-Licton Springs area that will connect to the existing 1st Avenue NW healthy street and upgrade the regional Interurban North bike route on Fremont Avenue N. Planned upgrades to connect the route to the John Lewis Memorial walk/bike bridge to Northgate Station and along Ashworth Avenue N near Licton Springs Park are scheduled for 2025.

    The biggest improvements will likely be new “modal filters” at key locations that are designed to allow people bike through but create physical barriers to prevent turning or cut-through car traffic. Neither upgrade changes existing rules, but they will hopefully improve compliance and better separate the biking and driving spaces. SDOT crews will also update the signage to make the new no right turns rule more clear. These filters are simple little curbs that could make a big difference because these healthy streets only work if traffic is very low. Only people accessing a home or destination on these streets should be driving there. They should never be useful for avoiding traffic on a nearby arterial. SDOT is installing these new filters at N 100th Street/Greenwood Avenue N and N 105th Street/Fremont Avenue N. Unfortunately, the project stops short of reaching 85th/Fremont, which could use a similar upgrade.

    Top-down diagram of the new modal filter design at 100th and Greenwood. A new curb a few feet wide creates space for a bike lane but no general purpose lane for turning from Greenwood onto 100th.
    Top-down diagram of the new modal filter design at 105th and Fremont Avenue. A new curb a few feet wide creates space for a bike lane but no general purpose lane for turning from 105th onto Fremont.

    More details on the upcoming work from SDOT:

    (more…)
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  • Alert 10/25-27: Spokane Street swing bridge to West Seattle closed

    A group of workers guide a large metal cylinder with a ring on the end using heavy equipment inside a confined space.
    Workers move a turn cylinder inside the Spokane Street Bridge. Photo from SDOT.

    The Spokane Street swing bridge (AKA the lower West Seattle Bridge) is closed to biking, walking and driving until 10 p.m. Sunday (October 27). There is no official bicycle detour.

    The only bike route alternative without the Spokane Street Bridge is to ride many miles out of the way through busy industrial streets to the 1st Ave S Bridge in Georgetown. SDOT did not bring back the amazing temporary bike lanes on 1st Ave S from January 2023. The good news is that once you reach the bridge from the east, it’s smooth sailing along the west side of the Duwamish River thanks to the Duwamish Trail connections SDOT completed in 2023 on W Marginal Way.

    SDOT is breaking ground on the Georgetown to Downtown bike route today (groundbreaking celebration is 3 p.m. October 30 near Airport Way S and S Vale St), but that’s not going to help anyone this weekend.

    The closure is needed so SDOT can reinstall a broken turn cylinder, which as the name implies is critical to the bridge’s movement. When the bridge has broken unexpectedly in the past, it has often been due to these turn cylinders. Though this bridge is not very old in bridge terms (it opened in 1991), SDOT has had to do a ton of rehab work in recent years. They had to strengthen it to fix cracks, revamp the control system and communication wiring, make seismic upgrades, and engage in a never-ending effort to fix these turn cylinders. And they are not finished yet. There will be more closures in 2025.

    You know, I’m beginning to think this whole swing bridge design was a bad idea. We’ve got bascule bridges more than 100 years old that seem much more reliable and easy to maintain. I know the span lengths are shorter, but I dunno, bridge engineers of 1991, maybe you’re thinking about this a little too hard.

    Editor’s Note: I apologize for being slow to post this alert. SDOT noted the closure in a blog post last Friday, and I totally missed it. That’s on me. I apologize if any readers got surprised by the closure this morning.

    More details from SDOT:

    (more…)
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