Author Archives: Tom Fucoloro

‘Safe streets’ must include safety from racist police

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

Right now, Seattle’s Police Department and Mayor Jenny Durkan are trying to get out of a Federal consent decree in place since 2012 following a pattern of police violence. The current Seattle Police contract is not in compliance with the … Continue reading →

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With the upper West Seattle Bridge closed, bike trips across the low bridge are higher than non-outbreak years

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

As we already saw in our previous post, the covid-19 pandemic has totally scrambled the typical ridership data collected by Seattle’s 24/7 bike counters. On the Fremont Bridge, for example, total ridership is down about 20% compared to the 2013-19 … Continue reading →

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Alert: Lower Spokane Street Bridge will close overnight May 29-31

Posted on May 27, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

The lower Spokane Street Bridge to West Seattle, a vital lifeline for the neighborhood since the upper West Seattle Bridge closed, will itself close for evening-to-overnight work Friday, Saturday and maybe Sunday. That means anyone biking will need to detour … Continue reading →

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Got more bikes than you really need? Bike Match Seattle will connect you with someone who needs it

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

It’s a surprisingly simple idea. Find people who need bikes, find people who have bikes they don’t need, and then introduce them to each other. That’s basically how Bike Match Seattle works, a project started by Maggie Harger as a … Continue reading →

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Bike counters show weekend and trail rides are up as much as 70% since the outbreak began

Posted on May 22, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

The number of bike trips across the Fremont Bridge in February was 47% higher than the February average from 2013-19, continuing a trend of strong year-over-year bike trip growth in recent years. But then March happened, and employers shut down … Continue reading →

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Trail Alert: Burke-Gilman Trail will be detoured near Ballard Fred Meyer

Posted on May 20, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

The Ship Canal Water Quality project, the $500+ million effort by Seattle Public Utilities and the King County Wastewater Treatment Division to prevent sewage from spilling into Puget Sound during heavy rains, will close the section of the Burke-Gilman Trail … Continue reading →

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The future 15th Ave NE bike lanes won’t actually reach Lake City Way, docs show

Posted on May 19, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

Designs for the 15th Ave NE paving project are compete, and they include bike lanes from (almost) Lake City Way to NE 55th Street, most of which are protected bike lanes. There’s a lot to like about the project, which … Continue reading →

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Some more details on the MLK Way S bike lane options + How to choose between one-way and two-way bike lanes

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

I already wrote about the MLK Jr Way S bike lane concepts, but SDOT gave a few more details about the project during the May Bicycle Advisory Board meeting (PDF) that are worth sharing. First, some background. SDOT is conducting … Continue reading →

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Cascade staffers are organizing bike deliveries for food banks + How you can help

Posted on May 15, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

Cascade Bicycle Club staffers have been organizing to help make deliveries for the U District Food Bank, helping to distribute food to community members. “There are individuals who are immunocompromised or just can’t get out to food bank,” said Cascade … Continue reading →

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Redmond is building a 520 Trail tunnel under NE 40th St, route detoured until 2021

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

Redmond is constructing an underpass for the 520 Trail at NE 40th Street, so the trail route will be detoured through May 2021. The closure started this week. Users are directed to side streets near the Microsoft and Nintendo campuses … Continue reading →

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Bellevue has launched its own car-light ‘Healthy Streets’ program

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

Seattle has been making headlines nationally for announcing that the city would make its Stay Healthy Streets program permanent, so you may have missed that Bellevue has started its own people-first street program it’s calling simply “Healthy Streets.” The Eastside … Continue reading →

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Car driving is down 91% from pre-outbreak levels on the city’s new Stay Healthy Streets

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

It made national news last week when Seattle announced that the Stay Healthy Streets (“SHS”) program would be transitioning from an emergency program to a permanent program. For example, a CNN headline read: “Seattle to permanently close 20 miles of … Continue reading →

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Smith resigns as Cascade/WA Bikes Executive Director

Posted on May 11, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

Richard Smith has resigned after nearly three years as Executive Director of Cascade Bicycle Club and Washington Bikes. The news comes as the sister organizations are operating with half their usual staff and cancelled nearly all their major events this … Continue reading →

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Looking to buy a bike? Cascade created a map showing which shops are open and what precautions they are taking

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

It’s time to buy a bike. Especially with the news today that JUMP’s red bike share bikes are no longer online, owning a reliable bicycle has never been more useful or important in Seattle. With transit likely to be an … Continue reading →

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Seattle has no bike share now, Lime says it will relaunch bikes at some point

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

For the first time since July 2017, no bike share bikes are available in Seattle. As a consequence of the major investment deal yesterday between Uber and Lime, JUMP and its red bikes now belong to Lime. Though users could … Continue reading →

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Lime takes over JUMP as part of big Uber investment deal

Posted on May 7, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

Seattle’s final operational bike share service just changed hands in yet another major shakeup in the private bike share saga. Uber led a $170 million investment in a majorly devalued Lime, and Lime will take on Uber’s JUMP bike and … Continue reading →

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King County will reopen trails Friday

Posted on May 7, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

King County Parks will reopen regional trails and many parks tomorrow (Friday), the department’s first significant openings since closing all parks in late March. The county’s network of regional trails had been closed to recreation, though essential workers and people … Continue reading →

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City develops emergency plan in case the West Seattle Bridge falls

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

The city of course hopes it never comes to this, but they are planning for a worst case scenario in which the bridge becomes so unstable it could collapse. After studying the extensive cracking on the West Seattle High Bridge … Continue reading →

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Crowdsourced map highlights 130 miles of potential Stay Healthy Streets

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways has been collecting people’s ideas for street improvements the city could make to help more people get outside and get around safely during the outbreak. They received 250 ideas, which they condensed into a map of 130 … Continue reading →

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Some trails, closed amid statewide parks shutdown, will reopen for day use Tuesday

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Tom Fucoloro

Washington State is preparing to ease a few restrictions for the first time since the outbreak began, and reopening day use of many parks and trails are at the top of the list. Starting tomorrow (Tuesday), major statewide trails like … Continue reading →

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