Dubman asks a good question: what of Route 49? If it is shifted to 12th Avenue, how is the new overhead funded?

Note that Broadway was already put on a diet; before its three-lane profile, it had a four-lane profile.

how about keeping 12th Avenue free of transit and making it a good through arterial for cycling between South Jackson Street and East Aloha Street?

how about extending Route 60 to GHC main campus via John Street?

of course the best solution for the First Hill streetcar is to cash it in and use the funds to improve the electric trolleybus network.

We need to make sure that if a proposal like this becomes reality that it is done right. I am still not convinced that the design above can work. In fact, I believe that this design would be more dangerous than a simple bike lane or shared lane.

http://www.portlandonline.com/TRANSPORTATION/index.cfm?a=228050&c=45195

Also I asked Ethan about this but the city will never go above the 52ft cross section, they are essentially tied to that cross section. 52 ft is the current cross section and *any* increase of that would mean sewer/curb/sidewalk reconstruction along at least one side of the street. That is simply too expensive.

I looked for the presentation but I can’t find it. It was about cycle track width and I think it said that the cycle track should be at least 5 ft with a 2 ft buffer or 7 ft with no buffer. Either way it needs to be at least 7 ft.

This is a good presentation on this topic.
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=34816&a=267721

Am I missing something?

Andrew

Daily cyclist. Leg broken by car in 1980. Nothing since then.

i agree about trying to get the cycle track split on both sides of the street, i think its been suggested but based on the section cut above…
13′ sidewalk – 5′ cycle track – 2′ buffer – 8′ parking lane – 12′ travel/streetcar lane – 12′ travel/streetcar lane – 8′ parking lane – 2′ buffer – 5′ cycle track – 13′ sidewalk
thats 80′ property line to property line

it shaves a foot off the already generous sidewalks on each side of the street to gain 2′ buffer, then you move a 5′ cycle track direction to the other side of the street. everything else stays the same.

Interestingly, when looking at the three alternative cross-sections, parking is either eliminated in the 4-lane option, one side for the 3-lane option, and on both sides in the cycle track option. If SDOT is set on creating a cycle track alternative, why can’t it be done with parking on one side as the 3-lane option and an overall better design in regards to safety?

http://www.streetfilms.org/the-capitols-colossal-contraflow-cycle-track/#more-28801

It seems to work best for one way streets.

As a regular commuter, I find that cars approaching don’t see bicyclists on the wrong side of the road well. With the alignment as shown above it could work out. As a car turning right would see on coming bicyclist (but likely not yield to them.) Cars turning left after looking out for the trolleys will likely zoom through the two cycle lanes and not see anyone, especially bicyclists going straight.

Trolley route 70 and the South Lake Union Streetcar coexist along Fairview by the Hutch.

The number one consideration is that cyclist be visible. Number two might be that cyclists have a clear view of traffic and therefore potential hazards. The bidirectional on one side seems to fail on this measure. A center/median route seems to me to give cyclist the maximum visibility with respect to drivers seeing them. It works pretty well for cyclists seeing and reacting to traffic.

From there, it could turn around, or continue on to the International District, or to Beacon Hill, or even to Mount Baker via Rainier, which would connect to East Link en route. All the way to Mount Baker would only require a mile and a half of new trolley wire, on 12th.

However, I do wonder: can a future Route 49 co-exist as a trolley line with a streetcar on the north end of Broadway?

I’ve been told that center bike lanes only work when there is a median divide (like the route over to Greenlake from Ravenna. If the Streetcar reduces (or at least slows) traffic on Broadway would the center “median” used for streetcar stops, landscape and left turn lanes at designated intersections make Ravenna style bike lane configuration feasible.

I know one issue is the overall width of the street. I’m bias as a cyclist but my thought is to take a couple of feet out of the 14′ of sidewalk on each side. I mean, if a tram, bus and delivery truck can make do with 12′ (which is actually very generous.. that’s freeway lane spacing for 60 mph operation) then can’t pedestrians make do with 12′ as well? I’d also suggest that a 4′ wide bike lane with a 2′ wide curb separating you from traffic ought to be more than adequate. By narrowing each cycle path from 5′ to 4′ you get back enough to have the 2′ buffer on each side. In fact, if a cyclist can’t navigate down a 4′ lane then I’m not sure I want them coming toward me even on a 5′ wide path with no barrier between us :=