We’ve already mentioned this in an earlier news roundup, but it’s a slow news day:
The city of Seattle has put together a brief online poll to measure the community’s interest in expanding pedestrian, bicycle, and transit access across the city. Some of our readers may want to give their thoughts so the Mayor can argue he has a mandate for his various green transportation initiatives.
I’ve been fighting the good fight for bikeways here in Kent for 3 years now.
My summary conclusions are:
1) There are too many cars crammed into too little space.
2) The Puget Sound is too dense and has too many people for the geography.
3) They never built enough highways so streets are used as freeways.
Because of 1, 2 and 3, most plans like lanes, sharows and even road diets, are Band Aids on a bigger problem. Crossing the street almost anywhere is like stealing bases.
The only rational way around the problem is in my mind, to use a non-car topology for routing bicycles and pedestrians. That means separation of feet, bike tires and Detroit rubber on their own guideways with as little parallelism as possible.
If it weren’t for sprawl, which is what pretty much all of Kent is today, so much work wouldn’t be necessary. Too late for that now, though.
You’ve got the Interurban Trail as a great spine.
Pet Peeve. Riding from Kent to Des Moines on HWY 516 you can see where road crews or first responders sweep the debris from auto accidents off the roadway – right into the bike lanes.
I’ve wondered if two bikes ever got together, would they sweep the remains into the slow lane?
Pet Peeve No.2 Riding uphill on Canyon Dr., the bike lane just kinda ‘peters out’ near the top of the hill. I’ve wondered why the city didn’t sharrow Temperance as a much gentler climb for both Canyon and James, and totally traffic calmed until you have to branch out at the top of easthill.
The cut away at the top of the hill where the bike lane gives out is so dangerous that residents practically stormed City Hall. However, nothing can be done always for lack of funding.
Yes! And the Soos Creek Trail, and the Green River Trail (once they get those sandbags off it!)
However, as I’ve often pointed out to the City Fathers, we have an overabundance of North-South routes and a paucity of East-West ones.
Yeah, I went down and tried to ride the GRT the other day. WTF? I know we’ve had a wet May and June, but come on.
Did they have to sandbag down the middle of the trail in the first place?
The sandbags were put there as a precaution in the event of a breech in the Howard Hanson Damn. PIA and as it turns out unnecessary but better safe than sorry.
Yeah, I get that. But:
should they still be there in June, much less May?
Couldn’t they have put them on one side of the trail or the other?
There is also an event at REI a week from tomorrow:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=132433813442635
Event: How Do You Walk, Bike, Ride?
Start Time: Tuesday, June 29 at 4:00pm
End Time: Tuesday, June 29 at 6:00pm
Where: REI
Hey Downtown & Center City Residents and Workers– We Want to Know:
How Do You Walk, Bike, Ride?
• Can you leave your car at home for day-to-day errands?
• Do safety concerns make you think twice about bicycling or walking Downtown?
• Are transit options working for your commute?
• What would make it easier for you to get around car-free more days of the week?
When it comes to getting around easily without a car, the City wants to know what is – and what isn’t – working for you. The Bicycle (2007) and Pedestrian (2009) Master Plans help guide the City’s improvements for biking and walking, and Mayor Mike McGinn is currently updating the Transit Master Plan. Join us to learn more about these plans and talk with representatives from the Department of Transportation about where you think there is the most trouble – and the most potential – for transit, pedestrian and bicycle enhancements.
Sponsored By: South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce Public Affairs Committee, Alliance for Pioneer Square, Belltown Community Council, BOMA, Capitol Hill Community Council, Chinatown-International District BIA, Denny Triangle Neighborhood Association, Downtown Seattle Association, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Uptown Alliance, South Lake Union Community Council
Take the bus! Walk! Ride your bike there!
REI is super close to these bus routes: 8, 25, 66
What isn’t working for me?
As a pedestrian…two simple things…. paint and pens
Paint? The lack of cross walks marked at every intersection to remind drivers that yest the intersection by law is a crosswalk. And don’t tell me to “walk to an intersection that is marked” because there are stretches where I walk (Shilshole Ave. in Ballard) where it is 1/2 of a mile or more to a marked intersection. Until Seattle paints cross walks at all intersections it isn’t the least bit serious about pedestrian safety.
Pens? To give to the police department to enforce crosswalk (marked or unmarked) laws — to cite every driver that violates the laws (and to do the same with pedestrians who jay walk, blow lights, etc.)
We can have all the meetings and process we want but a bucket of paint and a box of pens is the answer.