Tonight, King County Metro is hosting an open house to present information and get public feedback about proposed speed and reliability improvements to Route 120. The improvements include stop consolidation and signal priority throughout the route, a northbound queue jump near Andover, a bus bulb on the Westwood Village deviation that will likely be approved by the council as part of the Fall ’12 restructure, and minor stop improvements throughout the route; the link above provides lots of excellent information.
This kind of service quality improvement is exactly the kind of investment that we need to see from Metro throughout the frequent-service network. Even better, these improvements are being paid for by a state grant, and (per Metro) are being done with an eye towards potentially making the 120 a RapidRide route in future, an improvement that this corridor emphatically deserves.
The open house is tonight, from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM, at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.
Anyone wanna bet on the odds that if the Seattle Times covers this it places an inordinate amount of attention on the bike lane?
I’m not a big fan of the bike lane, here… but it’s a sign of the split constituency we have in Seattle right now. The commuters here want the bike lane so that they can fly down Delridge. The trouble is that we’re pushing at the same time to build a Greenway just two to four blocks over with encouraging bicycle use by families as a significant factor.
I’m not the most familiar with the adjacent greenway efforts, but is there any compelling reason not to do both? Arterial bike lanes geared toward commuters and a greenway appropriate for families and individuals making intra-neighborhood trips to schools, libraries, parks, shopping, etc.
From the beginning of our greenway advocacy efforts in West Seattle, we’ve been contacted by bicycle commuters who were concerned that the need for bicycle infrastructure on Delridge would be ignored due to nearby greenway efforts. For that reason, we’ve been careful to emphasize in our advocacy efforts that one cannot replace the other. Mickeymse is absolutely correct that both improvements are needed.
It’s the same reason we need surface streets just blocks away from SR-99. It’s not a “split constituency”. It’s the fact that different road users have different needs.
Jake, unless I completely misread something (always possible), mickymse was the one suggesting pushing for both types of facilities is problematic—not me.
I think the largest reason they are adding the bike lanes get cyclist out of moving traffic, especially in the uphill direction, and to allow for the wider bus only lane. Without the uphill bicycle lane you have lump the extra five feet into one of the other lanes and that’s pointless.
The bike lane is simply the best use of space. The northbound transit lane is wide enough that it precludes the possibility of having two full southbound lanes — or even a single travel lane with parking — on the other side. The choice then is between an 18 foot Kramer-esque luxury driving lane, or a 12 foot travel lane plus wide bike lane. The choice to put in a bike lane seems pretty straightforward in light of that information.
I’m sure glad we’re not spending an…” inordinate amount of attention on the bike lane” thing.
Well if we can have a bikeway with limited grade crossings that connect to major points of interest then that would be awesome. Otherwise we need our bike lanes!
If the goal is to streamline the 120, why are we adding deviations to it?
Because the deviation to Westwood Village will most likely generate more riders than it will lose, unlike most deviations.
And Delridge is the largest ‘food desert’ area in the city without a grocery store. This deviation gives transit dependent folks access to groceries at Target and QFC. Huge from a social equity and health perspective and it offers better connections to many other lines.
Heck I’ve used the 120 to get to Westwood Village from Belltown when I need a Target or Staples and don’t feel like cramming onto the 41 to Northgate. It’s not just Delridgers that want to get there.