Portland is doing it. So is Vancouver (Canada). Chicago too.
They are prioritizing transit. Pedestrians come first. Personal automobiles (i.e. cars) are last. Bikes are up there with pedestrians, as they should be. Public transit is too. These are all sustainable methods of transportation. Cars simply are not, but they have their place and are certainly preferable forms of transportation in certain (but few) conditions.
Everyone is a pedestrian at some point in their trip. So it makes total sense to have infrastructure that is safe and easy for people to get around. That typically means sacrificing some space…like parking for cars.
So why are bicycles prioritized? Well…why shouldn’t they be? They take up much less space than a car (see image below). They don’t destroy the roads like cars do (because they don’t weigh 2+ tons). You don’t need to buy gas to power them. They don’t cause traffic congestion. Sometimes bikes are faster than cars.
So yes, West Seattle Bike Connections fully supports Seattle DOT to implement a transportation hierarchy that benefits all road users and gets us closer to carbon-neutrality.
What do you support? Join us if you want to see safer infrastructure in place in the future, for us and our children. We can all peacefully co-exist on the roads, but we need your help!
