Delridge at the bridge

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Delridge path work in full swing near WS Bridge. Detour route on 23rd SW to/from SW Andover. Ignore the sign on 23rd at Andover that says “road closed” – it is open for bikes to the trail. Photo by Alex, who posts on WS Blog Flickr group as alextutu1821.

trucks + bikes? trucks = bikes?

As our city gets denser, and as people order more goods for home delivery, how do we deal with the need for more delivery vehicles in crowded conditions?   Some people and companies are going back to using bikes. The lines are getting blurred between what is a bike and what is a truck.  It’s not just Jimmie Johns for sandwiches. It’s UPS for holiday packages in Salem, and urgent medical supplies, and gardening companies in Seattle, and fresh fish in Port Townsend.

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More in this Seattle Bike Blog story, 

and an in depth study of bikes for freight in New York City.

bikes + trucks on the last mile

The Port of Seattle Seaport is open for business, and catching up on the container backlog.

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Easy to see how car traffic delays freight movement on East Marginal Way S. When people on bikes have a safe lane to ride beside truck traffic, they expand the bandwidth and ease congestion on this “last mile” of the major truck routes to the Port.

35th Ave SW Safety Corridor – Public Meetings

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5 deaths in 7 years. Crashes all the time.

Please come and speak out for safety on “I-35”.

6:30 pm Tuesday March 10
High Point Neighborhood House, 6400 Sylvan Way

3:15 pm Thursday March 12
Southwest Branch Library, 35th & Henderson

We’d like SDOT to use this project to help build a safe, connected network of routes for people travel on foot or by bike.

  • Install a signal at Graham to make it safe for people to cross 35th.
  • Build the Greenways parallel to 35th on 34th and 36th/37th SW that are in the Bicycle Master Plan, for safe routes for people of all ages and abilities to walk and ride, with traffic calming.
  • Re-stripe 35th to have a dedicated turn lane and one through traffic lane each direction, to reduce car crashes and stop car drivers from hitting pedestrians when they zip around cars that are stopped for pedestrians crossing at intersections. Keep car parking and bus stops and load zones in the curb lanes on 35th.
  • Reduce the speed limit on 35th SW from 35 to 30 mph to give car drivers a better chance of seeing and stopping for people crossing on bikes, on foot, in wheelchair and scooters.
    IF you could drive the full 3.3 miles from Roxbury to Fauntleroy at the speed limit, making every light, never slowing, the time difference between 35 and 30 mph would be only 60 seconds. It could save a life.

South Park celebration and ride

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Fun celebration and ride! From West Seattle Bridge into South Park with CM Tom Rasmussen. Opening celebration and ride.  And then some of us rode to Marination Ma Kai to celebrate Robin Randels birthday.

DSC06863CM Tom Rasmussen, SPU Director Ray Hoffman, and Seattle Parks & Recreation Director of Planning and Development Michael Shiosaki

Opening celebration for paving, storm sewers and protected bike lane on Portland Ave S, South Park, Seattle.  This extends the West Duwamish Trail in South Park. With SDOT, SPU, Seattle Parks, South Park Neighborhood Association, West Seattle Bike Connections, Cascade Bicycle Club.

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From West Duwamish Trail at S. Holden St/ Hwy 509, instead of taking Holden east, the the trail is now extended south to S Portland Street. Crossing of Holden is improved (except the bike/ped crossing button is out of order, and wayfinding signage could be improved). The path next to 509 is awesome – it did not look like there was room to do that.  Then S Portland from 509 to 8th Ave S has been transformed from a potholed, mostly gravel street with no storm drainage, no defined edges, and wild west parking and loading, to a beautifully paved road with drainage into a gravel strip that defines a protected bike and walking lane.

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Before (2013) and now

On a quiet weekend morning, the protected bike lane seems unnecessary. Come back on a weekday with semi’s traveling these streets, and forklifts loading trucks in the roadway, and it’s a different story!

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New storm sewers will help reduce the flooding and sewage backups that have plagued South Park residents and industries. That is the invisible and expensive part of the project.  SDOT and SPU broke out of the silos and really made this work for everyone!  Parks and Rec, too!  Special thank to Bob Winship from Seattle Bike Connections for many months of volunteering with South Park Neighborhood Association’s Transportation Committee to help this project work for the residents and businesses of South Park.  And Dagmar Cronn from SPNA – no project without Dagmar. And SDOT, SPU and Parks, for breaking out of the silos and making this a win on so many fronts. And Councilmember Rasmussen for pushing it forward.

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Next:  Get King County to step up and connect from South Park to the Green River Trail.  First, that miserable muddy patch by the Machinists’ Union to get from 14th Ave S to road parallel to 509.

 

Celebrate with South Park

Let’s celebrate this big accomplishment for South Park residents and industries!

Saturday 3/7 Ceremony and official ride starts at 10 at Duwamish Overlook at 8th Ave S and S Portland St. Some of us are planning to meet Tom Rasmussen at 9:15 under the WS Bridge where Alki and West Duwamish trails meet, to ride over together. Not an official ride, but come ride with friends.

Bob Winship and others from West Seattle Bike Connections participated with Dagmar Cronn, the SPNA transportation committee, industry owners, ECOSS, SPU and SDOT to include a separated (and paved!) traffic, bike and walking route that does not interfere with the industries and jobs we need. Thanks especially to Art Brochet at SDOT and Council Member Tom Rasmussen!wdt_invite1

March 3 meeting – quick recap

That was a great meeting! Full house. Kathy will do minutes. Highlights here:

  • We set a 9:15 am meeting time to ride to South Park trail celebration this Saturday, leaving from under the WS Bridge where the trails meet;
  • Gordon Padelford from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways helped us prepare for 35th Ave Safety Corridor meetings and we discussed the new Vision Zero initiative;
  • Kathy Dunn gave a progress report on contacting owners about vegetation trimming on Spokane east of Harbor;
  • David Whiting will draft a letter to Cascade about advocacy;
  • Theresa Beaulieu, Al Jackson and Kathy Dunn volunteered to take shifts counting bike/ped traffic for a study Mike Hendrix is doing for the Delridge/Highland Park Greenway;
  • Don Brubeck will see if we need to back up Simon’s request to SDOT to restore lighting on bike path on Spokane near East Marginal, and Jodi Connolly and Keith Newnham’s request to repaint the bike box at Andover and Delridge;
  • Theresa will represent us at Delridge District Council for NPSF grants;
  • Mike volunteered for 2016 grant for SW Yancy & Avalon SW;
  • Don will go to the next Bridging the Gap Levy outreach meetings;
  • and last but certainly not least: Anna Hendricks volunteered to be our volunteer coordinator to receive, welcome and match up volunteers with projects and events.

WSBC Meeting Tues March 3

Tuesday, March 3
6:30 to 8:00 pm
HomeStreet Bank, 41st Ave SW & SW Alaska Street – east of the WS Junction

Open meeting – come join the discussion and planning to make riding on the peninsula easier, safer, better. Lots to discuss and plan this month, including

  • Rides for South Park route celebration, and Major Taylor
  • 35th Ave SW corridor.  Public meetings coming up..
  • Chelan 5-way intersection campaign.
  • Volunteers for DIY trail/street maintenance
  • Volunteers to count bikes and cars at the 15th & Holden intersection for a traffic study.
  • Bike to Work Day commute station hosting
  • Vision Zero campaign963387_1390542716.6735

Thank you, HomeStreet Bank, for providing meeting space for Sustainable West Seattle groups!