August 7 Night Out Ride

Instead of meeting inside as we usually do on 1st Tuesdays, we will ride to some Night Out parties, celebrating safe streets and safe neighborhoods.
6:30 pm start from Neighborhood House
6400 Sylvan Way SW
meet at the north side plaza.

Come ride if you don’t have a party to go to on your street!

Injured Delridge bike rider needs our help

You may know that our #1 priority this year is making it safe to bike and walk in Delridge, getting improvements built into the RapidRide H multi-modal corridor project. Here’s why.

Please lend Emily and Jay a helping hand

Emily writes:

My husband was hit by a car riding his bike to work on 6/21 in the Delridge Way SW and Orchard St intersection, June 21st, his femur and hip were fractured in half and was in ICU at Harborview for 3 days.. I’m just really overwhelmed and stressing right now.. I have to admit I am really bad at asking for help because I’ve been such an independent person from a young age. I’m learning now that sometimes help is the only option and so I’m reaching out to groups that advocate for safe bike riding and safe streets for cyclists. I’ve had to really consider if we could make due without my income during this period of time but its become impossible. I appreciate all and any help. More than words can express.

https://www.gofundme.com/jaysroadtorecoveryfund 

Please send them a little help and encouragement, and donate before you “share”. It’s dollars they need.

Please work with us and our Delridge neighbors to get safe streets for walking, biking, taking transit built into the Delridge RapidRide H Project.

West Seattle STP #6

The start
Regrouping

We all made it to Portland!

We had a great group of riders. Young, old, and in-between.  Everybody made it from Seattle (Street) to Portland (Street) and back to Summerfest!

Allez, allez, allez!

April 3 WSBC meeting at Neighborhood House

New location for our monthly meeting:
6:30 pm at Neighborhood House in High Point.
6400 Sylvan Way SW
more room, and more central.

You are invited to our monthly meeting. We’ll be working on making it safer and more enjoyable to bike and walk in West Seattle, and to surrounding neighborhoods and downtown. Come join us to plan activities and advocate for a sustainable, healthy transportation.

Delridge Corridor and Fauntleroy Boulevard Project will be top agenda items this month.

WSBC January 9 meeting

You are invited to our monthly meeting. We’ll be working on making it safer and more enjoyable to bike and walk in West Seattle, and to surrounding neighborhoods and downtown. Come join us to plan activities and advocate for a sustainable, healthy transportation.

6:30 to 8:00 pm

Homestreet Bank, 4022 SW Alaska St

Changed from 1st Tuesday to 2nd Tuesday this month.

WSBC Dec 5 meeting at Luna Park Cafe

We’ve moved the meeting place to Luna Park Cafe this month for some year end celebrating. Come join us! On Avalon south of S Spokane at S Manning St.

 

Come to our monthly meeting to work on making bike riding safe, efficient and fun in West Seattle. Sustainable transportation and community building. We are an all-volunteer community group. Meetings are open and you are invited.

Log House to Long House Ride 8/26

Saturday, August 26 at 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Start at Chief Sealth/Birthplace of Seattle monument, Alki Avenue SW & SW 63rd Street

Come join a family-friendly ride through history with Southwest Historical Society. About 10 miles round-trip from the “birthplace of Seattle” near Alki Point to the Longhouse of Chief Seattle’s Duwamish Tribe, who were already here when the Denny Party landed, and still are. Stops for stories along the way.

Arrive by 9:15 for sign in and introductions. Children 15 and under must be accompanied by parent or guardian. Helmets required. No ear buds. We will obey traffic laws and yield to pedestrians on trail.
Sign up in advance here if you want to save time.  Check back just before the event for updates and details.

This will be a Cascade free daily ride. Liesurely pace (10-12 mph) on the Alki and West Duwamish Trails. We will stay together, and stop to hear stories at Anchor Park at Duwamish Head; at the water pumping station on Harbor Ave; at the monument to the Croatian immigrant town of Riverside; and at Herring’s House Park/T107 park across from the Duwamish Tribe’s Longhouse. Snacks and exploration there. Ride back. Bring or buy lunch at the beach if you can stay!

West Seattle STP – 5th Annual!

We had a great group of 35 riders, from age 2 to 70-something and everything in between. All made it successfully from (SW) Seattle (Street) to (SW) Portland (Street) in about one hour. After a little celebrating and socializing at Portland, we rode back via California to Alaska for a big celebration at the Summerfest!

Good especially to have several adult riders who were just getting back on a bike after many years of not riding. Some strong youth riders, too!

If you think this looks like fun, come on our August 26 Log House to Longhouse free group ride with Southwest Historical Society!

 

 

Avalon Way Repaving – With Better Bike Lanes

The project is in early stages of design and outreach, so this is a good time for input. We’ll have this on our July 11 meeting agenda, and may have SDOT staff attending. You are welcome to come. 6:30 pm at HomeStreet Bank, 41st SW & SW Alaska.

The Seattle Bicycle Master Plan has Avalon slated to get protected bike lanes as part of the city-wide network of bike routes. It’s a key route in and out of West Seattle, and like the other streets that are at angles to the grid, it provides the easiest grade up and over one of West Seattle’s steep ridges. We support this network of bike routes and the improvements that would make it comfortable and safe for many more people to ride than do so now. People of all ages and abilities, including parents carrying kids on bikes, and people well past their racing days.

We really want to have bike routes that work for commuters to downtown, and also for kids, families, older riders who have a hard time on steep grades or in busy traffic. At the same time, we want vital local business districts like Luna Park’s in our neighborhoods. We want to be able to walk, ride bikes, take a bus or drive to places like The Shack, Duos, and Luna Park Cafe. There is need for customer car parking and truck deliveries to the little business district near Spokane that may or may not need a compromise on protected bike lane going downhill. We absolutely need the uphill protected bike lane, and there is room to do that on the west side without any loss of car parking. The car parking would move out from the curb to provide a “parking-protected bike lane.” On the east side, going downhill, there is no problem doing a protected bike lane most of the way down. We’d love to see the protected bike lane continue to Spokane, with a safe way to cross to the Alki Trail and to the West Seattle Bridge Trail. However, it might be necessary to do something else from Yancy to Spokane. We are open to other options that SDOT engineers might come up with for that stretch.

You may know that we were successful in getting a Neighborhood Street Fund grant for bike/ped improvements to the intersection at Spokane/Harbor/Avalon/Alki Trail. This is now in design and scheduled for construction next year. It will make that intersection a lot safer for westbound riders on the trail crossing to go up Admiral or turning left to go up Avalon. Also includes signage and bike-left-turn improvements at Manning, for the route down Admiral Way to Avalon.
This NSF project will tie into the Avalon paving project.

Why we need concrete barriers on East Marginal Way

When trucks back up on East Marginal Way S, some drivers get impatient and decide the hell with anybody else.

This morning, lots of people commuting to downtown on bikes reported dangerous moves into the bike lane by autos, light trucks and heavy trucks. The white Ford pickup drove over half a mile in the bike lane, only to get stuck in traffic again. The silver-gray tractor with the eagle on the door drove in the bike lane and gravel shoulder at speed. The 22-wheel semi with the Maersk container mowed down new plastic post dividers while driving into the bike lane with bike riders close in front and close behind. Those plastic posts can’t take that impact. Neither can bike riders.

We need enforcement. SPD and Port Police advise us to call 9-1-1 as soon as we see this behavior. We did, Still happening later in the morning, as shown in others’ video.

We need engineering design and construction. Full separation with concrete barriers for the East Marginal Way Corridor project.