6:30 to 8:00 pm.
Come join us! Open meeting to plan and report on advocacy, events, rides to make it easier and safer to get around by bike in West Seattle.
Usually at HomeStreet Bank, 41st Ave SW & SW Alaska St, near the Alaska Junction. Check location the day of meeting.
Short, Medium and Long Term schemes were presented at tonight’s Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board Meeting. These grew out of a workshop held last February with participation by SDOT and lots of stakeholders, including West Seattle Bike Connections. The short term option has funding and can be completed in 2015. The medium and long term options are unfunded. There was no support expressed at the meeting for the medium option – confusing and regular users wouldn’t use it. There was enthusiastic support for the long term “flyover” option. It adds a lane to the Terminal 5 truck flyover lane and passes right over the intersection, landing on the Alki Trail behind the Chelan Cafe. It would be obvious, safe, easy, gets bike riders out of the way of trucks at the 5-way, and provides an all ages and abilities connection between the Alki, West Duwamish, and West Seattle Bridge trails, attractive to fast commuters and slow family groups alike.
Flyover option cuts a gap in the guardrail at the T-5 stoplight, crosses SW Spokane St there, and attaches a bike lane to the inside of the curving T-5 ramp, peeling off before the RR tracks past the NW side of the 5-way intersection, sweeping down to the Alki Trail by the Chelan Cafe.
Today another vehicle driver decided that the bike/ped detour lane under the Alaska Way Viaduct near S Main St was a handy place to park and leave a truck. There has to be use of this area for loading for some of the businesses, but this van was obviously there for construction work, probably tunnel construction work.
Reporting to SPD Parking Enforcement didn’t work – non-emergency line was too booked up and the recorded message said call back later in the day. Worth a try, but would have been too late.
So, in addition to email to Cascade Concrete & Drilling directly to request better behavior, an email to SDOT’s “Construction Hub” program and WSDOT SR99 Viaduct Project got a quick response back from Melody Berry, SDOT Construction Hub Coordination Program Supervisor, promising enforcement. If you see a problem that has to do with construction detours or construction project use of streets in the downtown core area or the WS Junction, give them a try!
We are part of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, and it has been a great year for the Greenways movement. Let’s celebrate!
Join our friends from around the City at for a party this Thursday. 5:00-8:00, 7:00 award ceremony
at Washington Hall, 153 14th Avenue just north of Yesler. If you ride your bike, we can do a group ride back to West Seattle.
In West Seattle, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways has supported our efforts to create the North Delridge Greenway on 26th (completed); the Delridge/Highland Park Greenway (construction in 2015); vigil walks for traffic collision victims; the 35th Avenue SW Corridor Safety Project; and alliances with other groups.
This event is free. That’s because volunteers are doing the work. If you can help with set up (starting at 3:30), running the event (from 5-8), or teardown (after 8:00), contact Gordon Padelford at SNG: info (at) sng (dot) org.
Driving 3.3 miles on 35th Ave SW from Fauntleroy to SW Roxbury takes 5 minutes at 40 mph, or 6.6 minutes at 30 mph, if you could make all the lights and no traffic slows you down. Assuming that was possible, how important is it to get there 100 seconds faster? It is worth risking lives?
graphic from SvR Design
Monthly meeting, Tuesday December 2
6:30 to 8:00 pm
Homestreet Bank, SW Alaska St at 41st Ave SW
Open meeting – you are invited and welcome to plan activities and meet others who are working to make it easy and safe to use a bike to get around West Seattle and beyond.
We need volunteers for:
All these are potential meeting topics, but even if you can’t make an evening meeting, you can offer to volunteer in something that interests you, by email to us directly at westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com
A driver convicted and awaiting sentencing for a road rage against one of our local heroes. Jake Vanderplas, community leader and initiator with Stu Hennessey of the North Delridge greenways, is a model for calm, responsible riding. Hard to believe that he could have triggered the assault by the driver, who is now awaiting sentencing. Good to see that the courts are taking this kind of crime more seriously.
Meanwhile, same day, another person walking across a street at an intersection was killed by someone driving a car. On Delridge this time. Traffic in the other lane was stopped for the pedestrian. This street has a 35 mph speed limit. The survival rate at that speed is a small fraction of what it is if speeds are reduced to 25 mph.
We need drivers to slow down and pay attention! We all need to walk, ride, and drive with patience and care for each other.
Thank you to West Seattle Blog for the reporting and the community conversations.
Yes, but it may not be for everyone. Could be lot better. Here is a start at some maps of routes.
Easy grades and fairly quiet streets are possible if you go all the way to the International District and double back on 12th S. Thanks to Stu Hennessey for this West Seattle Spokespeople ride route.
A quicker but steeper connection to Mountain to Sound Greenway and Beacon Ave is via busway trail and Holgate, but it’s better westbound. Eastbound involves poor access to a stair carry and sidewalk to get up the Holgate viaduct over I-5.
Via Georgetown is possible a few ways: 1st Ave S Bridge from West Duwamish Trail, or 1st Ave S viaduct from Spokane St Bridge.
There is also the newly re-opened South Park Bridge, via the West Duwamish Trail and route through South Park, but not sure about bike friendly routes on east side. Anybody familiar?
And you can continue south from South Park on busy 14th Ave S, then along a really crappy little trail/mudpatch by the Machinists union to West Margi
nal Place to get to a little ped/bike bridge over the Duwamish at Cecil Moses Park and the East Wind Fish Weir site, and then south on the Green River Trail at S 112th St.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6475498
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6475820
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6475817
Council Member Rasmussen is proposing to add construction funding to next year’s budget for the Fauntleroy Boulevard project. It includes key bike and road safety improvements, and is funded through design but not for construction. Will you help by emailing City Council mem
bers to boost support? Needed by end of day Wednesday.
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/FauntleroyWySWBlvd.htm
http://www.seattle.gov/council/councilcontact.htm
Sally Bagshaw
206-684-8801
sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov
Mike O’Brien
206-684-8800
mike.obrien@seattle.gov
Sally Clark
206-684-8802
sally.clark@seattle.gov
Ask support for:
Budget Action Title: Add $13 million for construction of the Fauntleroy Way SW Improvement CIP project, amend C.B. 118238 (LTGO Bond Ordinance),
Talking points, (or even better, say what it means to you personally):
It is a major arterial with transit and truck through a developing urban center with lots of apartments and little parking.
Bike and pedestrian improvements will make it more possible for people to live without driving so much, and will let West Seattle absorb growth without this becoming a choke point.
It will make it a safe and welcoming entry to West Seattle from the freeway.
It has been in the neighborhood plan for over 15 years, and it’s in the Bicycle Master Plan.
A lot has been invested in design. Now it’s time to implement and make good on that investment.
Background (and you don’t need all this in your message):
Fauntleroy Way serves many purposes; it is a key entrance to West Seattle, a designated freight and bicycle route, and is home to numerous retail businesses and new residential developments. However, this portion of Fauntleroy Way has poorly defined sidewalks, significant distances between marked pedestrian crossings, no dedicated space for bike riders, and minimal landscaping.
The Fauntleroy Way SW Improvement Project builds upon previous planning work done by the community. Discussions of improvements to Fauntleroy Way began in 1999, when the West Seattle Junction Hub Neighborhood Plan identified streetscape improvements in this area, and continued through the multi-year West Seattle Triangle planning process. The streetscape plan was formally adopted by SDOT and the Seattle Department of Planning and Development in 2012. In addition, the 2014 Bike Master Plan designated Fauntleroy Way SW for a protected bike lane.
Through several extensive community processes, the residents and business owners in the area have expressed the need for improvements to make this stretch of Fauntleroy Way SW safer for pedestrians and bikes, and highlight its role as a main entrance to West Seattle.
The project design includes a raised median, 6-foot wide sidewalks, protected bike lanes, street lighting and other safety improvements between 35th Ave SW and SW Alaska St. Last year, Council added $1.3M to continue design work on this project in the 2014 Adopted Budget, and the project is now at 60% design.
The 2015 Proposed Budget includes $500,000 to complete 100% design on the project by 2Q 2015, but it does not include construction funding. The current construction cost estimate for the project is approximately $13M, based on the 60% design. The beginning of construction by 2015 would be 16 years after the adoption of the Neighborhood Plan first identifying the need for improvements in this area.
