We have re-scheduled our monthly meeting to Tuesday, August 9th, so we can participate in Night Out on the streets on the 2nd.
Same time 6:30 to 8:00 pm
Same place HomeStreet Bank, 41st SW & SW Alaska.
Category: General
August 4 public meeting – 35th Ave SW & Greenway
We need a well designed and well built Greenway parallel to 35th Ave, with safe crossings of “I-35”. Can you attend?
SDOT public meeting including parallel Greenway planning:
Thursday, Aug. 4, from 7 to 9 p.m.
at Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW).
Low stress bike routes along the north-south spines of West Seattle are our top priority for neighborhood bike travel within West Seattle. This meeting is about one of the key routes. Want to give input? A greenway here will connect people to public and parochial elementary schools, libraries, parks, playfields, clinics, and shopping. And it’s on a good commute route. It’s the only one currently funded for West Seattle. Let’s get it right.
Neighborhood Greenways and Vision Zero Want Your Input in West Seattle!
West Seattle STP is Sunday 7/10 – 9:15 am start
Let’s ride!
Forecast looks great. SummerFest will be our finish celebration. Come join us!
California Way – Cars and Bikes Win
Kudos to SDOT Pothole Rangers for response to 
request on California Way downhill lane. Pavement was sinking, cracked, holding water and potentially ice on route down to Seacrest.
Al J sent request last week. Pothole Rangers started fixing yesterday.
Duwamish Trail – Cars win
SDOT, this is not what we had in mind for fixing the tree root disaster on the Duwamish Trail at north end of South Park.
Roadway was just patched for vehicles so they can keep going 40-50 mph. Trail worse than ever. Unaware bike riders can be thrown into traffic here.
We’ve been asking for repair since September, 2015. Others started the requests before that. Thought we were going to get action last February. We are running out of room here as the tree grows further into the path. It’s time to move the curb out away from the tree if you won’t cut the tree. Our regional trails deserve better. South Park deserves better.
Fix the trail!
Disaster Relief Trials in West Seattle – Sep 25
Morgan Scherer and Al Jackson began planning routes for the Disaster Relief Trials 2016. It will be on September 25, during Summer Parkways in West Seattle.
Want to test ride some routes with us? Training games for cargo bikes, bikes with trailers, family bikes to deliver goods, messages, people after an earthquake or other disaster when roads, bridges and fuel supplies are disrupted. Reply here or at westseattlebikeconnections *at* gmail *dot* com.
There will be several classes of rides for the event, from a lighter family bike category for people with kids, on up to a 30 mile cargo bike ride with heavy loads and riding challenges.
West Seattle STP Ride – Sunday July 10
Have you ever wanted to do the Seattle to Portland bike ride? Or even wanted to do the 1-day STP? And never trained for it? Here is your big fat chance!
Do it in 2 hours, and end up at a huge finish line party! One week before Cascade’s big STP, so perfect for training for that in case you forgot.
West Seattle Bike Connections will be riding again from SW Seattle Street in the Admiral neighborhood to SW Portland St in Fauntlee Hills, and back north to Summerfest at the West Seattle Junction, for a fabulous finish line party. After an hour or two there, participants can ride home independently, or ride with a leader back to Hamilton Viewpoint.
Family friendly! We have had 3-generation family groups. Easy pace. We will stay together and work together to cross any busy intersections. Led by Don Brubeck and Marge Evans. More co-leaders welcome.
This is a Cascade free daily ride with certified leaders. Helmets required. Save time at the start by registering in advance.
Route with cue sheet:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14357732
7.5 miles south to SW Portland and back north to Summerfest at the Junction. (10.2 for total round trip to the Hamilton Viewpoint start.) Route is mostly on quieter residential streets along the ridge parallel to California Avenue SW.
Some hills but less than most West Seattle routes. One block you (we) might walk up. About 450 feet of elevation gain over 7.5 miles. 640 feet for the full 10.2 miles.
For children riding their own bikes: parent or guardian please read and conform to Cascade’s policy and call ride leader at least a day in advance. http://www.cascade.org/information-parents.
Bike Everywhere Day 2016
Bike Everywhere! It was fun to see and meet lots of bike riders going all directions this morning! All shapes and sizes of riders and rides. From Fauntleroy and White Center, Alki and Pigeon Point. To SODO, Harbor Island, Kent, Downtown, Pioneer Square, South Lake Union, UW, Queen Anne and Pill Hill. Going to daycare and school. Going to work as accountants, building managers, landscape architects, environmental enforcemnent workers, transportation engineers, interior designers and architects, bike mechanics, small business owners, shipping company freight expeditors, school district staff, teachers, and bus drivers, volunteers, clerical workers, baristas, fashionistas, …
West Seattle Bike Connections hosted a celebration station where the trails meet under the West Seattle Bridge for the morning commute hours. Bob Winship led the effort. Cascade Bicycle Club and F5 sponsor the event. Alki Bike and Board and West Seattle Cyclery joined us to provide quick bike checks and adjustments. Nuun was there with sports drinks. WSBC volunteers baked cookies, brought fruit and other treats, and Starbucks donated coffee. A big thank you to all who made this happen and all who stopped or waved.
If you are just trying this out, know that it keeps getting easier more comfortable the more you ride! And we are here to make it safer, more connected and more comfortable.
More pix on the WSBC Flickr page.
Friday May 20: Bike Everywhere Day
Stop at our commute station!
from 6 to 9 AM at the west end of the Spokane Low Bridge, where the trails meet.
West Seattle Bike Connections members will be bringing homemade cookies and bars to power your ride. Besides baked goods, we will have coffee, other beverages, bananas, bicycling information and on-the-spot bike checks and simple repairs courtesy of Alki Bike and Board.
We look forward to seeing you!
record bike count today
A record number of people crossed the Spokane St Bridge by bike today. More are finding this is a good, reliable way to avoid Viadoom.
Previous high was 1,847, set on May 14, 2014. Today, it was 2,525!
With nice weather and Viaduct closure incentive, we should be able to set a monthly record for May!
Lots more people are riding bikes to get to other places in West Seattle, too. They just don’t cross this bridge.
The counter counts each one-way trip. That is the same way that vehicle traffic counts are done. You can see average annual weekday counts on Seattle traffic flow maps here. The Spokane St Bridge average weekday traffic count was 10,300 in 2014. 2,000 bikes is about 20 percent of the number of car and truck crossings on the low bridge. Not insignificant.
The high bridge count is about 10 times that. Each person on a bike is one less car or bus seat on the high bridge. It makes a difference for everyone on the road.
Count data is available from SDOT here, or by clicking the link in the upper right corner of our home page.