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.
CM 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.
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.
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!
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.
Dagmar Cronn
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.