Category: Advocacy

Concerned About Congestion?

This is how to create more space on the streets:

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Source: Seattle 2035 Comprehensive Plan , Transportation Appendix

Compared to driving alone:

  • Walking is least expensive, and great for personal and public health. But it is slow.
  • Car-pooling costs extra miles, a bit of extra time. It can be inconvenient.
  • Transit uses road space efficiently, but is expensive to build and operate, It can be time consuming and inflexible, depending upon when and where you want to go.
  • Biking is great for personal and public health, and is often the fastest way to go  places in the city. No waiting, no worries about traffic jams.

Building and maintaining safe bike routes is a tiny fraction of the costs of building and maintaining streets, bridges, tunnels and rail lines for transit and cars.  But lots of people do not use bikes for transportation because they don’t feel safe on the streets they need to use. If you want to increase street capacity for driving cars, trucks and buses, it makes sense to support building a safe bike network, to get more people using bikes.

Spokane Street Bridge Bike Counts

2018 bike count is +2.9% above 2017 for year-to-date, despite a wet winter/spring, closure of the bridge for over a week for emergency repairs in June, and then the forest fire smoke air quality alerts.   If you look at the data in detail, a few things jump out:

  • Weekday trips far exceed weekend trips. These mostly are working bike riders.
  • Weather and light/darkness during commute hours are by far the biggest factors.
  • Alaskan Way Viaduct closures cause a spike. See May 2016.
  • Spokane Street Bridge emergency closures cause a dip. See June 2018.
  • We don’t yet have the key safe routes to downtown to really grow the numbers yet.  Fauntleroy, Avalon, Delridge, and East Marginal Way should be the game changers.

SDOT data. Our graph.

Delridge Greenway connections progress

SDOT is proceeding now with suggestions we made during the Delridge Transit + Multimodal Corridor planning.  There’s a good Neighborhood Greenway on 26th Ave SW from Andover to SW Juneau, parallel to Delridge and just two blocks west. It’s at basically the same grade as Delridge Way, with less traffic, and connects to the Spokane Street Bridge and Alki Trail.  There is also the Delridge-Highland Park Greenway up on Pigeon Point, along Puget Ridge to Highland Park and White Center via 21st Ave SW – SW Myrtle – 1 7th Ave. That one needs some improvements, and was not connected to the 26th Ave Greenway.

Now it is connected!  SDOT has installed speed humps on Juneau between 26th Ave and SW Croft Place, and along Croft, which angles up the hill for a less steep way to go from 21st Ave down to Delridge Way.

A crew was out yesterday installing bike detectors on Juneau to trigger the stop light at Delridge.  One of them asked me as I stopped at the light if I ride this way often. And he gave a nice unsolicited explanation of the bike detectors, here for you, too.     short video

SDOT agreed to a bunch of our suggestions to improve the Delridge-Highland Park Greenway to make it a viable compromise route in lieu of northbound protected bike lanes on the south half of Delridge Way.  It’s good to see work proceeding even before the final plans for the RapidRide H line are set.  Good bike and walking c0nnections are vital for people to safely get to and from the farther-apart RapidRide bus stops. It is time for safe routes to ride, walk and roll in Delridge.

New speed humps on SW Juneau St from Croft Place to Delridge Way SW.
New speed humps on SW Croft Place.
New speed humps on SW Juneau St from 26th Ave SW to SW Croft Place.
SDOT crew working on greenway improvements on SW Juneau St at Delridge Way SW
Bike detector to trigger the stop light on SW Juneau St at Delridge Way SW.

SPD says “Pay Attention!!”

Seattle Police say “The most important overall advice for any kind of pedestrian and traffic safety is PAY ATTENTION!!”

As bike riders, we know how important it is for safety to focus on our surroundings. As drivers, feeling safe, we know distractions can be so tempting.

From Jennifer Danner, SW Precinct:
“With children back is school, it is crucial to be reminded about general traffic and pedestrian safety as well!
“Pedestrians must be very mindful of how they are utilizing the street, sidewalks and crosswalks. Children should be reminded to be extra cautious when walking to and from school. Motorists and cyclists must pay attention to traffic conditions and all pedestrians. The most important overall advice for any kind of pedestrian and traffic safety is PAY ATTENTION!!
“Drivers, please be aware that with school back in session, children will be walking to and from schools and transit stops. As autumn approaches there will be less daylight; please pay extra attention, as children may be out early in the morning/late in the evening and may be more difficult to see.”

Delridge Needs Safe Bike Routes

West Seattle Bike Connections is putting the “Multi-Modal” back into the Delridge Multi-modal + Transit Corridor Project

Doug is a scientist and lover of beer. He lives in Delridge, and he wants a safe and comfortable way to ride with his wife and child to White Center. Doug was a pro bike racer, but he is not comfortable riding with his family on Delridge Way.

Charmaine is a musician and square dance caller. She lives in White Center and wants to be able to bike with her husband and child to Delridge’s library, parks and community center.

Right now, neither of them has good options, so they organized a ride with other West Seattle Bike Connections members, Gordon Padelford from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, Cascade Bicycle Club’s Kelsey Mesher, and three SDOT outreach and project management people to look into improvements.

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West Seattle Bike Connections’ top priority for 2018 is the Delridge RapidRide H multi-modal corridor project. This is the opportunity to make the street safe for people walking and biking, including getting to and from the new RapidRide stops. This is one of the Move Seattle Levy projects that WSBC members worked hard to pass, because of the positive impact it can have for the traditionally underserved neighborhoods of the Delridge Corridor. Delridge is the flattest, most direct route through the valley (the “dell” between the ridges), from the south end at White Center to the north end at the West Seattle Bridge and the Alki and Duwamish Trails.

With help from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, we reached  agreements from SDOT staff on some key requests we made for Delridge, and for spot improvements to the alternate northbound greenway bike route that SDOT has proposed. These are reflected in SDOT’s revised “Option 3″ for the corridor.

Any program cuts due to the Move Seattle Levy “reset” must not be at the cost of safety for the most vulnerable users of the road: people walking and biking to bus stops or other destinations on Delridge.

This year, we are building relationships with community groups. In April, four of our members did a helmet giveaway and fitting at Boren STEM K-8 school, using a Small Sparks grant that Joe and Marlowe Laubach got through the PTSA. WSBC members who are school parents led Bike to School activities.  We have worked on Safe Routes to Schools projects that residents, teachers and Delridge Neighborhood Development Association initiated . We moved our monthly meetings to Neighborhood House in High Point, more convenient to the Delridge corridor. We’ve got a Parking Day activity scheduled for 9/21/18 at Boren STEM K-8. We led a Cycle History bike ride focusing on Delridge with Southwest Seattle Historical Society. Several of us have given support to a resident who was seriously injured in a crash with a car driver while riding at Orchard and Delridge. We are looking for more opportunities to work with and hear from community groups and individual residents.

There is lots more work to do. It will take concentrated effort to build community support in time to have an impact on the RapidRide project. But we have members who are willing. Would you like to join in?  Send an email to westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com.

Park(ing) Day is coming 9/21

Join us at Louisa Boren STEM K-8 School on Delridge!
  • Create a demonstration protected bike lane (about 40 feet long)
  • Give away and fit bike helmets
  • Play games and have fun!

2:00 to 4:30 pm

Directly across the street from the school’s main entry and crosswalk. 5950 Delridge Way SW

Thank you to Bell Helmets, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways,  Michael Oxman Arborist, and Louisa Boren STEM K-8 school and PTSA for support!

If you can volunteer some time between 2:00 and 4:30, please send an email to westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com

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.

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.

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.

East Marginal Way Online Open House

Lot’s of us use it to get to downtown, SoDo, Beacon Hill, points north and east. Ten times as many would ride if this couple miles was more comfortable and safe. Others would ride south of Spokane Street if there was a way.Planning is beginning to finally make that happen. Here’s the opportunity to weigh in when it makes the most difference!  Please do!

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/eastmarginal.htm

Tree and hydrant obstructions. SDOT moved the trees. SPU has not moved the hydrants. Could this be made into a real multi-use trail, at least to S Hanford Street?