Category: Biking

WSBC Meeting – Tuesday Dec 1

6:30 to 8:00 pm
HomeStreet Bank at WS Junction
41st Ave SW & SW Alaska St
Please come if you can, to plan our next projects and events.
At our last meeting, these rose to the top for 2016. We can do these things only to the extent that we have active participation:
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  • Safe Routes to Schools, and finding ways to get schools engaged in walking and riding to school.
  • Celebration for the work at Chelan 5-way intersection, and monitoring and working for the long term plans there to connect the Alki, WS Bridge and Duwamish trail routes.
  • East Marginal Way S Multi-Modal Corridor planning, to make it a really excellent high-bike-volume corridor to SODO and downtown.
  • Advocacy for more greenway street implementation on the N-S spine of West Seattle from Admiral to Westwood, parallel to California and 35th Avenues, for destinations in West Seattle and for low-stress through routes. [this with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways]
  • Continue events for kids: bike rodeos, mini STP, family rides.
  • Duwamish Trail improvements and completion of missing links.
  • Neighborhood Parks & Streets Fund grants for spot improvements.
  • Engage politically with our new Councilmember whoever she may be; SDOT; neighborhood associations and district councils.
  • Social rides!
We also can really use a dedicated webmaster/social media person, and have other roles to fill. Many things do not require attending evening meetings, so email if you are inspired.
westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com

WSBC Meeting Monday November 9

November meeting date changed to
MONDAY, 11/9
6:30 to 8:00 pm
HomeStreet Bank
41st Ave SW & SW Alaska St

We decided to postpone due to Election Day, and meet next Monday instead.  This will be a special meeting to plan our next steps as an organization – what will we concentrate on in 2016? Who can fill what roles or take on what projects? Did the Move Seattle levy pass, or will SDOT be operating on a shoestring?  Do we need more organization, or less? You are invited!

If you cannot attend, but have ideas, reply here or email us at westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com

 

Why vote for Prop 1 – Move Seattle?

Why would we want to move Seattle?  Where would we move it to? We like it right here surrounded by the Sound, Elliott Bay, the Duwamish, and last but not least, White Center.

Well, let them count the reasons…10955307_406441129553641_4604325171731759437_n

Only a small percentage of it will go specifically to bike route safety improvements, but we need efficient buses, safe bridges and basic street paving, too, for a balanced, safe, effective transportation network that works for everybody on foot, on a bike, in a bus, truck or car.

For travel by bike in and from WS, the levy includes these projects that are high priority for us:

  • greenway routes on 34th and 36th;
  • Fauntleroy Boulevard separated bike lanes in the Triangle area;
  • separated and protected bike lanes on East Marginal Way S from Spokane Street north to the Portside Trail to downtown,
  • a multi-use path on East Marginal Way S, south of S Spokane;
  • work on the Admiral Way bridges that will lead to wider bridges with room for bike lanes;
  • safe routes to school projects starting at Highland Park, West Seattle, and Concord elementary schools.

These improvements will get more people using bikes more often, and will help keep West Seattle moving.

Theresa and Jeff are moving

Our VP’s and founding members Jeff Hallman and Theresa Beaulieu are leaving for greener bike paths — Theresa is moving to Tacoma with Jason and Lyanne.  Jeff Hallman is moving to Corvallis with Sandi and Nayla.  We will miss them, and wish them well. 

Now, we need 10 or 12 people to step up and take their places!

Theresa has been our schools activist, starting an after school bike club at Denny Middle School that has become the first Major Taylor Club in a middle school, and doing more now at Kennedy HS. She got grants for Denny and Chief Sealth HS bike wayfinding and parking; started the Denny-Lincoln Classic bike ride; worked tirelessly for a bike corral for White Center businesses, and got us going on social rides. Theresa and Jason show up for our trail cleanups, Bike to Work Day commute station, and vigil rides.  Theresa represented Highland Park, White Center and areas nearby in planning for the Bicycle Master Plan Update and the Delridge/Highland Park Greenway.

Jeff is our webmaster extraordinaire, Google Guru, organization development guy, and founder of D.I.Y. Bikes with Stu Hennessey.  Jeff got the bike corral at the Junction landed finally. He built a bike blender and generously brought it to make smoothies at Parking Day and Greenlife. Jeff helped lead our West Seattle STP rides and the Denny-Lincoln Classic, did beach cleanup duty with the Alki Beach Creeps, took notes at our meetings, and used his bike mechanic credentials and experience to teach free classes in bike maintenance, all while keeping up his running adventures, starting his own businesses, and becoming a new dad.  DSC03837 IMG_7673 IMG_8278 IMG_7930 IMG_9071 DSC00650 DSC00762 DSC01706 DSC01717 DSC04128 DSC07508 DSC09852 2015-08-28 17.22.44 IMG_5390 IMG_8930 DSC03415 IMG_8735 DSC08865

WSBC Meeting Tuesday 10/6

Please come join us

Tuesday, October 6, 6:00 to 8:00 pm

HomeStreet Bank, 41st Ave SW & SW Alaska St

Open meeting – please come and celebrate our third anniversary, plan and discuss Move Seattle levy, SDOT projects in West Seattle, truck/bike safety action, Pronto expansion, and to wish Theresa and Jeff well as they move south.

Spokane St Bridge Bike Counts UP-date

bridge counts 9-30-15Year-over-year rider increase at the bridge flattened out during the summer. September 2015 was up 3.5% over 2014. The year-to-date so far is up 7.7% over 2014. The graph shows that a lot more people rode through the winter and spring this year.  Let’s get the lights and fenders on, and see what we can do in an el Nino fall/winter.

SDOT data, our graph.  Go Hawks. and scarves up.

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Close call for Al on East Marginal Way S

If the USDOT video of bikes and trucks on East Marginal Way S (with riders from WSBC) does not convince you of the need for safe separation of bike and truck traffic on the main bike route between West Seattle and downtown, maybe this video by one of our founding members will do it.

http://westseattleblog.com/2015/09/video-west-seattle-bike-rider-survives-collision-after-truck-turns-into-his-path/

We need:

1. Port of Seattle, SDOT and WSDOT to require side guards on trucks to deflect pedestrians and bike riders from being caught under the rear wheels. The right hook by the truck driver can happen on any street, driveway or parking lot, not just East Marginal Way. There just happen to be a lot more bikes and trucks on EMW.  Side guards make an error by a driver or a rider more forgiving. They should be part of Seattle’s Vision Zero plan.

 

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2.  Protected bike lanes on East Marginal Way S from S Atlantic to S Spokane with a concrete barrier like on the Spokane St Bridge, with intersection controls at the terminal driveways, to make it safe and comfortable for all to drive and ride.

 

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3.  SPU and SDOT move the fire hydrants from the sidewalk used by cyclists at Terminal 30 and 25.

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Real improvements can happen on this road if we pass the Move Seattle levy, so the East Marginal Way Multimodal Corridor Project can be designed and built.

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WSBC meeting – Tuesday 9/1

You are invited! Please come if you can.

We will have a guest from the Let’s Move Seattle levy campaign, and will have reports and discussion of road and trail projects, social rides, and more.

6:30 to 8:00 pm at HomeStreet Bank, 41st Ave SW and SW Alaska St.