Category: Commuting

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

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.

SODO Safety – Bikes+Trucks+USDOT

We were one of the stakeholder groups that US DOT Federal Highway Administration got involved in a pedestrian-bike-heavy truck safety assessment project in SODO in May.  Bruce Moody from US DOT forwarded video links from the project. Each of the 50 states had one pedestrian-bike safety assessment. Washington was the only state to assess safety of bikes and trucks sharing roads.  This is awfully relevant for West Seattleites, who cannot leave the peninsula to get to the rest of Seattle without riding through the Duwamish MIC alongside heavy trucks, freight trains and ships.

This first one from the Multimodal Non-Motorized Traffic Large Vehicle Safety Assessment South of Downtown (SoDo) – features representatives of US DOT, SDOT, Cascade, us, and industries and drivers using SODO streets, interviewed at the event.

Here’s the action video of bike riding and truck driving on a SODO route, starring WSBC member Bob Anderton, without a stunt double, and cameo from Kathy Dunn, and test pilot Brian Wood, who is now an intern at US DOT.

Lots of us ride parts of this route. Lots more would if it was improved.  This makes it look worse than it feels when actually riding on East Marginal from WS Bridge to downtown, but it does show that there is huge room for improvement!  Including a solid barrier-protected bike lane on East Marginal Way S between S Spokane St and S Atlantic St, and a separated bike trail south of S Spokane St.  Good reasons to vote for the Move Seattle levy, which includes the Multimodal Corridor project on East Marginal.

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Vision Zero Vigil & Procession – Friday 8/28

Vision Zero Vigil & Procession

Friday, August 28, 5-6 p.m.
Garden of Remembrance at Benaroya Hall

Corner of Second Ave & University Street

Join on Friday for the Vision Zero Vigil & Procession in honor of Sher Kung and everyone who has died or been seriously injured in the last year due to traffic violence. The event will begin with a moment of silence and bell ringing, followed by statements by family members, advocates, and city leaders, and finish with a walk and ride down Second Avenue to Occidental Park. Sponsored by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and Cascade Bicycle Club.

All people deserve to arrive at their destinations safely, no matter how they choose to get around. And we know that our city leaders can design our streets to be safe.

That’s why we’re excited about the city’s goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030, and Mayor Ed Murray’s Vision Zero Action Plan to help us get there. But more must be done to fund, design and enforce safer streets.