General – Page 10 – West Seattle Bike Connections

PRO safety petition for 35th Ave SW

If you are FOR safety on 35th Avenue SW, please sign this PRO-safety petition.
You may have seen a petition circulating to STOP the safety improvements planned for “I-35”. There a several hundred signers who may be deceived by the petition claims that 35th is safe as is, and speed is needed, or actually saves time. It is hard to believe that they would be more willing to risk their neigbors’ lives rather than lose a few seconds of car travel time due to 5 mph lower speed limit; a signal at Graham; a greenway on 34th; pedestrian safety islands; a left turn lane to avoid rear-ending and left-hook car crashes.

If you are FOR Safety, please sign this PRO-safety petition, signed by over 600 concerned neighbors in 2014, and re-opened now.

Please keep the boxes clicked so that Seattle Neighborhood Greenways / West Seattle Greenways can notify you of victories in this project.

Bicycle Master Plan 5-year work plan update

SDOT has updated the 5- year implementation plan for the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan, as required each March. What did West Seattle get?

We got the cover shot! Kathy Dunn in the lead and anther member on the prettiest pink bike in the city, riding at the opening of the South Park improvements on S Portland Street in South Park.

What about for the next 5 years? A valuable Greenway parallel to part of 35th Ave SW linking schools, libraries, playgrounds and community centers. Protected bike lanes at the top of SW Admiral Way at the bridge over the Fairmont ravine. But that’s about it.

Missing in inaction is most of the network we worked so hard in 2012-3 to get on the map including links to several elementary schools, both middle schools, both high schools, and routes to serve the fastest growing urban village in the city at WS Junction and Triangle. Missing safe routes to Lincoln Park and the Faunteroy Ferry Terminal. Missing the Fauntleroy Boulevard Project and greenways parallel to California Ave between the Morgan, Alaska and Admiral Junctions to link home to schools, parks, shopping and nice commute routes.

We don’t want to take away from other areas. It’s great to see what is proposed for the Rainier Valley, Lake City, the Central Area and other places in need. What we need is more funding faster. We need the Move Seattle Levy, if it can be crafted to build the bike transportation network in West Seattle and SODO in much more substantial form in this decade.

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/docs/bmp/BMPImplementationPlanMarch2015.pdf

WS bridge count up 29% March 2015 over March 2014

Fourth month in a row of gains over previous year.

Weather assisted, or more people ready to ride in any weather? You decide:

Days with >0.02″ rain at SeaTac: 16 in 2014, 17 in 2015
Inches of precipitation: 9.4 in 2014, 4.5 in 2015
Temperature: close to same number of “heating degree days”. 505 v. 441.

SDOT stats, WSBC graph. Click on link at page top right for more counter data.

WSBC meeting Tuesday April 7

Open meeting – you are invited to come plan activities, and discuss everything related to using bikes in West Seattle.

6:30 to 8:00 pm at HomeStreet Bank, 41st Ave SW at SW Alaska St thank you HomeStreet Bank!

Agenda includes

bike parking on the new water taxis , with Ken Pritchard from Vashon
Bike Month activities including our commute station and a bike commuting workshop
USDOT Safety event May 7
Denny-Lincoln Classic ride
35th Ave Safety Corridor Project and Chelan 5-Way Intersection project
Bicycle Master Plan 5-year work plan update
rides, rides, rides: Garage Sale Day ride, Park & Art Ride, West Seattle STP, Spoke & Food Ride
grants, grants, grants for intersection improvements

at the fishing pier on the West Seattle Bridge trail. photo by Kathy Dunn

Delridge at the bridge

Delridge path work in full swing near WS Bridge. Detour route on 23rd SW to/from SW Andover. Ignore the sign on 23rd at Andover that says “road closed” – it is open for bikes to the trail. Photo by Alex, who posts on WS Blog Flickr group as alextutu1821.

trucks + bikes? trucks = bikes?

As our city gets denser, and as people order more goods for home delivery, how do we deal with the need for more delivery vehicles in crowded conditions? Some people and companies are going back to using bikes. The lines are getting blurred between what is a bike and what is a truck. It’s not just Jimmie Johns for sandwiches. It’s UPS for holiday packages in Salem, and urgent medical supplies, and gardening companies in Seattle, and fresh fish in Port Townsend.