Category: General

A record number of people crossed the Spokane St Bridge by bike today.  More are finding  this is a good, reliable way to avoid Viadoom.
Previous high was 1,847, set on May 14, 2014.  Today, it was 2,525!

With nice weather and Viaduct closure incentive, we should be able to set a monthly record for May!

Lots more people are riding bikes to get to other places in West Seattle, too. They just don’t cross this bridge.

The counter counts each one-way trip. That is the same way that vehicle traffic counts are done.  You can see average annual weekday counts on Seattle traffic flow maps here. The Spokane St Bridge average weekday traffic count was 10,300 in 2014.  2,000 bikes is about 20 percent of the number of car and truck crossings on the low bridge.  Not insignificant.
The high bridge count is about 10 times that. Each person on a bike is one less car or bus seat on the high bridge. It makes a difference for everyone on the road.

Count data is available from SDOT here, or by clicking the link in the upper right corner of our home page.

Here are a few. We will add more as the Viaduct Closure looms and Bike Everywhere Month approaches.
West shoreline route, flat and scenic, from Alki Point.
White Center, as flat as it can be, with a hill between Puget Ridge and Pigeon Point down to the Spokane St Bridge.

Alki to Downtown
Downtown to Alki

White Center to Downtown

Downtown to White Center

Pioneer Square to Arbor Heights Direct  [this is shortest route, but hilly, with a tough hill southbound from SW Alaska St up to Mt St Vincent]

If you have a fave, feel free to offer it up!

Avoid the Viaduct closure traffic jams!    Test ride a bike commute route this Sunday, April 24 at 9:00 am.

If you or people you know are interested, but uncertain, come join us and try it out!  If you ride a bike while Bertha has the viaduct shut down, you can save a seat on a bus or a car space on the road for someone who really needs it, while you get some exercise and save some time.  Any bike in working order can do the job for your 30 to 45 minute ride. It does not take special clothes or anything much else besides a lock and a place to secure your bike while you are at work.

Meet Al Jackson at Lowman Beach Park on Beach Drive, or Bob Winship at Thriftway in Morgan Junction or ~9:20 at California and Alaska at the bike corral in front of Starbucks at the WS Junction.
Ride at a stay-together social pace into Pioneer Square and the 2nd Avenue protected bike lanes. And back!

Details in our Events Calendar.

We can also give you custom bike route advice, and have a few volunteers willing to be your bike buddy for a weekday morning or evening commute.  Ask here or on our Facebook page, or email us at westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com

“It was almost exactly 3 years ago that we first reported a Viaduct closure was possible when the tunneling machine went beneath it”

Three years went by so fast! Bertha went so slow. But this is just in time for Bike Month (May). So, if some more people are able to take bikes to downtown it will free up bus seats and help a bit with car traffic. West Seattle Bike Connections and West Seattle Cyclery will lead some guided rides. 30 to 40 minutes to downtown from most places in West Seattle, and the viaduct closure will not change that. We’ll announce ride times and places on our website and Facebook pages, and so will West Seattle Cyclery. Usually in May there are 1,000 to 1,200 daily bike crossings counted on the Spokane St Bridge. Maybe we can double that this year and make a difference.

Good news tonight: WSBC member Joe Laubach has been selected to serve on the Move Seattle levy Oversight Committee!

Here is what we said in recommending him:
Joe will bring a balanced perspective on movement of people and goods in Seattle, with financial abilities the committee can use for oversight of Move Seattle’s progress.
We know Joe from involvement in creation of safer streets for people of all ages and abilities to walk and ride bikes in West Seattle and the Duwamish manufacturing and industrial area. Joe rides a bike to his job as an accountant at a Port of Seattle shipping company tenant, often with a stop to drop his daughter off at daycare. He understands first hand the the safety and connectivity challenges and importance of moving freight and people on bikes through the same corridors.

We are meeting at 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm Tuesday, March 2
HomeStreet Bank, 41st Ave SW & SW Alaska St
and you are invited. Please come join the discussion and planning to make riding a bike a great way to travel West Seattle.
This month’s agenda includes safety at some key intersections and an update on the Move Seattle levy program.

When several of us sent requests to SDOT to fix the notorious B.I.G tree root problem on the West Duwamish Trail at the north end of South Park, we thought maybe the SDOT Bike Program would be able to fix the problem, now that we helped pass the Move Seattle Levy to fund the program.

Instead, it looks like it got punted to the city’s lawyers and sign shop, who might justifiably be taking seriously about our complaints regarding the danger of falling into high speed traffic here.

So, the bike route is cut off at this mud puddle that we could wade through on foot. This sign is the only response to our requests so far.

Would rather have it go to the arborists and paving crew.

Our monthly meeting is this Tuesday,
6:30 to 8:00 pm
HomeStreet Bank
41st Ave SW & SW Alaska St.

Come if you can, to participate. plan. propose.  Agenda includes:

• Delridge-Highland Park Greenway – report from SBAB & SDOT mtgs. Next?
• Chelan 5-way intersection – report from SBAB & SDOT mtgs
• Seattle Neighborhood Greenways 20/25 campaign and other news (Paul)
• Advocacy Ride with Kelli Refer – report (Bob W, Al, Kathy, Paul, Don)
• NPSF Grant appl – Juneau & Croft (Mike and Kathy)
• West Marginal / Duwamish Trail – South Park tree root campaign (Al , Bill G)
• Fauntleroy Boulevard Project – take position on underground wiring $ + delay?
• your item here

We love the Delridge-Highland Park Greenway!  We pushed to include it in the Bicycle Master Plan update, and to give it high priority for funding, so it is great to see it happening.  Lots of good things about it will make it a safer, more pleasant route for people walking and on bikes doing everything from going to elementary school to commuting to work in SODO and downtown.  We do have concerns about safety, connectivity and effectiveness of two sections currently under construction. Brenda Mix, Mike Hendrix and David Geoffreon, members of West Seattle Bike Connections who live and commute year round along the route gave public comments at the January 6 meeting of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board. CJ Holt from SDOT  gave a presentation on design and status, and SBAB member and WSBC member Don Brubeck presented our observations and concerns.

SBAB followed up with a letter (here) to SDOT Director Scott Kubly with recommendations for improvements on this route, and to address construction safety on this and all such projects.  Thank you, SBAB!

Kelli Refer from Cascade Bicycle Club’s advocacy program came out and rode the route with several of us on January 18. Thank you, Kelli, for Cascade’s support.

We had a follow up meeting with SDOT staff and SBAB Chair Kristi Rennebohm Franz, to discuss the concerns and improvements that are still possible at this late stage of construction, and appreciate the time and effort taken by Dawn Schellenberg and CJ Holt to address the issues.  Takeaways:

Arterial stretch of 21st SW from angled 22nd SW to SW Dawson:  The traffic lanes will be narrowed. The sidewalk on west will be widened from 4 feet to at least 6 feet, but retaining steep slopes would make a wider path costly and grading at steep driveways would be difficult.  The east side shoulder will be paved. This 900 foot length on an arterial is sub-standard for an “all ages and abilities” route. It does not meet the Bike Master Plan intent for an off-street path along this portion of the route.  A mixed-use two way sidewalk path should be at least 10 feet wide to allow safe passing, especially when there is no planting strip between the sidewalk and traffic lanes. Mitigation to slow vehicle traffic will include speed humps, 20 mph speed limit signs and a painted fog line.  We suggested addition of flashing warning beacons triggered by bike riders with warning sign “bikes on roadway”, as are used at narrow tunnels and mountain roads. We requested monitoring of actual speeds over the next year and futher improvements if these measures do not result in 20mph vehicle speeds.

Route jog from 17th SW to 15th SW between SW Webster and SW Kenyon:  SDOT says traffic counts did not pass the threshold that warrants a signal or flashing beacon at crossings of 16th. We don’t believe the crossings are safe for children with just a marked crosswalk. We would not let our children use this route to get to Stanislo school or Highland Park school. We favor a one-block protected bike lane on 16th SW from Kenyon to Holden, closing off the sweeping free-right lane at Dumar, and a bike crossing at the traffic signal at Holden. SDOT will add speed humps on 16th at these intersections. That should make a difference!  We asked SDOT to monitor actual use by people on foot and on bikes on 15th and on 16th in roadway and on sidewalk, to see if the “jog” is actually used, and to look again at the crossing safety at Webster and Kenyon. Monitoring is planned.

This was the first time this greenway was reviewed by SBAB, which seems telling for a project of such significance to the under-served West Seattle neighborhoods of Pigeon Point, Puget Ridge, Highland Park and White Center.  The issues raised now are the issues we and others brought up in the 2013 public workshops.  We are hopeful from SDOT’s response now that the next Greenway for West Seattle — along 34th Ave SW from Roxbury to High Point and (improbably) on 30th Ave’s  “Snake Hill” to SW Brandon — will receive more timely and careful review, with revisions to design in response to community input and advance test rides and walks.