Category: Social Ride

South Park celebration and ride

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Fun celebration and ride! From West Seattle Bridge into South Park with CM Tom Rasmussen. Opening celebration and ride.  And then some of us rode to Marination Ma Kai to celebrate Robin Randels birthday.

DSC06863CM Tom Rasmussen, SPU Director Ray Hoffman, and Seattle Parks & Recreation Director of Planning and Development Michael Shiosaki

Opening celebration for paving, storm sewers and protected bike lane on Portland Ave S, South Park, Seattle.  This extends the West Duwamish Trail in South Park. With SDOT, SPU, Seattle Parks, South Park Neighborhood Association, West Seattle Bike Connections, Cascade Bicycle Club.

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From West Duwamish Trail at S. Holden St/ Hwy 509, instead of taking Holden east, the the trail is now extended south to S Portland Street. Crossing of Holden is improved (except the bike/ped crossing button is out of order, and wayfinding signage could be improved). The path next to 509 is awesome – it did not look like there was room to do that.  Then S Portland from 509 to 8th Ave S has been transformed from a potholed, mostly gravel street with no storm drainage, no defined edges, and wild west parking and loading, to a beautifully paved road with drainage into a gravel strip that defines a protected bike and walking lane.

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Before (2013) and now

On a quiet weekend morning, the protected bike lane seems unnecessary. Come back on a weekday with semi’s traveling these streets, and forklifts loading trucks in the roadway, and it’s a different story!

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New storm sewers will help reduce the flooding and sewage backups that have plagued South Park residents and industries. That is the invisible and expensive part of the project.  SDOT and SPU broke out of the silos and really made this work for everyone!  Parks and Rec, too!  Special thank to Bob Winship from Seattle Bike Connections for many months of volunteering with South Park Neighborhood Association’s Transportation Committee to help this project work for the residents and businesses of South Park.  And Dagmar Cronn from SPNA – no project without Dagmar. And SDOT, SPU and Parks, for breaking out of the silos and making this a win on so many fronts. And Councilmember Rasmussen for pushing it forward.

DSC06846Dagmar Cronn

Next:  Get King County to step up and connect from South Park to the Green River Trail.  First, that miserable muddy patch by the Machinists’ Union to get from 14th Ave S to road parallel to 509.

 

Celebrate with South Park

Let’s celebrate this big accomplishment for South Park residents and industries!

Saturday 3/7 Ceremony and official ride starts at 10 at Duwamish Overlook at 8th Ave S and S Portland St. Some of us are planning to meet Tom Rasmussen at 9:15 under the WS Bridge where Alki and West Duwamish trails meet, to ride over together. Not an official ride, but come ride with friends.

Bob Winship and others from West Seattle Bike Connections participated with Dagmar Cronn, the SPNA transportation committee, industry owners, ECOSS, SPU and SDOT to include a separated (and paved!) traffic, bike and walking route that does not interfere with the industries and jobs we need. Thanks especially to Art Brochet at SDOT and Council Member Tom Rasmussen!wdt_invite1

March 3 meeting – quick recap

That was a great meeting! Full house. Kathy will do minutes. Highlights here:

  • We set a 9:15 am meeting time to ride to South Park trail celebration this Saturday, leaving from under the WS Bridge where the trails meet;
  • Gordon Padelford from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways helped us prepare for 35th Ave Safety Corridor meetings and we discussed the new Vision Zero initiative;
  • Kathy Dunn gave a progress report on contacting owners about vegetation trimming on Spokane east of Harbor;
  • David Whiting will draft a letter to Cascade about advocacy;
  • Theresa Beaulieu, Al Jackson and Kathy Dunn volunteered to take shifts counting bike/ped traffic for a study Mike Hendrix is doing for the Delridge/Highland Park Greenway;
  • Don Brubeck will see if we need to back up Simon’s request to SDOT to restore lighting on bike path on Spokane near East Marginal, and Jodi Connolly and Keith Newnham’s request to repaint the bike box at Andover and Delridge;
  • Theresa will represent us at Delridge District Council for NPSF grants;
  • Mike volunteered for 2016 grant for SW Yancy & Avalon SW;
  • Don will go to the next Bridging the Gap Levy outreach meetings;
  • and last but certainly not least: Anna Hendricks volunteered to be our volunteer coordinator to receive, welcome and match up volunteers with projects and events.

Spokane Street Bridge – open for ships, breathing and stretching

Bridge open tonight… time to stretch, chat, check for messages. What do you do when the bridge opens just before you make it to the gate?

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Have you seen Kelli Refer’s little book Pedal Stretch Breathe – the Yoga of Bicycling? Bridge opening can be a good time to be present, to find contentment, even if you will be late for dinner, or in my case tonight, late for a yoga class.

“Bicycling has the capacity to shift the paradigm of the way you see and interact with where you live. Distance is transformed, community is redefined. Try to integrate the same mindfulness of a yoga practice into the act of riding a bike. See what happens. When you integrate a yoga perspective into your riding it amplifies the importance of the present moment and helps you listen to your body.” Kelli Refer