Tuesday, September 6 WSBC Meeting

6:30 to 8:00 at HomeStreet Bank, 41st Ave SW & SW Alaska Street.
You are invited!
Come plan for

  • a bike rodeo and the Disaster Relief Trials at West Seattle Summer Parkways,
  • support for Fauntleroy Boulevard Project,
  • choices for greenway routes around High Point and Morgan Junction.
  • and whatever is on your mind related to getting around by bike in West Seattle.

Endolyne Triangle Improvements

Thank you, JIm Curtin and Dongho Change at SDOT and Fauntleroy Community Association, for the “fast and light” project at Endolyne Triangle at the intersections of 45th SW, SW Wildwood Place,and SW Brace Point Drive.
These inexpensive changes make a tricky set of intersection easier to negotiate by foot, bike or car. And, a new bike corral and customer parking spaces for people who ride to Endolyne Joe’s and the Original Bakery!IMG_4696 (1)IMG_4695 (1)IMG_4691 (1)IMG_4693 (1)

West Seattle Bridge Trail Repaving

West Seattle Bridge Trail work included in Spokane St repaving coming up — thank you West Seattle Blog for reporting this under-the-radar project.
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/pave_spokane.htm

We’ll be looking for more information on design and detours during construction.

Duwamish Trail hazard removed – South Park

tree%20root%20with%20signs[3]IMG_0346 SP TreeIMG_4221 tree gone2016-07-25 14.02.08 R.I.P South Park Tree. A long saga is over. The notorious narrow humped passage around the tree in the Duwamish Trail is gone.  The trail is back to its full, not-so-wide width. It is flat and paved where there was a hazardous obstacle.

This cottonwood had been growing into the trail and getting worse for 13 years, by some accounts. Al Jackson, Bill Gobie and others from WSBC really pushed over the past 7 months to get SDOT to eliminate this hazard and restore the trail.  We thank SDOT for  doing it, and getting it paved immediately.

We hope that it will not take this much pushing in the future when there is an obvious hazard encroaching into the bike and pedestrian part of a busy street right-of-way.

We know that after every windstorm the fallen trees blocking  traffic lanes are removed within hours, and dangerous leaning trees are cut down. We also see that sometimes fallen trees just stay in the bike lanes and across trails and sidewalks for days, even on bike thoroughfares like Dexter Ave N this year.

We saw this past winter that the vehicle traffic lane was promptly repaired when the South Park tree roots started humping that pavement, while the trail remained in its dangerous condition. We know that trees are not allowed to sprout and grow in the vehicle traffic lanes anywhere.  And we wonder if this condition would ever be allowed to continue so long in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods than South Park?

We hope that it is starting to sink in that multi-use paths and trails and bike lanes are traffic lanes, too, equally important for the people using them to get to work, school, home, to and from all the places people in cars and trucks are going?

WSBC August meeting moved to 9th

We have re-scheduled our monthly meeting to Tuesday, August 9th, so we can participate in Night Out on the streets on the 2nd.
Same time 6:30 to 8:00 pm
Same place HomeStreet Bank, 41st SW & SW Alaska.

calendar listing

August 4 public meeting – 35th Ave SW & Greenway

We need a well designed and well built Greenway  parallel to 35th Ave, with safe crossings of “I-35”.  Can you attend?
SDOT public meeting including parallel Greenway planning:
Thursday, Aug. 4, from 7 to 9 p.m.
at Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW).DSC00064

Low stress bike routes along the north-south spines of West Seattle are our top priority for neighborhood bike travel within West Seattle. This meeting is about one of the key routes. Want to give input? A greenway here will connect people to public and parochial elementary schools, libraries, parks, playfields, clinics, and shopping. And it’s on a good commute route. It’s the only one currently funded for West Seattle. Let’s get it right.

Neighborhood Greenways and Vision Zero Want Your Input in West Seattle!

California Way – Cars and Bikes Win

Kudos to SDOT Pothole Rangers for response to CA Way before - AJCA Way after - AJ request on California Way downhill lane. Pavement was sinking, cracked, holding water and potentially ice on route down to Seacrest.

Al J sent request last week. Pothole Rangers started fixing yesterday.

Duwamish Trail – Cars win

SDOT, this is not what we had in mind for fixing the tree root disaster on the Duwamish Trail at north end of South Park.

Roadway was just patched for vehicles so they can keep going 40-50 mph. Trail worse than ever. Unaware bike riders can be thrown into traffic here.

We’ve been asking for repair since September, 2015. Others started the requests before that. Thought we were going to get action last February.  We are running out of room here as the tree grows further into the path. It’s time to move the curb out away from the tree if you won’t cut the tree.  Our regional trails deserve better. South Park deserves better.

Fix the trail!  

 

 

West Seattle Bike Connections's photo.
West Seattle Bike Connections's photo.

Disaster Relief Trials in West Seattle – Sep 25

2016-06-14 17.59.30Morgan Scherer and Al Jackson began planning routes for the Disaster Relief Trials 2016. It will be on September 25, during Summer Parkways in West Seattle.

Want to test ride some routes with us? Training games for cargo bikes, bikes with trailers, family bikes to deliver goods, messages, people after an earthquake or other disaster when roads, bridges and fuel supplies are disrupted. Reply here or at westseattlebikeconnections *at* gmail *dot* com.

There will be several classes of rides for the event, from a lighter family bike category for people with kids, on up to a 30 mile cargo bike ride with heavy loads and riding challenges.