We reported earlier this month that the city has painted a green bike lane in the westbound (downhill) direction of Pine as it crosses Bellevue. The PI reports that the intersection is among the top five spots in the entire city for reported collisions between people riding a bike and people driving.
The green lane was installed after the intersection made the Seattle Department of Transportation’s list of high-collision locations because five collisions were reported there within three years.
“That is a very tangible example of the high-collision bike program at work. We went out and reviewed and created a solution that now will help address this issue,” SDOT’s Rick Sheridan told the P.I. If you have any ideas of how the Pike/Pine corridor could be made safer for bikes, we had a pretty nerdy conversation about it over at Seattle Bike Blog.
Another of the top collision spots is off-Hill, but will likely be familiar to many among the Hill’s bicycling population: The south end of the University Bridge where Eastlake Ave crosses Fuhrman Ave. A popular route to Capitol Hill from the University Bridge bike lane requires people to merge left three lanes in one block in order to turn onto Harvard Ave.
This intersection was also where Bryce Lewis was killed in 2007 after he and another person biking were struck by a dump truck turning onto Fuhrman. The city has since installed a green bike lane at that intersection, as well.
The top spot went to NE 45th St in front of the Dick’s Drive-In in Wallingford.
Here’s a map of the top spots:
Pine and Bellevue is a bad place to bicycle. The hill’s too steep to safely ride up, and deadly going down. There are safer streets that run parallel to Pine (Pike, Union) where it’s not as steep. In the wake of all the death/injuries, the sensible thing to do is to ban bikes from such areas. I know that’s a Pandora’s Box to open, but it’s not about going green or politics, it’s about safety. The right decisions aren’t always the most popular ones.
How about we keep the bikes and ban the cars? I don’t think it’s fair for you to tell me that I’m not allowed to use my preferred mode of transportation, but you can keep using yours. The solution should be to find a way for EVERYONE to commute safely, not just drivers.
Also, I’ve biked up both Pine and Pike many times, and Pike is a bigger hill. I don’t know that I’ve every biked up Union, so I’m dubious that it’s a good route. Pine is actually one of the best roads to bike on to get between Capitol Hill and downtown. As a driver, you probably didn’t realize.
If you’re driving on Capitol Hill, you’re wrong.
Hope it helps, but I see cars pull into the green area often.