If so, you have just five more days to get your name on the list of concerned residents who want to see a walking and biking trail along the Portage Bay Bridge as part of the SR-520 replacement project. Central Seattle Greenways is advocating for continuing the trail along the Portage Bay Bridge up to Capitol Hill. In the current plans for the unfunded $2,000,000,000+ project, the SR-520 trail does not continue to the Capitol Hill lid. For Capitol Hill residents, this trail would offer an easy and safe route to Montlake, the UW, North East Seattle neighborhoods, the East Side, and Madison Park (through a planned arboretum trail).
This trail is also important for the region. It would offer quality bicycle connections for people traveling south to employment in Downtown and South Lake Union and for people traveling north to the UW, Children’s, and other employment areas.
Central Seattle Greenways, Montlake Greenways, and Madison Park Greenways are seeking to make this safe, easy to find, direct, off-street trail a reality by petitioning WSDOT and the City. Although Neighborhood Greenway groups typically only advocate for creating low stress streets where people of all ages and abilities can enjoy walking and biking, this project has the potential to better connect our neighborhoods with family-friendly pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. If you want to see these improvements please consider signing the letter.
It is not just Greenways Groups who want this trail. SDOT found in its online survey for the Bicycle Master Plan update that off-street paved trail is the type of facility most desired by people who do not currently bike, but would like to if safer infrastructure existed. Additionally, in a response to the question “where would you like to ride that you currently do not” SR-520 was the second most mentioned (right behind the Burke missing link). Hopefully, someday soon everyone will be able to enjoy a new multi-use trail along the Portage Bay Bridge. Let’s make this happen.
-Gordon Padelford
Central Seattle Greenways
Want to learn more?
- Visit the Central Seattle Greenways or Seattle Neighborhood Greenways websites.
- Seattle Department of Transportation’s presentation to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board on August 1st presentation is available online.
- You can view WSDOT’s current plans on their Seattle Community Design Process website.
