Post navigation

Prev: (05/06/14) | Next: (05/07/14)

CHS Multimodal Transit Notes | Broadway bikeway opens, Harvard/Denny gets ‘all way’ stop signs, bike share meeting

Bm-s7r8CEAA7a1N

A rider cruises northbound on the newly opened, mostly complete Broadway bikeway. Memo to SDOT: You forgot to remove the hills! Turns out. Riding between Yesler and Howell via Broadway really is uphill both ways. Downhill both ways, though, too. (Image: CHS)

A rider cruises northbound on the newly opened, mostly complete Broadway bikeway. Memo to SDOT: You forgot to remove the hills! Turns out. Riding between Yesler and Howell via Broadway really is uphill both ways. Downhill both ways, though, too. (Image: CHS)

Bikeway green (Image: SDOT)

Bikeway green (Image: SDOT)

  • Bike to School Day: Everybody have fun and be safe — May 7th is Bike to School Day 2014:
    Join hundreds of riders in the Seattle area and thousands of other riders across the country on Bike to School Day. Volunteers set up stations at schools to distribute prizes and welcome students who bike on May 7.
  • Harvard/Denny gets stop signs: Suddenly, the busy crossing of Harvard at E Denny Way is a four-way stop. We haven’t heard back from the Seattle Department of Transportation but we can tell you already that the change seems like a welcome one with Harvard serving as the official bike route around the Sound Transit construction at Broadway and Denny. The only risk seems to be surprised drivers used to hurrying through the intersection as bikers and pedestrians waited to cross. Two thick, white stop lines have been painted across Denny to try to help drivers recognize the configuration. UPDATE: SDOT traffic engineer Dongho Chang tells CHS:

    The all way stop at denny and Harvard was installed for safety of pedestrians, bicycle riders, and drivers.  The bicycle detour onto Harvard for southbound bicycle riders is much safer with the all way stop.  We’ll review the operation and make adjustments if needed.  I’d appreciate any feedback as well.

    You can let him know what you think via email. UPDATE x2: An SDOT rep adds: “The four-way stop is temporary, but once the bike detour is removed SDOT will evaluate the location to determine if it should be permanent.”

  • For more on the bikeway, check out the Seattle Bike Blog

    For more on the bikeway, check out the Seattle Bike Blog

    Bikeway opens: It’s official. The complete Broadway bikeway from Yesler to Howell (and eventually Denny) is ready for business as of Wednesday, May 7th. The mayor won’t be holding a ribbon cutting or any kind of official ceremony to mark the opening. He likes to call it the “Broadway Protected Bike Lane” —

    Just in time for National Bike Month, Broadway’s Protected Bike Lane opens Wednesday morning, May 7. The protected bike lane, a design feature of the First Hill Streetcar project, helps cyclists avoid streetcar tracks and creates a facility where people of all ages and abilities can ride a bike.

     

    The City of Seattle is developing the First Hill Streetcar in a partnership with Sound Transit with funding of $134 million provided through the 2008 voter approved Sound Transit 2 (ST2) transit expansion plan. Construction of the protected bike lane was included with the First Hill Streetcar Project in response to community input and the high concentration of bicycle riders who live, work or go to school on Capitol Hill and use Broadway as a major transportation corridor.

     

    Broadway is becoming a complete street where people can walk, bike, take transit or drive depending on their needs. Extending 1.2 miles along Broadway from Denny Way to Yesler Way, the protected bike lane incorporates a buffer between bike riders and moving cars. The facility features a two-foot buffer separating the bike lane from traffic or parking lanes to enhance bicycle safety and provide predictability for all users.

     

    Additional features of the ten-foot wide, two-way bike lane include smooth new road surfaces, bike-friendly drainage grates and green painted pavement at those locations where cyclists and motorists cross each other’s paths. Special traffic signals at intersections provide a few seconds of advanced green time for cyclists to ensure they are visible to motorists making right turns across the bike lane. (Right turns on red across the bike lane are prohibited along the entire facility’s length.) Posted signage warns motorists of the presence of bicyclists and informs them of the need to stop for bikes.

     

    The northern third of the Broadway Protected Bike Lane, the segment between Denny Way and Union Street, opened to cyclists in October 2013. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is applying lessons learned from the opening of the first segment in providing additional information about this new section. In advance of the protected bike lane opening, SDOT added 23 temporary signs with photos to clarify where motorists can and cannot park. Learn more about how to use protected bike lanes by visiting www.seattle.gov/transportation/PBL.htm. You can even watch a 40 second video showing how a two-stage left turn box works at www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=6436&file=1.

  • Pronto! Bike Share meeting on Hill: To kick-off a series of community meetings about the new bike share system coming this fall, Mayor Ed Murray and staff will be on hand at Barboza Wednesday night to answer questions, take suggestions and get people stoked to shell out $8 plus a $2 helmet fee to rent the some 500 bikes the project will launch with in September.

Bm-3jBDCcAAwAGJ

  • Transportation budget meeting: Wednesday night also features a meeting in our neck of the woods regarding the city’s transportation budget. City Council budget chair Nick Licata explains:
    Each meeting will have a dual focus. First, we’ll focus on the budgets of specific departments as listed below.  In addition, you’ll also be able to tell Councilmembers whether your neighborhood has specific needs and priorities. City government will transition to having seven district Councilmembers in 2016, as seen in the recently completed official districts map.
    After brief presentations of each department’s budget, constituents will have the opportunity to participate in small group discussions with Councilmembers, and to list their priorities for the featured departments.

    DATE/TIME: Wed., May 7, 6p – 8p
    DEPARTMENTS: Transportation/Land Use
    LOCATION: Garfield Community Center, 23rd and Cherry, Multipurpose Room (Central District)

  • Cars: Didn’t want to leave your automobiles out of the mix. Be careful if you travel to the Eastside this weekend — 520’s westbound lanes will be closed May 9th through 12th: “Contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will use the May 9-12 closure to pour the first batch of concrete – up to 30 truckloads – for the roadway deck on the new West Connection Bridge.” CHS wrote here about the bridge project and WSDOT’s half-funded 520 replacement through Montlake.
Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

7 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Comte
9 years ago

So, is the 4-way stop on Harvard & E. Denny temporary? I certainly understand putting it up while construction is on-going on Broadway (and while ginormous trucks are parked on the north side of Harvard, blocking views of oncoming traffic & pedestrians). But, it seems rather pointless to leave them up after construction is completed, since, you know, we just spent a bunch of $$$ on dedicated, separated bike lanes one block east.

iluvcaphill
iluvcaphill
9 years ago
Reply to  Comte

That intersection has needed a 4 way stop for years. I can’t tell you how many near misses I’ve had at that intersection as both a driver and a pedestrian. You can’t see anything around those parked cars. And there is a lot of questionable traffic that parks illegally around some of those apartment buildings where there is obvious drug activity going on and make visibility even more difficult.

MarciaFS
MarciaFS
9 years ago
Reply to  Comte

I’ve never understood why that intersection didn’t have a four-way stop (or a blinking yellow light, or something). Traffic on Denny is too fast for a residential area and you can’t see it coming until it’s almost too late. There should also be a four-way stop at Olive Way and Harvard. That one doesn’t have quite as bad of a blind spot, but there’s more traffic.

Becka
Becka
9 years ago
Reply to  Comte

That intersection looks like an excellent candidate for some bulb-outs to extend the sidewalk out past the parked cars.

trackback

[…] 15th Ave E’s coming-soon on-street bike parking will join six other spaces around the Hill inviting riders utilizing Capitol Hill’s increasing investments in bicycle facilities and safe/safer bike routes like the Broadway bikeway which fully opened Wednesday. […]

trackback

[…] Protected bike lanes have opened on Broadway in Seattle. […]

trackback

[…] you haven’t given it a spin yet, find a way to integrate the newly extended Broadway bikeway into your ride — then try it with a kid this […]