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After plan went ‘sideways,’ SDOT says will find a way to build E Union protected bike lanes

Protected bike lanes on E Union won’t fall through the cracks. Seattle Department of Transportation officials say they are working on a plan for adding a protected area on the busy street for riders after the upgrade dropped out of the Madison Bus Rapid Transit plan and was also left off the drawing board for the city’s Bike Master Plan “five-year” projects.

The plan for E Union’s protected bike lane addition “very plainly went sideways,” SDOT chief of staff Genesee Adkins said at Tuesday’s meeting of the Seattle City Council’s transportation committee as she introduced a session reviewing the department’s bike plan projects (PDF).

“This was an oversight and we’re working right now to rectify it and find a way to build a facility for all ages and abilities on Union,” Adkins said.

Protected, separated bike lanes similar to the Broadway bikeway along a route paralleling the Madison BRT project have long been a bike and pedestrian safety talking point during the transit project’s planning process. But a much reduced version of the bike facility was what made the cut with the latest designs for the BRT project. Bicycling advocates spoke up and are now looking forward to more details of the plan.

Apologizing for the “confusion” the situation caused in the bicycling community, Adkins told the council committee Tuesday that more information will be available soon. “We hope you’ll accept this important footnote,” Adkins said, “and allow us a little bit of time to sharpen our pencils and try to make this a reality and make this happen. And, one way or another, to sort this out.”

 

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Central Districtite
Central Districtite
6 years ago

Great news!

Bill
Bill
6 years ago

Feels like time for me to link to the Trampe again.

RWK
RWK
6 years ago

Yet another screw-up from SDOT. By the way, whatever happened to the issue of the closed pathway at Lowell School? SDOT had promised a decision by the end of last November, yet the path remains firmly closed.

capicola
capicola
6 years ago
Reply to  RWK

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/ridgegreenway.htm

The proposed Ridge Greenway plan linked above shows new “family-friendly” E-W bike routes meant to connect Lowell and Meany. Note that the western terminus on Roy is at 11th Ave E–when it could easily extend another block west, through the right-of-way, to Federal Ave E.

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