Tag Archives: bikes

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

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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). Continue reading →

Them’s the brakes: Drivers celebrate removal of public bike share from their Seattle streets with jubilant parking

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Capitol Hill commuters took their final rides until who knows when on a Seattle public bike share Friday. The city’s Pronto system will shutter at midnight. Don’t forget to dock your bike.

The shutdown comes after two and a half years of service following the system’s October 2014 launch. Back then, around a third of Capitol Hill-identifying respondents told CHS they planned to use the share at least monthly. That might have marked peak enthusiasm for the troubled, limited, and ultimately uncharacteristically underused system. Continue reading →

Learn how to advocate for Capitol Hill street safety on Sunday

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(Image: Capitol Hill Ecodistrict)

(Image: Capitol Hill Ecodistrict)

Capitol Hill residents interested in making Seattle safer for bicyclists and pedestrians can learn how to advocate for safety improvements on Sunday at Street Safety & Transportation Action Day.

Advocacy training will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. at 12th Ave Arts. After that, attendees will get to put their training to use doing business outreach in the area for two hours.

Alex Brennan said the idea for the event came from issues identified by Capitol Hill Renters Initiative members.

“One thing that’s come up is traffic safety — safe walking and biking, so we’ve been thinking about what’s a good way to get renters plugged into those issues locally,” he said. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Rapha Seattle debuts with grueling E Pine hill stage

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A new addition to Pike/Pine’s retail landscape had better get used to starting its events with a hillclimb. Rapha Seattle debuted last week at Melrose and Pine. Saturday morning, the international cycling brand’s shop held its inaugural group ride — a two hour or so tour to Mercer Island beginning with the notoriously exhausting E Pine hill stage. Continue reading →

Rapha Seattle opens on Capitol Hill this week

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In October of 2013, neighbors enjoyed one final night at Bauhaus inside its original Melrose and Pine location. The only activity at the corner since has involved hard hats and construction crews building the eight-story, preservation incentive-boosted Excelsior Apartments above the old block formerly home to the cafe and a collection of independent shops and a small handful of apartments.

That will change this week as global cycling brand Rapha is ready to debut its latest “clubhouse” retail and cafe concept on the corner:

We’re thrilled to announce the opening of Rapha Seattle on Wednesday, March 22nd at 8AM. Rapha Seattle will offer the latest Rapha products, host events and exhibitions, serve the finest coffee as well as screen live road racing throughout the year. We hope to see you soon.
Continue reading →

SDOT plans changes to improve safety on Broadway — including an ‘all way walk’ at Denny

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Some wanted an all-walk intersection, which would only let pedestrians through and then only allow motorists to go, at Broadway/John/E Olive Way, but they’re not getting one — at least not there.

Instead, after analyzing the intersection, Seattle Department of Transportation plans to give pedestrians an advance walk signal before concurrent drivers get a green light, put in left turn lanes on John and E Olive, and turn the intersection at Broadway and E Denny Way, a festival street, one block south into an all-walk.

The announcements are wins for organizations like Seattle Central Greenways and the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce who have been pushing SDOT to do more to address safety issues around Broadway’s increasingly busy core.

Continue reading →

E Pine’s PUBLIC Bikes shop announces plans to close

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PUBLIC Bikes shop will close its Capitol Hill store and exit Seattle at the end of March, just a few days short of two years after expanding to the city.

“The beauty of our space, our product and our service ethos resulted in creating an inclusive, welcoming bike shop on Capitol Hill,” the announcement of the closure plans reads. “All of us walk away proud, grateful and thankful to those whom we’ve met and helped get back on a bike.” Continue reading →

Another Capitol Hill crossbike to be installed on E Pine

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Capitol Hill’s already colorful pavement is about to get a few more markings on E Pine near Broadway. The Seattle Department of Transportation says the intersection of Pine and Nagle will be the next on the Hill to get the “crossbike” treatment:

We use bright green paint to make crosswalk-like stripes at intersections where bicyclists and drivers have come into conflict. Some people call these striped lanes a “crossbike.” Think of it as a crosswalk for people biking.

The city says a crossbike can help raise “awareness for both bicyclists and motorists to potential conflict areas” and “makes bicycle movements more predictable,” among other benefits. During last September’s Park(ing) Day street park pop-ups around the city, the Cascade Bicycle Club’s installation created a semi-separated bikeway along the same stretch’s also conflict-creating eastbound lane. Continue reading →

Safe streets advocate challenges Mayor Murray

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(Image: Andres Salomon for Mayor)

(Image: Andres Salomon for Mayor)

At least one person in Seattle will pose a challenge to the incumbent.

Mayor Ed Murray is, of course, running to keep his office in City Hall and already has $100,000 in funding on hand. So far his only real challenger out of the four candidates who have declared so far seems to be Andres Salomon, an Ecuadorian immigrant whose family gets around the city by biking, walking, taking public transit — they don’t own a car.

The 36 year old has been working on safe streets advocacy for about five years. He first got into it because he wants his son, Atom, to be able to walk and bike safely.

“I’d hoped we’d make better progress by now and yet every week it seems somebody’s hit crossing 65th,” Salomon told CHS. “… We’re not there yet. I think that becoming mayor is the quickest path to getting the safe streets that I would really like for myself and my family.” Continue reading →

Mayor kills Seattle’s public bike share

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By the end of March, Seattle will no longer have a public bike share system. Mayor Ed Murray announced Friday night the city will take $3 million set aside to replace its struggling Pronto system and instead put the money to work making bicycling and pedestrian improvements across Seattle. The $4.4 million budget required to start the system in 2014 and the $1.4 million approved last March to keep the system afloat? Poof.

“This shift in funding priorities allows us to make critical bicycle and pedestrian improvements — especially for students walking and biking to school,” Murray said in a statement. “While I remain optimistic about the future of bike share in Seattle, today we are focusing on a set of existing projects that will help build a safe, world-class bicycle and pedestrian network.” Continue reading →