The last in a series of community workshops to help plan the new bike share program coming to Seattle this fall will be conveniently scheduled for anybody with some lunch free-time this week on Capitol Hill.

Representatives from Pronto Puget Sound Bike Share will be at Seattle Central Tuesday to talk about the program — and where the share’s stations will be located. “This will be the final opportunity for public input on station locations prior to our Fall launch,” Pronto’s Holly Houser writes, “so it’s important that we hear from as many people as possible.”

You can also weigh in on the station locations here. Below is a map showing the many places people have suggested stations (green), the places where stations are considered “viable” (blue), and the places in the top 10 of all location votes (red).

The Pronto community workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, May 27 at noon in Seattle Central room 1100.

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)

• 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.”

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  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. Continue reading →

The Puget Sound Bike Share is scheduled for a mostly on time arrival serving Capitol Hill, South Lake Union, Downtown and the U-District starting this September. A key component of the new system was unveiled Monday — the major brand sponsor for the bike share will be Alaska Airlines, program officials announced.

The new branding for the program is the Pronto! Emerald City Cycle Share. The $2.5 million, five-year sponsorship announcement is a major milestone for the share that has hit a bump or two along the way before picking up steam this spring. Group Health will also gear up to sponsor 15 of the share’s bike stations on Capitol Hill and in SoLu. Continue reading →

The Broadway bikeway will now be 1.1 mile long

With the First Hill streetcar only months from the start of service between Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square, the separated bike track designed to provide Broadway riders with a safer way to travel near the railed route is ready to fully open.

Officials are planning to officially open the Broadway bikeway all the way from Yesler to Howell for riders starting Wednesday, May 7th. Bright blue bollards now line portions of the 1.1 mile route to help provide additional safety for riders. Yes, along with the bright chartreuse streetcar stop art towers, they make for a peculiar streetscape.

The first, less than half-mile portion of the bikeway ending at Union opened last fall to light use by bikers and a decent amount of confusion as drivers figured out the new parking configurations around the route. While not entirely insulated from traffic safety issues, the protected lanes provide riders with a route far from the streetcar’s dangerous tracks as well as a relatively clear path through an increasingly complicated traffic environment on Broadway — and, hey, it’s even opened up some new commercial possibilities.

The bikeway and streetcar is set to radically overhaul transit along the Broadway corridor. The 2.5 mile streetcar line connecting down Broadway and Jackson to the International District and Pioneer Square is costing Sound Transit $134 million as part of the agency’s mitigation for the decision to skip First Hill in its light rail system.

City planners hope to extend the streetcar north from its existing Denny terminus toward Volunteer Park. In 2013, the Seattle City Council approved plans for the city’s Transportation Benefit District spending, which included $175,000 for planning of the Broadway Streetcar Extension. The money “provides funding to complete formation activities for a Local Improvement District (LID).” CHS reported on the planning for the streetcar’s push for Volunteer Park here.

Meanwhile, Capitol Hill Station and the U-Link light rail extension will come online less than two years after the start of streetcar service. You’ll be able to jump off the streetcar and onto light rail starting in the first quarter of 2016.

Never mind the bollards (Image: @checkereddan via Twitter)