Jose Rizal bridge bike lane is in place, another harrowing slip lane closed

The painted bike lane is now in place on the Dr. Jose P Rizal Bridge on 12th Ave S, a big construction milestone in the 12th Ave Vision Zero project, which is creating a bike connection between Little Saigon and the Mountains to Sound Trail at the north end of Beacon Hill. Still to come: plastic delineator posts in the buffer between the bike lane and the other travel lane.

Still to come: posts.

With the bike lane comes the vanquishment of one of Seattle's most treacherous slip lanes, at Golf Drive on the west side of the street. As of this week, it is no more, with drivers directed to make a square right turn at the pedestrian island. This should make everyone not in a car more comfortable at this intersection.

Golf drive slip lane no more!

The biggest thing left to complete is work at north end of the PBL, at King Street. The curbs are being rebuilt at two of the corners right now to extend them out, at the spots where people biking would wait for the light to change across 12th, providing a protected spot at sidewalk level to wait for the light.

The protection for people riding bikes at the intersection of 12th and King.

The left turn lane from northbound 12th onto King Street toward downtown is being eliminated, with the turn lane and a protected turn phase being moved one block north to Weller St- that one's already in place. That gets rid of a dangerous turn movement at the connection between protected bike lane on 12th and neighborhood greenway" on King St.

Plans for S King Street and 12th Ave S.

As of now, there are no plans to extend the bike lane any further north than King Street, despite the high number of people biking who use that route.

Expect to see work being done in the coming weeks to add the plastic posts, and finish the work in Little Saigon, but the lane is open, and it's currently getting a lot of use as people biking who previously had to contend with impatient drivers on the bridge now have their own space.

Later this year we'll get more details on the next phase of this protected connection, the Beacon Hill bike route planned for construction in 2023.