Alert 5/4: Montlake Bridge will be closed 10am to 4pm for Yacht Club season opening + Where’s the Seattle Times editorial against this?!?

Promo image from the Seattle Yacht Club.

The Montlake Bridge will be held in the open-to-boats position for the Seattle Yacht Club's annual boating season opening day celebration Saturday (May 4) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Depending on your destination, detouring to the University Bridge can be rough if you've never done it before. Boyer Avenue E is the only direct and reasonably flat option, but it does not have bike lanes and is extra busy when one of the two bridges is closed. If that is not appealing to you, I suggest detouring via Interlaken Blvd if possible. It is much slower and requires more climbing, but it is also a lot more pleasant. Alternatively, you can get between Montlake and Roanoke Park via E Lynn Street and Delmar Drive E, which still requires climbing but is shorter than the Interlaken route if you are using the 520 Trail.

What's really odd is that I just checked the Seattle Times editorial page, and they must have somehow forgotten to write their screed against yet another case of the city and state renting out a vital piece of public infrastructure to a special interest at a time when residents will be asked to debate transportation priorities and vote on a massive property tax proposal."* The Seattle Yacht Club is incorporated for the purpose of encouraging yachting and boating of all kinds, and the development of the recreational marine advantages of the Pacific Northwest," and only boats registered with the club are allowed to participate. There is no meaningful difference between this boating event and Sunday's Emerald City Ride on the West Seattle Bridge that had left the Editorial Board so aghast. The Yacht Club is even-cover your children's ears-selling merchandise. For money.

Either the Editorial Board forgot to write another piece against this event or the Board's March 26 editorial was a nonsense argument made in bad faith to encourage government action against a bicycling organization they don't like. But surely our city's premiere champions of free speech would never write something like that.

*(To be clear, I am not actually against Saturday's boating season opening event, which is fun to watch every year. Special community events on public transportation facilities are great. While I wish there were a better bike detour, the joy and community-building that special events can provide are usually worth the temporary disruption to usual travel.)