Watch: Bob Svercl visualizes better options for the 4th Ave to Space Needle bike lane

Bob Svercl recently created a video with fancy graphics showing a couple options for the city's planned bike lane to connect the 4th Ave bike lane to Seattle Center near the Space Needle. Bob shows the city's early design concept, a version of the one I suggested previously on Seattle Bike Blog, and a third idea of his own that bypasses Broad Street entirely.

It's a great video that helps visualize things better than the big block of text I wrote. I still like my idea the best in large part because I really like the potential for a better Broad Street beyond just the bike connection. But Bob's concept of staying on the east side of 5th Ave could be the easiest and most direct bike route connecting to both Thomas and Mercer Streets. There is more space on the east side of 5th, and though it sure would be nice to connect to the stub bike lane on the west side of the street south of Mercer, it could very well be easier to complete the connection on the east side instead.

I like Bob's idea better than the city's early design because it is a quality bike connection that doesn't have an awkward diagonal crossing and doesn't muck up any future projects on Broad Street. If they aren't going to do Broad the right way now, then let's wait to do it justice later. It could be such a cool space someday, and a remake could be part of a future Broad Street bike connection to the waterfront.

Bob's graphics did a pretty good job of capturing what I wrote, but I guess I want to clarify that I'm imagining more dramatic changes to Broad Street than is pictured. The street should preserve access to the pickup zones and parking lots while utilizing the rest of the space for the bike lane, enhanced crosswalks, charter bus and car pickup zones, and maybe even some public art in the future (perhaps a gateway to the space needle of some sort?). Make all or most of Broad from 5th to Denny one lane one-way southwestbound, which would allow for a much less complicated intersection at 4th, Broad and John. John would become the preferred way to and from the Space Needle loop, assuming we still want to keep that open to cars (I'm guessing the Space Needle folks do in fact want this). Again, Broad Street is no longer a freeway access road, so its design needs to change. The current design isn't doing anybody any favors. My take is that its primary role today is as a Seattle Center gateway, and so that's how we should be designing it.