Seattle Bike Blog

UPDATE: You can follow my adventures to parks around town below. Park(ing) Day 2017 is tomorrow (Friday). For one day, neighborhoods across the city will have new mini parks, constructed and activated by neighbors. It’s a day dedicated to new … Continue reading →

The 2nd Ave bike lane will reach Denny Way next month. Work on the street has been ongoing for quite a while as the city prepared it for bike lanes and other improvements for all modes, such as badly needed … Continue reading →

A thief (or thieves) broke into Tacoma’s iDEA High School Sunday and stole more than 30 bikes belonging to the school’s chapter of Cascade Bicycle Club’s Major Taylor Project. The bikes were mostly quality road and mountain bikes, so the … Continue reading →

With thousands of bikes already in operation in Seattle and construction on a second cross-lake bike trail wrapping up in just a couple months, the City of Bellevue is considering its own permits to allow private bike share companies to … Continue reading →

We are two blocks closer to a complete connection between downtown and the Westlake Bikeway. SDOT installed Phase II of their three-phase rollout of protected bike lanes on 9th Ave N in South Lake Union this week. The bike lanes … Continue reading →

Organizing a bike train to school is an effective way to significantly increase the amount of daily physical activity every child needs to be healthy, a study out of Seattle Children’s found. OK, I know that sounds like a no-brainer. … Continue reading →

Moving by bike is one of my favorite things to do. It turns a stressful day of trying to cramp stuff into a car or strapping things to the roof into a fun day of riding bikes around town with … Continue reading →

This week, the authors of a disputed study promoting bicycle helmet laws with bike share systems penned an op-ed for Crosscut arguing that Seattle’s bike share companies should be forced to provide helmets with their bikes. Aside from the ick … Continue reading →

Rainier Ave needs bike lanes. There’s just no way around it. It’s the flattest and most direct way between Rainier Valley’s biggest business districts and downtown. The neighborhood cannot be truly accessible by bike without Rainier Ave bike lanes. Today … Continue reading →

Pike and Pine Streets downtown are among the biggest missing bike connections downtown, and the city wants to take action to make them safer and more comfortable by the end of the year. Like with 2nd Ave in 2014, SDOT … Continue reading →

From the very start, the city’s revamped neighborhood parks and street funding process was a victim of its own success. Early outreach generated around 900 projects ideas from community members. This was a huge increase in participation compared to the … Continue reading →

It goes without saying that you should probably spend your whole weekend on a bike. And hey, now that there are thousands of $1 bikes all over the city, you can’t use your bike’s flat tire as an excuse. Here’s … Continue reading →

In story after story about ofo, writers trained to capitalize company names write “Ofo.” But there’s a reason to type the name in all lowercase letters: The typography looks a bit like someone riding a bike. ofo This is part … Continue reading →

Spin and LimeBike have both announced new ways for people without smart phones, data plans or a credit/debit card to access their bike share services. People will soon be able to buy pre-paid Spin Access cards at Bike Works in … Continue reading →

The City of Sammamish and King County are fighting in court over four proposed stop signs on two very low-traffic streets serving a handful of wealthy lakefront homes, and that fight is further delaying construction on the E Lake Sammamish … Continue reading →

It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! For all you eclipse travelers stuck in traffic, this one’s for you. And arcing to the southeast: pic.twitter.com/0IGW97opGA — Josh Cohen (@jcohenwrites) August 21, 2017 First up, sometimes you just gotta do it … Continue reading →

Global bike share giant ofo has received its permit from Seattle and will launch 1,000 of its yellow bikes Thursday. Seattle is the company’s first U.S. city, joining Spin and LimeBike on Seattle streets and expanding the city’s $1 free-floating … Continue reading →

Seattle Bike Blog will return later this week. Turns out, there’s no wifi or cell service where I am. It’s wonderful.

Cathy Tuttle founded something very special when she started Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, the volunteer-empowering, community-centered safe streets organization she has led as Executive Director since its beginning in 2011. Tuttle is retiring, and the organization is hiring multiple staffers to … Continue reading →

See our Seattle Bike Share Guide for an updated list of bike share companies in Seattle, links to download their apps and a quick rundown on how it all works. No other U.S. city had crafted a permit for private, … Continue reading →

See our Seattle Bike Share Guide for an updated list of bike share companies in Seattle, links to download their apps and a quick rundown on how it all works. LimeBike says its first 500 bikes saw “about 10,000 rides” … Continue reading →

Five miles of the Eastside Trail are on schedule to open by the end of the year, including a mile extension from the current end of the Cross Kirkland Corridor Trail and four miles of trail between Renton and Newport … Continue reading →

King County Metro and King County Parks have partnered to launch a new transit-to-trailheads service that starts tomorrow. And each shuttle will have two spaces for bicycles. The shuttle starts at Issaquah Transit Center and makes stops at trailheads throughout … Continue reading →

The city is ready to unveil the latest design for the Northgate biking and walking bridge, set to open in 2020 to connect the under-construction Northgate Station to North Seattle College. They are hosting a drop-in open house Thursday (today) … Continue reading →

The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board is a great way to get more hands on with bike projects in the city and get some government experience at the same time. It’s a volunteer gig that meets the first Wednesday of every … Continue reading →

There has been a bit of confusion in recent days about whether Washington State’s new so-called E-DUI distracted driving law applies to people biking. It does not. The Seattle Times published a story over the weekend saying explicitly that the … Continue reading →

Don’t procrastinate any longer. It’s time to make a choice and get your ballot in the mail or a (postage-free) nearby dropbox. If you are registered to vote but have lost your ballot, you can still vote! Follow the instructions here … Continue reading →

See our Seattle Bike Share Guide for an updated list of bike share companies in Seattle, links to download their apps and a quick rundown on how it all works. People took 2,000 rides on LimeBike in two days, the … Continue reading →

See our Seattle Bike Share Guide for an updated list of bike share companies in Seattle, links to download their apps and a quick rundown on how it all works. LimeBike started rolling out its 500 bikes en masse Tuesday, … Continue reading →

WA State Ferries will not charge extra for most bike trailers, Cascade Bicycle Club reported Wednesday morning. The WA Transportation Commission will instead limit the new rules to people hauling kayaks or canoes on a bike trailer. So people hauling … Continue reading →

See our Seattle Bike Share Guide for an updated list of bike share companies in Seattle, links to download their apps and a quick rundown on how it all works. People took 5,008 rides on Spin in the company’s first … Continue reading →

Richard Smith will be the new Executive Director of Cascade Bicycle Club and Washington Bikes, the organizations announced Friday Smith comes from Microsoft, and the press release says he was “the executive sponsor of his division’s Diversity & Inclusion efforts” … Continue reading →

It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! First up, University of Tennessee Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Chris Cherry and graduate students Ziwen Ling and Nirbesh Dhakal recently documented a ton of bike crashes at a single railroad crossing (hmm, … Continue reading →

Looking for bike share app download links, an up-to-date list of companies in operation or rules on where to park? We’ve got it all and more in our Seattle Bike Share Guide. People took 1,000 rides on Spin bikes during … Continue reading →

WA State Ferries has proposed a dramatic fare hike for people pulling a bicycle trailer. For the Bainbridge and Bremerton runs, for example, a person biking with a trailer would have to pay $16 during peak season, a 73 percent … Continue reading →

Nothing costs a dollar anymore. But that’s all it costs to ride one of those bright orange or lime green bikes popping up on sidewalks and bike racks around Seattle. See our new Seattle Bike Share Guide for questions about … Continue reading →

Seattle Bike Blog has not yet endorsed in the mayoral race. See our coverage of the June mayoral forum on transportation and housing here. The August 1 primary ballots are in the mail. When I received Nikkita Oliver’s answers to … Continue reading →

The Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link team has been working hard in recent months to gather very granular comments about the planned trail route to address safety and business access concerns section-by-section. SDOT staff held a series of workshops on specific trail … Continue reading →

King County Parks is doing some asphalt work on a section of the Burke-Gilman Trail in Bothell Thursday. So give yourself a little extra time in case of delays. From King County Parks: There will be upcoming trail asphalt pavement repair … Continue reading →

Your ballot will arrive in your mailbox within a week or so, and you only have until August 1 to figure out who you’re going to vote for. Online registration and address changing already ended, but you have until July … Continue reading →

Spin and LimeBike appear to be the two bike share companies most ready to get an early start on the streets of Seattle this summer. SDOT has confirmed that the companies are the only two who have yet submitted complete … Continue reading →

Kitsap Transit is set to start service on the first of its new walk-on fast ferries to downtown Seattle Monday. The first route will provide a much faster alternative to the Washington State Ferry to Bremerton (about a half hour vs … Continue reading →

Longtime Kitsap County volunteer firefighter, Seattle-to-Portland bike ride medic, father, grandfather and husband Joe Vlach died July 2 while biking near Poulsbo. He was 77. Our condolences to his friends and family. Vlach was on a training ride to get … Continue reading →

Some terrible person shot Haley Keller with a pellet gun Monday night while she and her husband Dave were biking home from watching the sunset at Golden Gardens. Keller, a Connect Ballard advocate, Board Member of Cascade Bicycle Club and … Continue reading →

Bike share is coming back to Seattle. SDOT just released its permit application (PDF) for a six-month pilot program. Staff says companies should expect one to two weeks for their permits to be processed. Once approved, companies can start putting … Continue reading →

It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! This is an open thread. First up, a quick and clear comparison of the benefits of well-used bike share (and sidewalks) vs car parking spaces in New York City. “The Citi Bike dock … Continue reading →

Tomorrow is your last chance to vote for the best community-generated park and street projects where you live. The city revamped its community-generated park and street improvement program this year, turning the old Neighborhood Parks and Street Fund into Your … Continue reading →

Attention holiday bike adventurers: A half-mile section of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail near Fall City will be closed for culvert work now through July 7. From King County Parks: Snoqualmie Valley Trail will be closed for a culvert replacement near … Continue reading →

I-5 is a giant barrier between downtown and our city’s densest neighborhoods, Capitol Hill and First Hill. Land is so immensely valuable in this area that building a top over I-5 (essentially a giant bridge that feels like city land) … Continue reading →