Seattle Bike Blog

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 →

The Ballard Missing Link of the Burke-Gilman Trail is headed back into litigation. But despite the pending legal action, the city is still working through the community design process that was was part of the February compromise agreement between SDOT, … Continue reading →

Did you know there’s a primary August 1? That’s not very far away. So if you haven’t been paying attention to the open Seattle Mayoral and City Council Position 8 races, now is the time to get caught up. The … Continue reading →

Mercer Island’s decision to sue Sound Transit and WSDOT in large part over HOV lane access on I-90 did not make the island a lot friends among people across the region who worried the lawsuit could delay and add costs … Continue reading →

The smile on Councilmember Mike O’Brien’s face somehow grew even bigger than usual while listening to longtime trail opponents and advocacy staff at Cascade Bicycle Club praise each other for finally hammering out a Ballard Missing Link compromise after decades … Continue reading →

Though transportation is always an important issue in local elections, Seattle has passed a lot of major funding initiatives on the city, regional and statewide levels in recent years. With such major votes finally in the rearview mirror, other issues … Continue reading →

A trail over the 520 Bridge will revolutionize biking in the region. Bicycle travel times between many parts of Seattle and major Eastside communities will be slashed. Biking from UW to downtown Kirkland, for example, will be cut in half. Instead … Continue reading →

Well, the hours of daylight can’t get much longer than this, so it must be time to get naked, paint your body and bike through Fremont with more than a thousand other people. The 2017 Fremont Solstice Parade and Painted … Continue reading →

People using the Westlake Bikeway can now, finally, get to and through South Lake Union via a mostly uninterrupted route of bike lanes. It’s not the most direct route, and the connection into downtown is still incomplete. But for an … Continue reading →

Everyone knows that the Big Bike lobby runs this town. Just read the comments on any Seattle Times story about bikes. On second thought, don’t do that. Well, Thursday is your chance to be part of the shadowy, bicycling cabal … Continue reading →

Seattle took a major step closer to becoming the hub of private bike share innovation in North America today by releasing a draft version of its bike share pilot rules. This is our first look at the playing field SDOT is … Continue reading →

Traffic enforcement is often cited as one of a community’s strategies for achieving Vision Zero. But a traffic violation should not lead to someone being deported. That’s the message of a letter signed by a coalition of groups working with Seattle Neighborhood … Continue reading →

It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! Here’s a list of stuff we’ve been reading lately. This is also an open thread. Is there something bikey on your mind you want to discuss? Start a conversation in the comments below. First … Continue reading →

For the seventh year, the folks behind the monthly Menstrual Monday rides will host the Girls of Summer All-Girl Alleycat Saturday. The women/trans/femme ride will have all new stops this year and boasts a serious list of prize sponsors. It’s the kind … Continue reading →

The City of Bellevue, the UW and Microsoft just launched a fascinating machine-learning effort to analyze traffic danger and identify collision locations and conditions before they happen. But they need your help marking-up segments of video to identify people walking, … Continue reading →

All you need for summer fun is your bicycle and the Seattle Bike Blog Events Calendar. Below are a couple items on the list for this weekend. If you know of an event that isn’t listed on the calendar, add … Continue reading →

Just in from Seattle City Light: Construction for Transmission Line Relocation Project (TLR) Phase 2 – South King Street west of Alaskan Way closed to vehicles for up to two weeks Location: Intersection at South King Street and Alaskan Way … Continue reading →

Downtown just got a new bike lane on Spring Street. It’s not the kind of bike route addition that’s going to start any biking revolutions, but it’s a major improvement over what was there before. And with just a few … Continue reading →

If I didn’t take the screenshot myself, I would assume this was a clever photoshop joke. But it’s real, as Washington Bike Law (a SBB sponsor) pointed out on Facebook. The top of Saturday’s Seattle Times teased a story about … Continue reading →

I had a great time biking on freeways Sunday with more than 7,000 smiling, happy people. Freeways are rarely joyful places, which is what makes Cascade’s second annual Emerald Bike Ride so great. For a few hours a year, the region’s … Continue reading →

With Founder and Executive Director Cathy Tuttle retiring, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways staffer Gordon Padelford is getting ready to take the organization’s helm. He will be the first ED of the organization other than Tuttle, who founded it in 2011 and led … Continue reading →

Spin, one of at least three companies hoping to launch a stationless bike share service on the streets of Seattle this summer, just landed $8 million in venture funding, according to a company press release. This funding news highlights what is … Continue reading →

One year after the bike crash at 13th and Yesler that took Desiree McCloud’s life, her brother Cody has filed claims against Sound Transit and the City of Seattle that blame the First Hill Streetcar tracks for her death. Cody told … Continue reading →

For just one morning, the I-5 Express Lanes through downtown Seattle, the main deck of the 520 Bridge, a path through Bellevue and the I-90 Express Lanes will be filled with thousands of people on bikes. It’s hard to over-hype … Continue reading →

You can bike around our amazing city, eat a bunch of donuts and support Bike Works all at the same time Saturday. I know it sounds too good to be true, but that’s what happens when Ian from Bicycle Benefits … Continue reading →

A series of planned paving projects in Green Lake and Wallingford are a big chance to make significant improvements to the North Seattle bike network. And of course, the city could save a lot of money by making these improvements … Continue reading →

There are only so many ways to get up West Seattle’s formidable hills, and SW Avalon Way is an absolutely vital one. Connecting the Alki Trail/West Seattle Bridge to Fauntleroy and the heart of West Seattle, Avalon is one of … Continue reading →

West Seattle’s Gabriel Scheer was a founding member of Pronto Cycle Share, so he was disappointed when that now-shuttered bike share system failed to expand beyond its small service area. “I don’t think it served the city as well as it … Continue reading →

For the 49th year, Seattle kicks off Bicycle Sunday today (May 21). Three miles of Lake Washington Blvd will go car-free 12 Sundays in 2017. It’s a great chance to experience of the most beautiful urban streets in the world … Continue reading →

I biked on Rainier Ave from Columbia City to downtown during rush hour this morning, and it was peaceful, easy and fast. As part of the Bike Everywhere Day celebration, Cascade Bicycle Club and Bike Works partnered to host a … Continue reading →

Washington State is getting a Bicycle Safety Advisory Council to help watchdog and improve the state’s approach to keeping the thousands of its residents who bike safe. The council is named in honor of Cooper Jones, who was killed while biking … Continue reading →

Sound Transit is offering a sweet deal on membership to two of its stations’ secure bike cages: Six months free if you sign up for a year. The catch is that you have to sign up by the end of … Continue reading →

Cascade Bicycle Club is hosting four rides from different ends of town that will converge at City Hall Friday for a rally to support a Basic Bike Network to and through downtown. The rides are part of the annual Bike … Continue reading →

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part One of a two-part series by NE Seattle Greenways leader and former mayoral candidate (“I ran for Mayor before it was cool“) Andres Salomon. In this post, Salomon gives an update on the need for … Continue reading →

In three months, it will finally be illegal to flip through Facebook or watch Netflix on your phone while driving a car in Washington State. Though Washington was among the first state’s to ban texting while driving, the state has … Continue reading →

Bike theft continues to rise steeply in Seattle. And that not only costs people money, but many people won’t replace their stolen wheels. At a time when our increasingly congested city needs more people to get around by bike, theft is … Continue reading →

Transit works better when people can get to the stations. This might seem like an extremely obvious point, but many of the region’s biggest rail and express bus stations have awful walking and biking access problems. Like truly awful: And … Continue reading →

New analysis from Commute Seattle found that the city’s large workplaces (100+ employees) with the highest bike commute rates all are within five blocks of a protected bike lane or trail and offer secure bike parking. Even more telling: The … Continue reading →

It’s National Bike to School Day! Here are few scenes from around town. Got photos or stories to add? Let us know in the comments below or email tom@seattlebikeblog.com. We had over 200 kids ride to Bryant today. If we … Continue reading →

The S Holgate Street Bridge is far from the friendliest bike route between Sodo and North Beacon Hill, but it is definitely the most direct. But because the only sidewalk on the bridge turns into a staircase at the Sodo … Continue reading →