Seattle Bike Blog

Making a street safer does not increase emergency response times, a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives found. It is the first significant study on the topic, according to the journal article. Specifically, the study looked at the actual change in emergency response times on streets in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, [...]

Gig Car Share's fleet of pay-as-you-drive Priuses and their pre-installed bicycle roof racks will leave town December 27 as the AAA-owned company ceases all operations, according to an email I received as a Gig member. Geekwire reports that the shutdown is for the whole operation, not just Seattle. This is a huge blow to car-free [...]

First-year Seattle Mayor Charley Royer sent this photo to City Councilmember Jeanette Williams following the opening of the first section of the Burke-Gilman Trail in 1978. On it he wrote, Jeanette - If they get one with training wheels, I'll race you home. - Charley." Williams died in 2008, and now Royer died Friday morning, [...]

The trail across the 520 Bridge will be closed from 11 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday along with all the traffic lanes and ramps. The Montlake Bridge and Montlake Boulevard will remain open for regular travel. Kind of a bummer for the bridge to close for a summer weekend with such a spectacular forecast. [...]

Hey Tacoma folks, I'm headed your way August 3 along with Anna Zivarts, author of the excellent book When Driving Is Not An Option: Steering Away From Car Dependency. This will be the first ever Seattle Bike Blog event in Tacoma, and I'm looking forward to meeting up with you all at this Downtown On [...]

The large raven sculpture cawing at the start of the Interurban Trail after crossing from Seattle into Shoreline has been stolen. It is the second public sculpture to go missing in recent weeks after the beloved piece Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes was stolen from her place near the northwest end of the University [...]

Seattle's Vision Zero road safety redesign projects have not had a negative impact on local businesses, according to a study by University of Washington researchers published in the peer-reviewed journal Injury Prevention (PDF) earlier this year. Results suggest that road safety improvement projects such as those in Vision Zero plans are not associated with adverse [...]

After years of piloting solutions and testing how they impact transit service, SDOT is beginning work on a rebuild of the complicated intersection at 3rd Ave and Yesler Way in Pioneer Square that they hope will prevent the potentially deadly collisions that were unfortunately common there previously. The intersection of 3rd and Yesler has experienced [...]

Now that Mayor Harrell and the City Council have officially sent the $1.55 billion 2024 Transportation Levy (PDF) to Seattle voters in November, we can put all the debates about expanding the levy behind us and take stock of how it ended up. With $160.5 million for Vision Zero, $193 million for sidewalks and ADA [...]

As a kid growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis, I was obsessed with hockey. One of my earliest hockey memories was watching Brett Hull score 50 goals in 50 games when I was five years old. I spent so much time on inline skates in my driveway or nearby church parking lots that [...]

I was all set to write up a story about the uncertain future of the Ballard Missing Link of the Burke-Gilman Trail when, in a last-minute Hail Mary minutes before official adoption, Councilmember Dan Strauss reintroduced his previously-failed amendment to fund his trail connection plan via Leary Way and Market Street and found the votes [...]

During the long train ride from Los Angeles to Long Beach, I tried to figure out whether it would be better to wait for a bus to my friend's apartment or just walk it instead. But as I stepped off the A Line, the obvious answer was staring right at me: Long Beach Bike Share. [...]

Seattle voters will have an opportunity this November to pass the largest city investment in transportation infrastructure in recent memory. Assuming the Seattle City Council does not make any additional changes to their amended levy proposal (spending breakdown PDF) before final approval next week, the 2024 Seattle Transportation Levy will put $1.55 billion into repairing [...]

SDOT announced that eight neighborhood greenway projects previously scheduled for construction and/or planning have been put on pause because inflation is affecting our large-scale project budgets more than initially expected," according to the department. The Central District and Capitol Hill were hit the hardest by the pauses, though there are pauses in all districts other [...]

Summer is officially here! Below is a look at some of the bike events happening around town this weekend. Do you have an idea for a fun bike event? Make it happen! Then be sure to list the details for free on the Seattle Bike Blog Events Calendar so we can help spread the word. [...]

The Eastrail's NE 8th Street bridge near Wilburton Station in Bellevue is scheduled to open at noon June 23 (Sunday). As we noted when the station first opened this spring, the bridge is a key link to an area that seems destined to play a special role in connecting biking and transit on Eastside." Once [...]

SDOT is considering plans to improve bike access up and down Highland Park Way SW, a long and fairly steep section of roadway that serves as the only viable bike route option between the Duwamish Trail/1st Ave Bridge and Highland Park. Complete their online survey by June 15 (tomorrow!). Building this connection is one of [...]

Two projects with big potential for connecting Georgetown to the north and south are officially seeking contractor bids with hopes that construction can begin in 2024. The Georgetown to South Park Connection is a walking and biking trail from S Bailey Street in the Georgetown business district to the South Park Bridge. It is being [...]

Here's some good news you didn't know you needed: The King County Council has legalized riding Class 1 and 2 e-bikes as well as electric scooters on the county's trails. I'm guessing most of you out there had no idea this was not already legal, and e-bike riders have been happily and safely riding there [...]

Ian has left his perch on top of a water tower in Maine to give the Seattle Bicycle Benefits program renewed energy. That means not only are new businesses getting added to the Bicycle Benefits lineup, but Bike Bingo is also back for the summer. If you want to get a big head start on [...]

I was worried when I first read Lime's announcement that they were launching a new throttle-controlled e-bike in Seattle because their existing Gen3 pedal-assist e-bikes were by far the best bike share bikes I've ever ridden. Would the new Gen4 bikes be more like sit-down scooters than bikes (like the Veo Cosmo bikes")? Well, I [...]

Bridge inspectors who checked out the Foothills Trail's Spiketon Ditch Bridge last November must have seen something very scary because Pierce County not only closed the old rail bridge immediately after the inspection, they declared it an emergency and will tear it down this month. The bridge is stressed under its own weight and any [...]

Traffic deaths in Washington State reached a high in 2023 that the state has not seen in 33 years. That number of deaths in 2023 increased 10% over 2022. King County leads the way with 167 people killed in traffic, more than double the number in 2014. These are all the big numbers on a [...]

It's yet another weekend of major closures in the Montlake/SR 520 area. The Bill Dawson Trail between Montlake Blvd and Montlake Playfield will be closed late Friday evening (May 31) through early Monday morning (June 3) along with Lake Washington Boulevard between 520 and the Arboretum. However, walking and biking access will be open along [...]

They did it! The Seattle Department of Transportation changed the order of the traffic signals at 9th Ave N and Mercer Street to allow straight traffic, the bike lane and the crosswalk to go before the left turns. This was an idea I first suggested more than six years ago shortly after the new Mercer [...]

People who want to help promote safer and easier walking and biking conditions in Shoreline, assemble! The newly-opened Shoreline Bike Shack is hosting a free workshop 6 p.m. May 28 where you can learn about what's happening now in the city and meet other neighbors who also want to work to make the city more [...]

Peter Harnik, the author of a book documenting the history of the United States' rail trails will speak at Town Hall Seattle tonight (May 23) along with Katy Ricchiuto from Lid I-5 and Tyler Vasquez from Cascade Bicycle Club. The event starts 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall's Wyncote NW Forum space. Sliding scale tickets are [...]

Commute Seattle is hosting an end of Bike Month celebration 4-6 p.m. Wednesday (May 22) in Lake Union Park. A great excuse to hang out in a beautiful place, get some free food and swag, and talk with some cool folks. Details from Commute Seattle: WHEN: Wednesday, May 22, 4 - 6 p.m. WHERE: South [...]

Jessica Cherry reached out to invite me to get coffee a few months back. She was reading my book and had an idea for an essay that needed to get out but did not have any other home. I am so glad she decided to share it through Seattle Bike Blog. This February it was [...]

The goal: No more deaths or serious injuries at Dexter and Thomas. This seemingly unremarkable intersection has been the site of at least two tragedies in recent memory. Mike Wang was killed by someone making a left turn there while biking home from work in 2011, and Jaahnavi Kandula was killed by a speeding Seattle [...]

The 520 Bridge Trail will be closed between Montlake and Evergreen Point starting 11 p.m. tonight (May 10) until early morning Monday (May 13). Lake Washington Boulevard will also be closed between Montlake Boulevard and the Arboretum. The short section of 24th Ave E south of Lake Washington Boulevard, which is part of the Lake [...]

When I share the fact that a third of people in the United States can't, or can't afford to, drive, usually my audience is incredulous," writes Seattle resident Anna Letitia Zivarts in her book When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency" out today from Island Press. Zivarts will be speaking 7:30 [...]

We had a lovely Bike to School Day today. There were 68 bikes parked at Green Lake Elementary, and even more kids rode in on a parent's bike. There was so much joy and so many proud kids. Biking to school is just the best. Since my kid has been regularly biking to school on [...]

After a brief moment of excitement when Seattle Parks announced what appeared to be an expanded schedule for Bicycle Weekends this summer, the department corrected itself and confirmed that they are repeating the reduced schedule from 2023. The events previously known as Bicycle Sunday will still be a great time as they have been since [...]

It's been 30 years in the making, but people were finally allowed to bike on the upper West Seattle Bridge. For a few hours, anyway. The 2024 Emerald City Ride on Sunday routes people south on the SR-99 viaduct through SoDo and then up onto the West Seattle Bridge, a limited access freeway typical reserved [...]

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 [...]

After making very few changes, the City Council passed the Seattle Transportation Plan (STP") this week, supplanting the 2014 Bicycle Master Plan and sending it to the city archives. The STP is an ambitious document that attempts to combine all the city's modal plans and transportation priorities into a single mega plan, resolving as many [...]

It has been a long time since King County stopped maintaining a bike map. Seattle releases their updated map every year, but it ends at the city limits. But folks biking on the Eastside are mostly left to cobble together route info from wherever they can find it. That's why I have been very excited [...]

The King County trail network is on the precipice of next-level greatness. Our regional trails are already backbones for recreation and bicycle transportation, but major sections and connections along the EasTrail are just now coming online with more coming in the next couple years. The East Lake Sammamish Trail also opened last year, closing a [...]

I sure hope you didn't have any other plans on Sunday, because you can do bikes bikes bikes morning 'til night. Bike Works Executive Director Ed Ewing pitched to Seattle Bike Blog that people could attempt a Ride for Major Taylor/Bikecitement doubleheader. Are you up for the challenge? The day kicks off with Cascade Bicycle [...]