Seattle Bike Blog

I am honored to learn that the Washington State Library's Center for the Book has selected my book Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from behind the Handlebars as a finalist for the 2024 Washington State Book Awards. It's one of six books in consideration for the general nonfiction award. The Washington [...]

Gone family bike camping. Be back next week!

The new bike lanes on MLK Jr. Way from S Judkins Street to Mount Baker Station feel like a shortcut. It's both more direct and more gradual than any of the alternative bike route options previously available. You no longer need to scale the cliffside up to Leschi to get between Franklin High School and [...]

The South Lake Union Streetcar broke down Friday, August 9, and nobody even noticed until King County Metro and SDOT sent out a press release about it the next Monday. Like, I searched through social media posts and could not find a single person mentioning issues riding the streetcar line the entire weekend that it [...]

The efforts by advocates at Central Seattle Greenways as well as readers like you have paid off. WSDOT announced that they are no longer planning to cut the Harvard Connection path to the planned Roanoke Lid as part of the SR-520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid Project. Following conversations with legislators, our contractor, project [...]

It is a great idea to redesign Leary Way NW and NW Market Street so they are safer for everyone while also connecting the Burke-Gilman Trail through Ballard, but SDOT's current design needs significant work in order to achieve those goals. SDOT has not released any new details about Councilmember Dan Strauss' Market/Leary plan since [...]

I took the new Lime Glider sit-down scooter for a test ride a few days before the company rolls 280 of them out in the U District starting for a trial. People can ride them anywhere they want within the Lime service area for the same price as their bikes and scooters, but Lime staff [...]

Pierce County hopes to design and construct a permanent replacement for the Spiketon Ditch Bridge on the Foothills Trail by summer 2025. The existing bridge was closed in November 2023 after an inspection found major structural degradation, and further inspections were so concerning that the county declared it an emergency safety concern and demolished it [...]

Crews have finished work on a project that makes it much easier and safer to walk or bike between the I-90 Trail and Mount Baker light rail station. Perhaps most importantly, the project made some significant crosswalk upgrades at the complicated and dangerous intersection of Rainier, MLK and Mount Baker Blvd near Franklin High School. [...]

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 [...]