My dad found this in the Seattle Times this morning.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...keride12m.html

I cannot understand how this would help distance ourselves from fossil fuels. First of all, there is extremely bad traffic in this area during rush hour. If they created more lanes, wouldn't that help reduce our impact on the environment? We would no longer have to idol for 45-60 min while waiting for the unsynchronized lights to change. My sister does gymnastics at SPU, which is located right on Nickerson. This would make a much longer and harder commute for my parents.

Bikers are not the most pleasant people in the world either. My mom had a very bad experience with some bikers a few years ago, when they were blocking the road. My mom honked, and they parked their bikes in the middle of the road, while walking over and threatening her life. They do not deserve to have a whole lane for themselves.

They expect this to make us drive slower, when the reason we will be driving slower is the traffic. They did the same thing on Elliot ave. Reduced the three lanes to two. All this did was create a longer and more stressful commute for everyone (trust me, I travel on this road every morning to school). Even only being fifteen, this makes me angry.

Anyway, I hope non of this happens in Bellevue

 

I take elliot every morning -- the bus/bike lane has done nothing but create more congestion... AND there is a GD bike path from magnolia to the waterfront (aka not on elliot/western) that gently meanders thru Myrtle Edwards park SO why ride your bike in traffic when you have a dedicated lane along the waterfront????

Just wait until the viaduct comes down for whatever will replace it... from ballard to south of sodo will be faster on foot... with crutches... barefoot... on ice... etc.

totally objective -- can someone give me bullet points of McGinn sucesses since taking office? I am not being a smart a$$ just curious as I think my local political rage may be clouding my vision... drinks on me if Gregoire gets the solicitor general job :-)

 

McGinn has been a nightmare.

As one who cycles casually - I really hate the "Critical Mass"hole style riders.

 

Great point. On Nickerson is the start of the Burke Gilman trail, so there is no reason to put bike lanes when there is already a designated trail along the water.

 

I must admit that when I am sitting in gridlock traffic on southbound elliot staring at a completely empty bus and bike lane with smoke coming out of my ears... there is nothing better than seeing a cyclist (especially the woman dressed in work clothes on her three speed in second gear riding below "break a sweat" pace) riding 4 feet off the curb in the bus/bike lane with two articulating buses creeping at 4 mph right behind her the entire length of elliot because the other lanes are parking lots.. the buses have no choice but to follow along at the cyclist's pace as there is no room to get around the cyclist... all the while 100 yards west is a vacant bike path.

I love that

even better when she looks over her shoulder and knows the buses are right behind her with no way around and she continues on her slow merry way.

 

^ It looks like we both have something in common...

We both love slow cyclist's!

 

I think Seattle could move forward a lot more productively if people like you all would be more reasonable.

An antagonistic relationship between bikers and drivers serves neither. The reality is that bikers are here to stay and we should work to find ways to accommodate them and cars.

Personally as a biker and driver I think that more dedicated bike lanes and bike-priority roads is a great thing. It's way better than having bikes and cars share the road without lanes, because too many drivers and cyclists don't know how to behave safely and courteously around each other.

Best of all, having dedicated bike lanes means I in my car can choose a different route.

The biggest problem in the city IMO is how many major roads are bike/car shared *without* bike lanes. Lake Washington Blvd through the Arboretum for example is a major problem. If that was split into a car route and a separate bike route it would be much better.

Another major issue that drivers and cyclists should work on together is the sorry state of the road surface in Seattle. The pot holes and cracks are bad for our cars (I wince ever time the Porsche hits one) but are a huge safety issue for cyclists. I know as a cyclist I often have to ride way out in traffic to avoid pot holes or un-swept debris that's in the bike lane. Fixing the road surface would make cyclists more able to stay to the right of the road safely.

Yes there are plenty of a-hole cyclists, but there are at least as many a-hole drivers. The right response in both cases is just to go around. If you know a route that tends to always be jammed up, take a different route.

 

They are socialists and environment is their way of hiding their agenda which would not fly otherwise. They intend to slow progress, not make it efficient. It's why I live on the Eastside and Seattle is starting to look tired and run down in places with potted streets in poor condition, and traffic light that aren't timed to move cars along- nonsense in their local government that will make Seattle an undesirable place to live.

The other morning I drove to Seattle at 7:10 AM from Kirkland. It was a nice Thursday morning and there was ZERO traffic from Kirkland to 520, all the way to downtown. I never touched the brakes from 520 to my downtown exit. That doesn't mean they solved the transportation problem. It means fewer people are going there for work. Having sold my company in Seattle, I'd never buy another one there.

 

Actually, the Burke Gilman runs on the north side of the ship canal, while Nickerson is on the south side. Nickerson is one of the only good ways in and out of Magnolia, and the whole Ballard Bridge/Nickerson area has been very unsafe for bikers for a long time.

There is a short trail on the south side of the canal (the aptly named South Ship Canal Path), and it seems like it would make sense if the city could connect this path with the Fremont and Ballard bridges, and the Burke Gilman on the other side as well. As far as I know, it dead ends a few blocks east of the ballard bridge.

 

Also, I find it amusing that eastsiders are complaining about traffic on one little street in Seattle, when driving anywhere in Bellevue or Kirkland takes forever unless it's the middle of the night.

 

^^ Why can't someone complain about a street in seattle? If you have a complaint about 1 thing, doesn't mean you have to share ALL of your complaints .... You can hate the traffic on one street in Seattle AND hate the traffic in Bellevue as well... right?

 

Oops. Well, what I meant to say is that there is a bike trail along the back side of SPU. They could use that until they got to the fremont bridge.

 

I think it would be better if they added a cycle lane, not take away a car lane. Doing this will only cause back-ups. There are far more cars on the road than bikers, therefore cars should have more open space to drive.

I agree that cyclists should have just as equal opportunity on the road as cars. I think that taking away a vehicle lane would make more congestion and longer travels.

 

Makes me thankful that I work from home!

 

I have nothing against cyclists at all...
What I do have an issue with is increasing congestion for the sake of adding BS PC SHARED bike lanes which do nothing but gum up traffic and increase the car vs. bike rage on both sides...

I totally agree that the only safe and efficient solution is dedicated bike lanes... just like the one that parallels elliot/western thru myrtle edwards park which can be accessed from magnolia, from the pier 91 palisades area and via the amgen overpass and from myrtle edwards park.

Shared lanes work in Magnolia because there is no congestion
Shared lanes do not work in areas where there is congestion -- they are forced upon us by politicians looking to pad their list of accomplishments by "adding" more bike friendly paths

There is a dedicated bike lane from downtown via dexter ave yet some cyclists still insist on riding on westlake when a dedicated bike lane is one street away... WTF is up with that?

Can an cyclist commuter please tell me how riding two abreast in a 35 mph zone riding at 15 mph while the cars stack up behind you is helpful... I know you have a right to be there... but how about a little courtesy... is tw abreast while chatting really necessary?

I totally agree that dedicated cycle lanes are the answer and should be incorporated into future city planning... if there was a safe way for me to cycle to work I would love to do it.

In the meantime -- when there is a dedicated bike lane with in a block of your route... please use it. If not, then no complaints here with the exception of courtesy... when 5 cars stack up behind an RV on a mountain pass, the polite and lawful thing to do is pull over and let the cars by... so when you are strolling down elliot during rush hour on your super cool fixie with no helmet with your perfectly patina'd messenger bag holding your "I am the fonz" attitude and there are 100+ cars doing 15 mph in a 35 mph zone behind you... pull over and let us by and soon enough there will be a break and you can go back to getting your strut on...