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Roosevelt-11th Ave Bike Lane Couplet is a Welcome Addition

Opinion   August 12, 2010 at 5:45 pm Josh Cohen

The Seattle Department of Transportation just finished painting traditional bike lanes on 11th Ave. NE from the University Bridge to NE 75th St (11th becomes 12th Ave. north of Ravenna Blvd). The 11th Ave. lanes, along with the traditional lanes SDOT installed on Roosevelt Ave. between 75th and the U bridge last week, are a welcome addition to the busy and often fast-paced north-south corridor. With almost four miles of new lanes, the couplet is one of the longest bike facilities SDOT’s installed this year.

I had the chance to ride the new lanes this afternoon and overall, I’d say they’re a success. Since they lack any real separation from cars, painted or otherwise, traditional lanes are ultimately a tool to increase driver awareness of bicyclists on the road (similar to what sharrows are supposed to accomplish). The new lanes are bright and obvious and, ideally, will let  drivers know they should be extra vigilant.

As with any bike facility, there are problem areas. At several intersections (such as the intersections of 45th and 65th Streets with 11th), cars have to merge across the bike lane to get into the dedicated right turn lane. This creates some risk of drivers sideswiping bikes as the merge into the turn lane.

The worst issue I noticed was a pinch point just north of the U bridge where there’s a gap in the bike lane and bikes have to merge left for a bit (see the above picture). A raised cement median juts out into the road, preventing a contiguous bike lane. It’s understandable that the cash-strapped SDOT bike program didn’t pay to remove that strip of cement. But cars drive fast coming off the bridge and might not expect a bike to move left out of the lane.

Obviously, a buffered lane would be ideal, but that would’ve required removing much, if not all, of the parking on the bike-lane side of the road (something that’s caused North Seattle residents to go apoplectic). The new lanes are nonetheless an improvement that makes bicycling more comfortable along that stretch.

Now if the city can just do something about narrow, fast, bike-facilityless Eastlake Ave south of the U bridge (and install those lanes on Roosevelt all the way to 115th St), they’ll have a solid bike route connecting Maple Leaf, Ravenna, and east Greenlake all the way to downtown.


  • Punk Ass Bitch

    I just rode that today. Despite the big flaws that you pointed out it was a massive improvement.

  • leftist

    why put the bike lane on the right?

    On the left fewer car doors would be opening into the bike lane.

  • alexjonlin

    Because it has to be at the right once you get down to the two-way University Bridge, and because drivers aren't used to seeing bicycle on the left.

  • open door policy??

    Roosevelt is a long way before it's two way….drivers aren't used to a lot of things and it's good to not be slaves to drivers' attitudes…..and 11th I don't believe is two way at all in this segment (the arterial ends NB at 75th)…

    all those factors are sort of debatable at best…meanwhile it's fairly undebatable that every car has a driver who must get out the left side, often they then stand their and pull out their briefcase or purse, get a baby out of the left side seat behind the drivers' seat, put their latte on the roof of the car, and stand there locking the car door, and there's far less of this activity going on on the passenger side of the car, therefore putting the bike lane on the right is a design flaw that creates dangers, inconvenience and conflicts b. bikers and drivers.

    Let's just await the first time a biker gets doored and has a big head injury ok? possibly fatal or serious. Then there can be a lawsuit and the driver can say, hey, SDOT negligently designed this bike lane and we'll see if a jury agrees with your reasons then.

    But I think safety should be the paramount concern, not drivers' attitudes.

  • BombasticMo

    The intersection pictured above is one of my most hated. I bike it twice a day going to work (do a split shift by bike!) and I turn down that circular U route to reach the Burke Gilman. Since the circle is relatively narrow and incredibly sharp, and I need to end up on the left side of the road to enter the Burke Gilman, I take the center of the lane (signaling like mad that I intend to do so).

    I'm in the lane for all of fifteen seconds, but I've twice now been hazed by drivers who can't stand to wait for me to finish. Horns, swearing, intimidation by driving way too close, it's horrid. And then of course they speed up only to hit a five-way-stop and I get to bike past them and try to say something positive (share the road, be happy, etc.)

    I'm all about some paint to increase driver-awareness, but we also just need less aggressive drivers.

  • morning

    Why don't you just go down the left side and directly onto the trail without having to cross or impede traffic? The road is definitely not narrow. It is a clover-leaf but I've never seen a driver lose control and hit the outside curb.

  • kurisu

    it's narrow enough and short enough that passing is risky and completely unnecessary

  • kurisu

    so… you think that having bicyclists merge across multiple lanes on the bridge approach to reach the sidewalk is somehow safer? Insane.

  • doug_in_seattle

    Why don't you just slow down for ten seconds? Might not that be the simplest and sanest?

  • doug_in_seattle

    I just moved back north of the ship canal and I gotta say this is a huge improvement. Roosevelt / 11th have always been major bike corridors, and it's nice to see SDOT take some big steps foreward. Contrary to what others have suggested in this thread, the bike lanes make it much easier to avoid being doored. Both traffic lanes have been shifted left, adding at least 24 inches of glorious space on the right side of the street. One needs only to ride on the far left on the bike lane to avoid dooring — and now doing so does not risk impeding traffic and causing ire.

    I am also excited about the 10th Ave repaving. Exceeding safe speeds coming off Capitol Hill will no longer be the bone-rattling bunny-hopping thrill ride it is now.

  • BombasticMo

    As I mentioned, I don't feel safe. It's narrow enough that I don't feel safe coming around a corner with a car on my side, an uneasiness made scarier by the fact that bikes tilt considerably to the side when turning.

    As was suggested – why not be patient for the ten seconds it takes to share the road. All the cars run directly into a five-way stop and I always beat them through it (and I stop at the stop-sign as well). They aren't saving time, just risking a life.