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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

SDOT Proposes City’s First Cycle Track (Again), This Time For Linden Ave

News   September 8, 2010 at 3:21 pm Josh Cohen

This post has been updated with comments from SDOT spokesman Rick Sheridan

Back in June, PubliCola reported that the Seattle Department of Transportation planned to build Seattle’s first parking-protected cycle track on Dexter Ave. But after cyclists questioned whether cycle tracks made sense on Dexter, SDOT decided to add buffered bike lanes to the road instead.

Now, SDOT is proposing the addition of a two-way, parking-protected cycle track on the east side of Linden Ave N. between N. 128th and N. 145th Sts, completing a missing gap in the Interurban Trail. If SDOT doesn’t change its plans and moves to construction on schedule, Linden Ave. will have Seattle’s first official parking-protected cycle track.

SDOT Project Manager Connie Zimmerman and Engineer Dave Vijarro presented the project proposal at September’s Seattle Bike Advisory Board meeting. The current proposal calls for two five-foot bike lanes on the east side of Linden separated from the parking lane by a three-foot painted buffer. The parked cars would serve a physical barrier between bicycles and cars. SDOT also plans to add improved pedestrian crossings, new sidewalks, and five-and-a-half-foot planting strips to separate pedestrians from bicyclists.

A two-way cycle track presents unique issues with turning at intersections (southbound bicyclists, for example, would find it hard to turn right across two lanes of traffic, for example). SDOT is considering either a four-way bike and pedestrian “scramble” like the one at California Ave and Alaska St. in West Seattle, or a dedicated bicycle signal.

One oddity in the plan is the six-foot painted buffer between the two car travel lanes (which you can see in the center of the 67-foot cross section above). The buffer may be intended to keep the roadway uniform since part of Linden has a 67-foot-wide right-of-way and part of it has a 50-foot wide right-of-way. But it seems like that space could be better used to widen the bike lanes, or the sidewalk, rather than provide an unusable space between cars.

Buffer aside, SDOT’s current plans for Linden Ave are a significant improvement over the first iteration, which called for traditional bike lanes on either side of the road. Although the 2007 average daily traffic was only 2,000 vehicles (a traffic level low enough for a bicycle boulevard), Linden has been rezoned for greater density, and SDOT projects a significant increase in traffic. Also, a protected cycle track is a more fitting connection for the Interurban Trail than a traditional bike lane.

SDOT hopes to reach 60 percent design before the end of 2010, final design by next summer, and begin construction of phase one (130th-135th) by September 2011.

UPDATE

SDOT Spokesman Rick Sheridan explained the six-foot painted buffer between car travel lanes. According to him the buffer, “allows drivers to safely back into parking and pull out of it without entering the oncoming lane of traffic.  It also provides the space to install a pedestrian crossing island  between 130th and 135th.”





  • http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/ Mr Baker

    Maybe they should just extend the sidewalk and street improvements from 143rd to 145th, and call it good.

  • Long-time SEattleite

    This won’t be the first “cycle track” in Seattle. Alki Avenue has had one for a few years.

  • http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/ Mr Baker

    Btw, the 2007 numbers are not useful. Giant cubes of condos and apartments opened shortly after that.
    As the map shows (via the link) Linden doesn’t actual go anywhere if you drive a car.
    Simply extending the road/sidewalk/street improvements on the last northern block, and better integrating a bike lane at Linden at 130th to make that turn west would get people to Greenwood via bike pretty safely.
    There is a stoplight with a crosswalk to cross 145th, to/from the trail.

    That would get people moving off the west side of Aurora.
    There isn’t a very good connection from the trail to the other side of Aurora.

    My comments are only useful if the intent is to have transportation, and not just expensive recreation on a blunted northern street.

  • Josh Cohen

    I know about the Alki Ave “cycle track.” For whatever reason, SDOT doesn’t consider that an official cycle track from what I understand, so I didn’t refer to it as such.

  • Wally

    It seems like a good chunk of that distance on the WEST side of the street goes by Bitter Lake Park, a big retirement home, and a reservoir… don’t those have less traffic than the east side of the street? Wouldn’t a west side cycletrack work better?

  • Anonymous

    The Interurban has some great potential for commuters and casual cyclists alike. Seattle has a few decent sections, but up in Shoreline and North they have really done some good work on it. This is a great decision, and presumably less politically motivated as it is to connect an already established cycling ROW.