In a story that has incited a predictable barrage of anti-bike comments, Seattle Times reporter Mike Lindblom writes today that despite the fact that the city’s bike master plan is “just four years” old, “now the plan apparently is reaching obsolescence,” prompting bike-friendly Mayor Mike McGinn to propose an early update.
As I reported last week, the proposed $60 car-tab fee includes $400,000 (out of $204 million over ten years) to update the bike master plan to reflect new interest in neighborhood greenways and cycletracks, more-secure bike facilities that separate bikes from car traffic.
Although Lindblom’s story refers to the bike master plan update as exclusively Mayor Mike McGinn’s idea, McGinn’s budget actually does not fund the master plan update; instead, city council members have proposed adding funding to the mayor’s budget to update the master plan in case the license fee doesn’t pass in November.
“The 2007 bike plan, a 174-page document produced for then-Mayor Greg Nickels, was supposed to be a 10-year blueprint to help Seattle build a $240 million cycling network as good or better than Portland’s,” Lindblom writes.
But wait a minute. Although the Times story strongly implies the bike plan has been a failure, the plan itself calls for updates every five years, meaning that next year’s update, if it happens, will be right on schedule. “This Plan is a living document and updates will be necessary in the future to assess progress, take advantage of emerging opportunities and re-evaluate priorities as needed. As new sections of the bicycle facility network are developed and new technologies are adopted, bicycling mode share will likely increase and travel patterns will change,” the plan says.
