Do you commute to, through or from SODO? If so, we need your input.
As part of a federal grant, Cascade Bicycle Club is working with the Duwamish Transportation Management Association and Feet First to identify nonmotorized issues and develop recommendations focused on improving nonmotorized commuting in four Duwamish communities: South Park, SODO, Georgetown and N. Tukwila. We successfully completed our work in South Park, and thank you to those who provided valuable input. We’re hopeful that the next phase of funding for this project will focus on implementing the recommendations we are in the process of developing.
We are currently working in SODO, and are interested in your input on the following:
1) If you commute to, through or from SODO, what is your route (specifically through SODO)?
2) Are there barriers to bicycle commuting through SODO? If so, what are the main issues?
3) Have you combined bicycling with light rail in SODO? If so, do you have any concerns about bicycling to and from the light rail station?
4) Last but not least, what are your top three recommendations for improving bicycle commuting in SODO?
Your feedback is an extremely valuable part of our final recommendations. Please send any thoughts or responses to the above questions to Tessa Greegor.
[...] is towards this latter goal that they are working with government agencies to identify ways to improve infrastructure in the south Seattle areas – and they are looking [...]
I’ve just started commuting from East Marginal Way (near Museum of Flight) to North Seattle. And, I’m having a really hard time finding a safe, pleasant route. I like the new bike path that goes along the light rail, but it’s not easy for me to get to and makes my commute longer. I end up biking on Airport Way instead. Thanks for asking for suggested routes – I’ll be interested to see others’ ideas!
1) Not a commute, but ride I Capitol Hill to Georgetown occasionally
2-3) Narrow lanes with heavy truck traffic and or rough pavement. There is really no decent connection between Georgetown and the end of the new Link path at Lander St. The sharrows on 1st Ave S don’t provide room / comfort needed for such a high speed high traffic street. I usually combine route on 6th Ave and Airport Way but neither are very good currently. Reaching the 1st Ave S bridge is no picnic either.
4) We definitely need a route with dedicated bike lanes through this area. Some combination of 6th / Airport Way seems logical.
1. I ride from West Seattle to Rainier (cross st 23rd). Have been only since May.
2. From E Marginal, much of which is a nightmare in and of itself (trucks, bad surfaces), to Dearborn is tricky. While 1st Ave S is great (I’m on it from Hanford to Lander), the E-W streets are ridiculous – Hanford and Lander are uncomfortable to drive on, never mind trying find an even section to put a bike on for any distance. I do use the Trail to Nowhere, and it’s great for its whole 2 block existence. Winding over to Dearborn is not too bad aided by little traffic except on game days.
3. No, haven’t combined rail and bike; would not benefit me much and not interested in paying $3.50/day or adding distance to my commute (SODO stop south one stop to Beacon Hill?)…
4. Fix the east – west streets; fix all the streets; resurface the streets (yes, those are pretty much the same solution).
Thanks.
I would absolutely commute more, if there was a safer, more straightforward way. Currently, from Georgetown to downtown, I take Airport way to Alaska to 6th and then cut over via Forest onto the SODO trail along the Light Rail. As others have mentioned, it’s not the quickest route, but it’s the one on which I feel the most safe. I wish the SODO trail, in one form or another, could be extended farther South, as it’s really nice to ride on, but incredibly short lived.
I’m not entirely sure if this falls within the scope of this survey, but what I find perhaps most difficult (in addition to wishing that the SODO trail was longer) is actually getting from the end of the SODO trail at the Light Rail stop on Royal Brougham to a good downtown route, as cutting down Royal Brougham or up to Airport Way onto 4th is troublesome. Somehow linking the SODO trail seamlessly to a good downtown bike route would definitely encourage me to commute more by bike.
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I commute from georgetown to belltown daily.
Route: I vary my route a lot, but usually it is one of:
1) airport way (now that it is repaved it is much nicer, but could use bike lanes)
2) 6th avenue. going southbound I frequently use the trail paralleling the light rail but not usually northbound)
or 3) denver avenue, cut along the edge of the rail yard to get to east marginal. Not clear if the road along the edge of the rail yard is private or not (no signs, there are vehicle barricades but no fences) and nobody has yelled at me yet.
Light rail: Haven’t used it.
Top 3 recommendations:
1) Continue light rail trail southbound to at least south of spokane street, preferably all the way to georgetown. perhaps along the edge of the rail yard?
2) Continue good bike lanes on 4th south of spokane street all the way north.
3) Bike lanes whole length of 6th avenue.
Barriers to commuting: Many of the roads are poorly maintained, no really good bike route (no continuous bike lanes, trail goes only partway, etc)
Yeah, I’ve basically tried all the routes suggested above and echo their complaints and suggestions. I would definitely bike more often if I felt it was #1 Safer, #2 More smooth & pleasant.
I frequently ride from the North End of Boeing Field along Airport way to downtown. Now that airport way has been repaved it is a pretty nice ride. The only dicey section is on the overpass over the train tracks, where cars can be a little aggressive in passing while I’m climbing the overpass. Other than that it’s not tood bad.
I often also ride 1st avenue South from the 1st Ave Bridge to downtown. No real issues with that route, althoughg I don’t mind riding with cars.
I hardly ever ride the bike trail through SODO. It’s hard to get to the start of the trail, and it seems to be a lot slower than taking airport way, and there are occasional cars who stop in the cross walk which can be annoying. I haven’t combined light rail with biking, because the light rail doesn’t take me far enough north (I am commuting to UW) and I feel like I can bike just as quickly as the light rail would take me.
I commute from West Seattle to Mercer Island. Wish there was a cleaner path from the lower bridge to the north side of Spokane (had a run in with a car in one of those crosswalks last month). I love the SODO trail (once I navigate all the pot holes and railroad tracks to reach it) and would like it extended all the way to Spokane at least and further north even better. I agree with CJY, it’s hard to get from the north end of the SODO trail up to Dearborn to pick up the I-90 bridge lane.
Don’t use the light rail for biking but love it for the airport.
Top three: Extend the SODO trail north and south, make one straight crossing lane for bikes after the lower WS bridge (not the in and out of bushes and tracks), fix the potholes in the SODO area streets where bikes have to commute.
I commute almost year-round between lower QA and the south end of Boeing Field, via Alaskan way, Atlantic over to 4th s (deadly potholes and seams from RR bridge S, btw), to E Marginal.
E Marginal 35MPH zone usually has cars going 50-60 MPH, but aside from too-frequent road ragers, I’ve found it to be the best route. Light rail is a complete waste of time. Literally for me; no hyperbole there.
I will not feel safe, neither will there be an explosion of new bike commuters, unless and until there are completely segregated bikeways. But I guess we’ll wait until gas is $10/gal.
I commute all year round from North Seattle to Georgetown.
1) I usually ride on Airport Way because it is the fastest route although I do like the sharrows on 1st Avenue and the bike lane on Alaskan Way. I also sometimes take 6th, 4th, Occidental, or the SODO Busway Trail to keep it interesting.
2) The barriers to bicycling in SODO are a) There are no bike lanes from downtown to Georgetown. b) The SODO Busway path ends at Royal Brougham with no good connection to downtown and ends at Forest Street with no good connection South.
3) Sometimes in inclement weather I hop on the Link Light Rail to get from downtown to 4th & Lander St. My packs don’t come off my bike easily so I just stand with the bike in one of the luggage/wheelchair areas with the seats up. I don’t know if that is OK, but I expect that some day that I will be asked to tear down my packs and hang the bike up or exit at the next stop. Getting to the Link downtown is as easy as finding the elevator. Bicycling downtown is a breeze. Getting to the SODO Busway is not as easy because there are no East/West bike routes.
4) My top three recommendations are:
1) Airport Way is the best way to get from downtown to Georgetown and N. Tukwilla and desperately needs bike lanes on that fresh new pavement. I know this would require the removal of the mostly unused center turn lane which we are keeping around just in case there are I-5 closures/re-routes. Bikes use this route all day everyday but how often do I-5 closures happen? My second choice for Airport Way would be to simply reduce the curb lane width and apply Sharrows. Currently the curb lane is too narrow for most bikes and vehicles to share but narrow enough that drivers aggressively expect bikes to ride in the gutter and many bikes ride passively way too far to the right which invites/encourages drivers to attempt to pass when there is not enough room. This disturbing passive aggressive behavior seems to be greatly increased since the recent repaving/re-striping leading me to believe that the curb lane width was increased. Bikes and cars actually got along better before the repaving of Airport Way.
2) The SODO Busway Trail needs to be connected to downtown at the North end and to at least Spokane Street if not beyond at the South end. The North end could simply continue past Royal Brougham between the SODO Busway and behind the buildings on 6th Avenue all the way up to the 5th/Airport/Dearborn intersection. The Southern end has extra room on each side of the SODO Busway between Lander St. and Spokane St. for trails. There is unused land south of Spokane street on the East side of the rail right of way which could be used to extend the trail South to Diagonal Ave or possibly even Industrial Way.
3) There are no East/West bike routes in the SODO area.
I’m lucky that most of my commute is by using the bike path located next to the light rail & buss lanes from Royal Brougham to the Nissan company. but after that lane we need a lot of improvement especially with big trucks and trains rolling around that area.
1) can we extend the bike lane from Nissan to Georgetown, etc? its nice not to hit the streets with all the giant trucks.
*it would be great if paths could be directed to bike friendly companies like K2 sports, etc
2) the trucks also break up the pavement. repaving a bike lane somewhere would be great, its hard to commute when you get flat tires due to large potholes everywhere ruining small bike tires.
yeah! this grant will be great for this area. Georgetown is a very bike friendly neighborhood this is going to improve the area nicely. THANK YOU.
p.S … I agree with everyone’s comments/ ideas that have been expressed so far.
1. I commute from North Beacon Hill down Beacon onto holgate, then head down 6th for a few miles. Go from there down into Georgetown after work also (down airport).
2. Yes! SODO is a pain to ride through, the roads are horrible in most spots (6th ave sucks), Airport got re-paved but lots of trucks and cars moving at high speeds, it’s just not safe at all for a cyclist. Also have a problem with entry/exit points into SODO, there is no good way to get from SODO over I-5 into North Beacon Hill (Beacon Ave is terrible for a cyclist). I used to commute from the north and getting from downtown into SODO was also a huge pain also, there just wasn’t any good route.
3. No – N/A
4.
A) Make airport safe for bikes, all the way from downtown to Boeing (I never go past there so maybe further if other’s do). Needs a fully dedicated bike lane – trucks moving at those speeds are just bad news, it needs something serious to keep the commuters safe.
B) I want a decent bike connection to north Beacon hill!
C) a clear bike route from downtown into SODO.
Airport way needs a bike lane and a bike lane over the bridge just north of Lucile. Super sketchy there. The other issue in SODO is trains. Somehow there needs to be over passes or something. If you try to take Spokane you can get caught and the trains sometimes sit for and hour or more. You have to go all the way to Safeco to get around.
I commute from north of Greenlake to about a mile south of Boeing Access Road. I go Roosevelt-Eastlake-5th Avenue-Dearborn-Airport Way-Boeing Access Rd-East Marginal Way and home over Capitol Hill on 12th avenue. The new paving on the north end of Airport Way has really helped. And the new paving on 10th (Capitol Hill) will help when it’s done. I asked the City of Seattle if they could put bike lanes in on the new pavement on Airport Way but they said there was too much objection from the truckers since it’s so industrialized. The shoulder lane on the north end is wide enough so we really don’t need bike lanes there. We could really use a shoulder with a bike lane on the south end of Airport Way. I see riders going north in the morning with lines of cars coming up behind them and am grateful I’m going the opposite way of the worse traffic. If you could do something about the headwinds I encounter going north along Airport Way during the summer….
Without bike lanes on Airport Way I just take up the inside lane and make the cars go around. This is no problem further south but I agree that with the new paving on the north end this is harder to do. I still avoid riding close to the curb and make cars move out around me or they think they have a free pass to zoom past within arms reach.
I commute from White Center (west seattle) and cross the 1st ave bridge then on to Michigan down 4th ave south to the west seattle bridge. I work at K2 Sports. There are about 30 of my coworkers that bike too.
I consider myself lucky each day to survive this ride. It’s VERY DANGEROUS. No sidewalks on 4th ave, the road is covered ith cracks, glass and potholes. The bridge over the trainyard on 4th ave S. only has a sidewalk on one side so I have to cross the street several times.
Please put in some bike lanes and pave them!
I bike commute 4 times a week (when I’m in town) all weather. My commute starts in Sammamish & I take the Bus to 5th & Jackson. I then ride south on 5th to Airport Way, and either go down 6th and get on the trail that parallels the light rail, then back on 6th when that runs out and down 6th to alaska, and back to Airport Way– or if wind isn’t bad I just stay on Airport Way. I turn off airport way going south on Ellis, to East Marginal Way – I stay on East Marginal till 16 ave S. (Boeing old Corp HQ). Same for the reverse commute, except sometimes I Turn East at Dearborne and go to the Mercer Island P&R –
The worst part of the commute is probably around the north end of Airport Way (between 5th & 6th) just from a traffic and rough street perspective.
Also on East Marginal – especially if it has been raining for a while, the rain puddles on E. Marginal right hand south lane are very very deep and there no other place to ride (even sidewalks are really tough in this area).
I commute from Queen Anne to Boeing field via 5th Ave to Airport to Ellis to East Marginal, sometimes I ride the Sodo trail, sometimes 6th, but now that Airport is repaved, its my primary route.
My issues are essentially the same as most on here:
1. With the exception of re-paved Airport the roads are rough, potholed, and poorly marked. I’ve switched to mountain bike to avoid re-truing my wheels every week after the ride.
2. The Sodo trail as it stands is inconvenient, inefficient, and unconnected to travel routes. A full bike lane on major arterial (not the wimpy 6th ave lane below the railroad tracks) is needed.
3. The bridge on 4th over the track by Costco is constantly covered in glass and debris and is only on one side of the road. Riding in the street makes you hard to see on top of the bridge. The Airport crossing is slightly better, but if you ride the sidewalk, you need to watch out to not get nailed by right turning cars or trucks at the Georgetown intersection. And of course the truckyard exit which is always good for a few heart attacks when the trucks burst out without looking.
4. Marginal is a nightmare to ride on.
In short, without using very busy Airport, there’s no way to efficiently get through SODO and the surrounding area. Adding bike lanes to Ellis is a part of the solution, but I think one on Airport or another street should be strongly considered.
1) Route: King Street Station down 4th to the SODO trail(parallels the light rail and bus way), then continue south on 6th until Industrial Way. The Sounder train to K2 Sports.
2) Barriers to bike commuting: The whole of SODO is terrible to bike through. The streets are in terrible shape and the traffic moves fast and is generally large trucks that give you zero room. When I take my bike in for service at my local shop I always get astonished comments of how badly my bike gets beat up. I blow a lot of spokes and new wheels are not cheap.
3) Combined with light rail: No. It doesn’t do anything for me since the section I can use the light rail already has a trail next to it.
4) Three recommendations: 1st- Dedicated bike trails, the SODO trail is great, but it’s only 1 mile and I wish it extended all the way from downtown to the Interurban. I wish my whole commute was on a trail like that 2nd- Bike lanes, but an actual lane with a painted line, not just a painted bike symbol. If there is no line vehicles will not respect it. 3rd-Repave the roads as they are horrible. However unless you put in a lined bike lane to keep the truck traffic out, you’ll end up in the same boat again.
Even with 1 mile of safe trail to ride on I still consider myself lucky to survive the commute everyday. I’ve been pulled out in front of, cut off, brushed aside and one time hit a pothole that took me down so hard I cracked my helmet. SODO is an unsafe place to ride period and I am excited that this feedback is being asked for so changes can be made.
I commute from West SEattle to an office next to Safeco Field parking lot on Occidental. I find myself riding in on Alaskan Way (?) next to waterfront and home on Utah to Hanford to Alaskan.
Backed up and heavier than normal vehicle traffic with impatient drivers due to trains, closed roads etc and some crazy cyclists are making this a not so fun ride. This is in addition to the big trucks and potholes that have always been present.
I do find the bike arrows on first avenue and some of the other areas of the city to be misleading to cyclists. I don’t find some of these routes to be a safe route to travel on a bike and think it would lead a new or out of town cyclist to think these were preferred cycling routes.
Improvement – I think picking sixth or Utah and making it smoother in terms of potholes and adding bike lanes there would improve the commute for all.
I commute from Queen Anne, through downtown via 2nd Street. I use the 5th Ave Light-rail path to commute south. It’s awesome and much more protected from wind and traffic than 6th or 4th streets. I finally have to jump onto 6th when the trail ends, and commute south another 7-8 blocks.
Room for improvement, would be to improve the shoulders on 6th, as they are already wide, but not very smooth/clean/marked. Also accessing the 5th Ave trail was made more difficult when they closed the street next to Safeco, now you have to ride up the ramp, around the clover leaf, to get to 5th from the west.
Another West Seattle bike commuter to SODO. The commute from West Seattle over the lower bridge is great, but that’s where it turns dicey. As other commuters have mentioned, North-South biking can be a lot easier than East-West. Coming off the lower bridge are a couple street crossings that can be challenging with traffic. Regardless of the construction for the upper Spokane widening project, the roads are extremely rough (bumps, potholes, train crossings) and unpleasant to ride on. Having at least one clean route that goes East-West through SODO would greatly improve the commute – ideally a completed lower Spokane with nice pavement and bike lane.
I used to commute from Fremont, riding down 6th Ave S. That route, while easier and wider, was extremely rough pavement and frequently covered in glass along the shoulder.
I bike commute from Capitol Hill to the Starbucks Center in SoDo. The most common route to SoDo that I use is: south on 12th Ave (I love the bike lanes), west on Jackson St, and then south on 1st Ave. The most dangerous parts of my ride are on 1st Ave between the 99 Viaduct off-ramp (highway-speed cars merging onto 1st Ave) and Massachusetts St (the sharrow/shoulder disappears for several blocks along 1st Ave and motorists pass uncomfortably close).
I do occasionally use the bike path that runs parallel with the Light Rail, but its abrupt end at Royal Brougham Way (which funnels riders onto the poor surface of 6th Ave) makes it not quite worth crossing unfriendly 4th Ave and several sets of very active train tracks.
My recommendations for bike improvements in SoDo are: improve the visibility and safety of the sharrow space on 1st Ave by the Viaduct off-ramp and the stadiums, extend the Light Rail bike path to run all the way into downtown and/or resurface 6th Ave and designate bike lanes on it.
Like a lot of other bike commuters, I come from over I-90 bridge to work in the SODO area. I have to say this is by far the hardest place to ride and area where I feel least safe. I would definitely appreciate a better way to get through that last mile.
1. I go down Dearborn St until Airport Way or 6th. Dearborn has been safe for me although I have seen other bikers taken out by turning vehicles. I cut over on Airport or 6th to the light rail line along 5th. Then I have to go on Holgate or Lander west past 1st to Utah Ave. I do the reverse heading home.
2. The barrier for me is safety because of rough pavement (not sure if you can call it even that) and unaware drivers since you have to use streets where no trails or good sidewalks exist.
3. I haven’t combined light rail when riding my bike, but definitely appreciate the trail that runs there. I am glad to see that the short lived gates at the tracks are gone.
4. I would suggest one good paved east-west path or bike lane in the area from light rail trail to 1st. I will go out of my way to find a safer route. A second would be connecting the light rail trail to Dearborn street bike lanes. Lastly, repaving the worst potholed and cracked roads (Holgate probably) would go a long way.
Thank you so much for seeking suggestions.
Utah Ave. sucks – a bunch of cracked concrete – almost unrideable – first avenue has no bike lane from Edgar Martinez to S. Stacy Street – at least they finally repaved 1st, but all side streets in Sodo are in awful condition
1) My commute thru SODO, from home to work: Start in W. Seattle, go over lower bridge, along Spokane, Turning South on 4th.
2) Right now, the construction is a pain in the neck. But assuming this will get better … If you’re coming from W. Seattle and turning north on E. Marginal, that looks easy enough. If you’re going straight on Spokane from Marginal to 4th – it’s a mess. lots of train-track crossings (thank god they’re improved now), but I still need to get from the North side to the South side of Spokane St at some point, and waiting out lights at the Spokane St./Marginal intersection takes forever.
3) No. The light rail doesn’t go anywhere I go for my commute, but I might some time, for an … afterwork soccer game or something…. No concerns.
4) More, and more clearly signed bikes lanes (on existing road) &/or bike paths. The bike path along the light-rail lines running North from Forest is cool – but it’s not easy to find, and it’s too short – it should run south (to Georgetown!) as well. Otherwise – Roads are generally in BAD, BAD shape (pot-holes, train track Xing), and all of the trucks and traffic make this a SKETCHY ride at times.
1)The real missing link is from SODO to Green River Trail. Complete the trail. It is very difficult finding your way through South Park plus major sections are without trail or bike lanes.
2) Make improvements to Meyers Way (won’t even consider riding currently) No room for bikes. Nearly impossible to find a safe way to drop over the hill to 1st Ave bridge from (Arbor Heights, Shorewood, White Center, Highland Park, North Burien. There are a lot of options heading North from these areas but not East.
3) More East/West bike lanes and trails in SODO. Possible railroad underpasses???