Archive for the ‘Seattle Bicycle Master Plan Update’ Category

Two Reports You Should Read

Monday, January 30th, 2012 by John Mauro

It’s been a great couple of weeks for the data-hungry.

Last week, we learned that states spent an average of $2.17 for each of us on biking and walking, even though biking and walking account for 12% of all trips—and 14% of all traffic fatalities.

If you’re not paying attention, the take-away:  NOT.  FAIR.

Two other tidbits: Seattle ranks #4 in the nation for biking and walking (combined).  And an analysis of cost-benefit shows that every dollar we invest in bicycling and walking yields up to $11.80 in benefits!  Cha-ching.

Dig deeper into the Alliance for Biking and Walking 2012 Benchmarking Report here.

We’re trying to address that awful disparity in investment at the national level (with an upcoming vote in the House this week—stay tuned!) and at the local level, where cities and towns are taking big steps forward.  Seattle, for instance, is poised to start updating its Bicycle Master Plan to reflect breakthroughs in exciting new tools and engineering that weren’t around 5 years ago.  It’s our best opportunity in the next decade to create an inspiring vision for bicycling in Seattle—hopefully a vision that will help lead the nation and lead us to action.

But, yes, we do focus on cities and Seattle quite often.  (My bad—I live here and so do lots of our members.)   How about smaller cities and towns?

Enter the second big report.  Today, the Rails to Trails Conservancy released Active Transportation Beyond Urban Centers, which shows us that rates of bicycling and walking in smaller towns is surprisingly high.  Towns with between 10,000 and 50,000 citizens see the same basic number of trips per capita as larger urban areas.  This is important for many reasons, not the least is which is that accommodating and promoting bicycling isn’t an urban or rural thing, an eastside or westside thing, a red state or blue state thing—it’s the thing.  Especially with all the recent talk about the need for job creation (bicycling projects create more jobs per dollar than just about any type of roadway project), accommodating and promoting bicycling should be front and center as an urgent priority for cities, states and our country.  Period.

Enjoy the reports—they come with brief summaries if you’re in a hurry—and make sure to spread the insights!

Posted in Advocacy, Commuting, Road & Trail News, Seattle Bicycle Master Plan Update, That other Washington | 1 Comment »

Seattle Greenway Organizers – grassroots at its finest

Friday, January 27th, 2012 by Max Hepp-Buchanan

Less than a year after they officially started working together, the Seattle Greenway Organizers have their first big win! At the January 10 Seattle Greenways Coalition meeting on Beacon Hill, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw announced that the City will build seven miles of neighborhood greenways in 2012 (watch a video of her big announcement here).

Neighborhood Greenways are slow-speed, low-traffic residential streets installed with park-like amenities and ways to limit cut-through vehicle traffic. This is a new type of infrastructure to Seattle and one that is perfect for bicycle riders, pedestrians, and families that prefer a low-stress environment to get around their neighborhood.

Councilmembers Sally Bagshaw and Tom Rasmussen enjoying a ride with fellow greenway advocates on 18th Ave S on Beacon Hill. Photo by Dylan Ahearn.

Councilmember Bagshaw summed greenways up nicely: “Greenways connect parks and schools, community centers and neighborhood business districts. Neighborhood Greenways help with transportation, and they help with getting people where they want to go within their own communities.”

The neighborhoods that will almost definitely see greenways this year include Ballard, Beacon Hill, Greenwood, North Delridge, Wallingford, and the University District. There’s an additional four miles to be built in Laurelhurst, funded by Seattle Children’s Hospital.

And this is only the beginning. According to Councilmember Bagshaw, starting in 2013 the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will build 11 miles of greenways each year. Thanks to the Seattle Greenway Organizers, Seattle is on its way to having a network of greenways that rivals our romanticized bike city to the south, Portland.

[It’s worth noting that by 2015, 85 percent of all Portland residents will live within a half-mile of a greenway and that Portland’s traffic fatality rate is falling six times faster than the rest of the United States. Obviously, they are on to something.]

The type of grassroots organizing employed by the Seattle Greenway Organizers has clearly been very effective. They have done a great job of engaging people from different neighborhoods with unique skills and abilities to add even more power to their campaign. They have volunteers producing neighborhood maps highlighting potential future greenways, writing high-profile OpEds, and writing grant applications to secure funding. Beacon BIKES even went so far as to receive grant funding from the City of Seattle and hired Alta Planning + Design to produce Beacon Hill’s own neighborhood greenway plan, separate of what’s in the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan.

Truly, grassroots at its finest.

Speaking of the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan, it’s slated for a facelift this year and we have a unique opportunity to work together to massively improve upon what we did in 2007. Imagine an updated plan that has a greenways network in your neighborhood. Or cycle tracks to and through the downtown core a la New York City. This is our chance to envision and plan a Seattle that is safe, fun, and efficient for bicycle riders of all ages and abilities – one that encourages more people to get on their bikes for any trip.

If you are interested in helping make Seattle a world-class city for bicycling, stay tuned for ways to get involved. We’re gearing up now and will be rolling soon.

Posted in Advocacy, Seattle Bicycle Master Plan Update | 3 Comments »