Archive for the ‘Meetings & turnout’ Category

Bellevue is asking for it (in a good way)

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 by Max Hepp-Buchanan

Do you ever bike through Bellevue? Or perhaps throw your bike on the bus for part of your journey? Either way, there’s a ton of transportation and bike-related action going down in Bellevue this month that you should definitely know about. Read on!

This 145th Place SE project includes bike lanes, sidewalks, medians, landscape planters, and street lighting improvements between SE 16th and SE 24th Streets. Photo by City of Bellevue.

First, the City of Bellevue is starting to prioritize road projects that are to be funded in the next 12 years—and new road projects open up the possibility for bike lanes and other treatments that make biking safer in Bellevue. But the City’s planners need to hear from you about where bike lanes are most needed, what intersections need to be made safer, and what new projects will make getting to your destination by bike all the more convenient.

So please attend one of the next Transportation Facilities Plan open houses this month and provide your input on what projects need to get built now and where you want to see bike lanes.

Thursday, Feb. 23 (this week!)
4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at Bellevue City Hall (450 110th Ave NE), Room 1E-108

Tuesday, Feb. 28
4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at Highland Park & Community Center (14224 Bel-Red Road)

If you can’t make either of these open houses, you can also provide feedback through the City’s Transportation Facilities Plan survey, available here.

But wait—there’s more!

Also going on in Bellevue, the City is getting ready to launch its Transit Master Plan effort to examine the current state of transit in Bellevue and how it could be improved.

Though the City doesn’t own its own transit system, it can (and should) invest in roadway improvements that make transit more efficient, faster, and even make biking to the bus better than ever before.

Creating this seamless integration of bicycle and bus travel is what it’s really going to take to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas emissions in our region—not to mention make us all healthy, bus savvy two-wheeled road warriors.

So if you have feedback about how to make connections to transit by bicycle safer and more convenient, including bike parking at transit stops, please take this short survey and let the City know what you think. After all, they’re asking for it!

And just for fun, here’s a short Streetfilm that illustrates the importance of bus/bike integration (featuring appearances by John Mauro of Cascade and Eileen Kadesh of King County Metro).

Thanks you help in making Bellevue better for bicycling (and transit)!

Posted in Commuting, Complete streets, Meetings & turnout, Transit | No Comments »

Environmental priorities are also our priorities – come to Environmental Lobby Day

Thursday, January 19th, 2012 by Max Hepp-Buchanan

Several months ago, Cascade Bicycle Club rejoined the Environmental Priorities Coalition after a year’s sabbatical. Since then, we have been working in Olympia with our allies at the Priorities Coalition and the Transportation for Washington campaign to ensure our state policy-makers pass legislation and a budget that builds a sustainable transportation future for Washington state.

A big environmental priority for us this year is Pollution-Free Prosperity. Our pro-bike agenda contributes to a clean and healthy environment, as the policies, projects and funding we work so hard to support at the state-level (and at all levels) help us reduce our dependence on oil and our global warming pollution.

Did you know that almost half of Washington state’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector? Read more here.

That’s why in 2008, the State’s Transportation Implementation Working Group concluded that, “Washington State should make funding decisions and pursue revenue generating strategies that stimulate behaviors that support climate change solutions and that discourage behaviors that contribute to the problem.”

Enter the pro-bike agenda and our 2012 legislative priorities.

You have a unique opportunity next week to further enforce the connection between a clean and healthy environment and the pro-bike agenda in Olympia at Environmental Lobby Day.

What: Environmental Lobby Day
Where: Olympia, WA
When: Wednesday, Jan. 25

Much like Transportation Advocacy Day the following week, you will have the opportunity to meet legislators in person and advocate for policies that build a clean and efficient transportation system – a system that reduces our dependence on oil and contributes to a clean environment for all of us in Washington state.

RSVP for Environmental Lobby Day, and we’ll see you there!

Posted in Meetings & turnout, Olympia | No Comments »

Help Piper, Join us at Transportation Advocacy Day

Monday, January 9th, 2012 by Craig Benjamin

Since last week, over 17,000 people read our message about helping Piper get the freedom to safely ride her bike around her neighborhood.

Over 17,000 people!

Maybe you were one of them.  Now imagine if just 6% of those people came to Olympia for Transportation Advocacy Day to say that they want safer communities for biking and walking.  Consider the impact of over 1,000 people walking into our state capitol and demanding that we as a state get serious about creating a better community through bicycling.  Think about the message that would send to our legislators; they would stand up and take notice.

Today marks the start of the 2012 legislative session, which is slated to last for 60 jam-packed days.  As we’ve mentioned before, this year’s legislative session brings unprecedented challenges, but also opportunities.  We’ve crafted our legislative agenda to seize these opportunities and help create a better community through bicycling, but to get things done, we’re going to need your help.  And one of the easiest, most fun, educational and empowering ways you can help is to join us on Jan. 31 in Olympia for Transportation Advocacy Day.

What’s Transportation Advocacy Day?  It’s your opportunity to join fellow advocates from across the state in lobbying your legislators for a better transportation future.  We’ll feed you breakfast, educate you on the political dynamics of the session and our legislative priorities, empower you with the tools to successfully lobby your legislators, feed you lunch, and provide you with a range of options for the afternoon from meeting with and lobbying your legislator to speaking with their assistant to attending (and even testifying!) at a hearing.

This year, in collaboration with our allies in the transportation and public health communities, we’ll be advocating for:

  • SHB 1217 – Neighborhood Safe Speeds bill, to make streets and neighborhoods safer by giving cities and towns the freedom to set speed limits to 20 miles per hour on non-arterial streets without a costly engineering and traffic study;
  • HB 1700 – Safe and Flexible Design Guidelines bill, which gives cities and counties the flexibility to use updated guidelines for designing bicycle and pedestrian projects, helping to increase safety and reduce project costs;
  • Adding health to Washington’s six transportation goals, which has the potential to save lives, improve health and safety and reduce health care costs by creating active transportation opportunities that prevent chronic diseases, improve air quality and reduce obesity; and
  • Supporting the Transportation for Washington principles of “Fix it first; save lives,” “More transit,” and “Building great, healthy communities.”

Fun, well organized, empowering and effective – that’s Transportation Advocacy Day in a nutshell.  And if you want to help give Piper (and everyone else) the freedom to safely ride her bike around her neighborhood, join us at Transportation Advocacy Day and let’s make it happen.

Posted in Advocacy, Meetings & turnout, Olympia | 1 Comment »

What can we say about the Northgate light rail station?

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 by Max Hepp-Buchanan

Making our region better for bicycling means ensuring that transit and bikes work well together. We’ve already made the case for paying attention to Northgate and we saw great bicycle representation at the recent open house. But now we have a rare opportunity to talk specifically about how people can safely and conveniently access the station by bike.

On Thursday, December 8, the Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is hosting a community design open house for the Northgate light rail station area. This meeting follows a DPD public meeting in late July, the results of an online survey, and comes on the heels of the Sound Transit 30 percent design open house for the Northgate station itself earlier this month.

Date/time: Thursday, Dec. 8/6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: Alijoya Senior Apartments at Thornton Place (450 NE 100th St)

With the station at 30 percent design and the station area plans still in early conceptual phases, it is essential that we submit our comments now on how the planned station and the surrounding station area serves bicycle riders. This is our chance to help get this project right.

Below we’ve identified our specific concerns with the current station area plans and key opportunities for improving bicycle access to and from the station. We encourage you to use these as “talking points” at the December 8 meeting to ensure that the final plans for Northgate improve bicycle connectivity, accessibility, and livability for everybody.

***

We need to prioritize and invest in Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) projects that serve the station. The BMP calls for sharrows on NE 100th St and NE 103rd St, a full bike lane on 1st Ave NE, and a bicycle/pedestrian bridge over I-5 at NE 103rd St that connects with the bike lanes on College Way NE (just west of I-5). These facilities are critical in realizing more than the 15,200 estimated boardings per day at Northgate by 2030 by providing safe, attractive and efficient opportunities for people to access the station by modes other than a single occupant vehicle. The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) recommends a three-mile radius for investing in projects that link bicycle travel with transit hubs like Northgate.

We need a viable and funded bicycle/pedestrian bridge over I-5. A bike/ped bridge over I-5 at 103rd St substantially increases the “catchment area” of the Northgate station, meaning that more people can access the station within a given walking or biking radius. It also would greatly increase the safety of getting to the station from the west side of I-5 by providing a car-free alternative to Northgate Way, which currently has over 30,000 vehicles per day.

To get this bridge funded and built, we need the City to push for a deal with Sound Transit, King County Metro, North Seattle Community College, and other public/private entities. Currently, there is no dedicated funding to advance design or construction. Not moving forward with this project will mean a lost opportunity for the station and community. 

We need more convenient and ample bike parking. Approaching the station from the east requires bicycle riders to dismount and walk about half a block to access the station bicycle parking. This design is inconvenient for those riding bikes to the station and will create a potential conflict between bicycle riders and pedestrians in “mixing area” adjacent to the station.

We need better and safer connections to the station. Accessing the future station via the bicycle infrastructure that exists now would be inconvenient and potentially dangerous. 1st Ave NE (the road running alongside the future station) is a high speed route and current traffic volumes are high enough that new infrastructure like buffered bike lanes would greatly improve safety for those accessing the station from the north or south by bike. NE 92nd St, Northgate Way, and N 117th St (further north) are currently the only means of crossing or going under I-5. Both NE 92nd St and Northgate Way are in need of actual bicycle infrastructure to dramatically increase safety and access.

We need Northgate to become a transit, pedestrian, and bicycle-oriented community. Increasing housing and workplace density in the Northgate station area along I-5 will place people closer to services, entertainment, and transit, creating a vibrancy and livability that encourages bicycle travel.

***

Your feedback on the ideas presented at the December 8 meeting will help shape the design of the Northgate station area and ensure that bicycle riders of all ages and abilities can safely and conveniently access the station by bike and take light rail to their destination.

For more information, visit the Seattle DPD website.  You can also email Gordon Clowers or call him at 206-684-8375. Hope to see you on the 8th!

Posted in Advocacy, Meetings & turnout | No Comments »

A missing link complete

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 by Erica Meurk

11/17 UPDATE: Please join Cascade Ride Leaders on their rides to this historic event! Long-time ride leader Don Martin is leading a ride from Gasworks Park at a leisurely pace, and ride leader Sander Lazar is leading a ride from Bryant Park, in Wedgewood.

Okay, it’s not the Missing Link. But it is a missing link:

The Ship Canal Trail is opening in a mere week, and all are invited to help SDOT celebrate. They’re holding a Grand Opening Event on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 11 a.m. It’ll take place on the grassy area below W Emerson Street Bridge, where the bridge intersects with 16th Ave. W:

From SDOT:

This final phase of the Ship Canal Trail completes the connection from the Elliott Bay Trail and the Interbay and Magnolia neighborhoods to bicycle routes at the Fremont Bridge, including the Interurban route on Fremont Avenue North, the Burke-Gilman Trail, and the Dexter Avenue route.

Completion of this trail makes bike riding in the south canal area more comfortable for all levels of bicyclists and offers increased safety where cyclists and heavy industrial traffic have long shared traveling space.

Safety improvements include fencing all along the trail and a new railroad crossing signal installed by Burlington Northern Santa Fe along with switchbacks on either side to ensure cyclists slow down before approaching active tracks.

Questions? Please contact LeAnne Nelson at 206-684-3897 or at leanne.nelson@seattle.gov.

Ride on down and check out the great work they’ve been doing to connect our communities. Word is, the new trail makes it possible for one to travel from Redmond to downtown Seattle almost entirely on dedicated bike paths.

And that’s definitely something to celebrate.

Posted in Meetings & turnout, Road & Trail News, Upcoming events | 3 Comments »

For a Northgate — and city — with safety and choices

Friday, November 11th, 2011 by John Mauro

We’ve recently talked up the importance of getting it right for bikes in Northgate with a connected, accessible bicycle network that syncs up well with the planned light rail station.  Getting the station and station area design right are fantastic ways to invite more and safer bicycling and to create a vibrant and livable neighborhood.  While the station itself opens in 2020, the conversation is about to leave the station.  And we’ve got a few good reasons why you don’t want to miss this train.

Any good transportation leaves at frequent and regular intervals, and the very next week you’ll want to join the second mayor and council-convened Road Safety Summit on Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Northgate Community Center.  Bring your voice and ideas to the table about how we can squarely address how all of us get around more safely—by bike, by bus, by foot and by car.  (Can’t make this?  There are two other city-sponsored public meetings, one lunch-hour meeting hosted by Commute Seattle, and an evening meeting at Bike Works, too!)

Summit task force members and our city leaders will bring your ideas forward in crafting an action plan for safer streets.  Let’s continue the community conversation with some clear actions for all of us at the end of these summits.

As we called for in September, and as was reiterated at the first summit last month, all of us need to do better to ensure that the vision—an end to traffic fatalities—becomes reality.

And whether you’re from Northgate or from South Park, this shared vision is something that should get us all to the table.

Posted in Advocacy, Meetings & turnout, Transit | 1 Comment »