News Oct 7, 2010 at 4:00 am

Truck Activists Fight to Keep Georgetown Roads Free of Cyclists and Pedestrians

Cyclists and walkers be damned. Kelly O

Comments

1
good i hate cyclists
2
wimpy bike brats. get a clue morans
3
Awesome, I commute by bike along East Marginal Way. Riding in the traffic lane, in the dark & rain, is less than appealing. Airport Way is even worse. I really hope these bike lanes go in!
4
The MIC has a point, bikes and freight routes aren't a great combo. Having the freight route go through georgetown seems like an issue though. Maybe the freight route could be rerouted?
5
@Kyleen: Not easily. Freight along those routes to Boeing Field is coming from the Port of Seattle or I90 -- those roads are both straight shots into Boeing Field from those locations. The bike lanes should be routed through the middle of Georgetown and the truck routes left where they are.
6
The Stranger did a disservice by hyping up the conflict aspect, without providing any real data or facts from either side (or any side), and that serves to just ramp up tensions, jamming up what might othersie be a more constructive dialogue.
7
@ Old Man: Dave Gering and 'constructive dialogue' don't belong in the same sentence.
8
Georgetown is not Soho. It is built on a soil liquefaction zone, and will suffer mightily in a large earthquake. (It will also be washed into Elliott Bay by the displaced debris formerly known as Southcenter and Kent when Rainier finally goes.) It's a good place for light industry precisely because it's a bad place for long term human habitation and development.

I'm with the truckers on this.
9
I don't understand why freight haulers & bike advocates aren't allies in this, fighting together for a more complete transportation plan that takes different transportation needs into account. It's better for bikers & truckers everywhere if the trucks can be concentrated on a small set of roads, so bikes & pedestrians can avoid them.
10
Cienna-a-a-a-a-a-a-a,
That’s it! I’m not gonna hide it anymore. It’s time to come clean about the real feeling some of us have about the: Unruly Psycho-lists in the city I live and love. There are a few of us thinking it..
N-o-w, its Industrial Georgetown’s designated roads ( Marginal Way toward South Park) they’re trying to intimidate into making the trucks move over for cycle lanes. Wh-ell, I’m not against cyclist lanes, but to deface our INDUSTRIAL SEATTLE of its all knowing, wide transport lanes, are we crazy?
Have you seen the size of those trucks? Even the personal owner ones, I’m not going to argue with. Then there are the busses I have to swing around.
Pedestrians are sufficed with the sidewalks. They are not going to be spared if any vehicle jumps the curb, motorized or not. We’ve seen it. The psycho-lists will need cow/deer/animal guards mounted on their front fenders to protect the peds and feral animals loose in the area. Then we’ll get another group to sponsor CCRK (control cyclist road-kill).
And another thing: Who’s not in a hurry? We’re unsteady enough already in our cars passing around those land yachts that are too damn slow. (pass on the right & it’ll be even more dangerous for the bike).
So, keep those lanes and sidewalks that are there now. Dress ‘em up for god’s sake, if they want. Remember, the cars are competing with those big trucker guys already. Don’t get the skateboarders and renegade runners incensed!
Those freight roads demand respect, preservation and historical distinction. See what happened to the Ice Storage building and the bridge in South Park? It’s all in keeping the ambiance of a dynamic neighborhood to not modernize too much!
SDOT has all of our interests at heart. I know they’ve seen bikes who stop for a breather and have a smoke on their routes. (It’s required to smoke in the industrial area.) Now that could be blocking the bike lane and cause real trouble.
Hopefully, I’ve explained a different point of view that sometimes a good thing may be not so… I hope all readers will take my opinion with a sense of lightness and sincerity. Otherwise, I will have to organize the WOFAP (Watch out for Anarchist Psycho-lists). They will and have attacked autos, drivers (I’m one), and tryciclists who get in their way.
Impassioned reader,
Unsigned for my own protection
11
In Paris they have these huge round-abouts with no lanes. It's a interesting free for all that includes bicycles, scooters, trucks, buses,hot cars and so on.
As a tourist I couldn't get enough of such a mad house funnel.

Bill Spokane
12
This will be the outcome: they're going to not heed the warnings, put the bike lanes in. Cyclists, feeling empowered, will start cycling more dangerously. A truck will hit a cyclist either on accident or due to a miscalculation on the cyclist's spot. The cyclist will die. Outrage will occur.

Why the cyclist's insist on dueling with big honking industrial trucks is beyond me.
13
Wow considering I ride Airport Way to Georgetown, and take E. Marginal on into Tukwila, i would love to know what options I have? I could ride from Leschi down MLK and across Boeing Access Road, but frankly that is a suicide attempt. The GRT is great but too far out of my way and 6th Ave is fine, if not a rickety ride, but it ends at Argo Crossing, exactly what routes do they aspire we should take? BTW I lived in GTown, and trucks and school buses idle under people's windows, create sleepless nights and health hazards, do they really think bikes are going to create that much havoc, the bikes are already on these streets. They won't go away, without our own lanes, we will simply be in the truck lanes. If they think bike lanes and sidewalks will slow them down, what makes them think the bikes and pedestrians will magically disappear and free up "their roads"?
14
Wow considering I ride Airport Way to Georgetown, and take E. Marginal on into Tukwila, i would love to know what options I have? I could ride from Leschi down MLK and across Boeing Access Road, but frankly that is a suicide attempt. The GRT is great but too far out of my way and 6th Ave is fine, if not a rickety ride, but it ends at Argo Crossing, exactly what routes do they aspire we should take? BTW I lived in GTown, and trucks and school buses idle under people's windows, create sleepless nights and health hazards, do they really think bikes are going to create that much havoc, the bikes are already on these streets. They won't go away, without our own lanes, we will simply be in the truck lanes. If they think bike lanes and sidewalks will slow them down, what makes them think the bikes and pedestrians will magically disappear and free up "their roads"?
15
That’s it! I’m not gonna hide it anymore. It’s time to come clean about the real feeling some of us have about the: Unruly Psycho-lists in the city I live and love. There are a few of us thinking it..
N-o-w, its Industrial Georgetown’s designated roads ( Marginal Way toward South Park) they’re trying to intimidate into making the trucks move over for cycle lanes. Wh-ell, I’m not against cyclist lanes, but to deface our INDUSTRIAL SEATTLE of its all knowing, wide transport lanes, are we crazy?
Have you seen the size of those trucks? Even the personal owner ones, I’m not going to argue with. Then there are the busses I have to swing around.
Pedestrians are sufficed with the sidewalks. They are not going to be spared if any vehicle jumps the curb, motorized or not. We’ve seen it. The psycho-lists will need cow/deer/animal guards mounted on their front fenders to protect the peds and feral animals loose in the area. Then we’ll get another group to sponsor CCRK (control cyclist road-kill).
And another thing: Who’s not in a hurry? We’re unsteady enough already in our cars passing around those land yachts that are too damn slow. (pass on the right & it’ll be even more dangerous for the bike).
So, keep those lanes and sidewalks that are there now. Dress ‘em up for god’s sake, if they want. Remember, the cars are competing with those big trucker guys already. Don’t get the skateboarders and renegade runners incensed!
Those freight roads demand respect, preservation and historical distinction. See what happened to the Ice Storage building and the bridge in South Park? It’s all in keeping the ambiance of a dynamic neighborhood to not modernize too much!
SDOT has all of our interests at heart. I know they’ve seen bikes who stop for a breather and have a smoke on their routes. (It’s required to smoke in the industrial area.) Now that could be blocking the bike lane and cause real trouble.
Hopefully, I’ve explained a different point of view that sometimes a good thing may be not so… I hope all readers will take my opinion with a sense of lightness and sincerity. Otherwise, I will have to organize the WOFAP (Watch out for Anarchist Psycho-lists). They will and have attacked autos, drivers (I’m one), and tryciclists who get in their way.

Unsigned for my own protection
16
I'm shocked at the virulent anti-cyclist- actually, no, I'm not. Too many people thinking that might=right, and therefore the folks who don't go with the flow should STFU and just take it in the pooper and smile while it happens.

Fuck you guys and your stupid reasons for wanting to push cyclists off the road. As they say, driving is not a right. Further, your short-sighted view is laughably naive, not us who are choosing to take our cars off the road.

Fewer cars = less traffic. And you know what, cyclists in a 3-foot wide lane will not fill up the same space on the road. You should be ENCOURAGING cycling increase - more room for trucks!

Oh, and good touch with the "psycho-lists". I'll add on to that "fuck-drivers". Makes about as much sense.
17
Don't like Seattle's bike culture? Move back to whatever shithole you came from!
18
I'm with seeds. Get your ass back to L.A. if you want to drive down 12 lane, car only streets.
19
You're right buttmonkey. All truckers should start carrying their freight on the back of 10 speeds.

Get a clue, some places are just not meant for bike/car coexistence. Georgetown being one of them. Although You're welcome to duke it out with an 18 wheeler if you feel so inclined.
20
Children, children, children.... such vitriol and hatred. I think that what we're seeing here is an attempt to make the roads safer for all.

The reality is that products/materials have to be shipped by truck. It's the way it works in the US. Moving things by trucks to stores in neighborhoods allows people to live car-free existences. This advocacy group is simply asking that a couple of roads be made simpler for trucks and that this can be accomplished by designating a couple of streets as non-bicycle.

I drive a car everyday. I have a 70 mile RT job commute (thanks to this sh;t economy) and biking isn't an option (I used to be a frequent walker). I make a conscientious effort to avoid streets that have a lot of bike traffic to avoid the possible ensuing chaos from too many modes of transit on a single street. Bikes have gotten a lot of changes implemented recently (most of them good), but in this case, I think we're best off to let the truckers have these two roads and spend some money allowing for a good, but separate bike path through the area.
22
If we lost of all those Boeing jobs, it would effectively boost the percentage of bike commutes, wouldn't it? That statistic seems to be all that we're supposed to care about.

Maybe we should destroy our whole industrial base and only keep the baristas and college students. We'd have the highest bike commute percentage in the nation. We could be a sort of Copenhagen, sans money.
23
Oh my Freakn Gods. If there was ever a non-issue issue this is it. Trucks don't like bikes...Bikes don't like trucks. Boo freak'n hoo. Try focusing on why more people have to ride instead of bike. and why more people are turning to trucking for work.
24
when i was child i was taught never to ride my bike in the street and to look both ways before crossing the street....i laughed when that cyclist got drug like 60 feet because he tried to reach into somebodys car and take the keys out of the ignition....fuckin peddle monkeys nowadays....you dont belong on the roads they are meant for cars and trucks....there are places for bikes called parks like greenlake...if your riding your bike to work to get fit....well they got places for that too they are called gyms get a membership and stop draggin the smell of a bums sweaty nutsack through the workplace...if your ridin your bike to save the planet here is an idea hop your stupid ass on a buss god knows we have plenty of those to go around and use mass transit to feel better about yourself....point of the matter is you dont register your bikes you dont pay for tabs and you do fuck up the flow of traffic!!!!!!!!
25
@24 3 out of 5. Not enough exclamation marks and use of ellipsis. More emotion next time please.
26
Jack rocks. It'll come to jack rocks.
27
Seattle needs to be accessible to bikes. That said, what Seattle needs more than to be bike-friendly is a mix of industries operating inside Seattle city limits. There are a million important economic reasons for that, and several outstanding social ones. Industry and manufacturing are much more endangered in Seattle than bike access and, ultimately, more important. That doesn't mean industry should win every time, but in this case they're saying that roads designated for industry should stay industry-focused. It's a reasonable request that serves everyone's interests by making the local economy more diverse. Cyclists should be looking at other routes.

Much of Seattle "bike culture" is built on the bones of heavy industry and, consequently, would be one of the obstacles to bringing industry back to the city. That's bad enough on its own, without cyclists trying to push industry out of the way, like they're doing on the "missing link" in Ballard, and now in Georgetown.

And, in spite of the fact that we sort of agree on this issue, I must take this opportunity to point out that Mr. X has sex with dogs.
28
i am a truck driver,have been for eight years. i love my job, i am good at it too. i am a professional driver, ride your bike wherever and be safe and i never have a problem. at most, it might add a minute to my day,if i have to be patient for a bicyclist. its my job to watch for you and share the road. what's the big deal?
31
Huh. I actually have no idea who you are and have not, in the past, cared. But now I'm sort of curious.
32
@25 moonpatrol..........im sorry i have let you down..........i will try harder next time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
33
Alright dude, I spent all of three minutes Googling it. Who are you?
34
I commute from the top of Capitol Hill all the through Georgetown on my bicycle. I love riding around the big trucks, and they're always courteous to me. It's the a**hole commuters in their cars and SUVs at the 4-6pm rush hour who shout profanities at me during their way home from their sh*t jobs. They terrify me, not the big rigs.
37
I sent them an email to ask who you are. I don't get the references on PC, though one of them sounds vaguely familiar. Just out of curiosity, what's the implication of your post @30? That I'd never tell anyone they have sex with dogs in RL, or that I'd never tell you you have sex with dogs because you're important/scary?
39
...because?
40
Come on, dude. Don't be coy. If you're gonna go there, go there.
42
Heh. Well, if anyone ever bothers to tell me who the hell you really are, maybe you'll find out for sure. Otherwise, I'll just say that most people who know me personally would tell you that I have no compunction about saying shit exactly like that in person. I'm sort of known for it.
43
Let's hear it for 'Stiffyspeedo'= A Professional Truck driver. I am a cyclist that has shared the East Marginal way route for over 6 years with very few incidents. Truck drivers are professional AND there is no reason we can't share the road. No one wants to imped economic growth nor does any ONE single transportation type user have more rights than any other. Come on Seattle Brainiacs, figure it out.
44
@28, thank you.
Of those 900 new jobs at Boeing, how many would ride their bike to work if given a chance. Bikes are not just for exercise or pleasure trips in pastural lands. Many of us have had to sell our cars during this recession because we cannot afford the $3,000-5,000 insurance, maintenance, and repair costs. Many others are a one-car family, and the other person rides a bike to work. Get a clue, and open up to the fact that bikes are transportation the world over, and that pedestrians and bikes precede any other form of transport. Not to mention the dire need to reduce carbon. Georgetown is young. It used to be a winding river. Do you want to go back that far?
46
I'm with Mr X on this one... I've lived in Georgetown on Airport Way S for over a year, & walk/bike a lot within the neighborhood because it is delightfully self-contained (notable exception: no grocery store). If you live there or commute there, you have to accept that is is first & foremost an industrial area! One of my favorite things about the neighborhood is the truck, train, & plane traffic. I firmly believe it will keep this quirky, artistic, tight community from becoming another god-awful yuppie-fest ala Fremont. Bikes are neat. Whatever. Industry matters, & Gtown is a dedicated industrial area. If you can't hang with that but have to commute/don't drive, the buses have improved down there. You can take the bus to Lucille & walk the 1/2 mile.
47
cyclists, ruining life one road at a time. Forcing these issues has already cost Seattle jobs. We saw what happens when Boeing gets sick of Seattle. Good idea, p*ss them off even more, and see if we can't lose the entire industrial center employment.

Bikes don't need to be on every street. They do have options, and trucks do not. Cyclists once again prove that they have all the intelligence and forethought of a mollusk when it comes to planning or business, or anything else for that matter.

And, I am a cyclist. I'm also a trucker. I kept a bike on my truck at one point, but you know it's hard to find bike routes on most freeways. Why? Bikes can't do the minimum speed and are unsafe to motorists. DUH. Cyclists who want to be in the same road as 18 wheelers are both suicidal and asinine.
48
Why does anyone wants to walk or bike next to dust, exhaust, and noise?! This is pure sadomasochism. Blocking buses and trucks is an insult to the poor. If you so don't like cars, than go bicycle in Bellevue. Seattle's bus commute is miserable enough. I don't think people feel sorry anymore when these old money trust fund hippie peddlers get hurt on the road. It's like when someone is getting hurt by having a rough sex... You wanted it and you got it.
49
I have been a bicyclist for twenty years both in Seattle and Los Angeles (Seattle Native). NO MORE BIKE LANES, the parking and bike lane nazis are killing business (worked 10 years in Georgetown, too, commuted to the U.W. on my bicycle). The new bike lanes make it so DANGEROUS to open your doors. I have been hit and run on my bicycle with cops doing nothing even though witnesses chased the culprit down(twenty years ago if you didn't die or spend 48 hours in the hospital it wasn't a felony). Quit taking away traffic lanes. For God's sake it rains here 9 months a year, after killing the monorail bikes are the solution? My 66 year old mother can barely walk three blocks, she's going to ride her bike? Get a clue, Georgetown = Industry. Industry= Jobs. Jobs = money. Money = Blue Collar Jobs in GEORGETOWN. Personally I am a yuppie now and can't stand it there and loved living in LA and driving everywhere (except for commuting to work in Beverly Hills on my bike)!
50
Boeing contributes millions a year to the areas economy.

What do a handful of bicyclists do but whine and complain?

Move to capitol hill or the U District, theres plenty of your kind to be found. Leave industrial roads to the people that generate business to use them and who need them to stay functioning roads.

Boeing was here a lot longer than your self-entitled little 2 wheel demands were, too.
51
@ stiffyspeedo (#28)

hey, where do you get off, illuminating and inspiring like that!:) Don't you know how to polarize and obfusticate!! You can't REALLY be a truck driver, they're all A-holes, aren't they? And people who ride bikes got NO reason to live, right? waka-waka-waka!!!

Haha-- just kidding, could you tell?-_- I LOVED your comment_-_ if only a few more (read "all") of us could be so, erm, insightful and fair. You make me proud to be a trucking & biking human being-- every so often we actually use our heads and hearts, and it's a beautiful thing. Come on posters, get a tiny clue from stiffyspeedo!
52
Bike riders as a whole do not
have license's nor are they required
to pay for license tabs.
They do not obey the laws of
the road, and most of the time
they provoke the other drivers
of cars. They feel they are
protected no matter what. Try
navigating the UW campus sometime.
Bike's should be banned for recreation
purposes only. Bike trail are nice..
except at Greenlake where they run
over the pedestrians.
53
I have commuted via bicycle, on Airport Way and East Marginal Way, for many years. It is difficult to see where the city will find more room for bike lanes, but it is worth a try. Now that we have funds to restore a bridge from East Marginal Way to South Park, a bike route from Downtown to Georgetown to South Park seems like a good idea.

"Wow considering I ride Airport Way to Georgetown, and take E. Marginal on into Tukwila, i would love to know what options I have?"

Don't leave Airport Way at Georgetown. Stay on it until it sends you onto Boeing Access Road. That will take you to the intersection of East Marginal Way and Tukwila International Boulevard. South of Georgetown, Airport Way has few intersections, and a wide shoulder -- the opposite of East Marginal Way.
54
Well, I sympathize with the cyclists. How else are the people who have been slapped with multiple DUIs supposed to get to work?

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.