So it looks like the city is finally doing something about the curb cut—for bikes—on southbound side of the Ballard Bridge. Eli Sanders described riding over the Ballard Bridge and using the old curb cut in a feature published back in April of 2005:
This curb cut that Hiller and I are now staring at is meant to integrate riders back into traffic after they have ridden the gangplank south across the bridge. It forces bikers to merge almost perpendicularly into traffic that is going 40 miles per hour. Much of this traffic wants to turn right a few feet beyond the curb cut, directly across the biker’s path. If a biker makes it past this merge and turn alive, he or she is on 15th Avenue West, a howling road with no bike lane that connects to Elliott Avenue West, another howling road with no bike lane that leads into downtown.
The new curb cut will deliver cyclists more directly and efficiently into the paths of speeding cars turning right on to W. Emerson St. at the south end of the Ballard Bridge—which most do without signaling—and that’s some improvement, I suppose. Here’s a picture of the already-in-progress curb cut:
Hooray.
But you know what? The curb cut is least the Ballard Bridge’s shortcomings. If the city were serious about making the Ballard Bridge safe for cyclists it would do something about the insanely narrow, insanely dangerous sidewalks/bikepaths/gangplanks that line either side of the bridge. Two cyclists can’t pass each other going in opposite directions; a pedestrian walking across the bridge has to squeeze against the railing to let cyclists pass. Those sidewalks are a huge disincentive for the experienced cyclists and they probably keep hundreds of people who live in Ballard and work in downtown Seattle from even considering commuting by bike.
And a city that was serious about encouraging bike commuting would do something—something like dedicated bike paths—about 15th Avenue West too.
It’s straight shot from Ballard to downtown Seattle; there are no hills, it’s nice and flat the whole way. If someone was thinking about moving to Seattle from, say, Tacoma because their offices were relocating to downtown Seattle, and that person wanted to bike to work but wasn’t a hard-core cyclist—he didn’t want to climb Capitol Hill or Queen Anne every day on the way home from work—Ballard would be the obvious choice… if Ballard Bridge was safe to bike and if there was a dedicated bike lane along 15th Avenue West all the way to downtown Seattle.
Build it, Seattle, and more folks will ride.
@#2 – the reason people ride north on the west side of the bridge is that it is impossible to cross the street for blocks and blocks south of there. Don’t tell me to take the stairway underpass, my bike is old and weighs 40 lbs and I am old and can’t carry it down two flights of stairs and up two flights of stairs on the other side.
@2
It’s a sidewalk/bicycle path, so no, not really. Ideally, yes, just like on the Fremont Bridge, people should be riding with traffic to help avoid congestion, but sometimes that’s just not practical.
That said, riding against traffic on the sidewalk across the Ballard Bridge is the second most terrifying thing I’ve ever done on a bicycle in this city.
If they wanted to cheaply improve the Ballard Bridge do two things: make the curb cut so there’s better access onto 15th which won’t make much of a difference, but maybe some. More importantly, add a railing all the way across the bridge so there’s not that horrible DEATH CURB which is exactly the right height so send one endoing into traffic.
Riding over Dexter really isn’t a big deal though, and even if they added a bicycle only bridge on either side of the Ballard Bridge, Dexter would still be the best way to get downtown. Most of the time bus drivers are decent to cyclists, but not on 15th/Elliott during rush hour.
What Dan said.
There’s actually a bike route that goes through Interbay amongst the train tracks, but totally seperated.
Depending on where one lives in Ballard, they can cross at the locks and then after going thru some light-industrial area on the south side of the ship canal, this bike path will connect them to Myrtle Edwards Park and straight to Downtown. No car traffic. Very little bike traffic. With the exception of some “pedestrian” bridges over the tracks, but built for bikes, there are no hills.
Once I found it, I never used the Ballard Bridge with my bike again.
Crossing at the Locks is not conducive to regular commuting. I’ve done it a bunch. It’s a quarter mile from one side to the other. It takes about ten minutes to walk. Add 3 minutes if the inner lock gates are open and you have to go around the long way. Add a few minutes more if it’s summer and the place is jammed with tourists gawking at fish and yachts. In the winter you still can’t roll thru, because you’ll get a hefty fine from a grumpy corps of enginners security guard. If you’re a commuter with a busy life looking to get from point A to point B quickly, the Ballard Bridge is the only good option for getting across the water. And few people do it because when you do, your life is in danger. Every. Single. Time.
Elonchos, if you’d so happily vote for it, why are you so happily ranting against it?
Just being a dick for fun?
That’s so rude. Are you angry because you aren’t able to provide reasonable answers to any of my questions? And if you get this angry when little old me posts a couple questions on some blog, you’re going to have a stroke if the issue ever comes under the kind of scrutiny that every other public project has to face.
Anyway, good luck with your Ballard Bridge rehab, Dwight. Call anyone who doesn’t jump on board your bandwagon a dick. Let me know how well that works for you.