The University Bridge, without working street lights for months, will be a dark and dangerous crossing for cyclists for just a little while longer. Details come from Bicyclepaper.com:

On Monday, Feb. 9, the City of Seattle will begin rehabilitating the aging lighting system on the University Bridge. Seattle City Light, with the assistance of Seattle Department of Transportation, will replace the 90-year-old wiring on the bridge, repair or replace the conduit system and hand holes, and replace the luminaries (streetlights). The departments anticipate completing work on the lighting system by the end of April.

For those whose daily commute takes them across the University Bridge without the aid of natural sunlight, here’s a little safety tip from a guy who should know a thing or two about riding around at night and, apparently, the Dutch countryside.

6 replies on “Let There Be Light”

  2. They have been working under the bridge for a while now … I thought this had something to do with it, and that perhaps the lights have been disconnected, versus simply broken. I’m basing this only on what I see, versus what I’m told.

  5. At least at night they don’t have the bike lane closed….something that will be going on for the next several months while they repaint the bridge.

  6. thank god. i ride on that bridge every morning at 5:30 A.M. Riding in the dark section is a bit frightening, rather like floating through a void. Having a light doesn’t really help, either: my eyes never adjust properly to the dark because of other streetlights, so my relatively dim LED is useless.

    @2: they’re painting it

    @4: it’s perfectly safe — if something isn’t in the bike lane. if, say, some debris were there, it would be difficult to see it and hitting debris on a bike in the dark could be fatal. the other day, the inch or two of snow on the roadway made the bridge experience especially exciting.

    so yes, if there’s nothing dangerous on the bridge, it’s not dangerous to ride on the bridge at dark.

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