PedersenSoVague

To not support a bike lane on every single street in the city. Is to be labeled "anti bike lane".
We just spent I don't know how much money building a bike lane with speed bumps and crosswalks, 3 blocks East of 35th Ave that runs parallel to the street.
There is barely enough room for 2 cars to get by eachother, it was dangerous before and finally they fixed it with the new improvements. Now you want to make it dangerous again for everyone by trying to fit in a bike lane? Go to Safeway on 75th and take a look around. Let me know if you see any room for more than 2 lanes of cars.

Get rid of the bike lanes. We need more parking.

“...Mayor Mike McGinn and the city council signed the city's 2014 Bicycle Master Plan into law.”

McGinn had lost office to Murray in 2013. Mayor Murray signed it (and then spent his remaining time in office lying about why the city wasn’t implementing it).

@4: Spoken like someone who resides in Bellevue, sneers that Bellevue is better than Seattle, crows about not paying taxes to Seattle, but yet demands we taxpayers in Seattle subsidize her foolish and wasteful lifestyle choices. We’ll build more bike lanes, and you can walk across the I-90 bridge.

The intersection at 75th was a mess before the redo, and it’s still a mess. Even drivers don’t feel in that area. Nobody won in this scenario.

And the greenway on 39th is four blocks from the main drag — is that really “so far away”?

If the greenway is to be the bike thoroughfare it's crossings need to be like those on 35th. A light at 65th, 70th, 75th, four way stop where 35th has a four way stop. Minor street's that cross it stop signed where necessary, blocked on one or both sides where possible so cars just won't cross there at all.

@2 - who are these "elite bikers" you speak of? Are you talking about the people who bike commute daily, year round? Or is there some peloton of professional cyclists that solely brave our treacherous winter weather? Either way, pretty sure they're all members of the public.

Also, if you think typical Seattle rain is in "downpour" territory you really ought to travel more.

"His (Pederson's) takeaway from this experience... was to listen to more cyclists. He wants to do that with long, thoughtful studies and an intention to carve space into the budget for those studies."

Um... How the f**k does he think the Bicycle Master Plan was written?!! Only to be tossed aside!!!

@6 a bigger problem than the alternative path being far-ish away, is that it crosses multiple busy streets and you have to wait for a gap (safety problem), and that it just stops for blocks at a time. Nobody's going to want bike crossing signals on those side streets. Nobody.

@4: Have you ever told people to park in their garages instead of the street because "We need more parking"? I'm guessing no.

Nathalie, could you have Alex have ridden any closer to those parked cars? Hope you never get doored, it's not fun.

If you're trying to get bread, or go to a restaurant, or whatever, why can't you just take 39th up to the cross-street you're trying to get to and then ride four blocks over to 35th? That's what people do on the Burke-Gilman Trail and on the many many other bike trails in this city.

There are some streets that just aren't good for cyclists and impractical to add bike lanes to. Nobody in their right mind would advocate adding bike lanes on Aurora. It's physically impractical to add bike lanes to Lake Washington Blvd and that long, curvy single-lane incline road desperately needs them much more than 35th.

Can't wait for The Stranger to endorse Shaun Scott and trash the shit out of Alex Pedersen despite Pedersen being game to spend an hour riding around with Nathalie and Scott not even bothering to show up (and apparently offering so little interesting conversation that she didn't even write about it).

Data matters if you call yourself a progressive. 2% of Seattle actually commutes via bike and that is an ableist 2% at best. Us disabled people have to wait longer on the bus so tech bros on bikes can have the right of way.

Seattle's bike culture is an elitist- mostly white guy crowd. The old and disabled need not apply.

I've been riding on 35th Ave NE for years and have never felt unsafe. I've certainly never been honked at. I think overall the road worked better before the redesign, with the notable exception of the 75th st intersection, which works much better now with a turn lane. Having the north and southbound lanes separated by a turn lane invites drivers to go faster which is not good. So the first thing is to reduce car speeds a little. Next, please no dedicated bike lane. What is so terrible about drivers moving over a few feet to pass bicycles? If it's illegal to move into the turn lane for that purpose, then restripe the turn lane with dotted lines.

"The city had planned on putting a protected bike lane on this main thoroughfare, until some homeowners and businesses caught wind of the plans and launched a vitriolic campaign against them."

So they "caught wind of it." Why would they need to catch wind of something if SDOT andob Johnson had just been straightforward with them about it in the first place?

And Natalie is upset they got vitriolic? Well when you try to shove something down the throats of an unsuspecting community and small businesses and call it a simple "repaving project," you better expect it.

Let's take a tour of Nathalie's pouting with observations of reality:

"...my mind well aware that a car door opening could send me spinning..."

Yes, always be on the lookout for possible obstacles.

"... on a road that clearly was not designed with cyclists in mind?"

Yes, just about all roads evolved for the horse and buggy and then the motorcar.

"Could Pedersen still argue against bike lanes even as he experienced the dangers of cycling on a road without them?"

Of course, he just needs all the data from all the involved parties. Personal experience is not required to make a good decision. Otherwise there wouldn't be male gynecologists for example.

"That was (one of the times) when I swerved. Apparently, I have a habit of subtly shifting my whole body whenever I turn my head. That includes turning my handlebars. Not a great realization to make during rush-hour traffic."

That is your issue to work on as you exacerbating the dangers to yourself and others on the road.

"While 39th Avenue is safer and calmer, it's far off the main drag where shops and restaurants are. Don't cyclists need to get bread and go to the dentist, too?"

That's only 4 blocks away and you could still ride/walk your bike.

"At stop signs, you have to wait for a break in traffic."

Yes, and cars have to wait their turn as well.

Is there some disconnect that so few people cycle in Seattle for their commute because it's not nearly safe enough to do so? Like, ya'll want to throw that 2-3% at us when it's a direct result of unsafe conditions. Get out of your circular logic, and quit pretending that the majority of Seattle is elderly.

The 2% biker figure would increase substantially if more men and women felt it was a safe mode of transportation. Dangerous roads and drivers are preventing progress on this front.

Here's why I don't ride my bike everywhere:

1) Storing a bike in an apartment is a huge pain in the neck. Locking and unlocking it is a huge pain in the neck. Finding a place to put it when I arrive is a huge pain in the neck. That's a lot of friction for short and medium distance trips. If I'm only shaving 5-10 minutes off a journey, I don't want to deal with all the extra hassle.

2) If I'm going somewhere further, biking will take significantly longer than a car, period. So the motivation to bike is that I enjoy riding the bike and that it's cheaper. Except that:
2A) I don't enjoy riding it when the weather is cold or rainy, or when it's dark out, or when I have to go up steep hills.
2B) It's not safe to ride in the dark, when the streets are wet, when going along shitty streets with holes or garbage on the side of the road, or when dealing with other bikers who are often assholes, much more so than other car drivers. So there's a safety tradeoff that I'm paying for by taking the car.

3) Knowing that some criminal vagrant might steal it or loot it for parts while it's locked up is a big source of stress.

4) If I decide I want to go somewhere else on my journey, I can do that in a car, and I can't do that in a bike. That's a lot of freedom I'm sacrificing. Especially if you're asking me to bike to work instead of driving. Then I can't go anywhere else after work except back home.

5) Difficult biking is exercise, and I don't want to get all sweaty and frazzled and have to change clothes or take a shower just to go somewhere.

Why deal with any of this crap when I could just hop in my car and be there quickly, enjoyably and safely?

From the article:

"The bike lanes on 35th Avenue, they pointed out, were in the city's long-term Bicycle Master Plan, meaning experts and city officials had already studied the situation and made a decision, and voters had approved that decision more than once. "

This statement is 100% false, and should be retracted entirely. The Seattle Bike Master Plan says specifically that the BMP is a preliminary outline that can be modified based on community input:

"However, as projects move through the project development process, our analysis, design, and community engagement may lead to a project being developed in a different way or location than envisioned in the plan.For example, the BMP may recommend a protected bike lane on a particular street, but through our project development and outreach process, we may determine that an alternate facility, such as a parallel neighborhood greenway, would be preferable."

In the case of NE 35th, the comments collected during the public outreach period were overwhelmingly opposed. Based on community input--as required by the BMP--the design should have been modified. However, former CM Johnson famously said he would "take the heat" for violating the BMP's community input requirements. He proved his courage by skipping out of office at the first sign of trouble.

Had former CM Johnson simply followed the process outlined in the BMP, this whole mess would have been avoided. And for the record, in mediation Save 35th representatives offered an alternative that would have provided bike lanes on portions of NE 35th. However, that compromise was rejected. Given the lack of community for the plan, and no room for compromise, Mayor Durkan had no choice but to nix the design.

Oh man seeing ya'll riding in the death zone (close enough to the right for a car to door you) in that photo makes my palms sweaty!

Tangentially and outside of the scope of city council, driver's education and testing really needs to add information on how to properly open a car door, which for people exiting the driver's side is to use their right hand.

https://www.rd.com/advice/travel/open-car-door-right-hand/

@24 wow I had no idea biking was causing me so many problems. I have no idea how I’ve managed for decades without any trouble. I’ll stop biking immediately.

@19 evidently you have not taken the 39th Greenway. Cross traffic does not stop at 55th, 60th, 65th, 70th, 75th, or 85th. Other than that (and the fact that cars coming barreling down what is essentially a one lane road expecting you to get out of their way) it’s great.

@29 Correct. Bikes have to obey the same rules as cars at 55th, 60th, 65th, 70th, 75th, and 85th.

Here's the part I don't understand: Bike advocates like you are clear how much greenways suck. In every discussion about 35th Ave NE it is made very, very, clear why no bicyclist would want to ride on something so horrible as a greenway.

Message received. Greenways suck.

So let's get rid of this horrible blight on the biking community. I recommend writing these assholes and telling them to jam their greenways up their asses:

http://seattlegreenways.org/

35th is the only way to travel by car in a straight shot in that entire area. Bikes have many options other than traveling on 35th if they so choose. The traffic moves slower but at a more even pace since the recent roadwork. I rarely see bikes on 35th and have had no problem with them or vice versa. The endless whining from people on bikes and people in cars is tiresome. Just shut up, obey the laws, be considerate of others, and SHUT UP.

Graham also failed to mention that over 5,000 community members signed the petition to Save 35th Ave. from bike lanes, and that the competing Safe 35th was an astroturf group created by Councilmember Rob Johnson himself, with a few cyclists, to save face. Or that CM Johnson was the former head of pro-bike Transportation Choices Coalition and one of the stubbornest and least likeable people ever to occupy a Council seat. Pedersen is running to be the opposite of Johnson, including likeable.

I’ll believe anti bike lane talking points when i hear the first ever non biker admit that people biking reduces traffic. If you can’t admit that, then you obviously don’t care about anything other than being an asshole. This is a a quickly growing city that needs to plan for the future. We can’t put thousands more people here every year and have them bring their cars. Geographically, it just doesn’t work. Everybody seems to want more jobs and businesses to come here, but somehow want nothing at all to change at the same time.

I hope this good piece is the start some in-depth writing on bike lanes in The Stranger. Let's hope the District 4 election does not come down to Bikes-only, pro and con. Remaking narrow streets platted a century ago or more to accommodate the 21st century is borderline crazy, but that's what we as a city are trying to do.

On a narrow road, exclusive 24x7 bike lanes can destroy a neighborhood. A good point was made in the piece that the 39th neighborhood greenway is not where the retail action is. I think that's the point. Retail businesses need parking and SLOW cyclists who are there for a loaf of bread, a cup of coffee, etc. Biking on the sidewalk is perfectly legal, but slow -- geared to retail.

If your point in cycling is to get through a neighborhood as fast as possible, do it on a side street like 39th with appropriate upgrades for traffic control (lights, etc.). Lorena Gonzalez made this point exceedingly well at a City Council meeting earlier this month. We need to re-think some of the knee-jerk reaction to bikes, both pro and con.

@25 Yessler:
Note that on September 3, the reactionary Council voted to throw out that language and follow the old BMP, essentially without modification or new information, requiring that any alternative be less expensive than the recommendation in the BMP. About as anti-Progressive as you can get. Hoping Shaun Scott stands up to this kind of shenanigans.

You know, I would hate bikers less if they....
1. Didn't blow through stop signs to save that precious momentum.
2. Didn't ride side by side 4 people deep parallel to the Burke on a weekday.
3. Didn't complain about lack of bike lanes when we gots more bike lanes than basically anyone.
4. No on ever figured out how to get bikers to signal so that driver actually know what the fuck they are fucking doing, hand up down, hand up right WTF? Nobody knows what the fuck you are about to do! Then they cut across all lanes of traffic weave between cars and tell me to go fuck myself.
5. They don't even yield to fucking pedestrians. Fucking hypocrites.

@37 I'm sure you could make a similar list about your fellow drivers and pedestrians could probably take both of ya'll to task—that doesn't fix the issue any.

@38 Ooh ooh I'll do it! I have neither a car nor a bike.
I would hate drivers less if they...
1. Didn't blow through stop signs to save that precious momentum (didn't even have to change that one!)
2. Didn't make reckless right-on-red turns into pedestrians
3. Didn't make reckless left-on-green turns into pedestrians
4. Didn't block the box
5. Didn't complain about having to share the road with non-car traffic
6. Used their fucking turn signals. Guess what, assholes? If you don't use your turn signal I can't tell what the fuck you're about to do, and when I step into the road and you nearly hit me, because you're turning and not going straight, you get mad at me for not being psychic.
7. Didn't honk at cars stopped for pedestrians, then weave across several lanes of traffic to go around the stopped car, endangering the crossing pedestrian in the process.
8. Didn't slam on the brakes to "yield" to pedestrians on the sidewalk minding their own business with zero intention of crossing the road (OK, that's a seattle-specific thing, but it still bugs the shit out of me.)

@30 I did not state or imply that bikes do not need to follow the rules of the road, I'm sorry if you did not understand that. There are no stops signs for cross traffic at those intersections, so bikes need to wait for a break in the traffic, rendering the greenway much less useful. Imagine stop signs on 35th at every intersection (but without stop signs for cross traffic).

Why are you are so angry about Greenways? I am not. The 39th Greenway would simply be more useful if cross traffic were required to stop, and if there was actually room for cars and bikes to coexist safely (as would be the case with a protected bike lane).

@39 The only thing I'll add to that is; 9) absolutely losing their shit over the tinniest little thing when all they aren't excreting any more energy than I am here at my desk typing.

You know, I would hate drivers less if they....
1. Didn't blow through stop signs to save that precious momentum.
2. Didn't park side by side 2 cars deep in the bike lane.
3. Didn't complain about lack of parking when we gots more cars than basically anyone.
4. No on ever figured out how to get motorists to signal so that cyclists actually know what the fuck they are fucking doing, lever hand up down, hand up right WTF? Nobody knows what the fuck you are about to do! Then they cut across all lanes of traffic weave between cars and tell me to go fuck myself.
5. They don't even yield to fucking pedestrians. Fucking hypocrites.

@39 - beat me to it!

This piece seems more intended to provoke and engage a cultural battle than provide insight or serve a positive purpose. Is this not obvious to any reader, regardless of their view on bike infrastructure or even this element?

The whole reason the author "huffed and puffed" is because the 35th route needlessly, for most destinations, ascends Wedgewood Hill. It is not a "crucial arterial" for bike commuters whatsoever. Most local bike commuters choose one of the many parallel roads to avoid that hill. The only people who'd ride up there would be going to one of the few neighborhood businesses or who live on one of the few blocks not better accessed by a different route.