Beacon Hill commute to Kent

In 2018 the last kid left for college and we decided to downsize and move to the city. My wife had been commuting for many years and the freeway from South King County to Seattle was not getting easier. In 2019, my Boeing job was moved from Renton to Kent which was really tough because we used to just a couple miles away. But we love Beacon Hill and I have found a way to commute to Kent by bike.

My job starts at 5:30am in Kent which makes the idea getting up even crazy early and riding to work in the dark for 17 miles really unthinkable. So, I do a lightrail/bike commute in the morning. I take the 4:39am (empty) train from Beacon Hill to Angle Lake and then ride down the hill 4 miles to Kent-Boeing every morning. I get off around 2pm so I have a lot of time to ride all the way back North to Beacon Hill.

The Interurban trail is nearby and it goes all the way to Fort Dent park where it turns into the Green River Trail. That takes me all the way to Cecil Moses Park where the trail disappears before I need to head through South Park. King County Parks has plans to extend the trail all way to the edge of South Park. The website has not been updated by the project manager David Shaw (david.shaw@kingcounty.gov) but he tells me that is going to be at least until 2023 before it is designed and funded. Traffic is light on West Marginal Way S so it isn’t that bad right now until I get to 14th and have to ride through South Park. Maybe will the extension will also create a safer way to the South Park bridge.

Once over the bridge, I ride on the wide side on East Marginal Way and on the bike lane on Ellis Ave to Georgetown. The city of Seattle is working on improving this section and has just finished a design. It could happen in 2022-3 and should also improve the South Park section. Ryan Packer wrote about it in the Urbanist if you would like more detail.

I take Airport Way for the busy 3 blocks of Georgetown. I ride in the door zone of the street parking which is less than ideal and sometimes there are cars going North still thinking they can go 50mph like they did along Boeing field. But it is only 3 blocks before I head up the hill on Lucille and take the South Beacon Hill Greenway all the way home. I am not a fan of hills but this is pretty gradual and it is all on quiet backroads. It has been named a Stay Healthy Street which means only bikes, peds and local traffic allowed. Not every car stays away but almost everyone is very considerate of bikes if they are breaking the no driving rule.

I have in the past avoided South Park and rode North on Airport Way from the Green River trail, or just rode the entire length of Boeing field on the East Marginal Way sidewalk. But I prefer South Park through Georgetown even if it does add a little bit of mileage. About 17 miles home but I really enjoy following the river most of the way. I feel that I am incredibly lucky to have such a beautiful commute every day which just changes my attitude by the time I get home. Not many people can have an hour riding along a river watching eagles and ospreys every day.