When we talk about the missing link in Seattle it is the Burke Gilman Trail between Fremont and Ballard. But there are a lot of other missing links. We have some great trails in Seattle but they are not all connected. It doesn’t stop most of us for riding but it does stop some people. Our goal should be to get all connections for all ages and abilities. We are definitely not there yet in the ID.
My biggest missing links is getting from my house in Beacon hill to Capitol Hill or to downtown through Chinatown. The city just finished a protected bike lane on the 12th Street Jose Rizal Bridge. They took out an unneeded lane and put in plastic post bike lanes on both sides of the bridge.
I went to a city presentation on the bridge lanes a couple of years ago at the Beacon Hill Safe Streets meeting. They were asking us if we preferred both directional bike lanes on one side of the street or on either side of the street. We couldn’t really answer that until they told us what the connections would be like South of the bridge and North of King street. The engineer didn’t know and still doesn’t know. They are still thinking about it but they went ahead and installed lanes on both sides of the street. They are in initial design work and input seeking for the Beacon Hill section. I think most of their feedback is that we want the protected bike lanes on 15th street and I would be surprised if they didn’t do this. We don’t know if they will put both lanes on the East side of the street or continue to have protected lanes on both sides.
North of Weller towards First Hill and Capitol Hill is a little bit more difficult. Both the Jackson and Boren intersections with 12th are really difficult and I think the city is kind of stuck on what they are going to do. Taking a lane off 12th is going to really slow cars down as well as the buses and streetcars so they have taken that off the table for now. A bike bridge over Jackson and/or Boren would be really difficult and expensive. A tunnel won’t work because of the streetcar tracks. A 10th street crossing or other parallel streets won’t work because of the elevation problems. This missing link is so difficult that I’m not sure they are even looking at it anymore. But a lot of people still ride on 12th between Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill even though it is crazy dangerous. I get nervous every time my kids leave my house after a Sunday dinner and have to ride back to their apartment on Capitol Hill.
A route that is just as busy is going to downtown. The city created the King Street Neighborhood Greenway a couple of years ago and they are still working on improving it.
There is some apartment construction going on in Little Saigon as well as the 12th street protected bike lane connection that is still getting finished up. But the problem with the greenway is really West of there. There are several tents under the freeway which have had a lot of police activity so many people are avoiding walking on King street. The real problems for cyclists are between 5th and 8th. The city did a traffic study before they made the greenway and it looks like traffic is slow and there are about 4600 cars per day.
It seems like every time I ride through here I see something dangerous. There is a lot of pedestrian traffic so the 4 way stops often cause confusion. When people are in the sidewalk, then cars lose track on who gets to go next. When bikes are added in, it gets even more confusing. Many nice people would like bikes to go first, even when it isn’t our turn. Some people expect bikes to act like pedestrians and some want us to be cars which makes everyone hesitant at intersections. Another issue is the parking. I see a lot of double parked cars for UberEats and I see a lot of people back up parallel parking. Sometimes it is hard to figure out who is going to back up into my bike and who is just blocking the road. I also see a lot of U-turns after parking or picking up the food. I have even seen a lot of U-turns in the intersections.
The Greenway is not working and it is not safe. We really need some protected bike lines and these are going to have to be really protected (not plastic posts) so we don’t end up having delivery drivers parking in them. There are only about 30 parking spots on this street and many of those are disabled spots or 10 minute delivery spots. There will be some push-back from the community if one side of the street parking was converted to a 2 way protected bike lane. But there is a lot of parking underneath the freeway if that area was cleaned up and new lights are added to make if feel safe again.
The other answer could be removing cars from the whole street. Cars going through the area use Jackson or Dearborn. Cars going to the ID could use Weller, Main, Lane or the numbered streets. I don’t think drivers would miss this street much. A pedestrian/bike only street would be awesome for the ID. The street is really wide and could support a lot Asian food trucks or other Asian selling kiosks. Many people are worried about gentrification and this would be a way to make sure this area stays Asian focused. This place could really become a destination if it had 10 food trucks in the street every day along with some picnic tables between them or in Hing Hay park.
I don’t know if the city sees the current King Street Greenway as a problem. It really rubs me the wrong way when someone says Beacon Hill is now connected to downtown by bike. It is really not the case. I don’t think the city has any plans to change this and is going to take some pressure by the people by the biking community and the ID community to make this area safe.