Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board - Nov. 7th, 2007

My meeting notes from the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board meeting on Nov. 7th, 2007.

The required quorum of board members was not present to approve the minutes from the previous meeting.

The meeting started with introductions. There was one guest from the Pedestrian board, one guest from the eastside, and at least 3 other guests including myself. The chair of the board was not present and the person who I believe is the vice-chair ran the meeting. From my recollection, there were between 5 and 7 board members present.

There was a discussion of the minutes, which haven’t been posted on the website since 2003, and that a common format was needed, a static note-taker (secretary) needed to be selected for the new year and that the board needed to start the new year right by posting the minutes online.

Then there was a brief Bicycle Master Plan update:
The bicycle facility installation on Yestler Ave. S. is now complete.
SDOT has come up with a scoring system to prioritize the projects listed on the Bicycle Master Plan and select which 35 miles of facilities they intend to implement in 2008. The list of work planned for 2008 will be presented at the next meeting.

There is a plan to sign the bicycle route in the Dexter corridor and through the arboretum this winter.
A new bicycle map will be produced this winter and another in August. Both will be printed in small batches and will contain updates to show the work on the Bicycle Master Plan that has been completed.

Dexter Ave. N. will be re-channelized sometime in the near future.
Much of the work will be by Starbucks including:
Remove the center turn lane.
Change the parking lane width.
Change the allowed parking times.
Add “Watch for Bikes” signs targeted toward car drivers parking on Dexter.
The remainder of the work will be to add a curb bulb at Dexter Ave and Dexter Way by Crockett St. to eliminate the free right that folks take when exiting from Aurora and heading southbound onto Dexter Way.

Some of the Bicycle Master Plan educational work is being contracted out to Cascade Bicycle Club.

On all of the arterials slated for repaving in 2008 that have loop detectors to control the signal lights, bicycles will be painted on the loop detector. If I understood it correctly this would be used instead of the “T” that had previously been used as a paint indicator for cyclists. One major caveat – 5th Ave does not use loop detectors and thus will not be painted.
There was a guest suggestion that SDOT publish some common source-destination wayfaring route lists. The discussion meandered from Bikely and other route mapping sites to google earth KML exports. Some members may work on this over time and Monica from SDOT is going to look into what she can do to provide some basic routes like “UW to Downtown”, or “Downtown to Ballard”.

After the Bicycle Master Plan report, the board gave a lengthy PowerPoint presentation with photos and questions/comments that resulted from their recent tour of the Chief Sealth Trail. The points I noted are as follows:

The mayor talked about it at a boards and commissions Wine & Cheese event and about how it was a neat way to use existing right of way from power lines for additional uses.
The trail is 4 miles long and doesn’t extend to the city limits.
Beacon Hill is poorly connected to downtown and access needs to be added.
Jefferson Park area offers a road diet opportunity that should be looked at.
The board noticed some effective usage of new signs.
There are additional opportunities to add signs to/from area sound transit connections.
The trail needs some (maybe 5) additional information kiosks and more signage.
On Beacon (ave?), except from 2-7 on weekdays, the sharrows have cars parked on top of them. This situation is similar to Pender St. in Portland and Portland uses two sets of sharrows. SDOT is considering new signage for this area.
The New Holly Community Center and new Library are accessible from the trail via a gravel path, but there is no signage.

Myrtle Street is problematic with cars running stop signs. SDOT is upgrading this intersection from (previously) no traffic control to (soon) a full stop light.

The crossing at Martin Luther King & Henderson has a signal that is always flashing. SDOT explained that this is due to a purchasing decision by Sound Transit without consultation and the sensor doesn’t work so they put it into constant flash mode while they try to fix the design.


Other reports:

Letter to Seattle Police Department: (SPD has been requested to send a representative to both the Bicycle and Pedestrian advisory boards and has failed to do so. Ajoint letter was proposed to add a little pressure to SPD.) On hold because the board member who accepted this task hasn’t had enough time to make more progress on it.

Board Retreat: A yearly half-day get-together to plan longer term work, is suggested to be held at the Beacon Hill Library this year sometime in January. The exact date and details are still in flux and this is normally a board-only event.

New board members: The mayor needs to pick three. So far he has only picked two and the city council needs to approve the appointees.
For the next meeting:

Pete Lagaway will have approximately 50 minutes of presentation on the Bicycle Master Plan work planned for 2008.

The Department of Public Development is slated to visit the board early in 2008 and the board needs to prepare a list of questions for them so they can appropriately prepare for the meeting.

Other new action:

One board member took on a new task of writing a letter on the South Lake Union Streetcar tracks which are in a dangerous configuration for cyclists.

Bicycling news in October

I prepared this for the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board meeting for the first week in November.

Bicycling news, events, problems, and improvements that I saw in October and the first few days of November that I hope folks are aware of, but I don’t want to interrupt your meeting with:


Oct 1st - Ballard News Tribune reports of harassment from car drivers against cyclists in lane newly marked with Sharrows. http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/articles/2007/10/01/news/cops/cops01.txt

Oct 2nd - Seattle Likes Bikes.org had 50 cyclists show up on a cold, dark, rainy night to protest the Stone Way configuration and that the Burke Gilman in Fremont was still closed. There was an article in the Seattle PI and some TV coverage.


Oct 3rd - I attended my first Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board Meeting and sent information back to a lot of folks that I talk with.

Oct 5th - The North Seattle Harold police blotter reported that cyclists had kicked a pickup, damaging it on Sept. 28th. Critical Mass is suspected.


Oct 11th - Bicycle fatality in Portland when a university student is right hooked by a cement truck. http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/10/cement_truck_crushes_bicyclist.html

Other photos show that the cyclist had a dashed bicycle lane that went clear through the intersection.

Oct 12th – The Burke Gilman trail is open in Fremont again.

Several very nasty root bumps in the pavement have cropped up in the last year just to the west of the bridge near Sound Mind and Body, but it is great to have the trail open and the Burmashave-esque signage was fun.


If possible, advice to the Mayor, some cyclists got the message that we aren’t worth an apology or even correction after he promised that it would be open in August and it wasn’t open until much later. A little communication goes a long way.

Oct 17th - Cyclists thank Metro for providing a list of “last stops” to load and unload cyclists on each end of the ride free zone downtown.

http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bus/ridefree.html

Thanks to Eileen Kadesh at Metro for taking the initiative on this.

Oct 21st - According to the North Seattle Herald, a female cyclist was shot at from a moving car on the 4100 block of Wallingford Ave N. She suffered only a bruise through thick layers of clothing.

http://www.zwire.com/site/tab8.asp?brd=855&pag=460&dept_id=517976


Oct 22nd - Brett Jarolimek died in Portland after getting right hooked by a garbage truck. He was an employee of the Bike Gallery. The truck driver had 25 speeding convictions, a conviction for driving without a license, and other driving violations.

Oct 26th - Critical Mass took Hwy 99 again. Around 7pm Critical Mass entered 99 northbound from the onramp near the stadiums, went over the viaduct, through the battery street tunnel, and over the Aurora Bridge, exiting at Bridge Way, climbing Stone Way, taking 45th to the U-District where it ended up at Red Square where a homecoming party was in session.


Since then, Seattle Police Department apparently asked Cascade Bicycle Club to spread the word that if Critical Mass continues to take 99 that there will be arrests. There is some discussion that some folks might be more proactive in “steering” the mass elsewhere next time.

Oct 28th - Road rage SUV vs. Bicyclist from Fremont Bridge to Stone Way and 35th.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/337174_roadrage29.html


Oct 29th - Seattle City Council Budget Hearing presentation of the Bicycle Master Plan. I was in the audience and thought that it was a very good and constructive presentation with questions from the council members that seemed genuinely interested and supportive of cycling. The final BMP vote was moved up to Nov. 5th.



Nov 1st- Peter McKay was shot in Delridge from a moving car and one of the BBs entered his lung. This was reported in the PI, but Peter’s blog is better:

http://petermckay.blogspot.com/2007/11/not-typical-commute-home.html

Note, in discussion it came up that another cyclist had been shot at with BBs in the Wallingford area along 45th in April but it wasn’t reported to the police due to minimal details (no license plate).

Nov 3rd – Bryce Lewis Memorial Ride. Lots of press coverage in King 5, NW Cable News, Seattle Times, and Seattle PI. Many articles mentioned the Bicycle Master Plan. One news article today on Peter McKay’s incident.

Nov 5th - Bicycle Master Plan Passed!

General things:

I see lots of griping about the South Lake Union Trolley or Street Car, whatever the name is supposed to be, tracks being accidents waiting to happen for cyclists. Many people are asking for a foam or rubber filler to be added because the tracks are on routes that have been fairly regularly used by cyclists. Disclaimer: The tracks are on the route that I use to get from my office to city hall and they restrict my maneuverability. I would personally like to see a filler be added or alternate routes be signed.

Thinking about the education component of the Bicycle Master Plan, I wonder if it wouldn’t be beneficial to add a little space on the new Seattle Bicycle Maps for the RCWs for bicycles on the road and on multi-use trails, or safe cycling tips and rules of thumb.

A question for SDOT: I don’t see Sharrows mentioned at all in the Washington State Driver’s handbook. How are we planning to educate the drivers who don’t live in the neighborhoods where Sharrows are being added and yet still drive on those roads?

As of Monday Nov. 5th, the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting isn’t posted online.

First time at the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board

I attended the monthly Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board meeting for the first time this month.

This is a mayor appointed board of 12 people who advise the mayor, SDOT, the city council, and others ranging from SPD to DPD on bicycle issues.

Their meetings are open to the public, from 6-8pm on the first Wednesday of the month in City Hall, but the doors to City Hall lock promptly at 6pm so you have to get there early.

The first thing that amazed me is that there were only 22 people in the room, 2 were David Hiller and Patrick McGrath from Cascade Bicycle Club(CBC), 4 were people applying for positions on the board, then there were the board members, a couple guests, and Seattle Department of Transportation(SDOT) folks.

One surprise was that one of the board members first found out about Bryce's death from Erica Barnett's "fixie" article in the Stranger which was the fifth news article and three weeks after the accident where a dump truck ran over two cyclists and killed one kid (Bryce) who had recently moved to Seattle. If this is the group advising the Mayor, maybe the cycling community can help keep them better informed.

It was cool to get so much information. The SDOT presenter, Pete Lagerway gave out a lot of bike count data, work that SDOT did this year and work that SDOT has planned for next year.

It sounds like we WILL get Green bike lanes (like the blue lanes) just south of the Fremont Bridge at Florentia, at Dexter & Denny, at 145th & Linden, at Fremont next to the Waiting for the Interurban statue, and at Greenlake Way & 50th. We will NOT be getting Green bike lanes at Eastlake and Fuhrman because it doesn't meet SDOT's guidelines for using them.

SDOT is also trying to create a bicycle boulevard from the interurban south with stoplights that let pedestrians and bicycle go straight and force cars to turn at 80th & Fremont, 85th & Fremont, and 105th ... down to either Linden or 8th (if I understood it right) to get to the Burke Gilman and then to Dexter to get downtown.

This year they have already added 19.5 miles of sharrows, bike lanes, or sharrows and bike lanes and they finished the chief sealth trail.

If you'd like to join them, the board is having a bikeability tour of the chief sealth trail and Beacon Ave S. sharrows on Oct 21. meeting at Uwajimaya at 10am.

I came away realizing that this group has the ability to request a represenative from DPD, SDOT, SPD and others to attend or present at their meeting and that this group gets listened to by SDOT and it looks like a worthwhile group to try to get involved with.

What, another blog?

Yep, another shout into the void, the echo chamber of the blogosphere as it were.

I have started to get active enough in bicycling activism and learn enough about planning, public process, and public works development affecting cyclists in Seattle that I thought it would be good to share some of that information with others and what better way in this high tech city than to use a blog?