The Shoreline city council heard public comments on the city’s proposed Transportation Improvement Plan at a public hearing on April 15, 2024.
This is the third article of four covering comments from the council about this year’s proposed plan for the next six-years of transportation projects.
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| An aerial map prepared by advocates from interurbangap.org shows possible locations of a bike bridge connecting the Interurban Trail between Shoreline and Edmonds |
The council heard comments from bicycle advocates in support of a bike bridge over NE 205th St (SR 104) connecting the Interurban Trail from Shoreline to Edmonds.
Council member John Ramsdell spoke in favor of adding the bike bridge project to the city’s transportation plan and said, “I’m a cyclist myself, crossing SR 104 is scary as a cyclist”.
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| A screenshot shows council member John Ramsdell expressing support for adding a bike bridge to Edmonds to the city’s list of transportation projects |
According to data received from WSDOT, the intersection where the Interurban Trail crosses SR 104 has been the site of two recent serious injury collisions involving bicyclists.
If the council chooses to include the Edmonds bike bridge to the Transportation Improvement Plan, it would be added to a long list of other bike and pedestrian projects already on the plan.
In comments about the plan, councilmember Keith Scully said, “I want to say how delighted I am that we have a list of projects and not a single one of them is solely motor vehicle…”, he said.
Ten of the nineteen projects listed in the Transportation Improvement Plan will primarily benefit vehicle traffic - such as the Road Surface Maintenance Program (#4), the roundabouts on 145th (#7), and the 145th (#6) and 175th (#11) corridor projects.
Voters approved a sales tax in 2018 to pay for new sidewalks (#2) which will pay for nine new sidewalks across the city.
The sidewalk rehabilitation program (#1) is paid for with vehicle license fees and will improve existing sidewalks.
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| A map of projects included in the Transportation Improvement Plan shows locations of additional pedestrian and bicycle projects that might be included |
New sidewalks are planned on Ballinger Way (#15) and 200th (#14) and new bike lanes are planned on Meridian between 175th and 200th (#13).
Two projects funded by Sound Transit will likely be included in future versions of the Transportation Improvement Plan.
Sound Transit will pay for a new sidewalk on 30th Ave NE between NE 145th St to NE 147th St.
Sound Transit also will pay for a project the city is calling the “28th Ave NE Bikeway” to paint sharrows on 28th between 145th and 150th.
The city is calling a network of sharrows on streets running parallel to 145th the “Westside Street Off-Corridor Bike Network” which will connect to the 148th Street Non-Motorized Bridge (#8).
An Eastside Off-Corridor Bike Network (#12) is in early stages of planning.
Studies on the safety of sharrows have been inconclusive with some studies finding them to be ineffective at improving safety for bicyclists.
The city envisions a Trail Along the Rail (#9), a shared-use path running parallel to the light rail line, but has not allocated funding to purchase property to fill gaps.
Some gaps north of the 148th bike bridge could be filled by the 3rd Ave NE Connectors project (#19) but other gaps will be send bicyclists and pedestrians onto nearby streets.
The council will vote on whether to adopt the Transportation Improvement Plan on May 13.
Double bridge option gives people walking and using bikes more equitable access to businesses on the "island" and further north on 99, as the walkways between Wallingford and 99 are long traverses with dubious crossings and definitely not good locations for biking.
ReplyDeleteI hope a SR 104 bridge ends up happening. The Interurban Trail is both an important transportation corridor and one of the most popular parks in the city.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the safety of sharrows, I think the city is actually using them correctly in the planned projects: as wayfinding on already safe local streets, not as a safety measure in and of itself.
The single bridge option makes no sense. It takes bikers through far more elevation change and blocks the only entry to a popular park (Mathay Ballinger). The double bridge option would be great, rooting for that one!
ReplyDelete