WA Bikes is on the road to learn about the state of biking in Yakima, where the Valley Routes Coalition is bringing people together to create a safe, healthy, and accessible future for Yakima.
Across the state, passionate community members, active transportation organizations, and other allies are making progress towards connecting their communities by bike. They’re pushing for new bike lanes; holistic planning for biking, walking and rolling; starting bike buses for school children, and helping secure funding to build all these initiatives.
Washington Bikes is hitting the road to meet these individuals and groups. We hope that by connecting and listening to people across the state, we can identify common barriers, share winning tactics, and build towards a more bikeable Washington. We can go farther together!
Our latest visit was to Yakima, where there’s work to do to make biking a more safe and comfortable experience for people of all ages and abilities. There are few on-street bike lanes, and they’re often on roads with fast-moving traffic, making for a scary ride. But there are also passionate people with amazing connections to the community who are working hard to create a future for Yakima where people can get around with a car, enjoy the outdoors, and experience its great trails.
A brand new coalition has just launched, called the Valley Routes Coalition, which is bringing together people from transportation, health care, education, commerce, and other fields to create a more safe and accessible Yakima. The coalition started out of the recognition that Yakima has some of the highest rates of non-drivers in the state, in addition to poor health and mobility outcomes for both children and adults. One thing the group wants to do is create better transportation options so that more people can get around safely by biking and walking, something that is not currently possible in most parts of Yakima.
We saw both the highlights and the challenges of getting around by bike during a ride with members of the Valley Routes Coalition, including from Yakima Bikes and Walks, the Yakima Greenway Foundation, and the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy. Here’s what we learned:
The Yakima Greenway is a community asset: the Yakima Greenway is 20 miles of fully separated trail and pathways wrapping around the northeast side of the city. It connects 8 parks, providing lake and fishing access and other recreational opportunities. The trail has multiple access points but they are all hard to access by bike or bus. Along the ride, the advocates noted the challenges that a family of four faces if they want to bring their bikes to the trail; local buses only have racks for two bikes at a time, and most people can’t afford an expensive car rack – if they even have a car to begin with. The coalition wants better on-street connections to the trail so that more people, especially families, can access the Greenway.
Part of the Greenway is not paved and provides a fascinating look at how trails coexist with the natural environment. When the Yakima River eroded a trail bridge decades ago, the Greenway Foundation worked with local environmental organizations to redirect the trail around the gap, allowing the river to reclaim its original path and improve the health of the environment in this area. The Greenway Foundation plans to secure funds to formalize the gravel part of the route by paving it, making it accessible for more people and their bikes.
State funding is crucial for creating trail connections: A short portion of SR 24, which connects Yakima to the east towards Moxee, has a barrier-protected bike lane – so much better than riding on the highway shoulder! The state transportation department installed this small but mighty infrastructure years ago. Plans to extend it 5 miles to Moxee recently stalled, but the state is hoping to bring the project back under a newer funding source called the Sandy Williams Connecting Communities grant. Funding for important projects like this comes from the state, rather than the city, and it illustrates how Washington’s efforts to target funding to rural and underserved communities help elevate the level of bike infrastructure that wouldn’t otherwise be feasible.
Fill gaps!: Just south of Yakima in Union Gap, a section of the short Beltway Trail was built concurrent with development of new housing and businesses. The trail provides a safe walk and bike option for people away from the busy freight routes that surround the area. Unfortunately, it does not connect to any existing bike lanes on the south side of Yakima, and there are currently no plans to do so. Local bike advocates envision connecting the Beltway to the southern end of the Yakima Greenway to create a connected route. The current connection is on a makeshift dirt path – not exactly accessible for all ages and abilities.
More statewide visits to come. The next stops on our statewide tour are the Tri-Cities area and Bellingham. If you live in either of these communities, let us know by emailing rachels at wabikes dot org to set up a meeting, join the events we are planning, or share your knowledge. We are eager to connect and learn about the ways your community is working to make biking better and how we can work together to achieve our shared goals.
