Bicycling is Funny Too
Tips for Trail Advocates
Support Complete Streets for Spokane
Commuting: The Best Part of the Day
Commuting is the best part of the day? Many folks will disagree with me but, since I am a bicycle commuter, it often feels like the best part of my day. After spending a long day tethered to my desk, it’s invigorating, stress relieving, and sometimes an adventure to hop on my bike and pedal home.
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It’s easy to check out Harbor Island when you’re on a bike. |
Besides reaping the health benefits, I find that biking to work is more interesting and spontaneous than using transit. It’s easy to alter my route or stop on my bike to check out something attention-grabbing.
Bikes Don’t Fare Well in Senate Transportation Bill
Some Planning Projects of Interest to Bicyclists
Bicycle friendly communities don’t just happen. It takes public planning, citizen support, political will, funding and engineering. There are opportunities in communities around the state to shape things in the planning stages to benefit bicyclists. Here’s a sampling:
WSDOT’s SR 520 bridge replacement project is holding a Seattle community design public session on November 9. The process is intended to further refine the basic features of this project. The bridge replacement project includes bicycle pedestrian pathway and connections to it. Meeting details are here.
Sound Transit’s light rail system expansion in Seattle and the Eastside (King County) have elements that impact bicyclists. The North Link project has a couple of open houses scheduled to update the community on the Northgate Station (November 9) and Brooklyn Station (November 16). Open house details can be found on the Sound Transit website.
The City of Federal Way is creating a Bicycle and Pedestrian master plan and held an open house on it last week. You can still provide input. More information can be found on the city website.
Ferry County is developing a trail plan in a 28-mile railbanked corridor that stretches from Republic to the Canadian border. Check out the Ferry County Rail Trail Partners to learn more about the planned trail.
Public comments are welcome through December 5, 2011 on the Sinclair Inlet Development Concept Plan. The plan includes a trail connecting Bremerton and Port Orchard via Gorst. View the plan online.
Pierce County Trails Conference
Do you live in Tacoma and wish you could ride your bike on a trail to Eatonville? Perhaps you’re a Puyallup resident dreaming of the day that the Foothills Trail extends to Tacoma. Maybe you live in Graham and your kids need a safe biking route to school and to the Foothills Trail.
No to I-1125, Yes to Seattle Prop 1
Auction Wrap Up
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Guests browsed the silent auction tables.(Susan Hiles photo) |
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Volunteers Matt & Jeremy share a laugh. (Susan HIles) |
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Hula hoopers at the auction. (Michael Conley) |
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Music by the Na Hilahila Boys. (Louise McGrody) |
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Fat Tire Cruiser raffle. (Louise McGrody) |
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Live auction action. (Michael Conley) |
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Jack & Dad Jeff make a pitch for the next generation. |
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Bid cards are raised high! (Susan Hiles) |
A special shout out to the nearly 100 volunteers who made this event possible. Thanks, guys! We couldn’t have done it without your help!
Third Place Books
Vulcan
Todd Vogel & Karen Hust
Cyclists of Greater Seattle
The People’s Coast Classic
Field Roast
Rebecca Slivka Consulting
Federal Bike and Ped Funds Under Attack Again
It’s happening again, folks. Another US Senator is attacking Transportation Enhancements funding. This time it’s Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. He has offered an amendment that will strip all funding for Transportation Enhancements and shift it to bridge repair.
We agree on the need to keep our bridges safe, but the lives of pedestrians and cyclists are important too. Thirteen people died when the Minneapolis bridge collapsed in 2007. Since then, close to 20,000 pedestrians and 2,800 cyclists have died on our nation’s highways, largely as a result of poor highway design and a lack of safe non-motorized infrastructure – exactly what the enhancement program was created to fix.
If Sen. Paul’s amendment is successful, it would eliminate approximately $700 million in federal funding for FY2012 that is used to construct sidewalks, bike lanes, bike paths, trails and other infrastructure that makes it safe for bicyclists and pedestrians to get around. Even if every penny of these funds is diverted to bridge repairs, Senator Paul’s plan will still take 80 years to fix the backlog of bridge repairs we have today — by which time all those repaired bridges would be falling down again.