‘We are the Missing Link’ event Tuesday

‘We are the Missing Link’ event Tuesday

Posted by Geeky Swedes on October 26th, 2009

Several organizations will hold a demonstration at the Missing Link of the Burke-Gilman this Tuesday evening to show their support for completing the stretch of the trail. At 5:30 p.m. at 17th Ave. and Shilshole Ave., supporters will hold blinking red lights in a show of solidarity. “We wanted to do something positive and inclusive to demonstrate support for the Missing Link, which has become so embattled,” says Vic Opperman, founding president of Sustainable Ballard and co-founder of SCALLOPS. “This is a grassroots effort.”

The completion of the trail is currently held up in litigation. A coalition of Ballard businesses and the Ballard Chamber of Commerce are challenging the city’s plans to complete the trail. “As businesses who work with heavy equipment, safety is our number one priority,” Eugene Wasserman of the North Seattle Industrial Association tells us, adding that he welcomes Tuesday’s event. “It should give people the opportunity to look at our growing businesses, which provide family wage jobs and are represented by many unions. It should be clear to everyone visiting our area how hard it is to mix trucks, cars, pedestrian, and bicycles safely.” Wasserman says the NSIA has recommended that the city build a viaduct over the industrial area for bicycle and pedestrian use. According to Wasserman, SDOT refused.

The Missing Link is a 1.5 mile stretch of the Burke-Gilman Trail without an actual trail. Bicyclists currently ride along Shilshole Ave, sharing the road with cars and large trucks while maneuvering over railroad tracks. Both bicyclists and the large Ballard industries who work along the waterfront believe something must be done to improve safety along the missing link.

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Larry

Bike Viaduct! I'm in!
5:30 is too early for people who work. At least for me. Of course I could just leave the kids overnight at daycare:)

JulianDavies

It goes until 6:30, and then continues at Dutch Bike Seattle, nearby. Bring the kids! I am.
If it started later, it would start in the dark.
And actually, point of fact, I think the NSIA businesses are now holding out for a low-orbit spaceship technology solution.
Because they're all about our safety, just not right now.

Larry

Yes, it will be dark later...all the better for blinking lights. I'm just thinking 5:30 is too early for most to get over there and do the ride, but I may show up at Dutch Bike.
I won't bring the kids, I don't ride the streets with them. I'll take a risk for myself, but not for them.

JulianDavies

Just to clarify - it's not a ride, so you can arrive at the rally anytime, by whatever mode of transportation you favor.
As for driving the kids, that works too ... but I don't know if it's safer. It feels safer, sure. But motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death for most pediatric age groups. We lack reliable numbers about the denominator (how many miles/hours driven versus biked), though, so it's hard to compare.

D. in Ballard

“As businesses who work with heavy equipment, safety is our number one priority,” Eugene Wasserman of the North Seattle Industrial Association tells us, adding that he welcomes Tuesday’s event.
This is not true. I ride the missing link everyday. Sadly, not all the businesses care a lick about safety. I always obey the rules of the road, but time and time again Salmon Bay Gravel trucks have operated as if I wasn't there. They come up within inches next to me. They cut directly in front of me when I have the right-of-way. They don't care. It's so egregious that I know they have a problem with my mode of transportation and are exercising their frustration.

peterphilips

Why can't the bicycle trail run along Ballard Avenue--one block away? Its much more 'bicycle friendly': its safer, with lower traffic volumes moving at slower speeds, and the businesses along that street cater to the consumer/bicyclist?
And, the 'infrastructure' for such a trail is already there. All SDOT would need to do is add paint.
Peter

SPG

Because that route was studied and didn't pass the criteria. End of story.
Slow streets with lots of retail are where people open their doors into bikes, don't look for bikes while they're trying to find parking spots, etc. It's not nearly as safe as it might appear from a casual look.

peterphilips

SPG. My question does not come from a 'casual look'. I have followed the issue quite closely over the past several years and disagree with your assertion that the Ballard route "didn't pass the criteria".
I don't know of any studies--publicly available--that demonstrate greater safety to bicyclists along Shilshole than along Ballard Ave.
In fact, similar studies--and application--have demonstrated that bicycle paths are better suited to streets like Ballard Ave. The European countries that have effectively implemented bicycles into their urban environments routinely slot those routes along streets like Ballard Ave, not along industrial thoroughfares.
I spent several years as a bicycle commuter living at Ballard's north end and commuting to Fremont. I felt much safer on Ballard Avenue.
Peter

gurple

What happens on the north end of Ballard Ave, Peter? I think a separated bike route along Ballard Ave itself could work out pretty well, if you could somehow make the room. But what do you do when the cyclists get to the north end, at Market?
Narrow Market for 3 blocks to allow for a separated cyclist lane on the southern end, going west?
Make the cyclists cross over Market (again narrowed), and then back across somewhere to the west?
I can't imagine a solution there that wouldn't make Market a nightmare. Well, except maybe an elevated viaduct. ;)
Actually, the interim plan for the trail /does/ have cyclists using Ballard Ave for a short stretch at 17th, and then cutting back down to Shilshole. This was done to try to appease the business interests. Fat lot of good that did.

Larry

Plus, some of us are on our bikes to get from point A to point B, not a toodle thru town.
Paint does not a bike trail make...
I don't get the fuss either, those businesses do not own the right of way. Why pretend they do.
All of this will be a moot point once that Hotel goes in yonder. The City of Seattle won't let a tourist get clocked by a gravel truck. Just watch, things will change...

CharlesRedell

I am not normally a fan of Dan Savage and Slog, but here's an excellent answer to NSIA's concerns about safety without shelling out gobs of cash for a viaduct (really?):
"But there is a way for trucks and cyclists to share this segment of road. There's a bike trail in Holland, Michigan, that runs straight through an industrial area. I bike it every year during our annual visit to nearby Saugutuck, Michigan, for RFGL's gay family week. The bike trail runs along a road that cuts right through the middle of an absolutely enormous industrial recycling plant; cars, refrigerators, and scrap metal are all piled up five stories high on either side of the road. Exits and entryways to the plant cross over the bike trail every twenty yards or so; huge trucks regularly rumble back and forth across the trail. But entitled cyclists don't zip along this segment of Holland's trail at 25 milers-per-hour. They can't:
(I don't know if I can put an image in this comment. Here it is:)
http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/20...
All along this segment of Holland's bike trail cyclists are forced to slow down and weave through staggered black fences. Wherever trucks cross the path, there's a set of fences on either side. The fences force cyclists to slow down, be mindful of trucks, and—what's that expression again? Oh, right: they remind cyclists to share the road. These fences prevent cyclists from tearing along; you ride at a speed where you could stop if a truck suddenly pulled out. The fences also serve as a visual reminder to truck drivers to watch out for cyclists.

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