Bike Lane Proposal for St. Helens (15. June 2007, 06:54 by Derek Young) ~ Where Are Our Urban Planners?
We thought you might be interested to know that after the city council meeting regarding the St. Helens LID where the Lonergan Amendment entered our vernacular, the city has put together a proposal that addresses the concerns of bicyclists… but not really. The proposal has the bike lane on the west side of the street – the left side as you go up the hill. It uses the street and the sidewalk. It forces cyclists to cross the street before heading uphill against traffic. Tacoma is already a very difficult city to maneuver on a bicycle. In all of our discussions and reading on sustainable cities, new urbanism, smart growth, buzzword etc, I don’t think we… nevermind. It’s still just a proposal.
Ummm. wow.
Link to the drawing of the proposed solution (pdf)
Previously on Exit133
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So, uphill the “path” (sidewalk) is shared with pedestrians while downhill the “path” (street) is shared with cars? Isn’t that what we have now?
Also, is that a traffic circle at 7th & Market?
1 | Posted by morgan | Jun 15, 07:34 AM
Well, geez, since the City has once again positioned itself as being anti-bike and anti-pedestrian, I’ll just have to start breaking the law every time I ride my bike up St. Helens. I bet they will make those parking spaces free so all the City Hall fat cats can drive four blocks to work.
What a slap in the face! Why not consult the CITY PLANNERS you have working for you when trying to develop transportation plans. This looks like it was prepared by another idiot traffic engineer that has never ridden a bike before.
Sigh…
I’m a full time bike commuter moving down from Seattle in a month (there will be a bus in my future, but a bike ride at both ends) and I was hoping that Tacoma had some kind of sense about these things… I guess I’ll just have to keep risking it on unsafe streets. Sweet.
Not a traffic circle @ 7th & Market – just fancy paving to differentiate the crosswalk.
Why can’t the City have a comprehensive discussion about downtown’s vision rather than these piecemeal fixes that pay lip service to one vocal group or another.
On bicycles, I’ll requote from the previously on…
[The City of] Davis has a uniquely high bicycle mode share, about 15 percent of all trips to work…Garrick boldly asserts, ‘[this] is due in no small part to the fact that, from a planning and design perspective, Davis has worked to integrate bicycle use as a fundamental element of its mobility program and its land-use planning.’
Should we be so lucky.
4 | Posted by DavidS | Jun 15, 12:07 PM
Non-Tacoma note on bicycles & pedestrians that shows how others are advancing this discussion:
The Illinois state legislature passed a complete streets bill requiring “bicycle and pedestrian ways shall be established in conjunction with the construction, reconstruction, or other change of any State transportation facility.”
A similar measure has passed the California house and is waiting for senate review.
For more on Complete Streets, see this link.
5 | Posted by DavidS | Jun 18, 10:28 AM
Drizeel; I so agree with you. How can anyone have a voice, if we don’t know what’s even going on.
6 | Posted by dni | Jun 21, 08:41 AM
Tacoma Wheelmen’s Bicycle Club, with help from every here, have been “working” with the city. I have express my views about the current design. I am waiting to see another option. I will keep everyone posted. Let’s keep the pressure on the City to included bicycles in downtown Tacoma. I would love for Tacoma to get a full time Bike/ped coordinator to help with some of these isuses. Other cities of similar size have such a person.
7 | Posted by Carla Gramlich | Jun 21, 01:33 PM
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