Title
Prioritize Bike Corridors
Recommended Action
Move to recommend finishing the Bike Corridor pilot project and then proceed with the Southeast to Downtown Route
Report
Issue:
Whether to support staff’s recommendation to finish the pilot project and then move forward with the Southeast to Downtown route as the next Bike Corridor.
Staff Contact:
Sophie Stimson, Senior Planner, Public Works | Transportation, 360.753.8497
Presenter(s):
Sophie Stimson
Background and Analysis:
Bike Corridors are on small, quiet streets that do not have much car traffic. Since there are fewer cars, it is easier for people biking and driving to share the same lane. Bike Corridors are called bike boulevards or neighborhood greenways in other cities. We design Bike Corridors to appeal to people who are interested in riding bicycles but are concerned about riding in bike lanes on busy streets.
In 2014, the City Council funded a pilot project of a Bike Corridor. To find a good candidate route, the BPAC and staff worked throughout 2014 to evaluate the whole City for possible routes and came up with several. From those possible routes, the BPAC and staff chose a pilot project route. The pilot project route connects Lions Park to downtown and was built in 2016.
Next Steps with the pilot project
The west leg of the 7th and Adams intersection is being built by the developer of the nearby Franklin Lofts apartment building. When it is built, the pilot project will go all the way to Sylvester Park.
Because this was a pilot project, we built part of it with interim materials. Since it has been successful, we will need to make some parts of it permanent, including:
• Filling in the painted bulb-outs at 5th & Eastside and 7th & Plum with concrete
• Refreshing the pavement markings with more durable material
• Adding traffic calming to 5th Ave between Eastside & Pear
We recommend completing the pilot project before starting a new Bike Corridor.
As part of the outreach we did for the Bike Corridor pilot project, we heard that people want us to build more Bike Corridors. When we asked about specific routes, we did not hear objections to the routes that the BPAC and staff had identified as viable.
Proposed Priorities
City staff have reviewed the recommended routes and prioritized two for future construction after completion of the pilot project:
1. Southeast to Downtown Route from Sylvester Park to the Olympia Woodland Trail
2. Westside route from NW Thomas to the Decatur Pathway
Please see the attached list of routes and prioritization considerations. We have also included a map.
We recommend that the Southeast to Downtown Route be the next Bike Corridor route for these reasons:
• It lets people within a comfortable biking distance of the Woodland Trail get downtown without facing traffic stress
• It will link in to the proposed high-comfort bike route to the Farmers Market along Washington Street that we are building as part of the Downtown Strategy
• It will give people access by bike to a lot of worksites and public institutions
• It builds on last year’s investment in the Fairview Street Pathway
The Southeast to Downtown Route and the Westside Route will be listed in the preliminary 2018-2023 Capital Facilities Plan (CFP), available for review in July. Staff had to submit projects for the draft CFP prior to this BPAC discussion. If the BPAC does not support this prioritization, we may be able to change the draft. If not, the BPAC can comment about changes it wants to see to the CFP when it reviews it later this year.
At a later date, once estimates are developed, staff can report on the estimated cost to complete the pilot and the estimated cost to build the Southeast to Downtown Route.
Options:
1. Support staff’s recommendation to complete the pilot project, and then pursue the Southeast to Downtown Route.
2. Make a different recommendation on Bike Corridor priorities.
Financial Impact:
We expect that Bike Corridors will be funded at $50,000 in the preliminary 2018-2023 Capital Facilities Plan. We will likely use that as a match for a grant to complete future Bike Corridors.
Attachments:
Bike Corridors Map
Summary of Staff’s Recommendations
Link to Bike Corridors page