Attention, bike riders – this city announcement is for you:

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) released today a Special Edition Bike Map highlighting 20 miles of new bicycle facilities and promoting the 2008 International Pro Walk/Pro Bike conference coming to Seattle this September. Seattle and the northwestern region have embraced sustainability and are making major investments in bicycling and walking. The conference will showcase some of these accomplishments and inspire hundreds of other communities around the United States to undertake similar programs. The map identifies bike lanes, climbing lanes, the new section of the Burke-Gilman Trail from the Ballard Locks to Golden Gardens Park and the Chief Sealth trail starting at S. Dawson Street and ending near 51st Avenue S. It also includes information on ‘sharrows’ and illustrates routes where they are used.

The bike map is one of SDOT’s most requested informational pieces. Thanks to Bridging the Gap SDOT has funding to implement many of the recommendations in the Bicycle Master Plan. As a result, updated versions of this popular cycling tool will continue to be released. This will help the city reach its goal of tripling the number of bicyclists over a period of 10 years.

Bike maps are available:
· at the Bike Expo this weekend, March 8 and 9, at Pier 30
· by calling the Bike Alliance at 206-224-9252
· by contacting SDOT online at
www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikeprogram.htm

This fall, a second version will be printed that will include 30 miles of new bike facilities being installed over the summer. If you have any suggestions or corrections for the fall printing, please email SDOT at walkandbike@seattle.gov.

Additional information on the 2008 International Pro Walk/Pro Bike conference can be found at www.bikewalk.org/2008conference/index.html.

We checked the SDOT link listed as a bike-map source – can’t tell if the downloadable map there is the new one or not (the page declares “the map was updated in 2003” though it also has an icon for that upcoming conference).