City starts a new “parking program”: On-street bike spaces

Just in from SDOT – the full news release is ahead; note that the three pilot bike-parking areas are all outside West Seattle, but the department offers a way for you to propose one:

Working to support the city’s growing number of bicyclists,
the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will create on-street
bicycle parking in neighborhoods around Seattle. With a goal of having
one to two per neighborhood, the department will install these unique
bike facilities at three locations starting next week.

Taking the place of one to two motor vehicle parking spaces, on-street
bike parking will be filled with bicycle racks and surrounded by a
raised curb. Bicyclists can enter the parking area from the sidewalk and
each car-sized space will accommodate up to eight bikes.

This new program addresses the expanding need for bicycle parking and
is part of the ongoing implementation of the Bicycle Master Plan, which
seeks to triple the number of people bicycling in Seattle over ten
years.

By mid February the new bike facilities will be installed:

● Mid block of Broadway E between E Harrison Street and E Republican
Street (by Broadway Market)

● At the corner of 12th Avenue and E Spring Street (by Stumptown
Coffee Roasters and Café Presse)

● At the corner of Woodlawn Avenue NE and NE 70th Street (by the
Greenlake Condominium)

SDOT is planning additional on-street bicycle parking locations for
2009. For more information or to request bicycle parking in a
neighborhood, please contact the Seattle Department of Transportation at
(206) 684-7583 or bikeracks@seattle.gov.

mike January 28, 2009 (11:12 am)

that means there will be more dedicated bike spots than there are motorcycle spots

west seattle steve January 28, 2009 (12:17 pm)

I don’t know about that. There are quite a few motorcycle spaces tucked around in spots not big enough for a car to fit. They never (AFAIK) took an entire car space and dedicated it to motorcycles as other cities have done.

I imagine the MC spots are going away with the move to central electronic metering. It always galled me that they charged the same for 1/6 of a spot for a MC as they did for a full car.

I hope off street bicycle parking options were explored before they decided on this plan.

Multi-Modal guy January 28, 2009 (1:36 pm)

WS Steve,

I doubt it – SDOT seems to be a lot more concerned with trying to make life difficult for vehicle users (you know, about 68% of Seattle residents) for its own sake than it is in solving traffic problems.

Just imagine how much better things would be for everyone – including bicyclists – if they spent their time filling potholes and repaving streets instead of plotting ways to reduce arterial capacity.

Mr.JT January 28, 2009 (2:50 pm)

Good News ! Something else SDOT won’t maintain !

publicadministrator January 28, 2009 (4:28 pm)

As a life long bicycle commuter I must say this seems to be a solution in search of a problem. We’ve all circled the block in a dense neighborhood to park our car, I’ve never had to do that on my bike.

Q. The occassions when I most struggle to find a place to safely lock my steed?

A. The parking garages of office buildings. In particular the Seattle Municipal Tower (hq of SDOT) where the racks in all 3 bike enclosures are crammed full on a daily basis by 8:30 am, even now in mid-winter.

I share WS Steve’s suspicion that off-street options in the proposed locations may not have been fully explored.

NYC experimented with decorative racks designed to fit their intended location, and Oakland simply retooled parking meter posts after kiosks were installed. Surely Seattle can come up with a solution more creative than nixing a car space.
Afterall like most cyclists, I drive too.

gw February 2, 2009 (9:27 am)

publicadmin- well put. thanks for being able to disagree with something and still have a point. I didn’t know it was possible to leave a blog comment regarding public policy (especially with bicycles involved) without the use of whining, moaning and sarcasm.

And while I agree there’s probably other good options, keep in mind that even 100 of these bike corrals would consume less than 1% of the 10,000+ paid street parking spots in Seattle.

Sorry, comment time is over.