That’s the view of a small section of the new California SW bike lane, as seen from one of the big chairs outside Caffe Ladro in Morgan Junction. Since we first told you about the new lane last Sunday, more work has been done, and one stretch of California SW just north of here (south of Fauntleroy Way) now has bike lanes on both sides of the street. We had sent an inquiry to SDOT after noting the bike lane wasn’t called for in the Bicycle Master Plan, which simply recommended “sharrows” in this area (they’ve been painted in the same area between the bike-lane-lined sections). Here’s the explanation we received today:
The recommendations for bicycle facilities in the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan were based on detailed field work and available data regarding traffic volumes, turning movements, speeds and other factors. However, the plan also recognized that “in most cases, the facilities and actions identified in the Plan will require additional traffic analysis….”
In this particular case, there is about 48′ from curb-to-curb on the stretch between Fauntleroy and Myrtle, yet the 2-way left-turn lane is only present between Fauntleroy and Willow. That provided some extra room on the section between Willow & Myrtle, so we were able to install bike lanes on both sides of the street for those 3 blocks. We also determined that there is enough roadway width (~40′) to upgrade to a climbing lane (bike lane going uphill, sharrows going down) between Myrtle and Ida. In general, we prefer to install bike lanes over sharrows if there is space available.
Also today, the city issued a midyear “Bridging the Gap update” news release regarding how much road work’s been done so far this year – read it here.
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