Thanks to Manuel for the photos! A reader asked us what SDOT workers were doing this weekend near 28th/Yancy, and his photos provide the answer – adding wheel-stop barriers to the bike lane installed three years ago.
The bike lane was installed not long after the city swept a six-year, multi-block RV encampment along Andover and 28th.
Those are “Toronto” style concrete barriers, that emphasize safety for bicyclists. Glad to see SDOT use them. Hope to see more. Even the I’m-gonna-drive-while-talking-on-my-cellphone crowd has trouble ignoring those barriers.
I love disconnected bike lanes as a solution to encampments. We should build a huge wall to protect them.
Maybe if I park enough RVs on beach drive we can finally connect Lincoln park to the Alki bike network and to downtown.
Alas, it doesn’t always work. 16th already has bike lanes AND a large permanent encampment. It desperately needs those cement barricades.
Disconnected? This is the safest route from the lower bridge or North Delridge up to Avalon, Fauntlelroy, etc.
Great now do this all the way down Delridge next! Add another bus only lane too!
This will not improve safety at the gym exit on Andover. The building blocks drivers’ sightlines to the west. A fair number of drivers exiting the lot don’t stop, if they stop at all, until they are in the bike lane. Consequently eastbound I ride in the general traffic lane until I am past that driveway. I am also not keen on the idea of being confined to a narrow bike lane on the sharp turn from 28th to Andover. A real safety improvement would be to increase the leading pedestrian interval at Andover & Delridge to give cyclists time to clear the intersection before the drivers gunning it for the high bridge get the green.
Now those are some bike lane barriers! Unlike the ones installed on Delridge, I’d say 80% of those plastic(?) poles have been knocked over.
The City of Seattle has a summary of a 2023 bike barrier study on their website explaining the different types used and how the concrete barriers (such as these “Toronto” style) provide better protection and require much less maintenance than the plastic pylons.
Maybe they should put some of these on the NB (downhill) bike lanes on Avalon. The curving section approaching SW Genesee is unnerving due to limited sight lines, and I regularly find delivery vehicles pulled into the bike lane while dropping off packages.
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