Even Better Bike Lane Pilot - 1 Year Later

One year ago today the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced their "Even Better Bike Lane" pilot program. Since then Cars in Bike Lanes Seattle has collected over 1,000 reported instances of blocked bike lanes.

The goal of the "Even Better Bike Lane" pilot program is to move away from the plastic posts currently used for separating protected bike lanes from car lanes because of the safety and maintenance issues with plastic posts. Cars can easily drive over posts which poses risks to bicyclists. Also due to cars driving over posts, the posts break, which requires maintenance for re-installation. SDOT identified 4 different types of materials to replace plastic posts and installed one kind on NE 40th St, between 7th Ave NE and Lincoln Way, in University District. SDOT then asked the public on Twitter to vote on a new location for install and to also suggest locations for future improvements. People on Twitter started sharing pictures of cars blocking bike lanes to suggest future improvement locations and also to vent their frustration about cars creating safety hazards for riders. Taking this idea, the Cars in Bike Lanes Seattle Twitter account was created just over a month later to provide a "central repository" of blocked bike lanes.

Every instance of a vehicle blocking a bike lane is documented and viewable on seattle.carinbikelane.com. Compiling reports over the last year has provided a disappointing, weird, and shocking view into all the ways bike lanes and trails get blocked by drivers. Besides the typical instance of a car blocking a painted bike lane or a protected bike lane, numerous reports of cars on multi-use trails, on park trails, or even Seattle Parking Enforcement or SDOT blocking bike lanes have come in. Unfortunately, there is not equal access to basic bike infrastructure around the city so most reports come in from the downtown core but it is clear just by looking at the map of all reports that the problem of cars blocking bike lanes is widespread throughout the city.

SDOT's original post was updated on August 19th, 2022 announcing that a location was chosen for updates "in the coming months" along with 3 additional locations slated for updates in the future. Today, on the one year mark of the program I decided to bike to each proposed location to see what improvements have been made.

NE 40th St (between 7th Ave NE and Lincoln Way)

This location was the original location that SDOT made improvements to. This stretch of bike lane runs along the Burke-Gilman Trail which has seen its own share of cars on it. While biking to the next location I took a picture of this delivery truck blocking the Eastlake Ave E bike lane.

Northbound 9th Ave (south of Mercer St)

This was a location slated for future updates and it is clear that no updates have been made so far. This is my local bike lane and I have personally dealt with cars blocking this lane. The issue with this bike lane is that it is next to a restaurant that sees frequent pick ups from food delivery drivers. It is important that delivery drivers can made important pick ups or drop offs for businesses but bike lane safety should not be ignored. There is a load zone just north of the corner of 9th Ave N and Republican St but there is also parking available in the same location which leads to the load zone being blocked very frequently. As seen in the above photos, community members have placed cones in the last few months to dissuade cars from blocking the bike lane but it still is occasionally an issue. Not to mention cars blocking the the bike lane intersection crossing which I snapped a picture of on my ride.

S Dearborn St (between 10th Ave S & 13th Ave S)

South of downtown the bike lane network becomes much less dense and much more hostile to navigate as a bicyclist due to wide roads which encourage drivers to drive fast. I am glad to see that SDOT is planning on making improvements to bike infrastructure in south Seattle but the department needs to follow through on their plans. No updates have been made to this location yet.

S Columbian Way (between S Snoqualmie St & 16th Ave S)

When biking to this location I accidentally ended up on Rainier Ave S, one of the deadliest roads for cyclists and pedestrians in Seattle. My GPS then routed me onto the Beacon Hill Neighborhood Greenway which was a much more pleasant ride. No updates have been made to this location yet.

Westbound S Othello St (between 45th Ave S to Martin Luther King Jr Way S)

My final stop for the morning but the first location SDOT planned on updating. SDOT initially said updates would be "in the coming months". There are no signs of updates to this lane.

Over the course of the year I am aware of two different bike lane improvements that included better protection than plastic posts. 8th Ave between Union and Lenora and parts of Melrose Ave. Unfortunately. Melrose Ave between East Denny Way and Olive St received "protection" via plastic posts which has lead to predictable results. Any and all progress is good but only protecting portions of bike lanes along a street is frustrating to see.

About a month ago I reached out to SDOT to get an update on the current status for the program. They have not responded to me yet. The last update on the pilot program post was August 19th, 2022. It is clear that the pilot has been delayed but it is unclear what caused the delay, how much longer it will be delayed, or if the rest of the pilot will happen at all. Delays to infrastructure projects are common but those delays should be communicated to the public so they have clarity into the process.

A few months after I started the website someone asked me how long I expected to run the site for. I did not expect this to be a one year project but I also hoped that I would not need to keep running the site 10 years later. I expected that a few years into making improvements, any new bike lanes to be installed would get better protection rather than plastic posts. I also expected that repairs to bike lanes with plastic posts would come with upgrades to their protection rather than re-installing the plastic posts. I expected that in 10 years cars blocking bike lanes would not really be a problem anymore due to widespread improvements in bike infrastructure. This last year has shown me how big the problem is and how slow improvements can take but it has also shown me that there is a community of people that care about this problem. That there are people that will take time out of their day to send photos and even put cones out. In the next year I hope SDOT starts to take this problem more seriously but I am also looking forward to seeing the bike community continuing to call for improvements.

What's Next?

Reach out to SDOT's Bicycle and Pedestrian Program at walkandbike@seattle.gov or at (206) 684-7583 or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/seattledot and ask for updates on the "Even Better Bike Lane" pilot program. Join community groups like Seattle Neighborhood Greenways or Cascade Bicycle Club to learn about other bike advocacy measures. Finally, ride your bike around Seattle and send pictures of any cars blocking bike lanes to seattle.carinbikelane.com.