I was in Seattle in May, for Northwest Folklife, and am back again at the moment, reminded that I had not posted about transformations happening in Seattle. Seattle is, on the whole, a very traffic-y city with sparse bike facilities, but what is interesting is what they are doing with re-allocating roadway space to better use than motor vehicles. Bus lanes, wider sidewalks, protected bikeways, removal of parking. It is inspirational.

I have not been able to pin down whether it is official policy, but I can say for certain that the city is no longer installing paint-only door-zone bike lanes. Anywhere. All of the bike facilities are separated, some by car parking, some with planters, some with substantial vertical delineators. Almost all the new ones are either at roadway level and protected by hard curbs, or raised to sidewalk level and therefore separated from the roadway by curb and buffer strip.

Below is a slide show of a few of the new facilities. Since I’m here, I hope to add more.

And less you think I’m blind to problems in Seattle, two examples. The first is Pike Place, adjacent to the Public Market Center, probably the most famous street in Seattle, and probably in the state of Washington. Cars still dominate it, with through traffic and parking on what should be a completely walking street. The second is Alaskan Way, the surface street that replaced the Alaskan Way viaduct. It is four lanes, and with the four lanes of the tunnel that was supposed to pull traffic off the surface, now has a greater car capacity than the viaduct. Ack! Seattle really screwed this one up, and spent billions in accomplishing it. The adjacent bicycle and walking facilities? Nearly a year after the car lanes and car parking were finished, construction of the other facilities is hardly underway. You can tell what the priorities are here. The crosswalks over Alaskan Way are a confusing construction zone, though the roadway is finished. Cars ruin everything.