The May 23rd, Seattle Times front
page article, “Downtown Bellevue’s bike lanes will stay put as expanded network
is planned,” typifies the Traffic Lab failure to “dig into the region’s
thorniest transportation issues”.
The article fails to recognize the “thorny
issue” in Bellevue Mayor Chelminiack’s claim:
“This demonstration project has proved its
worth. It’s done in a way that’s had minimal, if any, effect on traffic. It’s a
protected lane. People who are in the bike lanes feel better about it. People
who are driving feel better protected from a bicyclist. There’s a point at which you just have
to accept the fact that it works. And this works,”
No one can rationally conclude eliminating a
lane doesn’t reduce the roadway capacity.
While there is “ disagreement” as to the current impact of the lost lane
on congestion, it’s impact is surely going to increase with future growth. Drivers are also far more concerned
about hitting a bicyclist than the “need to be protected from one”.
However the mayor’s most dubious claim is “this
works”. One would think
Chelminiack was referring to how many bike riders were added by the separate
lanes. From May 1 to June
11, before the lanes, there were 92 average daily bike rides. Daily trips for the rest of June, July,
August, September, and October were 126, 121, 138, 134, and 104
respectively. (The March 2019 PDF “neglected”
to include later bike rides)
The 125 average bike rides with the separate
lanes from June through October did represent the reported 35% increase in bike
rides with separate lanes.
However, assuming those riding bikes did so in both directions, the 62.5
who did so with the lanes were only 16.5 more per day than the 46 who did so before;
about 1.5 per hour during work day.
And that was during the summer.
Apparently Mayor Chelminiack thinks spending
$137,000 of levy money to take away a roadway lane for bikes with that benefit
is a project that “works”. However,
those who claim “We’re excited for the bike lane. We think it’s a bellwether
for what Bellevue initially indicated that the area could be,” might reconsider
spending additional money doing so.
Those reported in the article as being “involved
in the design process through Bellevue Downtown Association “REI, Microsoft,
Overlake Medical Center, Seattle Children’s and Bellevue Chamber of Commerce”
may also wish to reconsider their support in view of the results. Especially since “Amazon has also announced plans that would
bring thousands of workers to downtown Bellevue by the end of 2023.”
Again Mayor Chelminiack’s claim “This works” for bike lanes replicates
his previous advocacy for East Link. He’s been one of the primary enablers of Sound Transit
spending billions on a light rail expansion that should never have been allowed
to proceed and will inevitably be rated as one of the biggest boondoggles in
public transit history. He later
justifies Sound Transit’s huge maintenance yard near Spring District with the “dubious”
claim it will be a “magnet” for transit oriented development.
Meanwhile the Traffic Lab article goes into
great detail about how the project “survived and succeeded” because of “positively approaching projects in an
iterative process”. While
conceding, “not everyone is supportive” the Times again failed to “dig into the
actual bike lane benefits”, 16.5 additional bike riders a day, during the
summer.
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