Seattle might be a gold level bicycle friendly city on one list and ranked 4th best in the nation on another, but bicyclists and the city are having a devil of a time getting a major bike trail completed.
Bicyclists using the 27-mile-long Burke-Gilman Trail to commute to work or college or to run errands must deal with a 1 1/2-mile gap in the trail known as the “missing link.”
Although most of the trail has been complete for years, this section runs through a bustling maritime district where owners say a bike trail will have an impact on traffic to and from their businesses.
Ruling
While businesses cite safety as an issue, the Cascade Bicycle Club and many others point out that road hazards in the “missing link” make it a dangerous route now that will be made safer by completion of the bike trail.
On Friday, a judge ruled on the latest tactic to delay the trail completion — a lawsuit filed by area businesses. The superior court judge ruled against the businesses on all but one count, the need for an environmental report.
Now the city must complete an environmental assessment of a 5-block stretch (not the entire 1 1/2 miles). More delays.
Reaction
Rick Sheridan of the Seattle Department of Transportation, which was ordered to conduct the new study, told the Seattle Times:
“The city is disappointed that this will delay completion of the Burke-Gilman Trail through Seattle.”
He doesn't know how long it will take, but said that appealing the ruling would delay things even longer. The business owners haven't said whether they'll appeal the rulings that went against them.
The Times has a short history of the long-running Burke-Gilman dispute in the Ballard neighborhood and details about the court's ruling.
More reaction
From the Cascade Bicycle Club:
What does this mean? As it’s their stated strategy to keep the Missing Link blocked any way they can, we fully expect the Ballard businesses to appeal the judge’s decision on the other eight issues, which would add further delay and expose more people to injuries.
From Bike Intelligencer:
The good news in King County Superior Court Judge Jim Rogers’ decision earlier today on the Burke-Gilman Trail’s “Missing Link” is quite simply this:
The link is going to go through. It may be sooner, it may be later. But the project essentially has been sanctioned.
In requiring an environmental review … the judge basically told the city to get all the pipes clean before the water gets turned on. He wants the project to be airtight if the plaintiffs — a selfish collection of Ballard businesses and the unaccountably arbitrary Chamber of Commerce — decide to move ahead with an appeal.
Seattle Likes Bikes! (noting that the environmental study only involves 3/10 of a mile):
Seattle, please build everything else and build it NOW!
That 0.3 mile section is straight, easy to navigate, and puts us walking and bicycling through the de-factor parking lot for Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel, Salmon Bay Cafe, and others. There aren’t dangrous tracks, just stupid parked cars.
We can wait for that section and in the meantime we willll make it a de-facto trail. The bigger dangers of the track crossing under 15th and navigating the route to the locks will be addressed and the Ballard obstructionists will see that their expensive pissing match didn’t gain them anything.
From Seattle Bicycle Transportation Examiner:
The danger as bicyclists explain is the existence of railroad tracks, poor shoulder and general narrowness of portions of the route. Though understandable that businesses are fearful of liability, their fear of the demise of Ballard's maritime industry is a bit overblown.
Let's hope that no more bicyclists get injured on the “missing link” route through Ballard while the city makes the court-ordered study.
See also: My Ballard
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