My town of Bellevue, Washington, experienced a substantial increase in the number of bicyclists tallied in its second annual Pedestrian and Bicycle Count this fall.
Although I'd like to report that this points to a growing trend in bicycle commuting, it's probably due to the sunny, albeit cold, weather on Oct. 5, 2010, compared to the blustery, rainy weather on Sept. 29, 2009.
In other words, more people ride their bikes in good weather than bad weather.
Even so, I think it bears reminding the elected officials that bicyclists were counted 600 times at 13 counting stations in the evening, and 382 times in the morning.
A few of these people might be counted multiple times, but it still represents a lot of commuters who aren't clogging the roads with cars and who deserve a share of transportation spending for bike facilities.
The easiest place to spot bicyclists is the base of the I-90 bridge, where a bike path on the bridge links Bellevue, Mercer Island and Seattle. In 2009, 68 cyclists were counted there in the morning and 98 in the evening. In 2010, that number jumped to 119 cyclists in the morning and 182 in the evening commute. That's a combined 89% increase.
The biggest increase — 200% — was seen on West Sammamish Parkway at SE 26th Street.
You Bellevue bicyclists might be interested in all this data, parsed out in graphs, charts and maps in the 2010 Bicycle Pedestrian Report available online.
The City of Bellevue also has posted its 2009 Bicycle Pedestrian Progress Report that tells what the city accomplished last year (includes 4,940 feet of new on-street bike facilities and 350 of new off-street paths).
Bellevue is just one of 32 cities across the state that compile the bicyclist and pedestrian information every October. The Cascade Bicycle Club helped to coordinate the volunteers in this area.
Photo above from 2008 Bike to Work Day.
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