Updating Seattle’s Bicycle Master Plan; upcoming meetings

Seattle’s bicycling future is being crafted right now as the city continues work on updating the 5-year-old Seattle Bicycle Master Plan.

The update project team will make a presentation to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board on Wednesday night. More public meetings are planned in the coming months (see below).

Bike path along Alaskan Way

The update project team plans to incorporate bicycling facilities — such as dedicated cycle tracks and neighborhood greenways — that were not so well known or accepted just five years ago.

Also, members want to find a way to identify bicycle routes that are most in need of improvement .

Publicola reported that week that the update team seeks to keep the goals general to give them flexibility in dealing with problem areas that might arise for the bicycling public.

Bike advocates say they would rather have specific goals that can measure progress and success of the Bicycle Master Plan.

Presentation

The city’s update project team will make a presentation to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Seattle City Hall, 6000 4th Ave. The meeting is open to the public and will be held in room L280. (Use the 5th Avenue entrance and take elevator to L2. Arrive early as the doors lock at 6 p.m .)

The advisory board will hear about the draft existing conditions report among other issues.

Meetings

Meanwhile, the project update team is hosting three public events in November to report its progress and hear ideas from the bicycling public.

They are scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.:

Nov. 7 — City Hall in the Bertha Landes room;

Nov. 8 — New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave. S., Seattle;

Nov. 13 — Gould Hall at University of Washington.

Documents that will be discussed at the meetings will be posted online at the Bicycle Master Plan project library. More details on the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan update.

The original Seattle Bicycle Master Plan, adopted in 2007, sought to create 155 miles of bike lanes, bike boulevards and multi-use trails by 2017. A report by the Cascade Bicycle Club in July said the city has fallen off the pace.

If you want to receive monthly agendas of the Seattle Advisory Board, contact Douglas.Cox@seattle.gov. If you have comments regarding the bicycle plan update, contact bmpupdate@seattle.gov.