A recent issue of Sunset Magazine lists the Burke-Gilman Trail that runs through the Seattle area as one of the Top 10 City Bike Rides in the western United States.
Kudos to the 30-year-old urban bicycle trail. And shame on the City of Lake Forest Park for suggesting an ordinance that, in effect, would make it impractical to improve the narrow section of trail that runs through that city.
The trail's route along Lake Washington in that city is already beset with numerous stop signs at driveways, above, in spite of the fact that far more cyclists use those intersections than cars.
The Cascade Bicycle Club is calling for cyclists to attend a Oct. 5 meeting at Lake Forest City Hall to object to Ordinance 951, which looks to be an attempt to put the brakes on cyclists in favor of motorists who live across the trail on the Lake Washington shoreline.
Among other things, the proposed Lake Forest Ordinance 951 requires:
— A maximum 10 mph speed limit;
— Setbacks of 10 to 15 feet from private property lines;
— “Trails and trial users shall not impede the safe and efficient ingress and egress to and from residential uses and areas from local streets and highways, access roads, driveways and crossings. …”
— A trail yield sign at crossings of 50 or fewer homes, “maintaining right-of-way to motor vehicular traffic” … and a trail stop sign at crossings of 50 or more homes, “maintaining right-of-way to motor vehicle traffic. …”
Maintaining the right-of-way to motorists is just one of the issues that raises concerns of King County planners. In their response to Ordinance 951:
“Best traffic engineering standards state the right of way is assigned to the direction of travel or leg of the intersection with the most traffic volume. In the (Lake Forest Park), the trail has the preponderance of traffic volume.”
King County Executive Ron Sims is quoted on the Cascade website:
“would make it impracticable for the county to improve the trail to met current and future demand. [It] would impose conditions and nonstandard equipment that would drive the cost of trail improvements to unacceptable levels. It would require the county to install signage and other features that are inconsistent with nationally recognized trail standards as well as current King County regional trail standards, and impose setbacks and other requirements that could make it physically impossible to improve the trail within the county’s right of way. In addition it would condemn public property for private use.”
The issue didn't just arise. It's been in the works for at least two years. Here's the webpage for the Burke Gilman Trail Citizen Advisory Group that included residents of Lake Forest Park.
This couldn't possibly pass? How about the West Lake Sammamish Parkway improvement issue last year in nearby Bellevue that pitted bicyclists against the lakeside property owners of Lake Sammamish. Final score: Property owners – 1, bicyclists – 0. (See: Bellevue council votes for multi-use trail, not bike lanes)
Meanwhile, the city of Seattle is working toward finishing several missing sections of the Burke-Gilman in Ballard. See the Seattle Department of Transportation's Burke-Gilman update website and Friends of the Burke Gilman Trail for details.
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