Bicyclists face rough ride in region
Cycling club finds gaps in some area bike routes
Brad Severtson's 30-mile morning trip to work is both scenic and jarring.
Part of the way, the bicyclist enjoys paved shoulders and dedicated bike paths.
But there are stretches of potholed, narrow roads -- and always the chance of getting cut off by motorists and taking a nasty spill.
"The Burke-Gilman Trail is fabulous," said Severtson, 51, a programmer who often bikes from his Ballard home to Microsoft in Redmond. "But other than that, the network isn't as well-connected."
It's not easy navigating the streets of the Puget Sound region on a bike, according to the Cascade Bicycle Club, which recently mapped out a 1,521-mile bicycle network and found that 27 percent of the area's roads and trails aren't suitable for cycling.
There were "missing links" in the network with no alternative routes, the club found. There weren't enough signs, and busy bike trails and connections were closed at night.
Limited bike storage space on buses crossing the Evergreen Point Bridge forced cyclists to keep waiting at bus stops.
The region should make major improvements to its bicycle trails and facilities, especially filling in gaps between areas that draw large cycling populations, the report recommends.
"This report is about making connections," Chuck Ayers, the club's executive director, said in a statement.
"Nobody would drive a car if the roads didn't take them to their destination. Cyclists face similar barriers, and this artificially suppresses the number of people willing to use their bicycles as transportation."
The report says that in Seattle and west King County, seven miles of "high-priority" corridors need work, including roads leading north of Green Lake to Northgate, segments around Lake Union and in northeast Seattle.
The club surveyed more than 4,000 miles of potential bike routes in King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties and gave segments a pass or fail grade based on whether they met the basic needs of cyclists. About 19 of the 163 miles in Seattle and west King County, or 12 percent, failed.
The club is calling for cities and counties to review the problems highlighted in the report and make improvements.
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Bicyclists face rough ride in region
