NE 65th Open House on Wednesday

This summer, the city held a town hall in the Roosevelt and Ravenna neighborhoods to discuss the idea of a protected bikeway on NE 65th St. Last week, Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) sent out a survey to collect feedback on four alternatives for NE 65th street to include in the Bicycle Master Plan Update. And they're holding an open house tomorrow.

When we look at roads like NE 65th St in Roosevelt and Ravenna, it’s clear why many of our neighbors don't feel safe walking or riding a bike to where they need to go. It's full of cars speeding through the community. Fortunately, there's hope.  With a protected bikeway proposed for NE 65th, the city is working to make our neighborhood safer for people to walk and bike. The city needs to hear from people like you that making our streets safer is important to us. After you take the survey below, join us tomorrow night for your final chance to speak up for the future of the 65th Street corridor and ensure the plan embraces your vision for a livable, bikeable community. Together, we can create a better world for our children by making our streets safer.

NE 65th Street Open House

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center

 With respect to designating a bicycle route along NE 65th St, we believe there are four important criteria – it needs to be safe, comfortable, convenient and connected.

- The preferred alternative needs to improve safety for drivers, people who ride their bicycles and pedestrians.

- The route needs to be comfortable for all ages and abilities of riders.

- It needs to provide a direct, convenient access to Ravenna neighborhood business district, the future light rail station along with linking schools, playgrounds, bookstores and more from Magnuson Park to Green Lake.

- The NE 65th corridor is an opportunity to create a direct east-west connection

Of the four options put forth by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), we believe Option A is the only choice that was presented by SDOT last week that meets all four criteria, but opportunities for combining the options in ways that ensures direct connections from Magnuson Park to Greenlake are possible. I encourage you to choose Option A. Option A is exactly the same as what was originally proposed by SDOT. It's the only route that connects Green Lake to Magnuson Park, as well as the Roosevelt Light Rail Station and Ravenna Neighborhood Business District. It's also the least steep route and has least elevation change. Options B & C fail to provide a direct west-east connection from Green Lake to Magnuson Park, and therefore fail to meet the criteria. In addition, Option B probably satisfies no one since it keeps protected bike lanes on NE 65th through the Ravenna Neighborhood Business District (20th Ave NE to 25th Ave NE), which is the main point of contention.

Option C removes the protected bike lanes through the business district and increases the emphasis on building a neighborhood greenway on NE 68th Street for a few blocks. But because a greenway is already planned for NE 68th Street, this extra emphasis isn't an improvement. In addition, this route fails to connect Green Lake to Magnuson Park, and fails to provide a direct connection -- increasing the number of turns, intersections, and potential conflict areas that bicyclists must encounter.

Option D removes the protect bike lanes on NE 65th Street altogether and instead emphasizes a neighborhood greenway along the north side of Ravenna Park and then NE 60th Street. Much of this route is already proposed in the bicycle master plan update. However, this route has many flaws. First, it doesn't connect the Roosevelt Light Rail Station or Ravenna Neighborhood Business District. Second, it's not direct -- in places it requires bicyclists to change streets blocks apart, increasing potential areas for conflict at intersections. Third, there are significant steep slopes and elevation changes on the eastern portion of the route. Fourth, it's likely to never get built -- the route would require two existing pedestrian bridges across Ravenna ravines to be replaced. That leaves us with Option A as the best choice.  Take the survey here >> There are possible significant modifications to Option A. For example, NE 65th Street is very narrow through the Ravenna Neighborhood Business District (20th Ave NE to 25th Ave NE). While continuing to push for Option A may not sound like much of a compromise right now, it's the only option that allows for a negotiated compromise that can meet our four criteria for designating a route.

The Bicycle Master Plan is the vision for how we connect our neighborhoods and ensure that everyone, regardless of age or ability, can ride a bike to where they need to go.  The design of future protected bike lanes on NE 65th will need to take into account hills, emergency access, road widths, transit activity, current land use and more to ensure that the design fits within neighborhood context and works for everyone - whether you choose to walk, bike, drive or take transit.

In addition to the four options above, we need to ensure that local connectors and neighborhood greenways, such as those proposed in the Bicycle Master Plan on NE 60th and NE 68th are built for those who do not wish to ride a bike on NE 65th.