ebikemom
Well-Known Member
The city of Bellevue has done something pretty interesting in an area where there is tons of car traffic. They have created a protected route (the red-marked portion of 108th Ave SE) nearly parallel to the heavily used arterial (Bellevue Way, shown in purple). The protected route is labeled with signage that says "local access only" and enforced by motorcycle cops at each end who ticket cars who go through from end to end, in the part of the street North of the intersection between the two roads. The police officers aren't there every day, but I see them a couple of times a month, and clearly they are there often enough that the system works and the street has little traffic, even when Bellevue Way is packed with crawling bumper-to-bumper traffic. The protected roadway has bike lanes (about 1/3rd of it?) or whole-lane bike markings along with many speed bumps and a speed limit of 25mph. It is a residential street. Cars that do end up on the street with the intention of driving all the way through get a little reminder at a stop sign along the way that they must turn back onto the main arterial.
It works beautifully. Tonight my daughter and I needed to go to the music store to pick up her band book, and we took that route. Very busy traffic as we crossed the intersection, but the entire length of 108th was very pleasant for cycling. And, today my friends those lovely police officers were there ticketing cars at both ends.
We need more streets for bikes like this. Most won't need an active police presence since speed bumps alone would be sufficient in most cases to guide autos to choose a different street. But, where there is gridlock, and cars clogging all of the alternate routes, this is a great solution for both the people who live on the street and those who are biking to their destinations. For those cars who might complain, I'd suggest to them that they get their own ebike and then be free of gridlock themselves!
It works beautifully. Tonight my daughter and I needed to go to the music store to pick up her band book, and we took that route. Very busy traffic as we crossed the intersection, but the entire length of 108th was very pleasant for cycling. And, today my friends those lovely police officers were there ticketing cars at both ends.
We need more streets for bikes like this. Most won't need an active police presence since speed bumps alone would be sufficient in most cases to guide autos to choose a different street. But, where there is gridlock, and cars clogging all of the alternate routes, this is a great solution for both the people who live on the street and those who are biking to their destinations. For those cars who might complain, I'd suggest to them that they get their own ebike and then be free of gridlock themselves!
