[swc7916]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good bicycle route from Bellevue to Boeing Field? I've got the I-90 trail part down OK, but things don't look very good from the west end of the trail down to E. Marginal Way. A fellow here at work does this commute and he climbs up Beacon Hill, goes down 15th and crosses I-5 on Lucille. Are there any better routes? The King County bicycling map shows a bike lane on Albro, Ellis and E. Marginal Way but I drive those streets every day and - believe me, there are no bike lanes there. Thanks for your help.

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[squirl]

I usually go a little south down to the Lowes and then turn up the hill ( west) and work my way over to the road that links you under the west seattle bridge or more acuratley the spokane street viaduct.
somthing like this:
goto Lowes
west on Mcclellen
left on 20th or 18th
rt on spokane
rt on columbia way which turn back into spokane at the bottom of the hill.
then wrap around the corner to airpot way
and the rest is obvious.

Good Luck!

[unixpro]

There aren't bike lanes on those streets, but they're not heavily traveled, so you can take the lane without interfering with traffic. I ride the ellis->E. Marginal part every day, down to the 16th street bridge, and I've never had a problem. The E. Marginal part can be a little exciting, but the streets are generally wide enough for both vehicles and bikes.

The bad part is the road surface conditions. These streets are used by lots of big rigs and busses, so they're not all that well maintained. Be prepared to deal with cracks and stuff.

[BengeBoy]

The bad part is the road surface conditions. These streets are used by lots of big rigs and busses, so they're not all that well maintained. Be prepared to deal with cracks and stuff.

+1

Good streets for wider tires if you have a choice.

[swc7916]

Why does the King County bicycling map show a bike lane on Albro, Ellis and E. Marginal Way? Does this indicate future plans? Ellis is 4 lanes with no shoulder and no room to allocate for a bike lane, so I would expect that the only thing they could do is paint "sharrows" in the right lanes.

[unixpro]

Believe it or not, that is the official recommended bicycle route from Sea-Tac to downtown Seattle. Seriously.

Ellis is 4-lane with no shoulder and no room, but very little actual traffic. I take the right lane when I go either direction on it and I've never had a problem. No honking, no buzzing, nothing. The drivers through that area actually seem to be better to cyclists than those either in Burien, where I live, or in Seattle. Oh, and much of the time the right lane is actually for parking, so the cars tend to stay to the left anyway.

In fact, the ride on Airport through Georgetown and then through South Park is what I consider to be the safest part of my ride, from a traffic point of view. The roads themselves suck, but the drivers are better. The people hanging around the bars and motorcycle shops in Georgetown are also interesting.

One additional tidbit. When you turn from Airport onto the connector that takes you over to Ellis, there's a stop sign. Just below the big octagonal STOP sign is a smaller sign that says No Stopping At Any Time. Some day I've got to get a picture of that sign post.

[swc7916]

finally bit the bullet and did the commute this morning. It was about 33 degrees and my fingers and toes were cold, but otherwise the weather was OK. The part of the ride that I dreaded the most - west on Dearborn and then south on Airport Way to Georgetown - turned out to be the best part of the commute. The traffic was light and gave me plenty of room and the pavement wasn't too bad. The stretch over Mercer Island was awful - narrow, winding trail with no lights, stop signs and streets to cross, up and down - It was pretty slow going.

[BengeBoy]

The stretch over Mercer Island was awful - narrow, winding trail with no lights, stop signs and streets to cross, up and down - It was pretty slow going.

You might try getting off the bike path when crossing Mercer Island and choosing the streets for part of the route (getting onto North Mercer Way and taking it about 3/4 way across the Island -- check a map). I do the lap around Mercer Island frequently and always enjoy the street-way around the North end of the Island more than the bike path. I've never timed the difference but it's certainly more enjoyable to stick to the street, IMO.

[swc7916]

You might try getting off the bike path when crossing Mercer Island and choosing the streets for part of the route (getting onto North Mercer Way and taking it about 3/4 way across the Island -- check a map). I do the lap around Mercer Island frequently and always enjoy the street-way around the North end of the Island more than the bike path. I've never timed the difference but it's certainly more enjoyable to stick to the street, IMO.

Thanks. I had posted this on the Cascade message board also and someone there suggested the same thing.

[rnorris]

I also take N. Mercer Way across most of the island. The MUP there is poorly designed for bikes, with short blind curves and hazardous intersections. It also tends to be full of dog walkers and other pedestrians during the day, who I'm sure would rather have me riding on the road anyway. The eastern section of N. Mercer Way was widened last year, making it an even better ride.