Pacific Northwest - My rant about the I90 bridge bike lane (Seattle)

OK, I have crossed the I90 bridge at least 250 times (probably more like 300) since my original rant.

Last night's complaint: multiple ninja joggers/walkers, strolling on the path around 6:30 p.m.
This morning's complaint: giant bag of dog food, lying in the middle of the path. I just know I am going to run into it on the way home tonight in the dark.

Still the least favorite part of my commute, and winter is coming....

Almost had a run in with a ninja jogger a few days ago. Fortunately the guy was wearing some reflective stuff that caught my eye. I wanted to thank him for not getting himself hit.

Giant bag of dog food? That is just odd....

i've started to hate the cross-winds that sometimes seem to suck the air out of my lungs in between mercer island & seattle..

one thing that really bothers me about the i-90 trail, and all local trails, are the people that blind me with super-bright LEDs!

aim that sh1t down people... i've been yelling "can't see!" as i pass these fountains of light, but it doesn't seem to help. (for the record my schmidt e6 halogen lamp focuses the beam of light, and i have it aimed downwards, so hopefully i'm not blinding people as well)

if i sprayed someone with a water bottle because they blinded me, would that be wrong? =]

one thing that really bothers me about the i-90 trail, and all local trails, are the people that blind me with super-bright LEDs!

That was probably me!

(Though I do try to 1. aim my lights down before I get on the bridge 2. turn one of them off and 3. cover the light w/my hand when another biker approaches).

Sorry to give you that impression -- maybe if you re-read the post you'd see I was (mostly) kidding.

...
So - I am (sort of) criticizing myself. We get this great bike lane, and then, I complain?

...

Benge, I am glad you wrote this. I was starting to form an impression of you as some kind of whiner or something:lol:

David

B I was starting to form an impression of you as some kind of whiner or something



I *am* a whiner. I tell the folks I work with I can endure anything as long as I get to complain about it.

I can endure anything as long as I get to complain about it.

:lol:

Now, that's just plain funny.

But I still wonder -- why is the pavement so rough? It's not rough because it's been damaged; it's like it was laid down in lumps.

I am on the other side of the hump, in Wenatchee, and part of my morning commute goes by a relatively new housing development that used to have a very nice bike lane, but it was trenched up to install various pipes and conduits during construction of said development. When it was 'repaired' they did a complete crap job and it is all wavy and bumpy just like what you are describing. Somehow it passed inspection, even though they would have never accepted that kind of workmanship on the road itself.

I suspect a bit of the same mentality on your bike lane. They don't have to care, so they don't.

anyone else see the dead rat on the i-90 floating bridge today, just west of mercer island?

looks like it's been run over a few times already, i bet it'll be completely flat by monday.

I didn't see a rat on the bridge, but about 100 yards from the I90 bike lane I almost hit a rat in the middle of the road. He (she?) was so big I thought it was a raccoon.

I should have added rats to the original rant. There are a lot of rats on Mercer Island, I guess some of them make it out to the bridge.

The horror of the I90 bike path is now the topic of a blog post at the Seattle PI, which refers to crossing the I90 bike path as a "Klingon Pain Ritual."

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/velocity/archives/155201.asp

"The I-90 bike path looks easy, but every cyclist on it is clearly in a state of self-induced misery, and pedaling as hard as they can to get it over with, kinda like walking on hot coals. Add hills at both ends of a traverse that looks flat, cross winds, pedestrians, baby strollers, swerving cyclists, long distance runners, standing water, and road spray and you have a bonafide Klingon pain ritual."

I think that the pavement is finished rough on purpose in order to help drainage and reduce hydroplaning by automobiles. A car passenger does not notice the roughness (except additional road noise). They probably poured and finished the entire deck, then erected the concrete barriers separating the bike lane from the regular lanes...

Nice photo of my favorite lake crossing on a winter day (from Seattle Times, Jan. 30).

http://i41.tinypic.com/t7cxl3.jpg

BTW, last week I rode across I90 after our big snowfall, and discovered a new reason to "love" this bike path. When the snow plows hit I90 (yes, there are a few snow plows around...) they throw snow up over the concrete barrier onto the bike lane. So even though the snow on the streets was packed and ridable, the bike path itself had a 1 to 4-inch layer of snow, ice chunks and slush thrown over the barrier from snow plows working on the other side. It was really a mess; like riding through dog food.

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ze9iqr.jpg

wow, nice photos!

so is all that mess pretty much gone now? i heard it was still icy a few days ago.

so is all that mess pretty much gone now? i heard it was still icy a few days ago.

Matt, just for you, I rode over and took this photo. 11 a.m. this morning -- all clear.

This is the east end.

Also, as you can see, I now have a bike bell on my bike. The first one I've ever owned, I think.

http://i40.tinypic.com/35mibfd.jpg

This morning's complaint: giant bag of dog food, lying in the middle of the path. I just know I am going to run into it on the way home tonight in the dark.


Why not remove debris when you come across it? If you're properly lighted and yell "stopping" before actually doing so there's not much safety hazard.

Why not remove debris when you come across it? If you're properly lighted and yell "stopping" before actually doing so there's not much safety hazard.

Excellent point. I did not have the presence of mind to do this when I encountered it; I slowed to look for it on the way home but it was already gone. I have removed other debris; one time it was a small box of wood screws that were scattered along the path

1. It's noisy. I want to hear the gentle lap of waves when I cross the bridge; instead I hear the roar of traffic.


I can understand the other rants you have about the bridge, but this one is ridiculous. Dude...it's a major FREEWAY...what do you expect?

Dude...it's a major FREEWAY...what do you expect?

Any of a number solutions would make me happy:

1. Traffic signals to stop traffic while I'm on the bridge
2. Reroute all car traffic to the 520 or Ferries.
3. Private floating bike bridges - one from Mercer Island to Seward Park, another direct from Bellevue to Leschi.

Any of a number solutions would make me happy:

1. Traffic signals to stop traffic while I'm on the bridge
2. Reroute all car traffic to the 520 or Ferries.
3. Private floating bike bridges - one from Mercer Island to Seward Park, another direct from Bellevue to Leschi.

Dude, dude, tubes!

Bike tubes!

Zoom!

One over the water and one underwater.

Nice photo of my favorite lake crossing on a winter day (from Seattle Times, Jan. 30).

BTW, last week I rode across I90 after our big snowfall, and discovered a new reason to "love" this bike path. When the snow plows hit I90 (yes, there are a few snow plows around...) they throw snow up over the concrete barrier onto the bike lane. So even though the snow on the streets was packed and ridable, the bike path itself had a 1 to 4-inch layer of snow, ice chunks and slush thrown over the barrier from snow plows working on the other side. It was really a mess; like riding through dog food.

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ze9iqr.jpg

This photo also illustrates yet another problem with the crossing. As you can clearly see, stopping midspan encourages disgusting hagfish to emerge from the lake and attack your bags. Probably there's some kind of food in there...

i've been riding different tires, at a higher pressure (100-110 psi instead of 90 or so), and boy does it seem a ton bumpier! (i used to scoff at those comments about this trail)

especially the bridge from ME to bellevue, going west down that incline is one bumpy ride!! but it mostly has to do with how hard your tires are, i think.

This photo also illustrates yet another problem with the crossing. As you can clearly see, stopping midspan encourages disgusting hagfish to emerge from the lake and attack your bags. Probably there's some kind of food in there...

:)

Don't know if you can tell - but that's an inner tube. I'd had a flat and just strapped the bad tube to the outside of my rack.

BTW, I had one of my more interesting "incidents" on the bridge last week. One night I was going home about 7 pm-ish in the dark and I encountered several ninja joggers coming from the opposite direction. Then I noticed a faint glow headed right toward me, on my side of the pavement. I slowed and was ready to stop, when the glow moved back over to the left so we could pass safely.

As I neared the glow, I realized that I was seeing the reflected light of a blackberry shining up on someone's face.

Yes, a jogger was running across the I90 bridge, reading her blackberry as she went...

Wow - fun thread. When I lived on Capitol Hill and worked in Bellevue the bridge was one of my favorite parts of the ride, especially in the morning. I still remember the ritual of checking to see if Mt. Rainier was out, and watching the seagulls keep pace with me, just over the water. Coming home, the grade from the water to the tunnel was sometimes a bit daunting, but I only had to look behind, and remember that I was riding away from Bellevue, and to Seattle, to give myself that extra bit of oomph. One of my best commuting memories is of riding over to Bellevue during the Inauguration Day storm (Bill Clinton's inauguration, that is). The wind was gusting up around 50-60 mph, with waves breaking over the south side of the bridge and dousing me all the way on the other side. I was riding heeled over as though I had a cinder block in one pannier, and every now and then the wind would stop, giving me a chance to test my reflexes as I avoided the wall that I was swerving towards. Good times. I do miss it sometimes.

1. It's noisy. I want to hear the gentle lap of waves when I cross the bridge; instead I hear the roar of traffic.

2. The pavement on the bike lane is rough and wavy. It's not damaged; it seems to have been laid down badly. Was there an earthquake or something the day they laid the concrete?

3. At night, the lights on the bike lane make things worse. There isn't enough light to really be useful, but just enough to interrupt the beam of my bike lights.

4. There is always a headwind, no matter which way you are headed. Headed East, it's blowing from the East. Headed West, it's blowing from the West.

5. They keep changing the angle of the bridge. In the morning, when I take it to the West, there is a very short descent on the East side, and then a l-o-n-g steep climb up to the Mt. Baker tunnel. But by the evening, they have changed everything. There is a very short descent from the tunnel down to the lake surface, and then a l-o-n-g steep climb up to Mercer Island. This happens every day; I don't know how they do it.

6. When it's raining, I get the sensation that there is rain coming down from above; rain coming sideways from the cars, and even colder raining coming *up* from the lake.

7, It's there, so we have to use it. Folks along the 520 don't have a bike lane, so those of us who live along the I90 are *forced* to get out on our bikes and ride it to make a point. Which point, I don't know.



That's all.
item 1: Use an iPod (or increase item 6)
item 2: The job was contracted to the lowest bidder
item 3:Are you saying you can't see? get a Dinotti
item 4: Not true I only had a headwith both directions. North and South it was nice and peacefull
item 5: The bridge is actually sinking. I suggest wearing a life preserver the next time you ride accross it.
item 6: Sounds like you are in a vortex. what kind of meds you taking? Can I get some?
item 7: Thre is always the circular lake washington route down theough Renton. It's a very nice route and probably wouldn't set you back more than about an hour and a half, (as opposed to the 10 minutes it might take to cross the bridge).

I don'e much care for the bridge but it gets me to Mercer Island for a nice ride around the island where we can play a game called "count the Colnago's*". Winner gets a free latte at Starbucks
* the game used to be "count the Cervelo's" but that got too easy.

WSDOT is considering adding some screens to the top of the concrete barriers to resolve some of the problems noted above:

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I90/TwoWayTransit/path.htm

i don't mind i-90 trail so much, as the way some people use it.

and on that note, a big tsk tsk to a few members of Group Health cycling team, who were part of a double paceline of about 10-12 people on the bridge deck. at least ride single file.. that bike lane just isn't big enough to fit three people across.

i shook my head in disgust. double pacelines are for the road!

Well, that was breezy - gusts of 30mph plus both tonight and last night. Tonight was the first time I really felt sandblasted by all the grit coming off the road while crossing the bridge. And there seem to be more Ninja joggers these days.