Advocacy & Safety - Seattle's 10-year bike plan obsolete after 4 years?

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3alarmer
11-02-11, 03:53 PM
Just four years after Seattle published its $300,000 Bicycle Master Plan, city officials are considering spending an additional $400,000 to revise it.

The 2007 bike plan, a 174-page document produced for then-Mayor Greg Nickels, was supposed to be a 10-year blueprint to help Seattle build a $240 million cycling network as good or better than Portland's.

Now the plan apparently is reaching obsolescence.

Urban bicycle networks are changing quickly: the development of safe walking and cycling routes called "greenways" on the side streets of Portland; a growing commuter-trail network in Minneapolis; parts of streets becoming protected "cycle tracks" in New York City.

"It's really interesting to see the public getting out ahead of us on this, clamoring for greenways," said Craig Benjamin, policy and government-affairs manager for Cascade Bicycle Club.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016665828_bikeplan02m.html

Seattle Forrest
11-02-11, 04:38 PM
That's nothing. They actually began tearing the viaduct down. I was pretty sure it would be standing forever ... until The Big One hit.

Anyway, the old plan came in the Nickles era, and McGinn is a mayor who actually rides a bike. So it's not surprising that he would put more priority into two wheels.

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/McGinn%20bike03.jpg

http://o.aolcdn.com/photo-hub/news_gallery/7/0/706912/1298576389681.JPEG

http://www.seattlepi.com/mediaManager/?controllerName=image&action=get&id=475527&width=628&height=471
B. Carfree
11-02-11, 10:13 PM
Seattle is showing me my city's future. We are about to pass a truly crappy bike and ped master plan. Our mayor once posed on a bike, but appears to have never ridden one. She will probably serve one more term and then whoever is elected (hopefully someone who rides) will push to get a proper plan in place. What a waste of citizen time and city money.

The Human Car
11-03-11, 11:34 PM
Maryland's 20 year bike master plan hasn't been revised in 9 years, so we passed a law requiring them to revise it every 5 years. Periodic revisions are fairly typical for most transportation plans so I see this as good news for Seattle.