It isn't that biking in downtown Seattle was all that great in itself, car accommodations must take up at least 60% of the land use, but it was the difference over the 20 years. I used to fight it out daily in Mpls./St. Paul, MN in the late '70s and let me tell you , I learned aggressive vehicular cycling techniques, it was a war almost every day. I left MN because of it and Seattle was great compared to that. In Seattle back then, you only had to assume that cars never saw me and I was fine. In Mpls., drivers tried to run me off the road almost every single day, even when I took side streets, they just didn't think I should be using 'their' road. In Seattle on Thursday, I came across the ferry and used Dexter to go up and over Lake Union. I used Western to get out from downtown and then cut up to Dexter. The bike lanes are mostly in the 'door zone' but I rode on the white fog line so doors couldn't get me and cars had room to move over in their lane and they did. No horns, no yelling and they were actually looking for cyclists- that makes the big difference. So it is much better but not perfect. Rumor has it Peter Lagerway had a lot to do with fighting for bikes. I've only been in Portland once and I didn't have my bike with me but it looked much better than Seattle for bikes and citizens. I need to bike in Portland to check it out. Are big cities going to become liveable?