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The many varieties of bicycle facilities
As we continue developing Seattle’s system of bicycle facilities, we want to make sure folks are aware of the various kinds of facilities out there.
We look at many factors when determining what type of facility to build in a specific location: the amount of space available, the type of street (such as arterial or residential), the amount of traffic, the type of traffic (such as transit) and the intended type of cyclists.
Here’s a brief overview of the various types:
Multi-Use Trail (aka Shared-Use Path)
A wide, usually paved path completely separated from motor vehicles. They’re often built on former railroad corridors, so they have a gentle slope. Seattle is rather famous for its many multi-use trails such as the Alki, Chief Sealth, and the granddaddy of all them all, the Burke-Gilman.
Bike Lane
A four to five foot wide lane on the road separated from other traffic by a white line and marked by a cyclist symbol. These are commonly found on arterials. Examples abound, including 2nd Ave downtown, Greenwood Ave N./Phinney Ave N. and Rainier Ave S.
Buffered bike lane on Dexter Ave N
Buffered Bike Lane
A bike lane further separated from the other traffic by a painted buffer on the road. Examples include parts of the bike lane on E. Marginal Way S. in SODO and Dexter Ave N.
Cycle Track
A bike lane physically separated from other traffic by a curb, different paving materials and/or a lane of parked cars. A cycle track will be built in along with the First Hill Streetcar.
Installing sharrows
Sharrows (share the road symbols)
Where the road is too narrow to carve out bike lanes, we install sharrows, symbols with a chevron (upside-down V’s) and a cyclist. Sharrows send the message to drivers that they should expect bicyclists to be sharing this road with them. They also help bicyclists positions themselves in the roadway. Just look anywhere around town for sharrows.
Climbing Lane / Sharrow Combo
Where space is too tight for bike lanes in both directions, we often create a bike lane on the uphill side of the road (where bicycles are much slower than other traffic) and sharrows on the downhill side (where cyclists’ speed is more comparable to other traffic.) Examples include Stone Way N in Wallingford and Fauntleroy Way SW in West Seattle.
Bus/bike only lane on Avalon Way SW
Bus/Bike Only Roadways and Lanes
Transit-only lanes which also allow bicyclists. These provide a space to bike free of cars and trucks. The Third Ave transit spine downtown is a bus/bike only roadway and the bus lane on Avalon Way SW heading toward the West Seattle Bridge is bus/bike-only lane.
Bike Route / Connector
A route suggested for bicycles to get from one point to another, which could include any combination of bicycle facilities. They are on the bike map and increasingly marked with on-street signs to guide you along the way.
And don’t forget…
Any City Street or Sidewalk
Bicycles are vehicles, and they are allowed on any city street. If you’re new to biking, you’ll probably want to start on quiet side streets and on bike facilities. Use your good judgment. Bicycles are also legal on sidewalks, but be sure to yield to pedestrians.
For more details, check out this list from Seattle’s Bicycle Master Plan and of course, the Seattle Bike Map. We’re looking forward to updating to the Bicycle Master Plan, which is likely to include updates to the definitions above, plus some new facility types such as neighborhood greenways.
Posted: January 31st, 2012 under SDOT.
People are getting along with bikes realizing the fact that they are responsible for their future generation. Go green !! Use bikes stay healthy .
I’m not sure that bikes mean ‘healthy’. Traffic jams and car fumes are very harmful. Only way it is closing of the city center for the conventional cars. Like in London where only electric cars and taxi can drive in to the some city area.
Save Money, Go Green, Drive Less, and Have Fun Riding bike. In the hope that we can improve the standard of cycle facilities being built.
The more lanes the better. Its good for the environment and we should encourage that.
i still ride a bike everyday
Where I live, Asheville, tons and tons of people bike. We’ve been trying to implement a Cycle Track, any suggestions on the best way to go about lobbying for one?
Letting your elected officials know your priorities (by email, letter, phone call, or in-person meeting) is an important part of our democracy.
Also, there are many advocacy groups across the country promoting various priorities. You may want to investigate if there are any groups in your area which advocate for you priorities.
I’m a huge fan of cycle tracks. However, the cost worries me. I suppose the cheapest would be sharrows – I’m all in favour of solutions to cycling infrastructure being a balance of functionality and cost effectiveness. Now if we can just get rid of the Stop sign laws for cyclists or create some sort of secondary signage for cyclists. Which is cheaper? Stop as yield is cheaper IMO.
Changing the law to allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs is a controversial issue as debated by bicycle advocates from our fellow cities to the south, Portland and San Francisco, in this column in Momentum: http://momentumplanet.com/articles/bike-vs-bike-the-idaho-stop-law
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Can someone explain to me why on earth a climbing lane/sharrow combo was not used on Fremont Ave N between 46th St and 39th St when SDOT added those bike facilities a while ago? Irrespective of road width, the climbing lane/sharrow combo is appropriate on any steep hill where downhill bikes are going at similar speeds to cars on a road with curb parking, because it’s recklessly stupid to ride 40 mph downhill in the door zone. SDOT got this right on the steep part of Taylor Ave N, why did you drop the ball in Fremont?
Before anyone counters that slower and less confident riders who desire their own lane space will be encouraged by these lanes, I would object that those riders aren’t riding these huge downhills in the first place, and they shouldn’t be encouraged to, either: those riders should be directed to nearby less-steep non-arterial streets (or future greenways) which are appropriate for them.
Thanks for your question. It has been forwarded to our Bicycle Program staff. You can expect a direct response within 7-10 business/working days.
As someone that lives right off of Fremont Ave and bikes a lot, I know well that there’s really not much of another way to get down. 39th and Fremont Way (carrying traffic to/from Aurora) are huge barriers to all N-S traffic that’s not at a light, and the parallel side streets are typically steeper than Fremont Ave itself.
The downhill bike lane still doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, and I sure don’t use it. Really, a lot of our bike lanes don’t make much sense. Dexter’s “buffered” bike lane still is mostly in the door zone — the best place to ride is in the buffer! At least we don’t have a mandatory bike lane law in this state telling us to put the judgment of some road engineer that wouldn’t know what to do with a bike if it fell in his lap over the judgement we’ve built up in years of practice.
Sorry that you feel that way. However, you should know that the SDOT staff that implement bike improvements for city streets are all experienced cyclists, most of whom bike to work every day.