The number’s so large it’s hard to wrap your head around. But here in SDOT, we started jumping up and down with enthusiasm when we saw that the Fremont Bridge bike counter had topped one million! 
We want riding a bike to be a comfortable part of daily life for people of all ages and abilities and when we see numbers like this we know the dial is moving in that direction. Tom Fucoloro at the Seattle Bike Blog scooped our story, but we wanted to share the news too! This is the first time the counter has surpassed one million in a calendar year. In 2013 the total count for the bridge reached 928,279.
With so many people crossing the bridge every day, the addition of a new protected bike lane along Westlake Avenue N is going to be a great benefit. Staff worked hard in 2014 to gather input from the community, collect data and identify an alignment and preliminary design for the protected bike lane. We’ve met all the key milestones and are on schedule to begin construction in fall 2015.
To make it safer and more predictable to ride along Dexter, SDOT is partnering with WSDOT to rechannelize the street between Mercer and Denny Way. This rechannelization swaps the location of the parking and current bike lane to create a new protected bike lane. Construction of this project will be phased in throughout 2015, with the first portion expected to be completed in January.
Finally, SDOT is launching the Center City Bicycle Network project in early 2015. This effort will identify where protected bike lanes in the Center City should go to form a network. Learn more about 2015 through 2019 implementation plans by visiting Seattle’s Bicycle Master Plan web page.
Creating a citywide bike network is one piece of the puzzle toward giving people more travel options. We are developing a comprehensive, multi-modal transportation strategy that integrates our pedestrian, bicycle, transit and “coming soon” freight plans. Staff is looking forward to working with Seattleites and implementing more projects in 2015!