Tacoma Bike-In, October 17: Save the date!

Cascade Bike Club and the Tacoma Wheelmen are doing a good looking event in Tacoma on the 17th (a Saturday). It will include a workshop on cycling advocacy, a bike tour of Tacoma, and of course bike oriented drinks. See the details below and at the linked websites.

Tacoma Bike-In, October 17: Save the date!

What can you do to improve bicycling in Tacoma and throughout Washington? Join Cascade Bicycle Club and the Tacoma Wheelmen on Sat., Oct. 17 for a workshop on bike advocacy.

We'll discuss how we can use our clout to demand better facilities and just laws for bicyclists. Also, the outcome of the bicycle and pedestrian count, and how the data we collect on bicycling is crucial to our safety as bicyclists.

Together, we'll strategize on making a difference in Tacoma and working together for better state laws and federal funding of trails and other facilities.

Schedule:

10am - 1pm: Workshop at the Tacoma Downtown Library, 1102 Tacoma Avenue South

1pm - 3pm: Bike tour of Tacoma with bicycle planners and special guests (stay tuned for details!)

3pm - eve.: Meet at the Harmon HUB for drinks

Click here to RSVP!

Park(ing) Day a Success

Last Friday was international Park(ing) Day. Here locally TCC Co-sponsored Park(ing) spots in Seattle and Tacoma. It was a lot of fun and a huge success.

Thank you to all of the individuals and groups who we worked with. Check out the new album on our facebook page for the photos!

Policy Director Bill LaBorde on KPLU talking about gains in transit ridership

Check out this 30 second piece discussing how more and more people continue to switch from driving along to transit, biking, and vanpools. TCC's own Bill LaBorde is quoted.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1557675/KPLU.Local.News/Fewer.Commuters.Driving.Solo.in.the.Northwest

Reminder: Friday Forum Lunch in the PARK Celebrate PARK(ing) DAY is Tomorrow!

FRIDAY FORUM: Join Us for Lunch in the PARK Celebrate PARK(ing) DAY
Have lunch plans for tomorrow? Join us for lunch in the park. We're taking over a bunch of parking spaces in Seattle and Tacoma and turning them into parks! And we want you to bring your lunch and hang out at our parks tomorrow, September 18th to celebrate PARK(ing) Day, a global day when parking spots temporarily become public parks. It's a day to remember that Parking Spots = Public Spaces. Public space is limited and valuable and it's an opportunity to rethink the way we balance the use of that space between people and cars.

Stop by either park to show your support and say hello. Transportation Choices Coalition is partnering with the Cascade Land Conservancy, Zipcar, Cascade Bicycle Club , and University of Washington Tacoma to to celebrate PARK(ing) day in Seattle and Tacoma! There will be giveaways, plenty of information and a bicycle-powered smoothie machine!

For information about PARK(ing) DAY, check out http://www.parkingday.org

SEATTLE:
WHEN: Friday, September 18, 10am-2pm
WHERE: 1st Ave between University and Seneca
Co-hosted by: Transportation Choices Coalition, Cascade Land Conservancy, Zipcar, and the Cascade Bicycle Club

TACOMA:
WHEN: Friday, September 18, 10am-2pm
WHERE: Pacific Ave and 19th Street in front of the University of Washington Tacoma (near the UWT Starbucks)
Co-hosted by: Transportation Choices Coalition, Cascade Land Conservancy , Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce and the University of Washington Tacoma

King County Metro Transit Audit Report Released

King County recently posted the full metro audit findings on their website.

I have not had time to dig into it yet, but for all you policy wonks out there, here it is for your reading pleasure (second item down)!

http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/auditor/Reports/Year/2009.aspx

Creating Safer and Healthier Suburbs, Starting in Burien: Guest Blog Post

The Transportation Choices Coalition board recently endorsed the Burien Safe Sidewalks campaign.

Today discussing the measure is a guest blog post from the campaign chair, Burien Planning Commission Chair, and friend of TCC, Joe Fitzgibbon. Please consider supporting this effort and enjoy the guest post.

From Joe:

Throughout our region, two critical modes of transportation that suffer from a lack of adequate infrastructure are walking and bicycling. The deficiency in infrastructure is most stark in the suburbs and in neighborhoods at the margins of urban centers. These neighborhoods -- in Seattle, think Rainier Beach, Delridge, Georgetown, Greenwood, Lake City -- tend to be dense, close to transit, and close to jobs and commerce. Because walking and biking are less safe in these neighborhoods than it is in those with better infrastructure -- Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Ballard, the U District -- more people end up driving.

One of King County's most forward-thinking suburbs, Burien, has proposed taking a big step to start to address its own shortage of good pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. The city formed a Transportation Benefit District specifically devoted to the completion of certain high-priority pedestrian and bike projects from the 2004 Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities Master Plan and asked the voters to consider a $25 vehicle license fee to pay for the improvements. TBDs, which the Legislature authorized as a tool for local governments to fund transportation improvements, have been formed in other cities in region, but Burien's is the first in Western Washington devoted specifically to pedestrian and bicycle projects. The fee will last two years and will be on the November ballot.

An important component of Burien's plan is the fact that improvements will make it possible for students at Cedarhurst Elementary School to walk and bike to school safely. As it is, kids who walk or bike to Cedarhurst are walking and biking in the margins of the road with traffic. Understandably, many parents are reluctant to send their kids to school this way. Safer pedestrian and bicycle facilities will make it possible for more kids to get to school without motorized transport, helping them develop active and healthy habits that will stay with them into adulthood.

Cities throughout the region and the state are watching Burien to see if voters are willing to slightly increase their taxes for badly needed tangible improvements in infrastructure. Will we see other cities take the plunge and ask voters to pay for comparable improvements? If the vote in Burien fails, it's unlikely that suburban city councilmembers elsewhere will have the appetite to take the chance. If the vote succeeds, other cities will be emboldened to go for it.

Burien is a progressive city, voting overwhelmingly last fall to approve ST 2 and to increase property taxes to pay for two new fire stations. However, approval of the vehicle license fee is not going to be an easy sell. The Safe Sidewalks Now campaign is working to get the word out about the vote, but we need your help. The most important thing you can do is to tell your friends in Burien about the opportunity to improve their bike and pedestrian infrastructure. You can also help by writing a check to support the effort financially. If you're interested in helping make our region more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly, which will reduce the number of single-occupancy vehicles on the road and promote transit ridership, please consider supporting the effort.

For more information, contact Joe Fitzgibbon of Safe Sidewalks Now at jcfitzgibbon@gmail.com or visit http://safesidewalksnow.wordpress.com/. Checks made out to Safe Sidewalks Now can be mailed to (UPDATED ADDRESS) 615 SW Ambaum Blvd. #204, Burien, WA, 98166.

Sound Transit listens to Citizens' Concerns in Tacoma over Controversial Lakewood Sounder Extension

There has been a lot of recent controversy over the D to M street Sounder overpass in Tacoma that Sound Transit is building to get the Sounder to Lakewood.

The TNT announced today that for essentially no addition cost to the public they will be building a post and beam structure instead of the earthen berm. This looks like a great compromise and hopefully helps quell some of the radical controversy around this project and helps keep in on track.

From the TNT:

Sound Transit says it will build a bridge -- not an earthen berm -- over the so-called B-Street Gulch within its project site to install light rail tracks through Tacoma's Dome District.

The design change for that part of the project largely was spurred by community concerns about aesthetics and wildlife, Jim Edwards, Sound Transit's director of capital projects, said this week.

"In the past several months, we became aware of the potential for a habitat trail through the gulch area," Edwards said. "That caused us to go back and reevaluate things."

Although bridges typically cost more than berms do to build, Edwards said, the move likely will not increase overall project costs because it will off-set additional costs needed for that area under previous construction plans. Overall, the D to M Street project cost estimates remain at about $160 million, he said.

Sound Transit still plans to largely build an earthen berm to elevate and extend tracks over Pacific Avenue near 25th Street, as part of 1.4-mile project to connect the D to M Street Sounder rail lines.

Opponents support a so-called "post and beam" construction option they view as a less obtrusive alternative to a berm, which they argue would visually and physically divide the neighborhood.

Several neighborhood and environmental groups recently have sent Letters and emails to city officials, lobbying for design changes at the B street ravine and other key points along the project site. Some contend the ravine, the deepest point along the project site, is a key corridor for wildlife.

The new bridge design over the ravine will be a bridgedeck set on columns at either end, providing for an open structure, Edwards said.

"The bridge structure can easily be described as accomplishing what the post and beam intended to do," Edwards said.

It allows the ravine to remain in its natural state and provides clearance for animal passage, he said. It also eliminates additional costs under the previous berm design, which would have required expansive digging and installation of protections to subterranean city utility lines, Edwards said.

Sound Transit previously had planned to fill in the ravine with an earthen berm, which would have been the widest such berm -- 75 to 80 feet -- in the D to M street project area. Most of the proposed berms along the line range from about 20 to 40 feet wide, he said.

Although the plans have changed at the B-Street Ravine, designs for the remainder of the D to M street site remain largely the same.

"We still believe, when we looked at the options and the terrain, the best alternative for the rest of the structure is the earthen embankment," Edwards said.

Julie Anderson, Tacoma's Deputy Mayor and a Sound Transit Board member, said earlier this week she has yet to see any cost estimates or design plans for the proposed change.

"From what I hear, (the new bridge design) creates a sense of permeability and addresses the environmental concerns and protects utilities," Anderson said.