When I lived in Boise, I was four blocks from a greenbelt that took me all the way to downtown or to my office five miles across town. I even got to ride over a cool old railroad bridge and along the Boise River.
This was in a town where the buses (I think there were four total) stopped running at 5:45 p.m. and cars registered in the suburbs did not need emissions testing.
The Burke Gilman through Redmond
In Seattle, where many people live without cars, I can ride bits and pieces of various lovely trails — but I have to cross into vehicular traffic at multiple points to complete my daily commute.
The Burke-Gilman had a big section completed between downtown Ballard and Golden Gardens just this spring, but many gaps remain there and elsewhere.
A proposed $140 million 2008 parks levy prioritizes filling in some of those gaps. A committee tasked with crafting the levy for the Seattle City Council went beyond green space and parks and recommended spending $8 million to fill in some missing links.
The committee wants to extend the Burke-Gilman and Duwamish bicycle trails, and build an overpass at Thomas Street.
None of these proposals are new. These projects are all included in the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan and in Bands of Green. The committee said in its report it was looking for projects that would promote healthy living and could be completed within the six-year timeframe.
Nearly $4 million of the money would go to filling in holes on the Burke-Gilman in Ballard. $2 million would go to trail improvements along the Duwamish. $1.5 million would go to building an overpass for bikes and pedestrians from Myrtle Edwards Park to Queen Anne. The remaining $600,000 would go to building trails in the Kiwanis Ravine overlook near Discovery Park.
It still leaves quite a few gaps in the system, but targets some of the city’s fastest growing neighborhoods, maybe even making two-wheel commuters out of new Seattleites.
Council will review the committee’s report at 2:30 p.m. Monday, July 7 and hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 10.
Read more about the levy at DJC.com
