About Town: Biking in the Slow Lane

I’d tip my helmet to all you biking folks – but I’m still too unsteady on my bicycle to attempt such a feat. I’m a timid biker. But there are plenty of you brave souls.

Even when the weather has been bad, there have been many bikers along the route I take to work – Bel-Red Road to 130th to Northup to Lake Washington Boulevard. But now that we’ve had good weather, the bikers have multiplied. On Friday I counted more than 18 bikes within a mile. Part of the bike crowd I see may be attributed to the bike path that parallels SR 520. It ends along my route. But even so, I’m impressed with the number of bikers.

Is commuting by bike on the rise? Unfortunately the City of Bellevue transportation folks don’t know. Counting bicycles is low priority in this time of tight budgets.

The city does a week long count once a year, usually in June or July. And even that is a limited assessment said Bellevue Senior Transportation Planner Franz Lowenherz. The city pulls footage from traffic cameras in downtown Bellevue during the designated week. It is reviewed by volunteers who count both pedestrians and bikes.

“I’ve often wanted to collect more data and do it continuously,” Lowenherz said. “The City is dedicated to being more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. We’re hoping to get money in the next budget to work on a share-the-road campaign.”

Give Bellevue credit for good work until the recent recession and budget woes. The city offers free maps with bike routes and has done a good job of marking the traffic sensors at intersections so cyclists can trip green lights. The city may not know how many bikers are in town on a given day, but it is prepared for them.

One interesting set of data that is available through the City of Bellevue website is the number of bicycle-vehicle and pedestrian-vehicle accidents by year from 1999 through 2008. Check the general area where you want to bike or walk to see how dangerous the area has been. Although the data isn’t recent, bike-vehicle accidents haven’t risen dramatically over the years.

That helps with my chicken-heart factor. I’m trying to work up my courage (and bike legs) to join the two-wheeled brigade. I hope to bike part way to work sometime this week or next. Even King County is encouraging me. . Of course the good folks at Metro are hoping I’ll actually peddle my bike part of the way – reducing gasoline consumption and traffic. If I can get to during the week, I can practice mounting my bike on a bus bike rack.

It’s not like I haven’t ridden my bike in the streets. I have. It’s just that it scares me so much I tend to stick to sidewalks. Last summer I even rode part of the East Lake Sammamish Parkway between Issaquah and Redmond when the lake trail was closed for repair.

True confessions! I rode facing the oncoming traffic. Yeah, I know it isn’t legal. But I have a reason – I want to see the car that hits me. If you see me out on the road this week, wave. Just don’t expect me to wave back. Like I said at the beginning – I’m keeping both hands on my handlebars.