like the guy who bikes to the trail, and the 'enlarged' map graphic that is barely bigger than the original. But still, the Pierce County bike trail system sucks (these 3 trails they're talking about are basically it), and any improvement is a good thing.
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langston
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:22 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 5547Location: Columbia City
Earlier this summer, at my previous place of employ, we had the mayors of Algona, Pacific, Sumner and a few other shitholes come in to tour our new branch office servicing the SE.
I had my bike somewhat conspicuously parked, and when I got changed to roll home I was able to grab a couple of the mayors' ears and mentioned how beneficial and important to their communities a unified bike route could be. All three I talked to were super interested and/or already on it. Good to see that this has progressed.
jputnam
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:44 am
Joined: 01 Dec 2007Posts: 3
The article is good as far as it goes, but by focusing on the Valley Cities coalition, it overlooks progress outside the valley -- for example, Edgewood and Milton have a plan for their segment of the old Interurban Railway and some work has already started. The climb out of the valley will take some work, but eventually the trail should be continuous from Tukwila to Tacoma. We could certainly use a friendlier route up the west side of the valley.
There are also other trail connections being built elsewhere in the Valley Cities coalition -- Auburn has just about finished its C Street trail south from downtown Auburn to Pacific city limits, and Pacific has a project in the works to run east from the Interurban Trail to the White River, where it will join the C Street Trail.
There has also been some progress on better treatment of cyclists on the roads.
Pierce County is preparing a new edition of their Bicycle Guide Map, and they've been actively coordinating routes with South King County jurisdictions so there will be more continuity crossing the county line. Wish the Interurban would be ready in time for the map, but the map is due out this month.
Earlier this year we convinced King County to adjust traffic light sensors to detect bicycles as official policy, rather than luck, and they're going to begin marking sensor sweet spots on new work and during maintenance. (That was driven by an intersection in Pacific, installed and maintained under contract by King County. But the new policy will apply county-wide.)
Auburn's traffic department is also working on adjusting and marking sensors in both King and Pierce County parts of the city. Pierce county doesn't yet agree that signals should detect bicycles, their standards are supposed to detect small motorcycles. But we haven't given up on that, either.
WSDOT has agreed to review conflicting signage on Highway 167 on-ramps -- despite what some of the signs say, it is legal to ride the shoulders of the whole length of 167. Noisy and unpleasant, yes, but it's an elevated route that stays open during flooding and gets plowed promptly when it snows.
South King and Pierce are still a long way from Complete Streets and a broad trail network, but there is real progress happening faster than I would have expected a few years ago.
henry
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:20 am
somewhat piggishJoined: 05 Aug 2005Posts: 5415Location: on porch with shotgun
Mr. Obstinate wrote:
Earlier this summer, at my previous place of employ, we had the mayors of Algona, Pacific, Sumner and a few other shitholes come in to tour our new branch office servicing the SE.
I had my bike somewhat conspicuously parked, and when I got changed to roll home I was able to grab a couple of the mayors' ears and mentioned how beneficial and important to their communities a unified bike route could be. All three I talked to were super interested and/or already on it. Good to see that this has progressed.
Joined: 25 May 2007Posts: 356Location: Downtown Tacoma
That would be cool if those trails were connected.
Also, on a side note, I was in Puyallup last Friday, and it is a pretty cool up and coming suburb city (I've posted some pics on my flickr). It's got a Sounder Station, the downtown is becoming cooler (a street in the center of the city was closed down and there was a reindeer petting zoo there) and I saw a bar called "Bumpy's". Also, not to mention there is the Puyallup Fairgrounds just south of the city. But the coolest thing about my visit to Puyallup had to have been what I call the Do the Puyallup Bomb!!
Also, on another side note regarding Pierce County, on Thursday the Sound Transit Board approved a controversial alignment over Pacific Ave which sets all the right of way permits in place to extend the Sounder line to Lakewood. Now all Sound Transit has to do is find a spare $40-50 million to build the thing. If all goes well the Sounder should be stopping in Lakewood in 2010.
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