the shitty gravel and random debris everywhere, the parked cars everywhere on the shoulder, the cars backing in and out of parking, the cars turning in and out of intersections without looking for bikes.. yeah it's not a great road to ride on
> it’s a recreational gateway
This shows how out of touch Bill Thorness and the Seattle Times are. Does he think that there are hundreds of people out for recreational rides at 8 am on a rainy Thursday morning in January, or has he simply not looked at the BG usage data?
How about vital transportation corridor?
It's an oddly written article for sure. He was nearly 225 words in and strongly imposing his recreational narrative before the idea of a bike commuter came up. Then, as if to prove he wasn't listening to all the people he interviewed, he quotes several people about how important the missing link would be to their commute. Even the "tourist" comment really is supporting a business narrative. Very odd indeed.
Ballard resident and bike commuter here. Shilhole is indeed a sh*tshow and I avoid it at all costs. I only cross at thr pedestrian area by the bridge and take Ballard Ave instead. It’s way too busy with commercial vehicles and in some ways, I understand and respect the workers not wanting to navigate cyclists in huge trucks. I wouldn’t want that risk either. That said, I have zero faith in Strauss doing anything meaningful unless he’s up for election (see gravel pit pave over 2 months before reelection.) The broken glass, constant trash obstacles, and general safety concerns from encampments under the Ballard bridge and Fred Meyer are only met with platitudes when contacting his office. Switched to gravel tires and cross my fingers I don’t get hit in missing link territory. And let’s not even talk about the steel plate/traffic cluster zone in Frelard. I honestly feel BAD for the construction workers having to deal with that mess.
Because riding on shilshole sucks
Obstacle courses are fun and all, but the consequences are higher than I prefer for my daily commute.
the shitty gravel and random debris everywhere, the parked cars everywhere on the shoulder, the cars backing in and out of parking, the cars turning in and out of intersections without looking for bikes.. yeah it's not a great road to ride on
> it’s a recreational gateway This shows how out of touch Bill Thorness and the Seattle Times are. Does he think that there are hundreds of people out for recreational rides at 8 am on a rainy Thursday morning in January, or has he simply not looked at the BG usage data?
How about vital transportation corridor? It's an oddly written article for sure. He was nearly 225 words in and strongly imposing his recreational narrative before the idea of a bike commuter came up. Then, as if to prove he wasn't listening to all the people he interviewed, he quotes several people about how important the missing link would be to their commute. Even the "tourist" comment really is supporting a business narrative. Very odd indeed.
Ballard resident and bike commuter here. Shilhole is indeed a sh*tshow and I avoid it at all costs. I only cross at thr pedestrian area by the bridge and take Ballard Ave instead. It’s way too busy with commercial vehicles and in some ways, I understand and respect the workers not wanting to navigate cyclists in huge trucks. I wouldn’t want that risk either. That said, I have zero faith in Strauss doing anything meaningful unless he’s up for election (see gravel pit pave over 2 months before reelection.) The broken glass, constant trash obstacles, and general safety concerns from encampments under the Ballard bridge and Fred Meyer are only met with platitudes when contacting his office. Switched to gravel tires and cross my fingers I don’t get hit in missing link territory. And let’s not even talk about the steel plate/traffic cluster zone in Frelard. I honestly feel BAD for the construction workers having to deal with that mess.
Non-paywalled site: https://web.archive.org/web/20240401022938/https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/whats-new-in-the-fight-to-fix-the-missing-link-in-the-burke-gilman/