Thoughts about the situation on Mercer Island?

People ride around Mercer Island (WA, USA) all the time. It is close to
Seattle, it has a lot of trees, it's pleasantly hilly and curvy, the views
are nice, the traffic is relatively low, and there are few lights or stop
signs. The whole circuit around the island is about 11 miles, and I know
people who will loop the island repeatedly as a part of their summer
training.

Recently, the City of Mercer Island held a public meeting regarding
motorized and non-motorized transportation uses of roadway on the island. An
article about this and the surrounding issues was in the paper (he
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...battle01e.html).

I did not attend the meeting, but if you go here, to Jessica's message, you
can get a feel for the tenor of the meeting:
http://www.cascade.org/Community/for...&threadid=2079.
Basically, the discussion distintigrated into a bashing of bicyclists.

Now, two bicyclists who were unhappy with a young motorist who passed them
(god know how) caught up with the motorist and vocally harassed the motorist
and then did $1,000 worth of damage to the vehicle. See here for the story:
http://www.mi-reporter.com/sited/story/html/185556.

Things seem to be unravelling. Your thoughts?


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

"Claire Petersky" writes:


Now, two bicyclists who were unhappy with a young motorist who passed them
(god know how) caught up with the motorist and vocally harassed the motorist
and then did $1,000 worth of damage to the vehicle. See here for the story:
http://www.mi-reporter.com/sited/story/html/185556.

The "story" is police report blotter, and nobody seems to have been
arrested, so at best you are getting one side of the story.

Things seem to be unravelling. Your thoughts?

The most likely explanations are that she passed with only a couple
of inches of clearance, or risked a head-on with traffic heading
the other way, or swerved so as to cut the two bicyclists off, etc.

It said one of the two punched the car. He probably didn't intend
to do any damage. Maybe he just wanted to make a loud noise. If they
catch him, they can ask him.

I'd say maybe one of the cyclists should go to an anger management
class and the driver should go to traffic school.

--
My real name backwards: nemuaZ lliB

On 2005-02-15, Claire Petersky wrote:
People ride around Mercer Island (WA, USA) all the time. It is close to
Seattle, it has a lot of trees, it's pleasantly hilly and curvy, the views
are nice, the traffic is relatively low, and there are few lights or stop
signs. The whole circuit around the island is about 11 miles, and I know
people who will loop the island repeatedly as a part of their summer
training.

I've ridden Mercer Island twice because it is nearly THE ONLY WAY to get
from one part of Seattle to the other. My wife and I were staying in a
hotel in Bellvue and I needed to get to Lake Washington just off Ranier to
see my wife participate in her triathlon (I couldn't go at the same time
as her because she was waking up at like 4am). The only way I could figure
out to get there was via Mercer Island. So as an outsider looking in, not
only is Mercer Island a beautiful place to ride a bike, it is an essential
biking corridor for many cyclists. If the snobs on Mercer Island shut it
down because of the actions of a few angry cyclists I can guarantee 2
things.

#1 - More angry cyclists will ride Mercer Island.
#2 - Next time I'm in Seattle I'll be one of them. :-)

Preston

Claire Petersky wrote -

Things seem to be unravelling. Your thoughts?

In the mid to longer term is better design and separation possible between
those that need to share the roads?

I appreciate funding will usually be tabled as the reason why not.

In a place beside a lake where I ride the local council bike officer got an
allocation of funds to create a walkway specifically to help a lot of
elderly folk with hip replacements and a generally acknowledged need to
increase physical activity, esp walking and cycling. He actually got the
funds out of the health not roadworks budget because of some fairly shrewd
advocacy on his part about health benefits.

The funds were used cleverly in part to widen parts of existing roads
(majority of cases) and in part to create shared paths where no widening of
existing roads was possible. Its still a work in progress because there is
only so much available each year but its made a noticeable improvement in
lessening tensions that previously existed.

Seems to me you can sometimes steer behaviours in desirable directions by
giving each of the stakeholders a fair shake of the real estate - I guess
the rest has to come down to education.

best, Andrew

"Preston Crawford" wrote in message
...
On 2005-02-15, Claire Petersky wrote:
People ride around Mercer Island (WA, USA) all the time. It is close to
Seattle, it has a lot of trees, it's pleasantly hilly and curvy, the
views
are nice, the traffic is relatively low, and there are few lights or
stop
signs. The whole circuit around the island is about 11 miles, and I know
people who will loop the island repeatedly as a part of their summer
training.

I've ridden Mercer Island twice because it is nearly THE ONLY WAY to get
from one part of Seattle to the other.

So as an outsider looking in, not
only is Mercer Island a beautiful place to ride a bike, it is an essential
biking corridor for many cyclists.

I regularly cross Mercer Island in my commute. You're right, crossing the
island is really the only way to get from the Eastside to Seattle. The I-90
bike trail, I have heard, is the most heavily used commuter bicycling
corridor in the state. So I think what you've written is true.

I don't think, though, that this crossing of the island is the issue. When
you cross, whether on the road or the trail, the roads are relatively
straight and motorists passing cyclists is not a problem. Rather, the
cyclists who are looping around the island on the road that parallels the
water are perceived as the problem. For the most part, these are
recreational riders, some of whom travel in groups and are not particularly
interested in moving over or going in single file. Meanwhile, the road is
curvy and narrow, and motor vehicles can not pass safely.


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky