Recently, we told you about what may have been the friendliest correspondence ever conducted over the installation and removal of an illicit protected bike lane. We can now report an even happier ending: the implementation of a permanent solution.
"Remember when an anonymous bike safety group calling themselves 'Reasonably Polite Seattleites' installed a series of plastic pylons on Cherry Street to demonstrate how easy it would be for the city to turn a regular bike lane into a protected one?"
"In many other cities, such acts are met with scorn and threats of legal action from city officials," writes Tom Fucoloro. "But Seattle’s Traffic Engineer Dongho Chang did not. Instead, he wrote an equally polite email back apologizing for the fact that they needed to remove the pylons, but thanking the group for making a statement about road safety."
"Well, now Chang and the city have gone a step further. They have installed permenent [sic] pylons with safe clearance space for bike handlebars and extra buffer space on the roadway. They also completed a safer connection to First Hill by installing a bike lane on 7th Ave between Cherry St and Marion, which is a signed bike route across First Hill that will soon connect to the Broadway Bikeway when it is completed."
Wouldn't it be great if all cities responded to such creative provocations so thoughtfully and graciously?
Read the full story: SDOT makes guerrilla-installed protected bike lane permanent
Illicit Intervention Creates Protected Bike Lane in Seattle
In what is certainly one of the most polite forms of civil disobedience we've ever encountered, a small group of guerrilla urbanists installed bike lane protectors along a Seattle street one recent night. They kindly made them easy to remove.
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
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University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
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