EVERETT — When Madison Street gets resurfaced next year, should a bike lane be included?
The city’s traffic department wants your opinion through April 18 on its proposal to paint a bike lane from Sievers-Duecy Boulevard to the Interurban Trail along 1.7 miles of Madison Street. The bike lanes would replace street parking here.
The survey is at www.surveymonkey.com/R/activemadison
Two blocks of a commercial sector on Madison would be unaffected by the bike lane proposal and would retain street parking; these shops are just east of Commercial Avenue where the proposed bike lane would stop. The shops there include Zebedee’s longstanding hair salon and a thrift store.
A decision whether to add the bike lane will be based on the public’s response.
The city’s bicycle master plan, though, envisions Madison Street as a key east-west connector to the Interurban Trail.
The trail offers “a natural bicycle connection to Madison,” city Active Transportation Engineer Christina Anna Curtis said.
“Fleming Street will become a bicycle boulevard a north-south bicycle corridor from Madison to the pedestrian and bicycle overpass of Mukilteo Boulevard at Forest Park. Fleming runs parallel west of Evergreen Way.
Construction may start on Fleming this summer.
Fleming, though, is wide and wouldn’t require removing parking to make it happen, city engineer Tom Hood said.
Meanwhile, the city is putting wayfinding along 14 miles of nine existing bike routes. In Everett there are 52.6 miles of bike lanes, 7.7 miles of bike boulevards, 8.2 miles of sidepaths or shared use sidewalks, and 12.6 miles of trails, or a total of 81.1 bike facility-miles. **
While the Madison Street survey finishes this spring, the fresh pavement won’t come until 2023 because it takes about a year for the city to line up any resurfacing project, Hood said.
This resurfacing on Madison gives an opportunity to efficiently add a bike lane, Curtis said. The city has made use of similar opportunities in past years, she said.
Kristin Kinnamon, the president of Sharing Wheels nonprofit community bike shop, supports the Madison Street proposal. Kinnamon said it would give bicycle commuters a safer route when traveling from the Interuban Trail to the aerospace hub near Boeing.
“These buffered bike lanes on Madison Street would be welcome to the people who bike to work now,” Kinnamon said by email.
Buffered bike lanes give a 2.5 foot wide gap away from the driving lane versus a simple stripe.
If the city goes forward with a bike lane on Madison Street, its next step may be to analyze adding bicycle-oriented improvements where Madison intersects Evergreen Way, the engineers said. Those could be under-pavement detectors that recognize bicycles waiting for a green light, and enhanced striping in the intersection.
The city is making strides on adding to its bicycle network.
A major rebuild of Hoyt Avenue was finished earlier this decade to turn it into a north-south bicycle corridor.
California Street is eyed for a future major reconstruction to create an east-west bicycle corridor from Broadway to Maple Avenue. While there isn’t money secured yet for construction, the city is actively seeking federal and state grants to help make it happen, Hood said. Currently public works is in the design phase for California Street.
The plan envisions California Street as not just a key downtown corridor but as an entryway to Everett for bicyclists coming off of the U.S. 2 trestle’s bike path, Curtis said.
“Also in north Everett, the city is looking to invest $1.35 million to make Fulton Street a future north-south bike corridor between California Street and Pacific Avenue. The city secured some $1 million in federal grants toward the Fulton Street project. The Fulton Street corridor would eventually connect to a planned bike lane on Baker Avenue one block over.”
Last year, the city added “sharrows” — pavement markings telling motorists to share the road with bicyclists — on portions of Colby Avenue, Pecks Drive, Alverson Boulevard and Grand Avenue.
Current projects
The city’s current bicycle projects are:
• Silver Lake Loop (everettwa.gov/silverlakepath), design 2021-2022, construction 2022;
• 100th Street Southwest, from the city limits east of 24th Ave W to Evergreen Way, design 2021-2023;
• California Street, design work in 2022;
• Citywide Bicycle Wayfinding signage, design and construction 2022;
• Fleming Street bicycle corridor, design and construction 2022;
• Fulton Street bicycle corridor, design and construction 2023-2024
Corrections
*- The city is not calling the overall bike network the Active Connections program.
**- The city is putting wayfinding along 14 miles of 9 existing bike routes. In Everett there are 52.6 miles of bike lanes, 7.7 miles of bike boulevards, 8.2 miles of sidepaths or shared use sidewalks, and 12.6 miles of trails, or a total of 81.1 bike facility-miles (as opposed to centerline miles).
