Inspired by the folks at the awesome Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center and their bikeability checklist concept, the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board went on a series of bikeability tours in the first half of 2004. Seattle covers 84 square miles (not including water), making it three-fourths again bigger than San Francisco and more than triple the size of Manhattan. So we biked it in six pieces roughly like these.
For each sector, we evaluated the sector itself as well as the downtown commute experience associated with that sector. Each ride had one or two planners/leaders (generally who lived in that sector) and five to ten of us total. We started in January and February with the south half of Seattle, the far-less-biked part, which was good strategically and psychologically. We rode each tour at an easy pace and stopped often to discuss and photograph things. We looked at a combination of nice scenic routes, nasty broken commuter links, and everything in between. In spite of our best efforts to not take the whole day, each tour was a 9-3ish day, including a ravenously eaten lunch.
Bottom line, we had a great time and learned a ton. Our board's City Council member liaison, Richard Conlin, joined us on one of the tours (on a chilly February day, no less), and has invited me to present our findings to the Transportation Committee. I've done three presentations so far, up for a period at the Seattle Channel's website (see 3/12, 4/27, and 7/13/04). The opportunity has been a great one (and nothing better than prepping a presentation to get you informed on a topic), we've provided new information to the Council, as well as had a platform for advocating for more and better bikeways. Check out the photo albums when I put them up: southwest (January), southeast (February), northwest (March), northeast (May), east central (June), west central (July). Some bonus photos too, snapped on return viewings.
