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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

City City Reverses Course, Says It Will Clean Bike Lanes

Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 12:16 PM

Recognizing, finally, that leaving tons of sand and gravel on bike lanes is dangerous for cyclists (a story the Seattle Times picked up this morning after my coverage two days ago), the city says it will devote additional resources to clearing bike lanes of debris. "Mechanical street cleaners and crews with hand sweepers will clear bike routes throughout the city," the city's department of transportation (SDOT) said in a press release. The move marks a turnaround from last week, when SDOT spokesman Rick Sheridan said the agency hadn't "heard of any large-scale issues" with sand on bike lanes, and added that the city would be finished removing sand from city streets sometime today.

Comments (23) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

A reverse course would be if they had said, "We know about it, but we're just going to leave it there."

But they didn't know about it, not until the Times talked about it.

P.S. Blogging about something is not "coverage".

Posted by Ziggity on January 21, 2009 at 12:22 PM

Pussies.

Just ride.

Posted by gk on January 21, 2009 at 12:33 PM

#1, win.

Posted by Jeff on January 21, 2009 at 12:33 PM

The bike lane along W Green Lake Way N isn't going to be improved by cleaning off the sand. The sand is sort of filling in the potholes, still lakes of standing water in some places. It's completely unrideable.

Posted by Fnarf on January 21, 2009 at 12:42 PM

He had not heard of any large-scale issues involving sand on bike lanes because the majority of us are not whiny complainers.

Posted by more important crap to complain about. on January 21, 2009 at 12:44 PM

But wouldn't it be cheaper, and have a lower eco-impact, to pay the cab fare for all of the cyclists?

Posted by Baltimoron on January 21, 2009 at 12:44 PM

@1, you won this round...clearly you won.

Maybe Erica could take a job at the Seattle Times and show them what a "real" reporter does? Huh? How 'bout it Erica?

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on January 21, 2009 at 12:57 PM

Quite frankly, the streets are unsafe around all of Puget Sound because of high traffic densities on regular roads. This is due to inadequate (or ineffective) highway building.

So, anything that keeps bikes off the streets will save lives.

Posted by Sad But True on January 21, 2009 at 12:57 PM

If the city thought about it, it could package up the sand and sell it as Obama Inauguration Sand, since it was on the ground when Obama got Inaugurated.

And call it Green, since cleaning it up encourages people to bike.

Hmmm ... one sec, got to file some incorporation papers ...

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 21, 2009 at 1:03 PM

Let's see if they clean Fauntleroy, what a mess.
And how about the two-way left turn lanes down the middle of the streets. If they don't clean those, the sand will be with us into the summer.
SDOT get to work!

Posted by oh, what fun! on January 21, 2009 at 1:04 PM

i ride in the middle of the lane

Posted by slowing you down on January 21, 2009 at 1:10 PM

As you should. Bike lanes are mostly a fraud.

Posted by Fnarf on January 21, 2009 at 1:15 PM

My favorite remnant from Winter Blast was the giant iceberg that formed in the bike lane on Six Avenue. Fortunately it's down to the size of an ice cube now.

Posted by avoid eye contact on January 21, 2009 at 1:43 PM

@8 - No, anything that helps INCREASE the number of bikes on streets will save lives! More bikes, more visibility, more consciousness. Get off your butt and ride!

Posted by Sylvie on January 21, 2009 at 1:47 PM

@14 - yeah, but that's only fixies.

We need to invent a fixie sand trap.

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 21, 2009 at 1:51 PM

I think they should just sweep it onto the sidewalks, and then the Slog posters can complain about all the whiny, commie liberal wimps falling all over the sidewalk.

I swear to god, the Slog comment threads are either witty and hilarious, or sound like an Ed Anger column from the Weekly World News. There's never a middle ground between uncommon wit and complete ignorance.

Posted by Scalpel on January 21, 2009 at 1:57 PM

Wah, i got's sand in my lane. maybe you should buy even MORE stupid accessories for your bike?

Posted by lots o fun on January 21, 2009 at 2:36 PM

Portland's transportation people announced that cleaning the bike lanes was the first thing they were going to do after the snow was gone. Don't know if they made good on that.

Posted by eliza on January 21, 2009 at 3:07 PM

@2

I'm with you. The sand was not a big issue. It made my bike dirtier. Shit.

Posted by doug on January 21, 2009 at 4:09 PM

The wet leaves on the BG were much more of a threat than the sand on the roads.

Posted by dwight moody on January 21, 2009 at 7:52 PM

@1:

Is too coverage. There are two interviews with relevant authorities and a summary of issues involved. Whether it's published in a blog or on a news page (print or digital) isn't what determines whether the content constitutes coverage.

Furthermore, the city did know about the sand in the bike lanes, having instructed its crews to let the sand not reachable by street sweeper truck lie where it was---in the bike lane.

Sorry, no win, not even close.

Posted by better late than never on January 22, 2009 at 11:47 PM

@1, 21:

Not to mention that the Slog is the blog OF A NEWSPAPER, not someasshole.blogspot/wordpress.com

Posted by Sarah on January 30, 2009 at 6:44 PM

Also, @ Will in Seattle:

Stop bitching about fixies! When you are a total one-trick pony it ceases to be funny or clever. Bitching about fixies is the new Simpsons quote.

Posted by Sarah on January 30, 2009 at 6:49 PM