Planned bike lanes up and down Columbia Street are part of the city’s larger Westside Mobility Strategy, a larger-scale city initiative meant to accommodate more means of transportation while balancing business interests and livability.
The broader strategy seeks to address traffic planning in much of town west of Interstate 5, and work to reconcile how the walker and horse rider planning of the older city gave way to the car-centric ethos of many American suburban areas, the city says.
Planning priorities included improving freight mobility on Lower River Road to Mill Plain Boulevard and Interstate 5; extending 32nd Avenue to Fruit Valley Road; doing more to balance freight and passenger traffic through the heart of the city; and replacing multiple Interstate 5 interchanges.
The city started work on the bicycling part of the plan, the Westside Bike Mobility Project, in June last year.
Following tweaks and public comments, planners have identified three north-south corridors for modifications.
Columbia Street
The latest designs, updated in January, would add a physical barrier such as posts or bollards to parts of Columbia Street, providing a sheltered lane for bicyclists. This would remove some on-street parking, moving it to east-west traveling side streets.
Changes to Columbia Street would include:
• Sixth Street to Eighth Street: Buffered bike lanes with median island.
• Eighth Street to 12th Street: Parking lane protecting a bike lane going north, sheltered bike lane south.
• Twelfth Street to 45th Street: Protected bike lanes.
Daniels Neighborhood Greenway
Planners say Daniels Street has been named as a possible “neighborhood greenway,” a low-speed, low-volume residential street comfortable for bike riders of all ages and abilities. The corridor would head up Esther Street to Franklin Street via Mill Plain Boulevard, then to Daniels Street via 22nd Street. Changes to the corridor would include:
• Sixth Street to 13th Street: The greenway would share the street with roads, using traffic calming modifications such as speed bumps and modified stop signs.
• Franklin Street, 14th Street to 22nd Street: A two-way protected bike lane on the east side of the roadway.
• Daniels Street, 22nd Street to 45th Street: Shared vehicle and bike roadway, with speed bumps and stop sign changes for better north-south biking.
Lincoln and Kauffman avenues
Latest plans have the Lincoln-Kauffman bike route using Jefferson Street to the south, Kauffman Avenue in the middle, and Lincoln Avenue to the north to connect downtown and the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail. The addition of protected bike lanes would also remove some on-street parking.
• Kauffman Avenue, 13th to 39th streets: Protected bike lanes, moving on-street parking onto east-west streets.
• Lincoln Avenue, 39th Street to Bernie Drive: Protected bike lanes.
