personal safety & signed bike routes in residential neighbourhoods

[Eden]

I don't know what the plans are, just what I've seen there as of now - from 45th (I think) down to the U bridge. Nearly every time I've been down that street since the separated lane was put in, I've seen something (most often a Fred Hutch shuttle bus) blocking it… just that plus the number of parking garages that dump out into it are enough to make me not want to use it, but then there's the transition…. OMG it is so incredibly dangerous. There's only a few feet to merge into traffic after the protected bike lane ends and if you can't merge you'll crash into some other immovable object. Cars are going fast down there, and it's downhill so bikes are going fast. I don't even *drive* in the right hand lane - because I know that if a cyclist were to catch up to me going down that hill and pop out of that bike lane I probably couldn't stop… As a cyclist I feel much, much safer just taking the right hand lane in the first place. I can go just as fast as traffic down that street and if I control the lane I don't have to worry about being wiped out in the merge. If they are going to add 20 more blocks to that project I can only hope it isn't as poorly designed as the first section...