Respite from wildfires and smoke: a quick pedal through our city forest on the west side of the Cascade Mountains* (usually the wet side). A day of fresh air & sun through the evergreen branches. Another section of this forest carries the scars from the burn of a pipeline explosion. Let this be a small inspiration to save & protect. (*Pacific Northwest in U.S.)

ALT

When it comes to transportation pedaling, even a loose gravel path is preferable to waiting in the middle of an intersection for over a minute while cars come at you and other drivers accelerate next to you.

ALT 1st scene from bike handlebar: View of a shaded gravel path separated by grass on a slight incline up to a road. There are leafed out trees in the green verge on the left and a solid bank of green bushes on the right. 2nd scene: entering the connecting roadway which has 2 forward lanes & a dedicated right turn lane. I'm headed for the left turn lane (arghh) where I wait for the oncoming traffic to finish their green light, then the forward drivers next to me get their green light. Finally, I get a left turn arrow to go through a vastly oversized intersection.

This is a project to improve access for students who walk or roll to school. Sidewalk was missing on one side (where a well-used dirt path showed the need). The wide street leads to the school and a large park driveway for entry & exit. Project added sidewalk, one slightly raised crossing, bike lane striping & flex posts, plus a green bike box at the stoplight intersection. What more could they have done? 1) Make the other two "T" intersections narrower, 2) elevation change for those two intersections and the park driveway. 3) Considering this is an elementary school for students where the oldest would be 10 or 11 years, sure feels like the plan gave up at the stoplight intersection -- with disappearing flexposts & the green box. Oh! and check out the large radii at those new corners.

The replacement of two neighboring bridges has lasted for months -- with bridge removal & creek restoration that has blocked any access along these vital connectors. So, good news when the work has been able to include pedestrian passage alongside the construction zone. Pedestrian protection started as flimsy netting and switched to more robust barricades.

One of the better roundabout builds in town. This used to be a clunky intersection with stoplights & long waits. Now, even a bike-exit-only lane.

ALT Sunny day on a bike approaching a newly-built compact roundabout with fresh, smooth pavement. Construction is still ongoing (orange plastic bollards on the side and tall floodlight in the middle). The roundabout center has new small shrubs, surrounded by white concrete curb, then further surrounded by a lower reddish apron for large trucks and another curb. From this direction, the first exit has signage and a narrow passage for entry limited to bikes. From that street comes a person on a bike with a small trailer – they give a short wave and turns right on the second street. Following the curve, we end up on the last street exiting the roundabout.

Road construction prep for the mini-roundabout at Illinois & Meridian in Bellingham WA.

New street, trail, and re-routed creek under the freeway - completed 2022.

Project page at city site: https://cob.org/project/orchard-dr-extension-es-440

Twins! (this is the zoomer). They're both moving a lot more after the first days of figuring out how to move all the limbs.

Buffets give choices for everyone — positive details here:

What still needs attention:

This section between a commercial zone & a university park & ride was formerly 4 drive lanes plus a center turn lane (CTL) & speed limit of 35mph. Now, one drive lane in each direction, plus the CTL. (Aka “road diet”) #WordsMatter

Major bike thoroughfare to downtown & other points west of the freeway closed for street bridge reconstruction...but wait! There's a separate peoples' bridge over the creek. A workaround that keeps active transport flowing. It's so quiet without the usual car traffic, I could hear the creek as I went over.