Contrary to what you may have read on Twitter or seen written on yellow signs on trees on Pike Street near the Market, Seattle’s decision to cut down cherry trees on the block between 1st and 2nd Avenues has nothing to do with bike improvements.
In fact, the project that removes the trees will also remove the existing two-way bike lane on this block, a significant downgrade for cycling. The change is part of the larger “Pike Pine Streetscape and Bicycle Improvements Project,” which includes exciting bike lane improvements between 2nd Ave and Bellevue Ave. The project’s design for the block with the doomed cherry trees will dramatically expand the amount of space for cars at the expense of all other users. Below are some concept images from the project’s outreach materials:
When you look at this, you can see why it was such a frustrating read a tweet from the Seattle Times with that said, “To make room for a cycle and walking corridor, eight cherry trees will be cut down.“The exact opposite is true. This block’s design deletes the entire two-way bike lane and slightly reduces the width of the sidewalk to add parking and widen the lane. Just because the concept image creators desaturated the colors in the ‘existing’ image does not mean that the ‘proposed’ image is better. Let’s try it another way:
For what it’s worth, the Seattle Bike Blog would like to see the city cancel this one block of the project and more on the rest. This “disruption-free” street concept has yet to prove to be an improvement to walking or biking in Seattle, although they keep trying (Denny Way near Capitol Hill Station and Bell Street are two such examples). In our deeply ingrained car culture, cars want to occupy every inch they can. The wider the lane, the faster people drive, and if there is space that is not physically blocked, people will park their car there or use it to pass someone else. A curbless street is only better for people walking and cycling if there are significant obstacles to cars or if cars are not allowed at all. The proposed design is inferior in every way.
So keep the cherry trees until they actually need to be replaced. As David Kroman’s story in the Times notes (unlike the Tweet, the story gets the details right), cherry trees don’t love being in urban tree pits and may not last much longer. Maybe by then we’ll have a design for this block that really makes it better for walking and cycling.
