This is on 84th in Clyde Hill. This fall they rebuilt the first couple of blocks off of 520 to put in sidewalks and make the landscaping nicer. Since 84th is the main bike commuter route to Bellevue you would have expected them to connect the bike lanes to the 520 trail, but no – they still start after the first traffic signal. What were they thinking?
I expect that the idea is that cyclists will move to the sidewalk for that stretch, but that’s not likely to happen and it takes you across 28th (where there are lots of cars heading for the bridge) at an uncontrolled crosswalk instead of routing cyclists through the traffic circle.
I’ll ride the curb lane here and take the traffic circle. If I get questioned a bout it I’ll point to the “may use full lane” sign and say that it looked to me as if the “no bikes” symbol referred to the sidewalk where riders must yield to peds. I may be the asshole in this context, but the street designers ought to get called on a stupid plan that doesn’t take into account the volume of riders coming off the trail.