solarbird | Aug. 3rd, 2023

I was out biking and yet again saw those “Burke Gilman – Interurban Trail interconnect” signs and this time actually remembered to chase them down and figure out what they meant.

And what they are are “improved” ways to get from Burke-Gilman Trail to Interurban Trail North, completed before the plague. There are north and south options; the southern ones are horrible, the northern ones are similar to how I used to bike to Shoreline Community College for school.

Anyway one thing lead to another and now I think this is the least likely to kill you route from Lake Forest Park Town Centre to Alderwood Mall, in case for gods only know what reason you wanted to go there. (Look, they have an REI and a MAC counter and I still have a Guild discount, okay?)

As a subset of that, it’s also the least bad Burke Gilman<->Interurban (North) connection. You mostly won’t die.

I’m willing to take suggestions for improvements, but I think this is the best you’ll do.

The frustrating thing is that our bike infrastructure is a lot – I mean, a lot – better than most in the US. In some ways it’s flat out number one, there have been studies. And it’s still kind of a trainwreck. Going by car was like this, once, about a century ago, and it’s so stupid.

Anyway, despite that being a Google Maps link, it was a lot of work to put together, and reminded me about how much Google basically wants to kill you if you’re on a bike. The routes it wants to put you on are like 55kph/35mph shoulderless arterials in Snohomish County which means more like 70kph/45mph in practice half the time and You Are Just Going To Die. To get to anything involving the Interurban Trail you have to just force it, and even then, it’s all about throwing you back on highways.