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solarbirdOver the winter and spring, somebody - state, King County, Shoreline, I don't know which - put in sidewalking along NE 205th under I-5, making I-5 at least theoretically traversable in something other than a car. So today I finally biked to Costco to test the route.
Our house down Goat Trail Road to Ballanger way is trivial, extremely low traffic and while not a foot path per sé, a lot of people walk it and that's expected. I bike it a lot, it's a known quantity.
Ballanger Way already had a paved path (I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "sidewalk;" parts of it are proper sidewalk, most of it is paved trail near the road) all the way up to Ballanger proper, but this is the first time I've actually biked it. It's pretty reasonable. It's also almost entirely uphill all the way, so while it's only a couple of miles, it's a couple of miles with more exertion than you might be expecting. Still, none of it's steep, so while it does go on a while, it's not at all bad. Total distance from my house to Thriftway was almost exactly three miles, and I ran into several other trail/sidewalk users along the way. Ballanger is busy enough that it's not a great recreational bike, but it's not annoying.
When Ballanger Way turns into NE 205th, the road gets much wider, and, after a section of strip mall (the one with the Thriftway I like), we reach the new section of paving and the I-5 cross. The crossing is signaled at all points, and requires two crossings of NE 205th, five or six (marked, crosswalked) crossings of freeway on-and-off-ramps, and, of course, biking along 205th under the freeway.
This was much less bad than I expected. The new sidewalks are appropriately wide, and the traffic lanes are reasonably well spaced from actual traffic flow in most, if not all, cases. I wouldn't consider it fun, but it seemed reasonable - and, again, much better than expected - from a safety standpoint. As a side note, I crossed 205th at one point, followed by a suited man, who, when he caught up to me, laughed and said "I fondle you!" And I was in process of an um what no before realising he had a very thick accent, was pointing at the crosswalk, and meant "I follow you." Which was of course fine.
A long section of NE 205th also got new sidewalking on the north side, in an area previously unsidewalked, to link up with the existing sidewalking further west. This sidewalking was also of reasonable quality for biking. It's not particularly pleasant to bike along it thanks to 205th, but I was expecting worse. This is also almost entirely uphill on the way towards Costco, and that part is no fun.
Then you hit the old "sidewalk" on the western half of the NE205th link, and it blows. To be fair, it's flat, and it's reasonably clear, tho' this time of year you're seeing the inevitable blackberry encroachment. But it's quite a bit narrower than the new sidewalks, and the lane spacing puts cars much closer than I would like. You do have a solid curb as elevation spacing, but it's far and away the most unpleasant part of the ride.
Then you reach the Interurban Trail intersection with NE 205th, cross the street south to it, and it's off-road trail for a couple of surprisingly steep blocks. I wasn't expecting that; it took the wind out of me, and I ended up walking the bike up part of it. This is in woods, however, so it was cool and pleasant, even walking the bike.
Once you pop out of the woods, the Interurban Trail goes street-trail for a bit. It's well-signed, and you can use the sidewalks or the bike lane, either way. I chose the bike lane, which didn't give me any problems; the street is not particularly high traffic and the bike lane is wide and well-marked, up to the point where it reconnects with the next leg of off-road Interurban Trail heading south at the Aurora Village Transit Centre, which is also where you find Costco.
Total trip length at this point only five miles, but they're five mostly uphill miles, which wasn't the most fun in the world. But unlike every other east-west route I've tried through this area, an occasional biker in reasonable condition can do this one and not die, which is a massive, massive improvement. This route is incomparably easier than the second-best east-west route I'd tried and laid out on Bikely, which I wouldn't even attempt going west.
On the ride back, I stayed on the south side of NE 205th as long as there were sidewalks, which eliminated half of the worst part of the to-Costco leg of the trip, crossing back over at the entrance to the Holyrood Cemetery. Next time, I'll cross at that intersection on the way, too; the sidewalk is wider and better separated from the road, so much more enjoyable.
The rest is as described before, except for one change: the ride back mostly consisted of coasting. Seriously, I spent more time tapping brakes to keep my speed under control than I spent pedaling to gain speed, at least until hitting Goat Trail Road again and having to climb the hill back home. This gave me a lovely chance to rest up for going up the hill at the end.
Total round-trip biking time 1hr 5 minutes; a better biker could and would do it much faster; second time through I'd also do it faster, since I'd know what I was doing and could build up more speed where safe to do so. The Ballanger portion alone would separate out to no more than 20 minutes each way, and the only reason it takes that long is Goat Trail Road is pretty steep coming home on a bike.
So I'd recommend the path to Ballanger (for, say, runs to Thriftway) to just about anybody; I biked past parents with strollers, joggers, walkers, and two other people on bikes - and the path all the way to the Interurban Trail and Aurora Village/Aurora Village P&R to anybody who feels reasonably confident on a bicycle. I wouldn't recommend it for kids - crossing I-5, while now possible, is still pretty complex, and that second half of the NE 205th leg is just too close to the traffic lane for me to feel comfortable in that situation. But it'd be fine for teenagers.
Our house down Goat Trail Road to Ballanger way is trivial, extremely low traffic and while not a foot path per sé, a lot of people walk it and that's expected. I bike it a lot, it's a known quantity.
Ballanger Way already had a paved path (I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "sidewalk;" parts of it are proper sidewalk, most of it is paved trail near the road) all the way up to Ballanger proper, but this is the first time I've actually biked it. It's pretty reasonable. It's also almost entirely uphill all the way, so while it's only a couple of miles, it's a couple of miles with more exertion than you might be expecting. Still, none of it's steep, so while it does go on a while, it's not at all bad. Total distance from my house to Thriftway was almost exactly three miles, and I ran into several other trail/sidewalk users along the way. Ballanger is busy enough that it's not a great recreational bike, but it's not annoying.
When Ballanger Way turns into NE 205th, the road gets much wider, and, after a section of strip mall (the one with the Thriftway I like), we reach the new section of paving and the I-5 cross. The crossing is signaled at all points, and requires two crossings of NE 205th, five or six (marked, crosswalked) crossings of freeway on-and-off-ramps, and, of course, biking along 205th under the freeway.
This was much less bad than I expected. The new sidewalks are appropriately wide, and the traffic lanes are reasonably well spaced from actual traffic flow in most, if not all, cases. I wouldn't consider it fun, but it seemed reasonable - and, again, much better than expected - from a safety standpoint. As a side note, I crossed 205th at one point, followed by a suited man, who, when he caught up to me, laughed and said "I fondle you!" And I was in process of an um what no before realising he had a very thick accent, was pointing at the crosswalk, and meant "I follow you." Which was of course fine.
A long section of NE 205th also got new sidewalking on the north side, in an area previously unsidewalked, to link up with the existing sidewalking further west. This sidewalking was also of reasonable quality for biking. It's not particularly pleasant to bike along it thanks to 205th, but I was expecting worse. This is also almost entirely uphill on the way towards Costco, and that part is no fun.
Then you hit the old "sidewalk" on the western half of the NE205th link, and it blows. To be fair, it's flat, and it's reasonably clear, tho' this time of year you're seeing the inevitable blackberry encroachment. But it's quite a bit narrower than the new sidewalks, and the lane spacing puts cars much closer than I would like. You do have a solid curb as elevation spacing, but it's far and away the most unpleasant part of the ride.
Then you reach the Interurban Trail intersection with NE 205th, cross the street south to it, and it's off-road trail for a couple of surprisingly steep blocks. I wasn't expecting that; it took the wind out of me, and I ended up walking the bike up part of it. This is in woods, however, so it was cool and pleasant, even walking the bike.
Once you pop out of the woods, the Interurban Trail goes street-trail for a bit. It's well-signed, and you can use the sidewalks or the bike lane, either way. I chose the bike lane, which didn't give me any problems; the street is not particularly high traffic and the bike lane is wide and well-marked, up to the point where it reconnects with the next leg of off-road Interurban Trail heading south at the Aurora Village Transit Centre, which is also where you find Costco.
Total trip length at this point only five miles, but they're five mostly uphill miles, which wasn't the most fun in the world. But unlike every other east-west route I've tried through this area, an occasional biker in reasonable condition can do this one and not die, which is a massive, massive improvement. This route is incomparably easier than the second-best east-west route I'd tried and laid out on Bikely, which I wouldn't even attempt going west.
On the ride back, I stayed on the south side of NE 205th as long as there were sidewalks, which eliminated half of the worst part of the to-Costco leg of the trip, crossing back over at the entrance to the Holyrood Cemetery. Next time, I'll cross at that intersection on the way, too; the sidewalk is wider and better separated from the road, so much more enjoyable.
The rest is as described before, except for one change: the ride back mostly consisted of coasting. Seriously, I spent more time tapping brakes to keep my speed under control than I spent pedaling to gain speed, at least until hitting Goat Trail Road again and having to climb the hill back home. This gave me a lovely chance to rest up for going up the hill at the end.
Total round-trip biking time 1hr 5 minutes; a better biker could and would do it much faster; second time through I'd also do it faster, since I'd know what I was doing and could build up more speed where safe to do so. The Ballanger portion alone would separate out to no more than 20 minutes each way, and the only reason it takes that long is Goat Trail Road is pretty steep coming home on a bike.
So I'd recommend the path to Ballanger (for, say, runs to Thriftway) to just about anybody; I biked past parents with strollers, joggers, walkers, and two other people on bikes - and the path all the way to the Interurban Trail and Aurora Village/Aurora Village P&R to anybody who feels reasonably confident on a bicycle. I wouldn't recommend it for kids - crossing I-5, while now possible, is still pretty complex, and that second half of the NE 205th leg is just too close to the traffic lane for me to feel comfortable in that situation. But it'd be fine for teenagers.
