収束ゾーンでのライフ: Life in the Convergence Zone

Okay, been pretty burnt out this week, so have a beta Version 1.6 bike map [Edit: Here’s the latest Maps Release, download this instead!]. The Greater Northshore now goes up to 200th in Snohomish County, and the MEGAMAP expanded edition will go up to 194th.

This marks the first time that the MEGAMAP edition expands both to the north and the south over the core map. Neat?

This further expansion north was prompted by actually biking up there a little more. if I really want to be able to say that I’m including Lynnwood City Centre, I have to go up to at least 200th, and really, should include both sides of 196th.

Unfortunately, going up to 194th on the smaller map would make it too big for casual printing purposes. But since 196th doesn’t have any sort of bike support, I figure I can leave it off that version.

Even so – even with only going up to 200th – I’ve had to trim a bit off the south in order to stay on my own 17.5″ tall paper. This matters because I really want to be able to print the smaller map on three sheets of paper, and not have to cut and assemble six page. But between very careful placement of text on the north edge, and the addition of a new category of conditional text along the south edge – placing words like “to UW via Burke-Gilman” and “Woodland Park Zoo” and “Redmond Town Centre” with arrows as appropriate – I think I’m managing to keep the usefulness at the about the same level.

I hope so, anyway.

As always, love some test reactions. Here’s the beta. I’ll be dropping a release pretty soon, so, idk, get it in while you can, and thanks.

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I’m finally expanding the Greater Northshore and MEGAMAP the extra mile or so into Snohomish County as I’ve been promising. This expansion gets users to Edmonds and Lynnwood Town Centre – including the light rail station – so there’s some real meaning to it. In the east, it’ll eventually be important for the expansion of the Rail Trail, too.

Sometimes, tho’, when you’re doing stuff like this, you discover something. That happened tonight.

Check out this incomplete little map section-in-progress. There’s something to infer from it:

The crossings of Highway 99 at 208th and 228th have weight. Cyclists use them, even where the infrastructure stops short of the highway. They’re okay with both.

But they don’t use 220th. That’s fine – 220th interacts badly with I-5 not much further to the east, and has no infrastructure east of Highway 99 anyway. Of course they don’t use it.

212th, on the other hand, doesn’t have those problems. Infrastructure on both sides, even if a little short on the east. No I-5 issues.

And yet, people DO NOT WANT TO CROSS there. They REALLY don’t. They want to go half a mile or more out of their way north and cross at 208th, or a mile and a half out of their way south and use 228th instead.

It’s very specific to the crossing, too. They do use the infrastructure on 212th, on both sides. It lights up on the heatmaps, nice and bright.

But they don’t leave it. They don’t cross 99. Not there. They go north. Or maybe south, but mostly north.

And I can’t for the life of me tell you why. Not from looking at the maps I have. The intersections at 212th and 208th seem much the same to me, even from streetview. Infrastructure’s a little more complete at 208th, but not all that much – what’s half a city block between friends?

And yet.

People who bike there, they know something. Something I don’t, and something I can’t see on a map or from a satellite.

Neat, eh?

I wonder what they know.

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Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map 1.5 – 21 February 2025 – is now available on github, as is MEGAMAP 1.5.

With this version, the Greater Northshore Map has adopted our MEGAMAP’s former Empty Quarter, previously a basically empty paste-in of King County Regional Trails. It is now a peer map section with Greater Northshore proper, City of Seattle, and 2 Line Eastside Bike Connector.

There may not be a lot down there, but what’s down there is now properly mapped and included.

Additions and changes since 1.4.6:

• ALL OF NEWCASTLE, as far as I know. Thanks to Kerry Sullivan (City of Newcastle) for help on unpublished but completed new May Creek Park Drive bike lanes
• NORTHERNMOST RENTON, including substantial upgrades to Lake Washington Loop route markings, particularly street names for the chunk where it’s just bike lanes
• New-to-me bike lanes around 100th Ave W. in Edmonds, now mapped
• Upgrade to 15th Avenue S bike lanes in the Seattle map – they now have physical separation. There’s a warning flag because they’re still intermittently being worked on a little? But as far as I can tell they are generally open.

All permalinks continue to work.

If you enjoy these maps and feel like throwing some change at the tip jar, here’s my patreon. Patreon supports get things like pre-sliced printables of the Greater Northshore, and also the completely-uncompressed MEGAMAP, not that the .jpg has much compression in it because it doesn’t. If you have an iPhone, please use the website interface and not the app, because Apple takes 30% if you use the app. I’ll keep doing this regardless, but you know. Thank you! ^_^

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Three months ago, I put up some vertical mini-flyers along the Burke-Gilman Trail in Northshore, pointing people to the Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map.

I’ve been keeping an eye on them and how they’ve held up, and today I brought them back inside.

For this first version, I trimmed right to the edge of the paper, and the pin holes went through the paper too. Then I used a tent waterproofing seal on the edges. The edges did not hold completely or even consistently; one failed almost immediately, but kept its integrity. The others failed less rapidly but nonetheless failed.

Despite that, the QR code and large text stayed legible throughout, and although the maps became very faded and/or washed out out over time, I think they’re still identifiable as maps.

i’ve put up new, bigger ones, six instead of three, and put them in the same places plus few others. They’re printed darker, and I kept plastic borders rather than being trimmed to edge with added waterproof sealant. The pins this time went through said borders, and not the paper.

I presume being printed darker will help with fading, and hopefully the heat-sealed laminate edges will improve the water resistance. But we’ll see over a few months’ time.

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Lots of weekend landscaping work happening at the Montlake lid this rainy Saturday – it’s crunch time before the opening ceremonies that’re finally happening next week.

I will, naturally, be dropping a revised MEGAMAP the day before, this coming Friday afternoon or evening (depending upon scheduling). I’ll also be dropping an updated Greater Northshore since there’s some Seattle-area updates which show up in its coverage area as well.

They’ll be posted here for free download, as always. The current version is from November.

And if you like my bike nonsense – or any of my other nonsense, for that matter – I have a patreon. And if you’re already there, as always, you have my heartfelt thanks! ^_^

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Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map 1.4.3 – 19 October 2024 – is now available on github, as is MEGAMAP 1.4.3 a pasteup of Greater Northshore, City of Seattle, 2 Line Eastside Bike Connector, and a little bit of King County Regional Trails to get us all the way to the south end of Lake Washington.

Most of this are changes in Seattle that won’t be showing up on their map for another couple of months, or whenever they finally release Seattle 2024. So GETCHER HOTTEST FRESHEST SEATTLE BIKE MAPS RIGHT HERE xD

Changes in 1.4.3:

• Updating Juanita Drive construction area with a temporary downgrade to sharrow, recommending detour
• Slope markers on the closest, most obvious detour route (NE 123rd, NE 132nd)
• NEW BIKE UNDERPASS from Montlake to Bill Dawson trail is open, added to Seattle’s map
• Additional sharrows in Kirkland near Mark Twain Park
• New 6th Ave NW neighbourhood greenway in Fremont, yes I’m updating Seattle’s map for them again
• Updating/clarifications around Montlake Boulevard at SR-520; it’s in flux but this is close

All permalinks continue to work.

If you enjoy these maps and feel like throwing some change at the tip jar, here’s my patreon. Patreon supports get things like pre-sliced printables of the Greater Northshore, and also the completely-uncompressed MEGAMAP, not that the .jpg has much compression in it because it doesn’t. If you have an iPhone, please use the website interface and not the app, because Apple takes 30% if you use the app. I’ll keep doing this regardless, but you know. Thank you! ^_^

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Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map 1.4.2 – 7 October 2024 – is now available on github, as is MEGAMAP 1.4.2 a pasteup of Greater Northshore, City of Seattle, 2 Line Eastside Bike Connector, and a little bit of King County Regional Trails to get us all the way to the south end of Lake Washington.

This is a surprise snap release due to a month-long construction closure of Sammamish River Trail through downtown Bothell, a major commuter route. There IS A DETOUR, and it is appropriately signed, but since this is a big closure it should be flagged on the map.

Also, some of the small bike parking icons were too small, so I have made them larger, and threw in a couple of other small cosmetic improvements mostly involving text.

If you enjoy these maps and feel like throwing some change at the tip jar, here’s my patreon. If you have an iPhone, please use the website interface and not the app, because Apple takes 30% if you use the app. I’ll keep doing this regardless, but you know. ^_^

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but it’ll be the right three people

(alt text if you want)

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I’ve talked about what I’m calling the North Lake Washington Loop a couple of times but I have not yet described it, nor have I seen anyone else use this term, so I’m gonna describe it here and see if anyone picks up on it.

What makes it “new” is the completion of the bike viaduct over the Totem Lake area and the Northup Connector this past summer, removing significant chunks of traffic interaction. You could do this before, but it was more complicated and scarier.

First, briefly: the original classic Lake Washington Loop is a 48-mile classic ride-around-the-lake that people have been doing for as long as I can remember. It uses Burke-Gilman and a lot of lakeside streets, with exceptions of going onto more interior roads for sections in Bellevue, Juanita, and southern Kenmore. It is mostly on streets, and at 48 miles, not really long, but still kinda long, with over 1400 feet of elevation changes. It’s great, but a little intimidating for anyone starting out, particularly people more afraid – justly, I note – of riding near cars.

Accordingly, I propose a new, named, shorter, and overwhelmingly-on-trails beginner/family route:

The North Lake Washington Loop
34 miles, almost entirely on trails and paths
Total elevation gain and loss: 514 feet
Overall rating: easy

The small sections of this route that are not on trails or paths require very little vehicle interaction, mostly in the form of crossing car streets. It is mostly flat or gentle slopes with a few exceptions – such as the highrises on SR520 Trail – and very forgiving. As such, it can make very good first “long ride” for new cyclists wanting to stretch their legs a little.

It also provides very nice views of Lake Washington, the Sammamish River, and King County farming while going through several parks in several different towns.

Being a loop, where you start is entirely up to you. Being the Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map maintainer, I’m starting in Greater Northshore at the east end of Burke-Gilman, and then working anti-clockwise starting towards Seattle.

• At the western intersection of Sammamish River Trail and Burke-Gilman Trail in Wayne, Bothell (just west of Blyth Park), take Burke-Gilman Trail WEST, then SOUTH, to the 1 Line’s UW Station Plaza at Husky Stadium.
• Follow the (allowed bike use) sidewalk of Montlake Boulevard SOUTH to cross Montlake Bridge. Continue to East Hamlin Street.
• Turn left (EAST) onto East Hamlin. (Note that once construction on the Montlake Lid is complete, this step will be eliminated, and you’ll stay on Montlake and join SR-520 Trail directly, still heading east.)
• Join SR-520 Trail at the current trailhead at the end of East Hamlin, and follow it EAST across Lake Washington.
• Continue on SR-520 Trail EAST to Northup Way.
• Once at Northup Way, you may follow Northup Way further EAST (riding in the bike lane), or stay on the sidewalk while going the same direction.
• Turn NORTH onto Northup Connector Trail at the trailhead. This minitrail is less than a block long.
• Northup Connector Trail joins Cross-Kirkland Corridor/EastRail Trail. Turn left and follow Cross-Kirkland Corridor/EastRail NORTH.
• Cross-Kirkland Connector/EastRail becomes just EastRail Trail; continue following it.
• EastRail Trail meets Willows Road and turns south, maintaining a separate parallel side path for bikes under its own name. Follow it SOUTH in parallel to Willows Road for a short while downhill to NE 124th. (This is well-signed.)
• At NE 124th, the EastRail Trail section will loop back north again. (This is also well-signed.) Follow EastRail Trail NORTH to NE 145th Street.
• At NE 145th, first cross the street, then turn right (EAST) on the separate bike path next to NE 145th. Continue along NE 145th across the Sammamish River, and turn left to join Sammamish River Tail heading NORTH.
• Follow Sammamish River Trail NORTH to Woodinville, then continue WEST on the same trail to Woodinville Drive Bike Path in Bothell. (This is also part of Sammamish River Trail.)
• Follow Woodinville Drive Bike Path to its end at a crosswalk; follow the crosswalk, then turn right to continue WEST to rejoin the fully-separate Sammamish River Trail.
• Follow Sammamish River Trail to Sammamish River Park in Bothell, and continue through. You will pass the bridge to Main Street on your right; keep going. At the next bridge over the Sammamish River, also on your right, you may either turn left to rejoin Burke-Gilman Trail early, or cross that bridge, then and turn left to join Burke-Gilman Trail slightly later.
• If you go left at that point, continue on Sammamsh River Trail to Burke-Gilman Trail and turn right (WEST) on that trail. You will cross a third, higher-altitude bridge over the river, ending up where you started in Wayne.
• If you go right at that point, cross the bridge, and at the end of the bridge immediately turn left and continue on Sammamish River Trail to Burke-Gilman on the west side of the river, in Wayne.
• You have now completed the North Lake Washington Loop.

Total distance 34 miles, a mere assortment of blocks on roads, all of which are minor, most of which are extremely minor. The biggest interactions with traffic are Northup Way, and crossing some roads, most notably Slater in Totem Lake, where they want you to walk your bike down to the next intersection, but you can make your own call about that.

Burke-Gilman, SR-520, and Sammamish River trails are all paved. Northup Connector is basically a viaduct. Cross Kirkland Connector and EastRail are hardpack gravel and comparable to paved in difficulty, which is to say, not difficult at all. Surprisingly easy, in fact.

Honestly the worst thing I can think of about this route is the crossing at Slater, because that road is nasty. But some people might consider the Northup Way chunk to be worse, and I wouldn’t argue. Fortunately, it’s avoidable using the wide sidewalks.

I think this would be a nice trail for people who want to see if they can handle some length without having to worry about cars or too much in the way of hills – but not none, either.

Comments encouraged.

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SO YEAH, went to the opening day for the four new freshly-opened light rail stops north of Seattle – two in Shoreline, one in Mountlake Terrace, one all the way up in Lynnwood, a little south of Alderwood Mall.

Holy fuck that was a lot of people. So many people. There were parties at every station, a couple of ’em kinda massive, YES AT THE LIGHT RAIL STATION THAT’S JUST WHAT WAS GOING DOWN, OKAY?

I didn’t even get to the main Shoreline event, at the southern Shoreline station. I was too wiped out after … and I must stress I can’t believe I’m typing this … after the massive scene in Lynnwood. YES I SAID LYNNWOOD.

I don’t know how to describe that to anyone not from here. Uh. Okay. Lynnwood is usually a place I think of as Pugetopolis’s largest empty parking lot, how’s that? But NOT TODAY.

Today?

Today was the day I put in earplugs at an outdoor event in Lynnwood and it did not involve any sort of of monster truck, it was for the opening of a train station.

what is going on

Sure, this was an event day and it’s Labour Day weekend, but … people weren’t even mostly out of work yet. It probably calmed down later, once the crowd got older – it can’t all be teenage girls shouting about how they love Lynnwood while a band ripped up the place from the soundstage, which I must again stress is something that was actually happening.

Also while up there, I talked to a newly-forming north end biking club, and for the first time, ran into a crew of people who already knew about my map. “Oh! This is you!” “Yes! This is me.”

It was a day.

On the way a little later to the Urbanist meetup one stop south, a guy riding the train with his family asked me what stop he should get off for… I think he actually said Qwest Field? Which hasn’t been a name in like… 15 years, but I knew what he meant, and I said “Stadium,” and he said “Yes, the station for the stadium” and I said “Stadium station” and he said “yes, the station for the stadium” and we had a whole little Who’s On First? routine going before he went “OH! THE STOP IS CALLED STADIUM STATION!” and I said “Yes. See, it’s on the list” and pointed to the route map he hadn’t noticed, and we then had a pleasant short three minute conversation before I got off at the next stop.

Turns out he’s visiting from western Montana with his family, was trying to figure out the best way to get to the game, and saw the train station and thought “Oh, wow, that looks new, I’ll do that” having no idea that it was literally the first day of it at all in Lynnwood until he got there. So he and his family were pretty gobsmacked, a little dazed, literally saying things like, “This is amazing” and “we’ll never have anything like this back in Montana.”

Politicians should maybe pay some attention is what I’m suggesting here. Particularly Bellevue City Council, but by no means just.

Anyway, then I was in Mountlake Terrace, which I guess has a tiny downtown now two blocks east of the station and easily bikeable? It’s small. But it’s there. And I chatted with the Urbanist team for a few minutes about bikes, because that’s what I do, I have my bike and pony show and I wheel it out. Other people at the meetup kept seeing the map and coming over and scanning the QR code, which was perfect.

I didn’t stay as long as I’d’ve liked, because even masked up I didn’t want to be in that many people for all that long. But I got some details across and they seem pretty interested.

The funny part is that none of this is even what I sat down to write about. What I sat down to write about is how transformative these new stations are for biking in the north, because it feels exactly as transformative as I thought it might.

(Oh, but one last note: telling people “the MEGAMAP goes all the way down to Renton, covering all of Lake Washington” makes them nod and say things like “nice.” Showing them the megamap poster hanging in my front entry by contrast makes them go, “oh my god, it’s huge” and actually want it, right now. I should figure out a way to get a portable full-size, this matters. But I digress.)

Shoreline North is 10 minutes away from a lot of places, particularly if you have an ebike. It’s a little longer one way, a little shorter the other; it all depends upon your hills. Every station has a 10-minute sphere; Shoreline South, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, all of them. But I mention Shoreline North first because it has the best connection to Burke-Gilman, and is also about 10 minutes away from Burke-Gilman if you hoof it, which is particularly viable on an eBike.

And Burke-Gilman adds a lot of accessibility.

Big 10-minute bike and ebike spheres. Real big. Big enough to connect to Interurban on one side, and Burke-Gilman, if barely, on the other.

Combine that with the fact that the train fucking moves and you start to get the idea. Traffic on I-5 southbound was pretty light for a Friday early evening, and we were passing it. Sound Transit is no JR Rail, but it’s smoother and quieter than most of Skytrain up in BC.

And it’s important that the experience of bike plus rail is that… if you’re biking…

By bike, you bike to the station, go up to the platform, get on the train and you are fucking gone. Zoom. Outta there, with your bike, one continuous merged mode of transport. You get off your bike on the train but you never stop biking, because you still have your bike right there.

It doesn’t feel like a mode change. It’s like biking, but with a teleporter. It’s like fast travel in a game, but in real life.

Whereas if you drive to a train station, you have to first drive to the garage, or some other place to put your car. Then you have to find a place to park, dealing with other drivers. Then you have to actually park, then you have to get your shit out of your car, then you have to lock up and finally you can go to the station and get on the platform and get on the train. At the other end, you’re on foot, which is fine, but not fast. And you’ve viscerally changed transport modes twice.

There’s just so much less you have to fuck with on the bike.

North end cyclists are gonna get to go bike downtown – or hell, Sea-Tac – if they want, by bike. That’s how it feels. Relatively casual bikers will actually be able to show up at a Critical Mass event starting in Westlake – by bike. Yes, there’s a train, but you’re really there by bike.

Imagine bike commuting from Mountlake Terrace to South Lake Union and Amazon, effectively one mode, not two, because of the continuity of always having your bike.

Imagine it being faster than driving, thanks to the train.

Once the 2 Line finally crosses I-90, it’ll serve all these same stations, too. So imagine commuting from Lynnwood to Bellevue, and Microsoft by bike, via the train.

In my old neighbourhood, in the U. District, downtown was about 20 minutes away by bus, once you got on a bus. Plus however long it took you to walk to the nearest bus stop, naturally.

Downtown is now 25 minutes away by bike train, plus however long it takes you to bike to the station, from up in the fucking boonies where people like me live.

And the word for that is…

transformative

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