The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has shared a new survey on its plans to complete the protected bike network on the west side of Green Lake. The agency appears committed to adding a concrete barrier to create a two-bike facility on the lakeside shoulder of Aurora Avenue, but it has presented three options to create a protected facility on West Green Lake Drive N. Although design work is funded, construction is not, so the City will need to identify funds before it can build the project and close the Green Lake Loop. Still, SDOT is optimistic that construction could start by summer or fall of 2022, funding permitting.
The agency completed a two-way flexpost protected bike lane along East Green Lake Way this summer, but the facility ends at Densmore Avenue N where the lakeside road turns south and becomes West Green Lake Drive. This break in the loop forces people biking to use either a busy multi-use trail along the lake or a rutted narrow sidewalk that devolves into a goat path at times along Aurora Avenue — neither attractive options.
