As part of an effort to make Bellevue an inviting place for bicyclists, the city is now offering them a way to share their favorite routes online on MapMyRide.com.
“Bike Bellevue” (http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/wa/bellevue) encourages cyclists to identify preferred bike routes using global positioning software so that other cyclists can benefit from their knowledge. With narrative descriptions and elevations, the routes make clear how skilled or fit riders need to be to do a ride.
The city also offers its own bike map, but is inviting regular cyclists to share what they know.
Richard Edwards, who regularly commutes by bike to Bellevue from Seattle, gives the new site a thumbs-up.
“I just looked at the (Bike Bellevue) site, and it looks like a great service,” Edwards wrote in an e-mail to Transportation staff. “It could be just the place to add routes my coworkers could use to get here.
“It’s really quite amazing how tracing a route on a map can make the concept of riding to work appear as more of a real possibility,” Edwards noted. “I’ve seen that many times, and the tattered map pinned to my cube wall has seen it too.”
Bike Bellevue is just one of several ways the city is working to facilitate cycling. To learn more about the following activities; go to http://www.bellevuewa.gov/walking_biking.htm:
A new map, with all streets with bike lanes identified, available online and at City Hall and by major bike trails;
A bike safety brochure for children, also available online;
The introduction of a “sharrow,” a designated lane for sharing by bikes and cars, on 161st Avenue Southeast. Additional sharrows are planned.
The updating of the city’s long-range pedestrian-bicycle plan this year, with 435 projects that, when funded, would yield 90 miles of sidewalk, 144 miles of bikeway and 20 miles of trail improvements;
The Commuter Connection facility at the Transit Center downtown, which features secure, indoor bicycle parking, lockers and a changing room; and
The addition of up to 25 new downtown bike racks, including those suggested by cyclists and property owners.
