EVERETT — Jim Gillan has cycled around this city a long time.
Long enough that The Herald photographed him nearly two decades ago for a story on biking to work.
Back then it was a bit more unusual for a guy to pedal to Boeing.
“It’s been my habit for daily transportation forever,” said Gillan, a cyclist since 1968.
Today, on Bike to Work Day, he’ll have plenty of company. Hundreds of bicyclists are expected to take to the roads in Snohomish County.
Event organizers plan to set up dozens of stations where bikers can get free maps and nosh on snacks. Half a dozen city and county officials, including Mayor Ray Stephanson, plan to trade their business suits for Lycra so they can lead a two-mile bike ride downtown.
In another few decades, getting around Everett on a bike might be so common it no longer needs its own special day.
For more than a year, the city has worked on a detailed bike plan. Workers have held forums, collected people’s ideas and even gone biking with cycling enthusiasts.
The plan should be back in front of the public for comment sometime this summer.
Rather than just sprinkling bike paths here and there, the city is consciously planning for bike transportation — that’s a change. Everett already has a network of more than 30 miles of bike lanes, but big gaps exist.
The plan would connect areas of the cities using existing streets, bike paths and lanes. Just like cars, bikes would have a variety of routes — some big arterials and more smaller feeder routes.
“Wherever you are in the city, you should be able to get on that grid,” said Ryan Sass, a city engineer.
Everett’s already trying some new ideas, including special markings at select intersections that are designed to help cyclists find the sweet spot so they can trigger green light sensors.
The plan would be implemented in dribs and drabs, as money and opportunity present themselves.
If a street were torn up for sewer repairs, for instance, a bike path could be fit into the project when the street was repaved.
That is, in fact, what the city’s already been doing. Workers just wrapped up three such projects, including a bike and pedestrian path on a north section of W. Marine View Drive.
John Lindstrom, a vocal bike activist, is withholding judgment on the city’s bike plan until he sees it. The Everett man has commuted to work on his bike since 1966. In that time he’s seen drivers become generally more courteous. The sheer volume of cars probably makes cycling more dangerous, he said.
He’s grateful the city is working on a plan but he sees problems that could be addressed right now.
Angled parking downtown is dangerous, he said. Twice he’s been hit cycling on Colby Avenue by drivers parking in the angled spaces. He started riding on the sidewalk downtown, something that’s illegal in the city of Everett.
“Cars backing up can’t see you very well,” he said. “A car that wants to come in suddenly turns into the spot.”
State law calls for cities with defined business districts to prohibit bicycles on the sidewalks there, and the reason is safety, Everett police spokesman Robert Goetz.
In Everett, there is a $103 ticket for cycling on the sidewalk in the downtown area but officers mostly give out warnings, he said.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
Bike to Work Day
Snohomish County is celebrating National Bike to Work Day today. From 6 to 9 a.m. find “celebration stations” with snacks and goodies around the county, including Boeing and Everett Station, 3201 Smith Ave. At 7:30 a.m., a group of community leaders plan to lead a ride from the corner of Wall Street and Oakes Avenue to the station.
For more information, including maps and addresses of all the stations, go to www.community transit.org/biketowork.
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