Sponsored: Why bikes belong in urban transportation

More than 30 years ago, a group of concerned citizens in Edmonds and Woodway got together to call for improved bicycle infrastructure. Their goal was simple — to have municipal leaders, planners and traffic engineers more consciously think about provision for bike riders on roads and streets. Over the years, the Edmonds Bicycle Advocacy Group — EBAG — built a relationship with City of Edmonds officials and staff.

In the last two years, EBAG has evolved into North Sound Bicycle Advocates (NSBA), which is focused on improving biking provisions in Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace and Shoreline as well as in Edmonds. And in recognition that roads tend to lead from one destination to another, NSBA aims to make it as easy to safely navigate a bike from Mountlake Terrace to Lynnwood or Shoreline to Edmonds as it is to drive a car between and to those communities.

Around Puget Sound, the automobile remains the dominant transportation choice — even for trips into Downtown Seattle. The share of trips taken by different transportation forms matters greatly to the quality of life in a community. Cities with more people walking and cycling are quieter, less polluted and safer than those communities where the car is dominant. Put another way, would you choose to live next to Highway 99 if, for the same rent or ownership cost, you could live on a leafy street in Richmond Beach? 

Anyone who has walked around Pike Place Market or visited European cities which have invested in promoting active transportation — biking and walking — will appreciate the human scale and relative silence of such places.

Some residents may complain about the cost of installing bike lanes or building sidewalks but such infrastructure is a vital part of making places more inviting to bike or to walk. To encourage yet more people to ride, there has to be a clearly identified network of quiet residential streets, bike lanes and bike paths to signal to less experienced riders that cycling is a safe option.

One of the key goals of North Sound Bicycle Advocates is to press for clearly signed, easy-to-navigate and safe routes to make cycling a viable option for more people on short trips to the hardware store, school, Link light rail, the library and other destinations. With advances in pedal-assist electric bikes, our topography is no longer the barrier it was once for inexperienced riders.

As advocates for improved infrastructure to encourage more trips by bicycle, NSBA recognizes that changes can take time and require a commitment to spend money. Paying for cycling improvements should be seen as investments to make our communities more livable, more sustainable and overall better.

Gordon Black is vice president of North Sound Bicycle Advocates, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit. NSBA meets monthly on the fourth Wednesday. The next meeting is scheduled for March 25 at the Mountlake Terrace Library, 23300 58th Ave. W., 6-7:30 p.m. 

This article is sponsored by the North Sound Bicycle Advocates.