As chair of the Sixth Street bicycle/pedestrian path committee, I want to
assure readers that protecting existing trees figured prominently in our
discussions. That was why we decided against having two on-street lanes
on Sixth from Deakin to Line Street -- we didn't want to remove the
trees on the south bank of Paradise Creek.
We wrestled at length with the lanes vs. off-street path question, too.
During the public workshops, opinion was almost unanimous that the existing
raised asphalt two-way path on the north side of Sixth was confusing,
hazardous and inefficient. Not only is it confusing to motorists to have
bicycles approaching on the right side of the street, it encourages
bicycles to stay on the sidewalk east of Jackson and remain on the
sidewalk through downtown. The on-street lanes will encourage cyclists
to ride in the same direction as traffic, and to use the streets through
downtown -- or to walk their bikes if they want to ride on the sidewalks.
My memory of the plans is that the only place the lanes are 4 feet is
where Sixth crosses the railroad tracks, and only because the right of
way is so narrow there. Everywhere else, the on-street paths will be at
least 5 feet.
The ITD is advertising for bids on the project, so it may finally be built
next spring. The committee will probably have a public workshop before
construction begins to get ideas on minimizing impact during construction
and to be sure everyone knows what the finished route will look like.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Kenton Bird
kbird@wsu.edu