Residents of Madison Park are still concerned about the possibility of bike trailheads at 37th and 43rd avenues East being included in the state Route 520 replacement plan.
The Seattle City Council will vote later this year on its preferred alternative for the SR520 replacement project. In the current resolution, the trailheads are not included in the final plan; they are only mentioned as possibilities to be considered.
The city had given residents until Tuesday, Oct. 31, to comment on the draft Environmental Impact Statement involving the bridge replacement.
Only a possibility
At an Oct. 4 public comment meeting held in the Seattle Prep school cafeteria, City Councilmember Richard Conlin stated at the beginning of the meeting that the focus of the comments should be on the project's impact on the Washington Park Arboretum and the possibility of the two trailheads. Conlin emphasized that the city is "not taking a stand at this point" in relation to the trailheads.
At the meeting, more than 70 people spoke, but only four mentioned the trailheads. All four were adamantly against them.
Jan Maloney, who has lived in Washington Park for more than 50 years, is adamantly against the trail-heads.
In summer 2005 she worked with a citizens advisory group to determine the demand and impact for the bike trailheads. She claims the group determined that no one in the greater Madison Park neighborhood was in favor of them.
Maloney cited one-way streets and the lack of space for more bicyclists as reasons againt the trialheads.
"We are like a small town. We are like an island," she said.
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