Bike Paths From Madison Park in Seattle. (Renton, Roosevelt: to rent, homes) - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

homesinseattle · 04-21-2018, 07:24 AM

Howdy people. Last fall, we moved across town to Madison Park, bought a home just a couple blocks from that old school Bert's Red Apple Market. I finally made some sense out of our garage and have unearthed our bikes. With the weather warming up, 13 year old daughter is starting to ask about going out for family rides.

Question for you bikers out there, and I don't mean the ones who are headed to Sturgis

. I know we can head west up Madison St. and catch the great new path through the Arboretum. This may be our best biking option. Is there a bike path that goes south of Madison Park along the west shore of Lake Washington? I could be wrong but I think we'll just have to bushwhack on McGilvra Blvd. and through neighborhoods if we are headed that way. The path seems to pick up about Madrona Park but then seems to go back to sidewalks through the waterfront area of Leschi.

fnh · 04-21-2018, 09:35 AM

Hi homes, I asked DH who is a cyclist and he says that Lake Washington Blvd/ Lakeside Ave is it. I am up and down that road daily as a driver and there are always cyclists, and signs inform drivers to yield them right of way. So, while it is not a separated bike path, it is a road on which drivers are well accustomed to cyclists.

mhays25 · 04-21-2018, 03:22 PM

Yes, that's the route. It's an excellent bike route all the way to Renton, where instantly they turn it into a dangerous four-lane highway (a golf shot later, turn left to the airport perimeter road which is nice and quiet).

There should be a connection across the north side of Broadmoor so you can easily get to the UW and the 520 Trail, but the Broadmoor folks got in the way of that.

tkz4 · 04-22-2018, 07:31 PM

The protected bike path along Lake Washington starts quite a bit south of you (about 5 miles south of Madison Park.) We usually drive south of I-90 to the Stan Sayres/Genesee park area when we want to bike along the lake. It's a nice safe ride there through the park or down to the Seward Park loop. There are walking paths you mentioned towards Leschi and Madrona along the lake that are quite a bit closer to you, but in those are not really designed for bikes (narrow sidewalks.) You can tell by using Google maps and selecting for bike routes:

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6014.../data=!5m1!1e3

You can see on the map the lack of dedicated bike lanes in your neighborhood.

There certainly are a ton of people who ride bikes along McGilvra and Lk Washington Blvd, but they are sharing the windy roads with cars, which is not ideal with kids. So for us we either take our bikes to areas with trails or protected bike lanes, or we drive there and use bike share.

We were looking at a home near Green Lake, and I was amazed at how many protected bike lanes crisscross that area. There are great bike connections from Green Lake to Ravenna and then down Roosevelt to the Burke-Gilman. Then you can connect up to the Arboretum and the new 520 path. I wish there was a similar grid through neighborhoods south of the cut. I guess there will soon be some improvements on Pike, but overall I feel like we are forced to take a lot more "sharrows" (bike lanes than are shared with cars) and I never feel all that comfortable relying on drivers for safety.

BTW, we have been looking into (low power) electric bike conversions to help flatten out some of the hills, but that looks to be fairly pricey.

homesinseattle · 04-23-2018, 07:48 AM

Thanks guys. Learned yesterday that Lake Washington Blvd/Lakeside is closed to cars all the way from Madrona Park to Seward Park many Sundays in summer to allow bikers/walkers to enjoy. Great news.

fnh · 04-23-2018, 08:21 AM

Really? I did not know that and don't recall ever having encountered a road closure. My child rows with Mount Baker crew so I take it nearly every day but not many Sundays. Good to learn!

tkz4 · 04-23-2018, 09:20 AM

Mark your calendar for 2018 Bicycle Sundays! - Parkways

Looks like the closure is only from Mt Baker to Seward Park... most of which already had a bike friendly trail (From Genesee Park to Seward.)

Have you heard of closures closer to Madison Park?

homesinseattle · 04-23-2018, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkz4

Mark your calendar for 2018 Bicycle Sundays! - Parkways

Looks like the closure is only from Mt Baker to Seward Park... most of which already had a bike friendly trail (From Genesee Park to Seward.)

Have you heard of closures closer to Madison Park?

Nah, you're probably right, I bet I misunderstood my friend, heard what I wanted to hear

. Still cool though, have to throw the bikes on the rack and go down there.

tkz4 · 04-23-2018, 09:48 AM

It's rediculous that Broadmore does not allow people to walk/bike through to the Arboretum. I can see how excluding car traffic could be seen as a safety benefit, but families on bikes? That is just elitist and antiquated IMO.

leastprime · 04-23-2018, 09:53 AM

When I did this 5 years ago, I found that the most dangerous part was around the Arboretum. I started to ride/walk the trails to avoid the curves. Later, I took to the side streets where possible. Eventually took the 27 bus at Colman to get up the Hill to Yesler. It's a hike from Colman to MLK. Don't know what it is like since.