New Bicycle Helmet Safety Ratings by IIHS

Virginia Tech and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have collaborated on a bike helmet rating system based on its own laboratory testing.

The program tested 30 adult helmets, looking at road-style models and urban style models and rating them from one star to five stars. Four earned the highest rating of 5 stars, two earned 2 stars, and the rest were in the 3-4-star range. Of the four 5-star helmets in the initial test group, all are equipped with a Multi-Directional Impact Protection System (MIPS). This technology creates a low-friction layer inside the helmet.

Ratings of 30 helmets. 

Bellevue puts first bike lanes to the test in a project to measure their impact

For one year, transportation planners will measure impacts from the bike lanes, including vehicle-travel delays, traffic volume, on-street parking and the number of bicycle trips.

Planners will share those results with Bellevue City Council members, who will decide whether to make the lanes permanent, possibly after some changes.

Trump Tariffs and E-Bikes

As most E-bikes are made in China, the increase in tariffs may greatly slow down E-bike sales in the US.

Bellevue Bike Share Pilot

As the colorful dockless bike-shares, which began operating last summer in Seattle, stray past city boundaries, some suburban cities want to come along for the ride.

Bothell was the first suburb to issue permits for bike-share companies after bikes began popping up around town, most likely propelled north by the Burke-Gilman Trail. And now Bellevue is set to launch its own dockless bike-share pilot this May.

The city is starting small, permitting only 400 bikes at the pilot’s launch (roughly one for every 350 residents), and is only allowing e-bikes, which Bellevue says will “make the service accessible to a wider variety of potential users.”

Cascade Bicycle Club - June Schedule

Cascade offers both free rides and training in June.

Check calendar here. 

Upcoming I-90 ramp closures - June 7 to 22

Sound Transit work alert.

Progress continues on the steel installation for the 77th Avenue head house. In the coming weeks, crews will continue to install steel supports, storm drains and will begin backfilling portions of the work area. To do so, both the east- and westbound Island Crest Way HOV ramps are planned to close daily during off-peak hours, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., throughJune 22. Drivers can use the West Mercer Way and 76th Avenue Southeast westbound on-ramps and the West Mercer Way and 77th Avenue eastbound off-ramps during these closures.

Full text here.

Bellevue Expands Bike Lanes

Contracts awarded for Bellevue bike lane projects

The council awarded a contract to install the first bike lanes that run the length of downtown. Apcon Tech Inc. won the contract for $365,933, plus taxes. The demonstration bikeway project on 108th Avenue Northeast, from Main Street to Northeast 12th Street, will include bike lanes in each direction.

Construction is scheduled to begin in June and wrap up in July, about two months later than originally anticipated. Staff will evaluate the effectiveness of this project over a one-year period and report the results back to the Transportation Commission and council. In a related action, the council awarded a separate contract in the amount of $294,487, plus tax, to NPM Construction Co. for bicycle improvements on five corridors citywide.

The downtown bikeway project is fully funded by the voter-approved Neighborhood Safety, Connectivity and Congestion Levy. Like other levy-funded bicycle projects, it’s moving from planning to design to construction in one year. The citywide bicycle improvement project is 90 percent funded through the levy. In 2018, the city aims to open 19 miles of new bike lanes.