Seattle Advances Design for Leary Way Bikeway, While Advocates Push for Shilshole

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) recently released updated designs for a two-way protected bike lane along Leary Way and invited feedback in a public survey open through July 15.

The Leary Way bike facility has been a passion project pushed by Councilmember Dan Strauss, whose District 6 plays host to the "Missing Link" of the Burke-Gilman Trail – long the bane of people biking, rolling, and walking through Northwest Seattle. Strauss fought to get $20 million in funding earmarked for the Leary Way bike route in the Seattle Transportation Levy, which was approved by voters in 2024.



A project to add a bike trail on the south side of Shilshole Avenue NW has been tied up in litigation for decades, with nearby industrial business owners and freight interests objecting to the route. The Burke-Gilman Trail did see improvements just to the east in 2023, but the conspicuous gap remains. Strauss has pitched his Leary Way project as an alternative to get people biking into and through Ballard, which has long been a hot spot for collisions involving people biking.



Bicycling advocates have kept the Leary Way project at arm's length, arguing the Shilshole South project is still the essential linkage to complete the Burke-Gilman Trail all the way to Golden Gardens. Cascade Bicycle Club executive director Lee Lambert has stressed Leary Way is not a replacement for completing the trail's missing link on Shilshole.

https://www.theurbanist.org/seattle-advances-design-for-leary-way-bikeway-while-advocates-push-for-shilshole/