EVERETT, WA – The City of Everett will construct its first bicycle boulevard along Fleming Street, Federal Avenue and College Avenue as part of the Active Connections: Fleming project. The bicycle boulevard will provide a safer north-south route for cyclists looking to travel between the downtown core and the southwest Everett industrial center that includes Boeing and other manufacturing employers.
“I’m really excited to see the progress we’re making on our Bicycle Master Plan, bringing additional bicycle infrastructure to the city and creating new connections between neighborhoods and job centers,” said Cassie Franklin, mayor of the City of Everett. “Encouraging non-motorized transportation is one way we are reducing our environmental impact and moving our city toward a greener future.”
Bicycle boulevards are, by nature, “streets with low motorized traffic volumes and speeds, designated and designed to give bicycle travel priority," according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). To accomplish this, the Fleming Bicycle Corridor will add traffic calming elements, including narrower lanes and short traffic islands, and remove centerline striping. Shared-lane markings, also called “sharrows,” will be added to the entire corridor. Other features of the boulevard include wayfinding signs to help bicyclists navigate to different parts of the city.
“Our goal for the project is to maintain the quiet nature of the neighborhood and provide a comfortable route for all road users,” said active transportation engineer Christina Anna Curtis. “The inherent traffic calming design of a bicycle corridor also enhances the character of the existing neighborhood with vehicle speed and volume management elements.”
The Fleming Bicycle Corridor will create useful connections between the South Forest Park and Port Gardner neighborhoods as well connecting these residential areas to employment centers in a way that will encourage more people to choose bicycling as a regular means of transportation and recreation.
This project is part of the City of Everett’s sustainability work, as shared in Mayor Franklin's recent Climate Action and Sustainability directive and the City of Everett Climate Action Plan.
Additional new connections coming in 2023
The City of Everett will also be starting on two additional projects that will help make significant progress on its bicycle network.
- Active Connections: Madison will add buffered bike lanes along the curb of both sides of Madison Street as a part of the 2023 street resurfacing project that will start in summer.
- Active Connections: Wall will create and upgrade pedestrian and bicycle connectivity from the Everett Station to the Angel of the Winds arena. Construction on Wall is expected to begin in late summer or early fall 2023.
The Active Connections: Fleming, Active Connections: Madison and Active Connections: Wall projects will add a total of 7.2 lane-miles of new bicycle facilities and 28 lane-miles of bike wayfinding on existing bike routes this year.
Everett’s bicycle program
In December of 2021, Everett was recognized as a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists, an acknowledgment of the work that has been done to make Everett a safer, more accessible community for cyclists of all abilities and encourage healthy and sustainable transportation choices.
For more information about Everett’s bicycle master plan and the many bike amenities in Everett, visit everettwa.gov/bikes.
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