The Green Lake Park Inner Loop will re-open to non-motorized wheels November 1.
An about face
The decision to allow the return of wheels was made by Seattle Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners (BPRC) following an outcry from parents and other path users. The path has been restricted to pedestrians for two years. And, earlier this year, Seattle Parks and Recreation announced the “no wheels” policy would stay in place indefinitely.
Parks department responds
But after receiving hundreds of emails and phone calls from path users, some of whom said they need a safe, care-free place for their kids to ride, the parks department recommended that the board reverse that decision. The board agreed in late September.
A safe place for kids
Seattle parent Nick Lo was one those parents who pushed for re-opening to wheels. Lo said the “no wheels” decision left Green Lake families like his with only one riding option – the park’s traffic-side outer loop. And that, he said, was simply not a safe option for small children. Riding in streetside bike lanes “is dangerous for toddlers and young children who are learning how to ride or are simply riding a scooter” Lo told Seattle’s Child last summer.
“It makes no sense that [young children] would be riding in lanes where there are full-grown adults riding much, much faster than they are,” he added.
Parents eager to return
Lo was unable to be reached for comment regarding the re-opening at post time, but numerous park users said they were happy about the return to wheels on the parks department’s facebook page.
The inner loop is a “a good place for smaller kids who use the bike to keep up with longer legged adults, or who use the trail as a safe place to practice riding at slow speeds,” wrote park user Paul Joseph Canniff.
“As long as people stick to the correct [pedestrian or wheel lane], all will be well,” wrote Tysha Carter. “As a mama of many, it is so fun to be able to go for a jog and let one of my littles come along with a scooter, etc., which we haven’t done during the pedestrian-only phase the past couple of years.”
Public education
Over the next few weeks the parks department will be working on changes to signage and trail markings and will be developing other ways to educate about safe path usage, including reinforcing the Green Lake Path Courtesy Code. The code describes ways for all users to share the path safely.
Green Lake Park Inner Loop courtesy code
The parks department requests that all users follow the Green Lake user courtesy code whether they are on their feet or on wheels:
- Always show courtesy and respect the rights of other users, and obey signs
- Warn others when passing
- Stay on your side of the path
- Maintain safe speed at all times (10 mph max)
- Move slowly through congested areas
- Keep dogs on standard length leashes (5-foot maximum)
Walkers and Joggers
- Use inside lane only (closest to lake) or jogging paths
- For your own safety, we suggest you walk or run facing bicyclists and skaters
- Travel no more than two abreast
Bikers and Skaters
- Yield to pedestrians
- Use outside lane only (farthest from lake)
- Keep right
- Travel one way only in direction of arrows
- Bike or skate in single file
