Everett Will Move Ahead With Bike Lanes On Madison Street

While a majority of residents who live on Madison street in central Everett, Washington were against the idea of buffered bike lanes, today the City of Everett announced it would move forward with the project. Here’s the release out this morning.

The City of Everett has selected a plan to build buffered bike lanes on a portion of Madison Street to improve safety for bicyclists. In response to public input, the chosen plan also retains nearly all existing on-street parking.

“We engaged with the community, and they clearly support the project goal to make Madison a safer and more comfortable bike facility,” said Christina Anna Curtis, active transportation engineer for City of Everett. “We also heard from people who said they would be negatively impacted if on-street parking were removed in this area. The project team did an amazing job creating an innovative solution that serves both needs.”

The City sought public input via an online survey earlier this year on the proposed project to build buffered bike lanes when restriping this portion of Madison during its 2023 street resurfacing project.

Of 512 respondents to the public survey, 455 lived in Everett, and 68 lived on Madison Street. Of all respondents and those who lived in Everett, a majority supported the project goal to make it safer and more comfortable to bike on Madison Street, supported removing on-street parking to build buffered bike lanes and would use the buffered bike lanes after they were built. Of respondents who lived on Madison Street, a majority did not support the project goal, did not support removing on-street parking and said they would not use the buffered bike lanes after they were built.

Based on the survey and subsequent traffic and parking studies, the City determined the buffered bike lanes could be built, and most on-street parking could be retained by removing the center two- way left turn lane along much of the corridor. With the exception of a few key intersections along Madison, this center turn lane is not required to maintain vehicular capacity of the roadway. At these key intersections, turn pockets will be created. This new layout will also narrow vehicle lanes slightly, which will encourage reduced vehicle speeds along the corridor. The project creates a multimodal transportation connection that accommodates a wide range of abilities, confidence and comfort levels of bicyclists, while retaining appropriate levels of service for all modes of travel.

Project background

The goal of the Active Connections: Madison Street project is to make it safer and more comfortable to bike on Madison, connecting bicyclists to the Interurban Trail, the upcoming Fleming Bicycle Corridor, residential neighborhoods, bus routes and services on Evergreen Way, and the Southwest Everett Manufacturing and Industrial Center.

Currently, there are intermittent 4-foot-wide striped bike lanes on both sides of Madison and intermittent on-street parking. For that street’s vehicle volumes and speeds, the existing bike lanes are considered too narrow to be convenient for bicycle travel. Everett’s Bicycle Master Plan prioritizes adding bike lanes where there currently aren’t any on Madison and improving the safety of existing ones.

The Active Connections: Madison Street bike project, between Sievers-Duecy Boulevard on the west and the Interurban Trail at Commercial Avenue on the east, supports the completion of a connection priority project in Everett’s Bicycle Master Plan. Connection priority projects complete gaps in Everett’s existing bike facilities, helping to create a complete network by connecting existing facilities to each other.

Learn more

More information about the Madison Street project is available at everettwa.gov/ActiveMadison.

We encourage you to share this information with your neighbors. For information about your neighborhood group, including meeting times, visit everettwa.gov/neighborhoods.