My wife is a landscape architect and we have a shared interest in urban spaces. She occasionally plans urban hikes and bike rides for us with the expressed purpose of experiencing Seattle as pedestrians and cyclists. As a result, I’ve learned a lot about our public spaces and pocket parks that I would have otherwise ignored, and in turn feel a greater intimacy with Seattle. Although not as much of an enthusiast as my wife, I do keep an eye out for opportunities to experience Seattle as a space shared by over 600,000 of us.
A few weeks ago, I learned about WSDOT’s Bike Above Bertha program, a bicycle tour above Bertha’s tunnel route, aka “the SR 99 Tunnel Project.”
The tours are scheduled through October:
-Wednesdays 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
-First and Third Saturday of the month: 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
-Second and Fourth Sunday of the month: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
The ~6.5 mile cycling route passes through downtown and Belltown, and I’d recommend a comfort level with cycling in downtown traffic. I participated in a Wednesday tour when there was quite a bit of traffic; I’d expect the weekend tours to be lower stress as far as interacting with automobiles. I cycled to the start, but parking passes are available on request. Helmets are required.
Pre-registration is recommended; the tours are limited to five participants. To register, send an email to viaduct@wsdot.wa.gov with your name, phone number and preferred date with “Bike Above Bertha” as the subject line.
The tour meets at Milepost 31 (211 First Ave. S.), an information center about the history of Pioneer Square and the SR 99 Tunnel Project. At Milepost 31, the highlight for me was learning that Bertha the tunneling machine is named after Bertha Ethel Knight Landes (October 19, 1868 – November 29, 1943), who was the first female mayor of a major American city. She was the mayor of Seattle from 1926 to 1928.
The tours last approximately two-hours. The guide, James Grindle (a self-described infrastructure geek), led us from the south portal to the north portal with about a half dozen stops along the way. James enthusiastically discussed area history, archaeology and engineering. On the return trip we stopped at Friends of Waterfront Seattle (1400 Western Avenue), where we learned about the Elliott Bay Seawall Project and the Waterfront Seattle Project. The final stop of the tour was at the West Seattle Water Taxi dock, where you can view some of the new seawall, which is designed to support juvenile salmon as they leave the Duwamish river and make their way into Elliot Bay.
Take advantage of this great opportunity to tour downtown Seattle with an infrastructure geek and learn more about the city we love!
