Seattle’s Fremont Bridge has seen an uptick in bike traffic, according to the Seattle Department of Transportation.
Weekly totals of two-wheeled travelers jumped 28 percent in October and November compared to the same time last year, data recorded by the bridge’s bike counter shows.
SDOT’s Craig Moore said it’s hard to pinpoint a cause of the growth in ridership, but the recent dry stretch likely played a role.
“Normally we’d expect September [ridership] to be way above October, and October is a little bit above than September because of the terrible weather we had in September,” Moore said.
Given the unusual weather, Moore said a trend in ridership is difficult to determine without additional data.
“I don’t think it’s safe to say we’ll see 28 percent year-over-year growth,” he said. “You know, 10 percent growth is good.”
The bridge’s bike counter was installed on the bridge in October 2012 as a way to measure goals set by the city’s Bicycle Master Plan. Sunday morning, it met a big milestone when it recorded its one-millionth bike crossing. The city installed a second bike counter on Spokane Street Southwest in June.
SDOT planned to install additional bike counters around the city in the coming months. Planned locations include: the Chief Sealth Trail, the Burke Gilman Trail, the Elliott Bay Trail, the Mountains to Sound Trail, the new Broadway cycle track and neighborhood greenways.
“That’s going to enable us to paint a better picture on trends,” said Moore.
