Cyclist makes, posts ‘do not block’ bike lane signs on Capitol Hill
Mar 28, 2023, 10:09 AM | Updated: Mar 29, 2023, 10:26 am
(Photo from KIRO 7)
(Photo from KIRO 7)
A Seattle bike commuter fed up with people parking in bike lanes on Capitol Hill took matters into his own hands.
Bob Svercl made a few official-looking “do not block” bike lane signs and posted them along Pike and Boren last week.
He said he made the signs after he got nowhere with the Seattle Department of Transportation or the city’s Find It, Fix It app.
He then attached the signs to short flex posts marking the bike lanes.
One disappeared after a few days and the other got run over and much it broke off, but he’s not discouraged.
“I definitely got a lot of good responses from people personally where they saw what I did and they want to see if they can do that elsewhere in their neighborhoods,” said Svercl.
Svercl said he’s not worried about possible repercussions and hopes the added attention will push the city toward solving the problem.
He pointed out several other examples where similar guerrilla adjustments to the streetscape have not been punished.
At the top of the list is the spread of eco-blocks placed to discourage tent camps and recreational vehicle parking.
Also on Capitol Hill last fall, a crosswalk was made by residents at East Olive Way and Harvard Avenue East.
SDOT removed it, and a year earlier did the same thing in Greenwood — scrubbing away another crosswalk that neighbors painted.
