This Garden Grows Safe Bicyclists Getting Around

This Garden Grows Safe Bicyclists

Aspiring cyclists of any age can safely practice their pedaling

Photo courtesy Cascade Bicycle Club Cyclists of all ages and abilities can benefit from learning how to share streets with cars and pedestrians. Green light: Go! Children on two wheels are zipping around a new bicycle playground in , pausing for pint-sized traffic lights and navigating realistic turn lanes. The , designed and built in 2016 by the and its community partners, features a small-scale, closed course streetscape, complete with lane markings, signage, crosswalks, intersections, one-way roadways, a roundabout and more. The second of its kind in Washington State, the playground is a space where cyclists of all ages can learn the rules of the real roads and hone their skills in a safe, comfortable setting. "It's not about learning to ride a bike. It's about learning to ride a bike safely. I thought it was a fantastic idea!" Like LEGO and Danish pastry, the concept of a bike playground is an import from Denmark, which has several bicycle playgrounds — sometimes called traffic gardens — including the , where the streetscape includes child-only traffic lanes. After seeing the Danish model, Seattle-based landscape architect Steve Durrant of discussed the idea with the Cascade club. He offer to design the playground. Elizabeth Kiker, then executive director of Cascade, was familiar with the concept after being involved in building a bike playground, called a . A $75,000 King County Youth Sports Facilities Grant helped pay for the construction. The new bicycle playground replaced two rarely used tennis courts in White Center, an ethnically diverse, unincorporated community about 8 miles south of Seattle. (The and the were involved in the effort, too.) This article is an excerpt from the "Community Engagement" chapter of the AARP book . Download or order your free copy. Book published June 2017

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