We have an opportunity right now to improve Green Lake Park by creating a complete outer loop for people biking, walking and running.

There currently is a dirt trail along Aurora, but the tree roots twist ankles and drivers have struck runners. It doesn't have to be this way. The outside northbound lane of Aurora wasn't marked for general purpose travel until February 2020. With a jersey barrier, the lane can be repurposed into a protected pathway, creating a safe place to walk, run, and bike.

On the northside of the park, West Green Lake Drive N could either be calmed to a comfort level for a casual bicyclist, or have a two-way protected bike lane along the park’s edge.

These two projects would complete an outer loop, connecting into the new protected bikeway on East Green Lake Drive/Way from Duke's Chowder to the Pitch & Putt and into the new protected pathway on West Green Lake Way from the Pitch & Putt to Aurora.

With a complete outer loop:

• Walking, running, and biking along Aurora will be safe from dangerous, speeding drivers.

• Families biking with kids will be able to ride around the entire outer loop, creating a great park & recreational experience.

• New transportation routes will open up for people biking, creating direct routes that are more than a half-mile shorter.

• Walking on the park's inner path will be enhanced with likely fewer joggers and bicyclists competing for space and more reduced roadway noise along the park's westside.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is interested in this idea, but the City needs to hear from you for it to get funded and built.  Tell our elected leaders and city officials that you want the outer loop to be built.

On September 16, 2019, a UW student running on the western outer path of Green Lake Park was struck and seriously injured by a driver who went off the road. If the path been physically protected by a jersey barrier, the life-altering event would not have occured.

This preventable danger is why we’re calling on the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to install a jersey barrier to physically protect and expand the outer path onto Aurora.

To strike the runner, the driver not only jump the curb but also crossed through the curbside lane of Aurora Avenue. The northbound curbside had been closed to vehicle traffic ever since the bus lanes for the RapidRide E bus were established; the segment wasn’t even used by the buses as the RapidRide E pulls off onto Linden Ave through this segment.

But in early 2020, just months after the runner was struck, WSDOT restriped Aurora Avenue, allowing general purpose traffic back into the curbside lane, bringing fast-moving vehicles dangerously close to the walkers, runners, and bicyclists on the narrow, dirt path.

To promote physical distancing during the pandemic, the Seattle Parks & Recreation Department banned all biking and clockwise walking & jogging on the inner path of Green Lake Park. Instead, bicyclists and clockwise walkers & runners must use the outer dirt path.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can not only make the path safer, we can improve Green Lake Park.

By repurposing the curbside vehicle lane as a pedestrian path protected by a jersey barrier, we can create a safe, comfortable way for people to walk, jog, and bike on the west side of the park.

The curbside, northbound lane is unnecessary for drivers. Immediately prior to and after Green Lake Park, the lane is a bus-only and turn-only lane. Drivers were not allowed to use it for years until it was restriped in early 2020. Now we have the opportunity to put it to better use.

Slideshow of Existing Conditions