After a long battle, bikers won't be getting protected bike lanes along 35th Avenue Northeast.
But that's not the only way Seattle's basic infrastructure isn't the same as it could've been.
Getty Images/Aurora Creative
Seattle is a city that's booming, but there's an alternate version of this city with a lot more...let's say interesting projects already in the works. Here are some of the proposed versions of Seattle that failed to pass.
Before Vulcan and Amazon transformed South Lake Union with offices and condos, there was Paul Allen's vision in '90s of a giant urban park called the ''Seattle Commons.'' Supporters dreamed of NYC's Central Park in Seattle; opponents worried Allen would just get richer.
What South Lake Union might have looked like had voters approved Seattle Commons. Instead, they killed it twice, the last time in 1996.
(Image is from 1995).
Seattle Center jelly bean: This concept emerged in a 2012 contest for dreamy ideas for when Memorial Stadium is demolished. The floating ''jelly bean'' was envisioned as a cloud that manufactures fog, rain, shade and light. It didn't win.
A 1960 proposal for a swimming pool at Golden Gardens. Would have been cool.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
Seward Park-to-Mercer Island bridge: Before there was the I-90 floating bridge, there was this 1927 proposal for a bridge or underwater tunnel. Imagine the traffic in 300-acre Seward Park.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
This 1970 design for a waterfront park in Seattle could have been the inspiration for Blokus.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
This idea for a hanging tube of a monorail was proposed in 1958 for the World's Fair, and rejected.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
What if Seattle's famous ''ramps to nowhere'' had gone somewhere? These dead-end ramps in the Arboretum were part of the R.H. Thomson Expressway, which, had it been fully built, would have looked like …
Good thing the R.H. Thomson freeway never went through. Where would summer swimmers jump from in the Arboretum?
But Seattle's ramps to nowhere were to be torn down by 2016, as part of an major improvement project (though some bits still linger).
Another sketch of the R.H. Thomson Expressway, scrapped in 1971, after neighborhood outcry. Pictured is the planned Madison Street interchange, which would have ruined the Central District.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
...this. Pictured is the proposed Arboretum interchange in 1960 for the thwarted R.H. Thomson Expressway.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
This grim-looking model called for high-rises at the Pike Place Market, as part of a 1968 urban renewal plan. Or, as Flickr user fnarf described it: ''Pretty interesting architecture, actually, in a Death Star kind of way.''
Speaking of people movers: Here's what Ballard might have looked like, if the embattled Green Line monorail had succeeded. The plan – originally for a 14-mile, West Seatte-to-Ballard line - died in 2005, after financing problems surfaced. Taxpayers paid nearly $125 million for a project that never happened.
(Image from 2003).
So was this 1958 idea for a people-mover on Westlake Ave. called the ''Carveyor.'' It was envisioned to go to Interbay and turn around in a merry-go-round-looking terminal.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
Floating stadium: Another idea that fizzled. King County officials actually supported this 1963 plan, which called for a floating pro-sports, retractable-roof stadium on Elliott Bay. You could get there by ferry, rail, bus, seaplane and monorail, the designers envisioned.
The wackiness died, and instead we got the …Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
Here's an idea that never made it: An underwater tunnel in Union Bay.
Proposed in 1961, it was part of the R.H. Thomson Expressway that was never built. The view is from Laurelhurst looking south.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
A long, nasty fight was settled this past week -- or, at least, in name.
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The city of Seattle decided to forego the hotly debated protected bike lanes along 35th Avenue Northeast. It brought an end to a lengthy neighborhood battle that got heated more than once by refashioning the street with one lane of traffic in either direction, a center turn lane in parts, and parking confined to the east side of the street between Northeast 47th and 85th streets.
"While there would be no protected bicycle lanes on 35th, people riding in the street would still benefit from slower vehicle speeds and clearly defined travel lanes," the Seattle Dept. of Transportation said in a post.
"We will also be making enhancements to the parallel neighborhood greenway on 39th Avenue NE, that provides a route for people that prefer to bike on a quieter street."
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Perhaps that's true. But for many bicycle commuters it feels like you can add "protected bike infrastructure throughout the city" to the many versions of Seattle that didn't pan out.
The fight for bike lanes is, of course, not the only vision for the city that Seattleites have voted down. For every bold infrastructure plan or building that makes its way to our city blocks, there are a few ideas for municipal improvement that never made it.
Seattle has at many points been a potential site for an enormous park in the middle of the city which never came to pass — a proposed 45-acre park over Interstate 5; or even the Seattle Commons, which would have turned South Lake Union into the Central Park of Seattle.
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Perhaps most ambitiously the Bogue Plan would have plotted out a city with rapid, subway transit lines connecting east to west, north to south and neighborhoods across the city; above-ground rail lines between Everett and Tacoma; and Mercer Island as a whole park.
Virgil G. Bogue had a grand design for the future of Seattle with his 1911 Plan of Seattle. The far-seeing engineer envisioned a big city that would need mass transit, efficient waterfronts and harbors and building designs that kept the city from feeling or looking to crowded.Seattle Municipal Archives
These two images from the Bogue plan show the massive growth of the Seattle waterfront from 1870 to 1910. Virgil Bogue foresaw that growth continuing throughout the century. As it turned out, the popularity of cars would upend the popularity of inner city living in Seattle, stalling growth in the core of the city for several decades.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
A photo of "downtown" Seattle taken in 1878. The city's growth by 1911 -- when Bogue's plan was released -- was staggering, and Bogue saw it only continuing.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
An aerial view of Virgil Bogue's grand civic center for Seattle. The center would have capitalized on the newly opened area of the Denny Regrade, but downtown business interests opposed moving the city center north.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
These drawings show the truly grand plan Bogue had for a civic center and central avenue. He took many cues from the City Beautiful movement of the day, and referenced the great cities of Europe throughout the Plan of Seattle.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
This drawing shows Bogue's vision for the civic center, with its own center at the cross of 4th Avenue and Blanchard Street. But in 1911, when the plan was released, business leaders feared a city center to the north and the effect it would have on the business center farther south.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
The grand civic center was a major part of the Bogue plan, and a big reason why the plan was ultimately defeated. Downtown businesses feared the city center moving north and taking business with it. This drawing shows a view looking west across the proposed civic center (far left), probably from Capitol Hill.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
This map shows a wide view of Bogue's plan for the Lake Union waterfront, as well as his civic center (middle-right) and massive central rail station (middle, just below the end of Lake Union). Note: North is left on this map.Seattle Municipal Archives
Bogue envisioned street cars on many of Seattle's main avenues to allow residents to spread out and still get to work downtown. This drawing shows an elevated track to get up the grade on Virginia Street. Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
To deal with future traffic congestion, Bogue proposed a series of tunnels for both auto and rail traffic, with autos above and potentially room for a subway below. His vision for transportation in the city could have drastically altered the way we get around Seattle today.
The Plan of Seattle by Virgil Bogue/University of Michigan
The Bogue plan left no stone unturned in Seattle, and in West Seattle as well. This map shows his development plan for the West Seattle waterfront district, with existing plans shown in lighter lines.Seattle Municipal Archives
This map shows how the Bogue plan laid out the future of the Bellevue and Renton waterfronts along Lake Washington. Ferry service on Lake Washington, Bogue wrote in the plan, would be important because of the "large population that will ultimately inhabit the extensive area on the east side of the lake." Indeed, Mr. Bogue. Indeed.Seattle Municipal Archives
Another map, included in the appendix to the Bogue plan, shows the Ballard waterfront district. Bogue's plan called for two 500-foot piers -- one on the north and one on the south -- along the channel between Shilshole Bay and Salmon Bay. Seattle Municipal Archives
This drawing shows what Bogue proposed for a public dock and harbor near the end of West Mercer Street.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
Bogue's plan went so far as to lay out where businesses and where housing should be placed in the city. On this map, the key is missing the colors, but it appears that the green shaded area would have been for business and the yellow shaded area would have been for apartment houses.
The Plan of Seattle by Virgil Bogue/University of Michigan
Bogue's vision for Harbor Island was essentially used, according to Dennis Meier, with Seattle Department of Planning and Development. This drawing shows the what Bogue had in mind for it in 1911. Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
This is one of several maps detailing how Bogue's plan would have dealt with waterfronts. Shown is Union Bay, on Lake Washington.Seattle Municipal Archives
Bogue's plan took into consideration every bit of what was then the city but also all the areas that have since become part of the greater Seattle area. This page from the Plan for Seattle shows how much shore and waterway frontage Bogue foresaw for the area.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
This map shows the main rail lines going north and south, under Bogue's plan. He planned for a massive central rail station centered roughly where Roy Street intersects with Highway 99 today.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
Bogue had a laundry list of beautification plans for Seattle in his 1911 plan. This monument, set at Duwamish Head, is just one of them.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
Also included in Bogue's sweeping plan for Seattle was the treatment of many main intersections. This drawing shows several and how they would be dealt with in his plan.Seattle (Wash.)/Seattle Municipal Archives
Bogue proposed this public dock and ferry slip design along the waterfront, near Spring Street. Notice how close it is to where the Washington State Ferries dock is today.
The Plan of Seattle by Virgil Bogue/University of Michigan
It's this kind of infrastructure though that modern Seattle is dealing with not having: If we had just built a subway system back in the day we wouldn't be waiting on the light rail now. If we had just bought into the park, we wouldn't have Amazonland. If we had just dealt with the viaduct problems without all the hullabaloo we might not have ended up on the other side of a decade-long project well behind schedule.
And there's a sense that eventually bike lanes will become more of the same.
During the Seattle Squeeze bikes numbers were bolstered even further despite the frigid weather: Bike routes like the Spokane Street Bridge, Second Avenue and the Fremont Bridge saw an extra 40,000 additional bikers compared to a typical January, according to SDOT.
Some of those were surely doing it out of necessity to navigate downtown. But that's exactly the kind of transit infrastructure Seattle is looking to build out -- and as Seattle continues to flesh out its bike pathways, it's going to become clearer and clearer that there will just be more work to be done, at least initially. And it's possible that protected bike lanes are the sort of thing Seattleites will look back on and wish we had just done already.
Click through the slideshow above to see some more ideas that past Seattleites threw at the wall, even if they couldn't make them stick.
