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Bellingham, WA. Starting at northwest part of city and working my way to south east corner, here are some helpful hints. Back way to mall Sterling Street is a back way to Bellis Fair Mall that avoids going on Meridian. Just head north on Northwest Ave. to Sterling. Go to dead end and take a short flight of steps to Bellis Fair. Watch for traffic as steps put you at a blind corner on Bellis Fair Circle Drive. Poor planning, but still better than Meridian. A street that doesn't connect Squalicum Highway is in a valley. It starts at Meridian, but goes down under Northwest Ave. bridge with no connection to street above except entering trail system from Birchwood and Cederwood. Also goes under Eldridge Ave. Short steep street west of this bridge (in front of Mt. Baker Plywood Mill) connects Roeder to Marine Drive. A way to avoid Lakeway? Meader goes under freeway and connects to Fraser. Could be an alternative to busy Lakeway. Woburn and Yew St. Hill Lanes a bit narrow on Woburn south of Fraser and north of Lakeway. Good sidewalk on east side of street. Yew St. lanes are narrow, but sidewalk on both sides of street. Yew gets good shoulder near top of hill, but looses both shoulder and sidewalk near south end. Good, but only one way. We await finishing of Forest State St. bike lane is "one way" south bound. Forest is north bound, but no bike lane yet. Boulevard is two way with good shoulders. Look for street by restaurant with the Pho sign off Bill McDonald Pky. One can avoid traffic on the part of Samish west of I-5 by using small residential streets, up on the hill, to the west. Garden is no nature walk Indian Street is a much wider way to Western Washington University. Garden is narrow and busy. I-5 not legal in most of city I-5 shoulder is illegal through most of city. It becomes legal north of Northwest Ave. interchange or south of Samish Way interchange. Is sidewalk legal ? Okay except downtown. A small area of downtown blocks where bicycling is prohibited on sidewalks should be marked with "no bike" logos. Sidewalk reconstruction has taken out many of the logos. Eventually they should be repainted. Bicycling is legal on most sidewalks outside of the downtown core. Use caution. Western Washington University has a "No Ride" zone in it's main plazas during busy periods of the day. A way across town to avoid many stoplights Here is a good trip from North East to South
Bellingham.
It avoids many intersections. Start on Railroad Trail. Head
west on trail bridge over I-5. Just west of freeway, take Lincoln
St. south. It gets one under busy Alabama with no
intersection.
Take Lincoln to Iowa. Then head west and use light to cross
James.
Continue on Iowa, only here it looks like an alley. Zigzag south
and west on Grant and Ohio. At east edge of Bellingham High
School
property, cross Ohio and find trail south toward downtown. Cross
Whatcom Creek on trail bridge. Take Railroad Avenue, or alley
between
State and Railroad through downtown to South Bay
Trail. Take South
Bay Trail to Boulevard Park. Some people just prefer to stay on Boulevard. Skip the park altogether. It's faster and has a shoulder. At south end of Boulevard Park one has two good choices. One is the access road at the south end of the park that goes to 10th St. (just before the busier boulevard). Then go south on 10th, past the hotel and pick up trails again at the south end. The other choice is a walkway out over the water. This reconnect with the trails south of 10th St. In Fairhaven area, take 10th again and then pick up trail after commercial area. It goes under Chuckanut Drive bridge. Follow trails that connect to Interurban Trail. Bellingham's Hall of Shame. The five worst streets for cycling, in my opinion.
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