TheWashCycle

Cyclist in Serious Crash

This was in Calvert County,

Shirley S. Milligan of St. Leonard and her nephew Keith Suber were riding bicycles westbound in the eastbound lane of Parran Road, the Maryland State Police said. The two were riding along a steep grade on a blind curve.

At the same time, a 21-year-old St. Leonard woman, driving a 2006 Scion hatchback, was driving in the correct lane from the opposite direction, the state police said. When she saw the bicyclists in her path, she swerved to her left, state police said, but Milligan simultaneously swerved to her right.

The Scion struck Milligan, knocking her off her bike, state police said. Milligan was wearing a helmet. She was taken to Prince George's Hospital Center. Authorities were hopeful Tuesday that she would survive. State police stressed this week that bicyclists should ride in the direction of traffic, not against it.

Wrong way cycling is the 4th most common cause of cycling fatalities. I think a lot of people do it because pedestrians are told to go opposite of traffic. Let's hope she comes out OK.

As of Monday, Aug. 6, Milligan was still in critical condition. Brady did not suffer any injuries.

Paint Branch Parkway Crossing

From the BikeWashington yahoo group I got this.

The plan is to create an island.  Unfortunately this island will only be 4ft. wide.  A biker will have to hold his/her bike sideways while standing on it.  It's something but obviously not enough. They will NOT put a light there, they will NOT run the path to the fire station area (where a light exists already).

Here's the background on it.

No Soup For You!

If I'm reading this correctly, though the Douglas Bridge is opening tomorrow, it is opening only for automobile traffic - so it is to be mostly open.

Work on the medians and sidewalks on South Capitol Street, the railings on the bridge, and other improvements will continue for a few more weeks. The emphasis was on getting the roadway back open

As Miracle Max would say "There's a big difference between mostly open and all open. Mostly open is slightly closed." So let us know if you successfully bike across it tomorrow.

Addendum: From the bikewashington yahoo group:   "Bicycles can get through, but access is limited because connections to side streets near the north end of the bridge are cut off to traffic by roadwork.


I've been told that the sidewalk on the east (northbound) side of the bridge is closed entirely, but haven't checked.  I got through on the southbound sidewalk this morning by biking through a roadwork area that was closed to traffic.  I plan on getting home the same way this afternoon."

Coming Soon! Four Mile Run Trail Crossing.

Good news from the Arlington County Board. The County Board approved the awarding of the contract to construct the Four Mile Run I-395 crossing. Construction should begin at the end of September.

Once construction is complete, trail users will be able remain on the trail rather than detouring on busy streets in Shirlington and Park Fairfax in Alexandria, which also would shave off minutes from trail commutes.

Allen Muchnick points out

the primary advantage of the new route is the reduction in distance and time. The new direct trail route will be about 0.8 miles shorter, and trail users will no longer be delayed at at least three signalized intersections or have to climb up to the pedestrian overpass of I-395.

It's sad, however, that Arlington County took NINE years to approve the construction contract to build its "number one priority trail project", after this project was supposedly fully designed and funded in 1998. With luck, the new trail may open by spring 2009.

The new, direct connector will run along the Four Mile Run stream channel under both I-395
(Shirley Highway) and West Glebe Rd, starting from the W&OD zero mile marker at Shirlington Rd.  Roughly half of the $7 million construction cost is for the trail connector itself and about half is to install a new sewage line that will lie beneath the new trail.

This was a project that made my initial Christmas Wish List.

Construction was suppose to begin in 2002 and again in the first half of 2005, but still nothing has been done.

It's been mentioned a couple of times since then. A few months later, and then the next year here.

Douglas Bridge makeover

JD Land reports that the Douglas Bridge may be only days away from reopening (Addendum:The Post reports it's tomorrow night). Besides the early entry to the street grid on the northern side, cyclists can count on new railings on both sides of the pedacyclist lane. On the road side, there will be iron railings about a foot higher than before (the supports for which can be seen in the photo at left) and the old rusted railings (pictured) on the river side will be replaced with historic wrought iron railings. I went down there last weekend and it really looks much nicer now.

Rock Creek Trail closed at Rock Creek Trestle

The CCCT reports:

Trail detour signs are on the Interim CCT on either end of the Rock Creek Trestle, at Jones Mill Road and at the Grubb Road access path. The signs give directions for a Rock Creek Trail detour

The Montgomery County Dept. of Parks is replacing a Rock Creek Trail bridge and repaving a portion of the Rock Creek Trail in the stream valley under the CCT Trestle. The Rock Creek Trail is now closed to all trail traffic in this area. The Rock Creek Trail may be closed until December. The trail detour signs direct Rock Creek Trail users onto the Interim CCT to bypass the construction area.

The detour signs do not specify they are for the Rock Creek Trail, and appeared barely a month after the Interim CCT was reopened after extensive repairs. These detour signs are causing some confusion among Interim CCT users. The Interim CCT is open - trail users going through on the Interim CCT should ignore these detour signs.

Bike Theft, E-bay and Police Indifference

The Post ran a story on Sunday - on the front page no less - about bike crime in the district. It's centered on the story of Martin Moulton who became that rarest of creatures - someone who recovered a stolen bike. His story is similar to one the City Paper reported on recently, basically his bike was stolen and it was later seen on craigslist. [I just did a search and my stolen Specialized Cirrus was not on there. Nor was my red and white Red Line, but that was stolen in 1983 so it was a long shot]. They make the point that bike theft seems to be up lately

D.C. police Lt. Michael Smith said that although the department doesn't keep statistics on the subject, bike theft in the region appears to be on the rise. "It's gone up significantly because there's a market on the street for bicycles," Smith said. "They're killing us."

Although Montgomery County police statistics show little change in the level of bike thefts, Metro Transit Police, who track thefts from Metro stations, reported 25 bike thefts in May and 32 in June -- roughly double the numbers from the same months last year.

Part of the problem seems to be ebay and craigslist.

"It used to be that stolen bikes were more of a crime of opportunity," said Denise D'Amour, co-owner of Capitol Hill Bikes. "People saw a bike that wasn't locked very well, and they would grab the bike and run. With the advent of Craigslist and eBay, it looks like more expensive bikes are being stolen in a more organized way."

Of course another part is that it seems no one gets arrested for it. It was hard for me to find any national or local statistics on bicycle theft related arrests and convictions but I did find this from UC Santa Barabara.

only 14% of the UCSB crimes were "cleared," that is suspects were arrested, the report was false, or the victims didn't prosecute.

DC doesn't offer statistics about what percentage of Larceny or Theft cases are "cleared" (as near as I can tell) and certainly doesn't break out "bicycle thefts" as a separate category, but I suspect you'll find more bootleggers in DC's jails than bicycle thieves. I say that because even when he knew where his bike was Mr. Moulton was getting very little help.

Dissatisfied with the response he got from D.C. police, Moulton planned a vigilante take-back operation

The police claim

most bike thefts go unsolved because many victims do not report the crimes or have unregistered bikes and few promising leads.

Really? Is it that or is it because recovery efforts are not made and reports are lost?

He soon discovered that the police department had lost the report he filed when the bike was stolen. He called the mayor's office and eventually got in touch with Smith, the lieutenant, who in turn got in touch with investigators in the district that covers Georgetown. They told Moulton that they weren't sure how soon they could set up a sting.

Well, what about a case when the owner has a low jack system and can tell the police where their bike is - surely the police would help with that?

McKenna, 26, felt he had a decent chance of catching the crooks, particularly because he had installed a tracking device on the bike.

He called 911, but officers were delayed in finding his house because, he said, the dispatcher confused Riggs and Ridge streets.

His battery worked for 55 hours before dying. In that time it appears he got no help from the police.

In the end, the police did intervene to recover Mr. Moulton's bike, but they didn't arrest the guy who was selling stolen merchandise or pursue the case to see who stole it.

He said he provided police with a statement and surrendered the bike. He said he was never charged and has not heard from police since the sting. A police spokesman declined to comment. Moulton said he also did not hear from police again.

Nice crime fighting there. They took a report which they lost, they seemed disinterested in pursuing a case with a real lead, showed up for the glory moment, arrested no one and didn't follow up on it. But I'm sure all the blame belongs to people who don't bother to file reports or register their bikes - because if you do the DCPD is ready to kick into gear.

By the way, the Freakonomics blog wrote about lojack for bikes a couple of years ago and believes it could work

They found that [auto theft] falls overall in areas where even a small percentage of the cars carry Lojack.

Of course, you need an engaged police force. DC needs to assign one police officer (at least) to full time bike theft prevention - or DDOT's going to have a tough time getting more people to bike.

Congestion Pricing in NY and DC

New York was recently offered $354 million dollars for it's congestion pricing scheme. Sort of. The city gets $1.6 million to study the plan and $10.4 million for implementation with the rest of the money going to New York State D.O.T., the M.T.A. and N.Y.C. D.O.T. to pay for improved transit. Implementing the congestion charge will cost around $230 million. The State of New York has until March to sign on to the plan. Still as the article notes

the substantial federal support for the project gives enormous leverage to the mayor as he continues to press for his proposal.

The $354 million is considerably less than the $536 million the Bloomberg administration had requested from the federal government, but it is well over the $200 million minimum federal commitment that the Legislature had set as a precondition for the 17-member commission to move forward.

Meanwhile, here in D.C. there is already a backlash.

The chorus of calls to forget about a congestion tax in the District is growing louder.

The American Automobile Association is the latest to weigh in on the idea.

The main argument - what about the tourists?

When told about the possible plan, Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-Va., shot it down.

"That is not a good idea," Wolf said. "Every day you walk across the Mall, you always see a mom a dad and a couple of kids, it's the first time they've come into the city. To put a tax on a driver for coming into D.C.? The District of Columbia is the Nation's Capital."

Rep. Wolf, they already pay a tax - several actually - on the gas and the car and their license and registration and parking. In addition they are welcome - encouraged even - to ride a bike, take metro or wait until rush hour is over. Besides, what portion of the fee payers will be tourists and what percentage of tourists park and drive downtown? It's disingenuous. Yes, D.C. is the Nation's Capital and it should be an example of what a post-peak-oil city should be. As CommuterPage Blog duly notes, congestion pricing isn't that radical an idea. Isn't a parking meter just a form of congestion pricing?

Limiting the use of a public good with a fee for the benefit of all is similar to the congestion charging schemes of today in practice in London and Stockholm, who charge a fee to enter downtown.

One might argue, Rep. Wolf, that charging for street use is capitalist in nature - free streets, hell, that's communism. Are you saying the Nation's Capital should be a bastion of communism. I'm shocked.

Congestion pricing in London, btw, caused bike use to go up 43%.

Velib tops a million rentals

And that was in just the first three weeks. As CommuterPage Blog reports

bike-sharing has become so popular in Paris that when all 20,600 bikes are available (presently 10,000 are), it will carry as many customers as Paris's tramway system.

Wow. It makes one wonder if widening I-66 is really the best use of money (and one could possibly ask the same thing about the Silver Line to Dulles which is now $250 million too expensive).

Maricopa County Biking

As I've mentioned, I've been in the Mesa/Tempe area for most of the summer. I have to say I was pleasantly surprising with biking there. I always thought of Phoenix as being like Houston - a city that grew up in the car age and therefore is not very bike friendly, but if I'd read the League of American Bicyclists list of bicycle friendly communities I would've known better. Chandler, Gilbert and Mesa are all Bronze. Tempe and Scottsdale are Silver. And once I was there it wasn't hard to see why. There are bike lanes everywhere. In fact the area has some real solid advantages over D.C., some natural some not. For one it's flat. You can get by in one gear the whole time. The roads are straight and there's a pretty solid grid going at all times. Because there's no street-side parking there is almost no door zone, so the bike lanes feel wider than the ones in D.C. In most places where there aren't official bike lanes there is several feet of shoulder  - in some places they would call that a bike lane, but in Arizona they seem unwilling to label something a bike lane if it's less than 4 feet wide. And those shoulders are effectively wider than D.C. bike lanes because there are no parked cars to your right.

There are other facilities as well. Bike racks on buses, bike rest areas, and parking in a lot of places. In fact, out there they often use inverted U's as bollards. There are a few trails, but they usually aren't very long or very nice. The nicest runs the length of Scottsdale, but it would barely crack the top five in the D.C. area in my opinion. Part of the problem is a lack of trees. Tempe town lake has trails along it that are nice too.

There's a system of canals through the region (we would call them ditches in S.E. Texas) and along them dirt or paved access roads for maintenance crews. The Maricopa County bike maps shows many of these as bike routes, but often you have to negotiate locked gates, dirt roads, poor grade crossings and full sun as there are no trees along these. They've got potential but they haven't tapped it yet. In a few places there are legitimate trails and these are nicer.

One thing that struck me is how many trails go right by a golf course without any protection (Arizona is about 45% golf course so it's pretty inescapable). I note this because Langston Golf Course won't allow the Anacostia Trail through it's property because they believe it isn't possible to do it safely - despite the fact that the Paint Branch Trail and the Capital Crescent Trail both seem to manage it.

Despite all this, I haven't seen that many other cyclists out. Kids. Some guys pushing tricycles selling burritos and hot dogs. The occasional other commuter. Of course it is 110 degrees out, and I don't ride downtown, but I think more of it is that despite how easy it is to get around, everything is farther away. The area is not built to a human scale. The grocery store is 3 miles away. The mall is 3 miles away. The bars are 10-20 miles away. Nothing killer, but certainly not as easy to deal with as D.C. And the roads are ugly. It's just you on a sea of asphalt riding along side parking lots and gas stations. There are the occasional downtowns - like Tempe, Phoenix, Mesa, old town Gilbert but these are the exceptions. The sunsets are fantastic though (and due to the heat and my lack of lighting, that's when I do most of my riding)

I find that I like to ride along the roads where the light rail is being built. (Each light rail car will have racks for up to 8 bikes) The pavement is fresh and the cars are still scared away so I often have a whole two lane road (with a bike lane) to myself. Plus it's fun to look at the construction. And now pictures:

An usually narrow bike lane and in the gutter - also not normal.

Here is one of the access roads along the canals

The inverted U bollards

The trail along Tempe Town Lake

A bike rest area. These are nice, but I've never seen one used.

A statue in downtown Mesa

Decorative bike racks in Downtown Mesa