NNMC BRAC just got worse

Last month I wrote about the problems around the NNMC BRAC expansion. NNMC should be a cycling hot bed, as it's nestled in between three trails and has a workforce that's legally required to stay fit.

In the design, the State Highway Association (SHA) is ignoring its own recently adopted guidelines calling for bicycle enhancements to be incorporated in all major SHA road construction projects.

In some cases the work they are doing will make it harder to add master planned bike facilities in the future because they are taking all of the available right of way.

Two Black Wheels recently reported on the traffic counting process around the medical center.

Neither counter had been instructed to count bicycles specifically although Worker One pointed out that cyclists were to be included in either pedestrians or automobiles based on whether they were riding on the sidewalk or road.  Worker Two did not count cyclists at all unless they were walking their bicycle on the sidewalk, in which case the cyclist was to be counted as a pedestrian.

I waited on the corner of Wisconsin Ave and Jones Bridge Road to take [a] photo of the counters for about twenty minutes.  In that time I counted nine bicycles including myself.  Surely, the total number of cyclists in the neighborhood are not an insignificant number.  A friend, who also spoke to them, reports that the traffic counter with whom the friend had spoken stated that tons of bikes had been seen but none counted.

Ah...science. 

In further bad news, Two Black Wheels won't be reporting on this anymore.

When I first came to USUHS I made a conscious decision to not discuss my critiques of USUHS issues because such issues need not be discuss in this forum.  I considered NNMC issues to be somewhat different, but now feel differently.  My feelings have changed not due to any outside pressure, but because of a fuller consideration of the boundaries of the profession God has chosen for me.

That's certainly understandable. I knew a guy who worked for the IRS and was a stand-up comic. He didn't do jokes about the IRS, despite the rich territory, because you don't bite the hand that feeds you. So, if you find any information about how the NNMC BRAC is going and how it's dealing with cyclists feel free to send it on to me and I'll try to follow up.