Post Covers the 15th Street Bike Lane

The post ran a lengthy article on the 15th Street Contraflow bike lane, and on the larger efforts - and ensuing successes - that DC has been making toward creating a more bike friendly city.

In an attempt to minimize the conflicts, the invisible line that separates drivers and cyclists on most busy urban streets has been defined by more than a half-mile of yellow posts on 15th Street NW, in the District's first attempt at walling off a bike lane from cars.

Washington and its bicycling mayor are reclaiming a piece of the road for people who travel on two wheels instead of four. The city also plans to expand the number of bikes in its SmartBike rental program from 100 to 1,000, and make them available at 100 locations.

The city has 43 miles of bike lanes, and thousands of cyclists use city streets every day. Creating a safer environment is expected to encourage others, reducing traffic congestion and the District's carbon footprint. Peak-hour cycling doubled in the region from 2004 to 2009, according to a survey by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

It's funny that, in light of this last week's other big biking story, that they would mention the Mayor. And they were technically incorrect about SmartBike. DC will expand it's bike sharing program, but it won't be SmartBike. I loved that they mentioned that biking reduces congestion (which is how we get drivers to support cycling) and I liked that they included this.

Under District law, when a lane is 11 feet wide or less, cyclists are allowed to occupy the entire lane rather than stay to the right side, said Jim Sebastian, the transportation planner in charge of the District's bike program.

"If you're hugging the right side, you risk getting doored or encouraging people to pass when there's no room to," Sebastian said. "Taking the whole lane may inconvenience some people, but it's less dangerous for both the cyclist and the driver."

They mentioned that there are some who oppose the new bike lane, but it seems that most people support it.

Many cyclists say they welcome the bike lane on 15th Street NW, but some have complained about its design. They say it does not slow cars and confuses some bike riders.

I really hope DDOT did a study of speeds before the change and does another after the change. All this talk about slowing cars has me curious. This could be just the beginning

Sebastian said the city hopes to develop dedicated bike lanes on at least four streets, two running north-south and two running east-west. He mentioned M and L streets as possible candidates.

The story covers the issue of cars parking in the bike lane and how this will solve that, (the online version even has a link to mybikelan). The ending is great.

When Bob Lukes moved from Wisconsin to a place near Catholic University, in Northeast Washington, he first thought Rock Creek Parkway looked like a great way to commute by bike to his job in Rockville. He discovered otherwise.

"It's not a park," Lukes said. "It's an interstate, dangerous and stressful."

Photo by WABA

Comments

[Brendan]

Decent coverage, but the subtext that biking is dangerous bugs me. Does anyone keep a quick list of cyclists killed in DC and its suburbs? It's hard to get a reliable count with google. All I come up with is Swanson killed in the R Street bike lane last year and Axibal in 2004.

If biking were so dangerous there'd be deaths every year. Two in five years doesn't paint a dangerous picture. But is that accurate? I don't know.

[Washcycle]

Yes. The federal government does, through the Fatality Analysis Reporting System or FARS. Though you have to go year by year through it. So I did that for you. Here are fatalities in DC over the last few years.

1994 2
1995 1
1996 1
1997 0
1998 0
1999 1
2000 1
2001 2
2002 1
2003 0
2004 3
2005 3
2006 0
2007 1
2008 2

So 18 deaths over the last 15 years or just over 1 per year.

[Washcycle]

It is worth pointing out that looking at each five your group we get

94-98 4
99-03 5
04-08 9

[SJE]

The last quote about Rock Creek is spot on.