Met Branch Trail Attack/16th and NH Ave Bike Facilities

GGW beat me to the punch yesterday, twice, which is why these two completely unrelated stories are being posted together.

First, in an attack similar to recent ones along the NE Branch Trail, a group of young men attacked a cyclist on the Metropolitan Branch Trail. And similar to that one, when the victim tried to call 911, dispatch had no idea where the trail was.

DDOT's Heather Deutsch said that DDOT is looking into ways to get the trail into the 911 database, perhaps even by coding it as a "street" not open to motor vehicles.

They're also hoping to install a traffic camera on the trail for security. Lamar Greene with MPD responded:

The Fifth District officers are aware of the trail and have begun patrolling the trail as a part of our normal duties, unfortunately the trail is secluded and I recommend utilizing a buddy system when traveling through the area. Unfortunately, we have made several arrests on the trail already for various disorderly issues that have been observed.

The second story is about changes to 16th and New Hampshire Ave NW that DDOT recently started work on. They're adding contraflow bike lanes to New Hampshire, bike boxes to 16th and induction loops to the roadbed that will trigger lights to allow cyclists to cross from the bike lanes to the boxes. 

Although the diagram indicates the lanes will be striped green, this will not be the case at first. The lanes may be striped with color at a later date. The first signs of project implementation are now sprouting at the intersection, including new signals and induction loops.

Many commenters note that bicycle induction loops used elsewhere work well. I'm glad to see DDOT using bike boxes more often, and more excited that they're creating more printed educational material. I still think there are people who have no idea what a sharrow means, so getting people to understand the bike box may take some time. Here is a photo of an educational sign used in Boston.

The best thing about bike boxes is that by pushing drivers a little from the intersection, it represents another victory in the war on drivers.

Comments

[jmg]

"The best thing about bike boxes is that by pushing drivers a little from the intersection, it represents another victory in the war on drivers."

C'mon dude, that's not helpful.

[Ron Alford]

@jmg: Maybe not, but I thought it was a hilarious reference to Lon's war on motorists.

[darren]

Two details of significance WRT the 16th & U intersection... First, it's being submitted for FHWA experimentation (so DDOT will have a partner in its "war-crimes").

Second, and this could be significant, GGW says they're doing before/after on the effects of painting bike lanes. A few have applied, but as far as I know, nobody has completed an experiment demonstrating that striped lanes change driver or cyclist behavior. Maybe DDOT can help blaze a trail [by painting a lane] here.

[darren]

OOPS, just fact-checked myself, and realized I substituted my own assumptions for the written word.... GGW does not mention before-after studies on lane striping. I sure hope that that is DDOT's plan, though.

[Kevin]

In regards to the Met branch assault- I now ride that route and the NE branch trail sections for my commute and I've noticed large groups congregating on the trail. Honestly the other night, a late night at the office and the story about the bridge "mugging" had me riding the metro home around 7 instead of riding.

Last night riding home I saw 2 bike cops riding along heading down to the bridge area there on NE (wearing bullet proof vests on top of their shirts no less) and gave them a big thumbs up and a thank you as they rode by. So, they are at least getting out there.

[anonymous]

"The best thing about bike boxes is that by pushing drivers a little from the intersection, it represents another victory in the war on drivers."

LOL!