TheWashCycle

TRB 2011 Bike Ride

TRB 2011 Bike Ride, originally uploaded by DDOTDC.

Monday Morning Ride - Montrose

Slow news day...

• The Montrose Parkway East project is still on schedule. The four-lane roadway will have 11-foot-wide lanes, a 10-foot-wide bike path on the north side and a 5-foot-wide sidewalk on the south side.
• Tysons new Master Plan should make for a more bikeable downtown "An expanded network of on-road bike lanes and off-road bicycle & pedestrian paths, as well as bike parking minimums, will help increase non-auto modes' share of daily commuters from just three percent today to 36 percent in 2030."

Alexandria Transportation Committee to discuss bike/ped grants

One agenda item for this week's Alexandria Transportation Committee is it's pedestrian and bicycle grant projects.

The City currently has 17 bicycle and pedestrian projects that are partially or fully grant funded. The cost estimate for all of these projects is approximately $16 million. The City currently has $7.7 million for these projects with $8.3 million unfunded.

Which includes

• Holmes Run Bike Trail Study – The study and design resulting in a preferred alignment for significant upgrades to the trails and tunnels along the Holmes Run Greenway from North Ripley Street running north beneath I-395.
• Holmes Run Bike Trail Construction – Construction of the preferred alignment from the Holmes Run Bike Trail Study.
• Holmes Run Shared Use Path Crossing – Construct a low profile crossing over Holmes Run at North Chambliss Street.
• Bicycle Parking and Pedestrian Signals at Schools – Installation of bicycle parking and pedestrian signals at schools.
• Mount Vernon Trail Safety at East Abingdon – Widening the Mount Vernon Trail at East Abingdon
• Wilkes Street Bikeway – Bicycle intersection improvements to Wilkes Street to provide an on-road, east-west bikeway connection between major shared-used paths
• Eisenhower Multi-use Trail – Construction of a [trail] underpass at Eisenhower Avenue.
• Old Cameron Run Study – Feasibility study and conceptual design for a bicycle/pedestrian trail between Eisenhower Avenue near Telegraph Road to the Mount Vernon Trail.
• Four Mile Run Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge – Design of a bicycle and pedestrian bridge that would connect Commonwealth Avenue in Alexandria with South Eads Street in Arlington

The grant projects that need additional funding include the Holmes Run Bike Trail Study, the Holmes Run Bike Trail Construction, and the Four Mile Run Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge.

The meeting is planned for Wednesday, February 2 at 7:30 pm and will take place at Alexandria City Hall (301 King Street) on the first floor in the Sister Cities Conference Room 1101. All meetings are open to the public.

Wordy Sign

Wordy Sign, originally uploaded by M.V. Jantzen.

A sign on a bike rack. Vermont Ave NW, north of H St, Washington, DC.

CASA River Century

CASA River Century

Saturday, May 21, 2011

www.casarivercentury.org

 CASA River Century

DATE: Saturday, May 21, 2011

TIME:

7:00 a.m.- 4 p.m

LOCATION:

Shepherdstown, WV

The CASA River Century is now open for registration at www.casarivercentury.org ! 

Event is limited to 500 riders

Ten mile off-road ride, 25 mile, 50 mile and 100 mile routes

The CASA River Century is a fully supported ride, with sag support and our famous post-ride picnic. Hope to see you in May!

Tour de Links - crackdown

Maillot Jaune: (via GGW) NYPD crack down on bicyclists who run red lights, salmon or ride on the sidewalk - writing over 1000 tickets in two weeks. "I think the moral of the story is it's not just obey the rules of the road, but to utilize the bike lanes and safety first." said an NYPD source. Why is the lesson to use bike lanes? You aren't required to.  "Sources said that lawbreaking by cyclists has become the top quality-of-life complaint in some neighborhoods.

Meanwhile a pair of city councilmembers are asking that bike lanes be subject to environmental review.

Transportation Alternatives wishes that the anti-bike forces at the New York Post would cover some other aspects of the story like how serious a problem scofflaw cyclists are and how the NYPD is measuring success. Personally, I think you can justify a crackdown on bad road users - including cyclists - or a crackdown on dangerous drivers - because they're most likely to kill, but cracking down on just cyclists is like focusing on keeping knives out of schools over keeping guns out.

Podium: The long and triumphant history of cycling women.

Podium: A cyclist who was walking his bike on the sidewalk (so really a pedestrian) hit by a driver pulling out of a driveway had to sue his original lawyers because they didn't sue the city and property owner, limiting him to only the driver's insurance. Something to consider if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

Maillot Vert: Guangzhou, China won the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) 2011 Sustainable Transport Award, in part because of their dedication to cycling. the new bus system "hooks up seamlessly" with rail as well as "idyllic" bicycle paths and bike-sharing stations, and helps to make the city "more livable."

Maillot a Pois Rouge: Contador might be stripped of last year's Tour win and be banned from this year's race as well. Party at Schleck's house. Contador feels like he's being unfairly punished, and the longer this has gone on the more I agree with him. There has not been a large amount of evidence against him, or an expert who said his story is incredible. It would be a shame if he lost his jersey because he ate some meat.

Maillot Blanc:On London's Cycle Superhighways.

Lanterne Rouge: If bikes were like cars.

Two tiers on the 14th St Bridge

14th St Bridge, road to right, originally uploaded by Michael Neubert.

Contrast the ATL to the roadway

Saturday Morning Ride - Indian

I'm going to try to ride out MacArthur Avenue Boulevard today. We'll see.

• DDOT did plow the Penn Ave bike lanes, but had trouble finding a place to put the snow.
• GGW calls for DDOT to put clearing bridge sidepaths and ATLs on their to-do list. At least somewhere on the list.
• The Post does a Where We Live on Indian Head and visits the new rail trail there. I'd like to ride that and the Three Notch trail this year. Maybe I'll organize a field trip. Various entities are "working with the county to make the area more of a tourism destination," she said. The Indian Head Rail Trail, which opened in 2008, is part of that plan. It is a linear park with a paved 13-mile path running from Indian Head to White Plains, along a former railroad to the base.
• A new apartment building at Pershing Drive and Arlington Blvd will have 85 bicycle parking spaces. Which makes sense, since it's next to a bike path.
• Richard Layman with more on getting college students to bike. I agree with his point that bike-sharing is capital intensive and so not a good fit for all colleges, but in some place like DC, where the system is already in place, I think it's the best solution. So it's probably good for GWU, but not George Mason.
• Looking to make the leap to car-free? Take Arlington's car-free diet and get free stuff. (My wife did this a few years ago, now she drives less than me).
• Nick Keenan just had a post here about mid-block trail crossings, and now Rails to Trails has a report about making them safer. Kizmit.
• Dr Gridlock reminds drivers that, with snow piled in the bike lane, they may see cyclists farther in the roadway.

Sharrowed lane in the middle

It's not a local story, but an interesting one. San Francisco added sharrows to one lane of a three-lane, one-way street. Sounds a lot like the old 15th Street configuration which many people thought worked well. But SF put the sharrowed lane in the middle, because the right lane is - by state law - for taxis and buses only.

Joshua Citrak, an avid cyclist with 10 years’ experience on San Francisco streets, pedaled the route at the request of The Bay Citizen. An aggravated taxi driver who wanted to pass nearly hit Mr. Citrak, while other drivers tailgated and honked their horns.

Why couldn't the taxi pass him in the lane reserved for taxis?

“I would never ride in that lane again,” Mr. Citrak said, rattled. “I did not feel safe.”

He is not alone. On a recent weekday morning during rush hour, from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., a total of 37 cyclists were seen riding on Post from Van Ness toward downtown. Not one used the bike lane.

Instead, 35 cyclists stayed to the far right side of the road, which is normally where bike lanes are placed, but which on this street is reserved for buses and taxis. Two cyclists opted to ride in the left lane, which is intended for automobiles.

In addition, the rise in cycling in SF (up 58% in four years) is causing some people to call for increased education and enforcement (which is in the bike plan).

Perhaps the solution is to change the law to allow bikes in full-time transit lanes?

Frosted

Frosted, originally uploaded by Chris DiGiamo.