Thursday Morning Ride - low turnout

I just downloaded Firefox 4 and nothing is where it usually is.

• John W reports that "Montgomery County be installing additional street lights on existing poles along MacArthur Blvd between Goldsboro Road and Maryland Avenue.  This will mean that every utility pole will have a light on it, and this should eliminate the dark areas that currently exist on the road and bike path. The county and PEPCO are also keeping a closer eye out for situations when power lines feeding the lights on MacArthur Blvd. get damaged, resulting in large blacked-out sections of the street."
• Action is still needed on Maryland House Bill 363: Manslaughter by Motor Vehicle. Illinois has the same hole in their laws. There, a couple on a tandem bike was hit from behind by a driver who admitted he was looking in a plat book at the time. One of them died and the other was badly injured. Because they have no negligent homicide law, the driver might be charged with driving recklessly close to a cyclist (a felony meant for harassment) or driving closer than 3 feet (a misdemeanor).
• The Georgia Avenue Walmart plans to include parking for 37 and a Capital Bikeshare station. "But the traffic study points out the fact that Georgia Avenue is a terrible corridor for bicycling, and not that great for pedestrians either–if they want to throw in more community benefits, upgrades to the street for better bike access would be a good place to start."
• Speaking of CaBi, GGW talks about empty CaBi stations and their evil partner full CaBi stations. Alpert calls for infill stations in addition to new stations at the edge. Which is what DDOT is planning last I heard.
• As part of the Chevy Chase sector plan, participants at the workshop asked that "Access, primarily pedestrian and bicycle, from the surrounding residential neighborhoods to both the commercial area and nearby trails should be improved and expanded."
• The family of the comatose cyclist hit in a bike lane in Baltimore is suing the driver for $10M. Lost earnings and lifetime care, my lawyer wife points out.
• The Vienna town council approved safe routes to school plans. "Parents at Vienna and Cunningham Park elementary schools formed School Travel Plan groups and worked with school administrators and Vienna Public Works Department officials to produce the plans, which will be used to solicit grant moneys under the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) “Safe Routes to School” program."
• Woodfield Road Extended in Damascus (photo above) is now open and included an 8-foot wide bicycle path along the eastern side.
• Rockville wants to hear from you about the Rockville Pike plan, which intends to add bike lanes to the road. Turnout at public meetings has been low. Testimony can be sent in writing to the Planning Commission, c/o Long Range Planning, Community Planning and Development Services, 111 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD 20850, or by e-mail to rockvillepikeplan@rockvillemd.gov.

Photo by Brian Lewis/The Gazette

Comments

[Riley]

While the Georgia Ave corridor is as bad as any other urban corridor such as Conn Ave there are ample parallel side streets that are ideal for safe and sane biking. 8th St from the DC line to well south of Kansas Ave is hilly but quiet. Qualia Coffee has a very busy back door thanks to 8th St. ( that and the excellent Bike House clinics on Saturdays ) I rode from Walter Reed to the Bicycle Place last Saturday and didn't feel the least traffic anxiety until I was south of RI Ave. That included riding down 8th St to Warder St to the bike lane on 5th St around the reservoir and on down a very picturesque 4th St south of Howard Univ. I would guess that most WashCycle readers are well versed at the bike route option in Google maps and these routes and more pop out very quickly there.