Friday Morning Commute - He was picked before Hardaway, if you can believe it

Good morning

• Capital Bikeshare will release more data to the public. "The data will break down CaBi usage by individual trips, listing when and where each trip starts and ends. It'll also identify which bike the trip used".
• Arlington's CaBi expansion map is now available. And they're already expanding. The Courthouse station at Wilson and Uhle went online yesterday. The one at Wilson and Edgewood opens today. And there's been more expansion in DC: 4 more docks at Park and Holmead NW. The new stations come with new bikes, and the new bikes have some modifications from what you're used to - primarily baskets with fronts to them and different lights to deal with this.
• The good news is that a project to reduce MLK Highway from 3 lanes to 2 in the Seat Pleasant area may get re-funded. The bad news is the bike lanes added to it will only be 2-feet wide (though, it isn't alongside parking, which means no door zone). "The fully designed SHA project between Hill Road and the Washington, D.C., line to reduce lanes from three to two on both sides of the highway, add two-feet-wide bicycle lanes and build handicapped-accessible sidewalks has been on hold for approximately two years due to lack of funding, according to the SHA." This would go a long way to connect the Marvin Gaye Park Trail to the WB&A Trail.
• The Montgomery County Planning Board will discuss the new cost of the Purple Line/CCT tunnel and a M-NCCPC staff report on it on November 17th. The staff report recommends waiting to see if the cost comes down after more study, and if not to abandon the trail in the tunnel. It then recommends three alternative surface routes, and modifications to make them work. Though a longer route, it might not be so bad.
• Can't we all just get along?
• Apparantly not
• Falls Church has a new bike shop.
• Charles County has a bike and pedestrian plan. From the article: "One mile of trail costs about $195,360 per mile at a cost of $37 per foot. One mile of road costs $1.58 milion or $300 per foot."
• With the opening of the complete ICC, a temporary ramp from eastbound Md. 200 and the traffic signal will be removed to allow for construction of a section of the ICC trail among other things.
• Herndon’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee needs volunteers to fill vacancies on the panel. The committee advises the Town Council on safety and transportation issues related to walking and bicycling in Herndon. It works to promote the health and recreational benefits of walking and cycling. It generally meets four times a year. “Talent Bank” applications are available at the clerk’s office. 703-435-6804, town.clerk@herndon-va.gov, www.herndon-va.gov.
• Streetsblog highlights the good news about the Senate's Transportation bill - including the fact that just this week the bill was changed so that HOT and HOV lanes would not compete with bikes for TE money.
• Shawn Bradley's ginormous Trek mountain bike was stolen and recovered. "A random search of a residence by state probation and parole officials turned up the bike Thursday afternoon in the town of Murray, where Bradley has a home, police said. Joshua Carter, 34, was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property and felony theft, Murray police Sgt. Brian Wright said....Bradley took up cycling because he needed to get healthy again. He had taken time off following his NBA career to let his body recover, but also packed on the pounds, ballooning from his playing weight of 275 pounds to 335....He's shed about 30 pounds of fat after making bicycling part of a daily routine. He's logged several thousand miles, including many "century rides" -- rides of 100 miles or more. Bradley also rode from Logan, Utah, to Jackson Hole, Wyo., last year.  "It's changed my body (composition) and when I ride the bike in the morning, I want to eat healthy the rest of the day. It's a mental game I play with myself," he said.
• WTOP reports that "Folks who bike to work are even worse off [than people who take public transit]" based on a study in Men's Health. The thing is, it doesn't say that. In fact, it says the opposite "if you’re one of the 3.5 percent of people who, according to the latest census figures, walk or bike to work—congratulations, you have a new reason to feel smug."
• "Disgraced American cyclist Floyd Landis was convicted by a French court Thursday for his role in hacking into the computers of the anti-doping lab that caught him cheating at the 2006 Tour de France. The court in Nanterre, west of Paris, handed Landis and former coach Arnie Baker 12-month suspended sentences."
• The 2012 Rails-to-Trails Sojourn will once again be along the C&O/GAP route from DC to Pittsburgh.

Comments

[jmgeezy]

Bradley's bike isn't a mountain bike. Those are 700c wheels -- he's just that tall.

[jeff]

There's no such thing as 2ft. wide bike lanes. I hope they either just let it exist as a narrow shoulder outside the fog line with no markings and signage or amend the design to include sharrows instead.

SHA really needs to come up with better design standards and then actually follow them.

[charlie]

Glad to see the courthouse station go in -- about six months late. The other few R-B stations will be nice as well.

new basket?

[JeffB]

Re: MLK Redesign,

Agree with jeff. Whatever happened to Complete Streets? Whenever a street is redone it must be done to a minimum standard to permit safe usage by ALL.

Another lost opportunity that we'll have to suffer with for another 30 years. :(

[M.V. Jantzen]

Does anyone have a link for the 2012 Rails-to-Trails Sojourn? Don't see it at http://www.railstotrails.org/ and Google isn't pulling it up, it seems.

[M.V. Jantzen]

Found it:
http://wilderness-voyageurs.com/rtcs-greenway-sojourn-2012.html they bus you from Pittsburgh to DC, then you bike back over 6 days. Hmm, to bad it's not the reverse.

[Bossi]

RE: WTOP's coverage of commute distance / stress relationship-

Correlation does not imply causation.
http://xkcd.com/552/

When focusing on stress, I'd wager there are plenty of other factors at play well beyond commute distance. For example, I'd guess that those with longer commutes live in more rural areas with fewer complexities, distractions, and stressors. I live in the city exactly because I *want* more complexity, distractions, and stressors. I thrive on stress: it keeps me motivated; and having so many things to do beyond just work might keep me eternally running late for every destination I aim to be at- but I enjoy the many different things that I get to do.

[JJJJJ]

2 feet is a fancy gutter

[washcycle]

I've been hoping that someone would point out the Gazette story is wrong (about 2 feet bike lanes). How can removing a lane only leave 2 feet for bike lanes?

[JeffB]

@washcycle

I was wondering the same thing. Could it be that the addition of the sidewalk and some median strip accounts for the remainder of the 'missing lane'?

[7]

Wash, you're a man after my own heart. My husband didn't think anyone could misspell "apparently" as I do! It's a standing joke in our house to now similarly butcher its pronounciation, too.

[Tara]

The Rails to Trails Sojourn would be a lot more appealing to me (and I'm guessing other DC folks), if there was a bus to get you from DC to the Pittsburgh start. Though I suppose you could box your bike and take the train to P'burgh.

[Jack]

This is quite a blog entry. You must spend hours every day digging this stuff up! My question: How long DO you spend every day on this?

[washcycle]

Between 2 and 3 hours a day