Good morning. Riding the Met Branch Trail yesterday I noticed they've removed most of one half of the New York Avenue Bridge and it makes the underpass there so much more open and sunny. But I suppose it won't last.
- State Deptartmen CaBi station has been moved a little and expanded by four docks.
- Capitol Heights, MD got a grant to study turning a street into a green street, which could include bike lanes. They're considering three streets: Old Central Avenue; Chamber Avenue, which becomes Capitol Heights Boulevard; and Suffolk Avenue, which becomes Brooke Road. All three of these are just across the District boundary. "A community input meeting to ask residents where they want to see a green street and what it should include is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon Feb. 25 at the First Baptist Church of Capitol Heights at 6 Capitol Heights Blvd." If they went with Central or Chamber, perhaps they could team up with the District.
- Stafford County cyclist riding at night on US 17 was struck from behind and killed. No charges for the driver and no mention of lights.
- NPR's Marketplace on stolen bikes. "The San Francisco police officers will routinely bust bike thieves, but there's a shameless open-air market. Within a minute of arriving, I was being offered bicycles. I found a kid with a bike that was about the right size for me, a track bike, pretty fancy machine. I tried to bargain with him a little bit, and he said, 'I looked it up, this is a $700 bicycle.' So he wasn't even pretending to own the bike."
The story of the stolen bicycle trade cries out for a great piece of investigative journalism. This, unfortunately, is not it.
Posted by: Crickey7 | January 30, 2012 at 09:46 AM
http://satwcomic.com/this-is-bikeland
Posted by: charlie | January 30, 2012 at 12:09 PM
One place i recently realized could really use a CaBi station: Washington Hospital Center. There are a couple stations a few blocks away, but there oughta be one right there.
Posted by: antibozo | January 30, 2012 at 01:11 PM
On the MBT under NY Ave Bridge this morning, I noticed a football-sized chunk of stone on the trail. I'm glad I wasn't there when that came down!
Posted by: J.T. | January 30, 2012 at 01:32 PM
According to the CaBi expansion map, they are going to add a station on First St. NW at Washington Hospital Center. CaBi will also be adding dozens of additional stations in D.C. this year.
Arlington will also be adding dozens of stations. Alexandria will add 8 and then 9 more, and Montgomery Co. is looking to join the system too. They could end the year with dozens of stations as well.
This map only shows current stations, approved station sites and some but not all of the proposed sites in the metro area. Most of the new D.C. and Arlington stations are not included on the map yet.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209109927891733107407.0004a910539f268a93c9b&msa=0&ie=UTF8&ll=38.90466,-76.987724&spn=0.209729,0.308647&source=embed
Posted by: Michael H. | January 30, 2012 at 01:33 PM
Michael, thanks for the info!
Posted by: antibozo | January 30, 2012 at 01:44 PM
The longer version of the stolen bicycle story is worth a read, IMO: http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/Who-Pinched-My-Ride.html?page=all
Posted by: Jonathan Krall | January 30, 2012 at 02:27 PM
I see immigrant riders all the time wearing dark clothing and no external lights. There must be a way to do some bike safety outreach to people from these communities.
Posted by: Scott | January 30, 2012 at 02:53 PM
Scott, i see that too. Not clear that's the case in the story above, but i think it's clearly an issue.
Posted by: antibozo | January 30, 2012 at 02:56 PM
It is. There was a NYT story about that a few years ago. I know WABA, Arlington and DDOT have tried to address that, but I bet Stafford county has not.
Posted by: washcycle | January 30, 2012 at 04:28 PM
Scott, in Alexandria, we target the immigrant-intensive Chirilagua/Arlandria area with a bike light giveaway every Autumn. This year we (Alexandria City and Alexandria BPAC) worked with the Chrililagua Business Association, which made the program more effective.
Posted by: Jonathan Krall | January 30, 2012 at 05:46 PM
Bike Arlington had two or three bike light giveaways in the fall and winter. They set up tables at key trail intersections and handed out bike lights (front and back) to any cyclist who passed by. Some people took extras to hand out themselves at other times when they see a ninja cyclist.
Posted by: Michael H. | January 30, 2012 at 10:46 PM