Tuesday Afternoon Commute - By the hour

Good afternoon

• Connecticut Avenue south of DuPont Circle will get more bike racks as part of the Connecticut Avenue Streetscape project.
• Alexandria's waterfront plan, which promises to change the Mt. Vernon Trail through the area, is a central issue in the race for Mayor and the subject of a lawsuit. 
• National Geographic spotlights the Great Allegheny Passage. 
• Seattle gets bike lockers that transit users can rent by the hour. "Metro received a federal grant to try out on-demand lockers in a three-year pilot project. The idea is to make storage more convenient and efficient for people who want to pedal to the bus stop but don't need to take their bikes with them." IF the program is a success, maybe that will inspire our Metro to follow suit. BTW, their annual lockers have only a $50 refundable key deposit (and a long waiting list). 

Comments

[Kolohe]

"The Mount Vernon Trail runs between George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and the Key Bridge in Rosslyn. In Alexandria, the Mount Vernon Trail begins and ends as a shared-use paved path, but through Old Town cyclists must use local streets, including a signed, on-road bikeway along Union Street between Pendleton and Jefferson Streets. This Plan is not recommending changing that arrangement. " (em added)

page 111 of Chapter 4: Transportation, Circulation and Parking; http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/planning/info/Waterfront/Chapter%204_High%20Quality%20for%20Print_FINAL_070612-7.pdf

of Approved Watefront Small Area Plan

http://alexandriava.gov/special/waterfront/default.aspx?id=18940

[Jonathan Krall]

Related to the Waterfront Plan, the Union Street Corridor Study is ongoing and will make recommendations on traffic controls in that area.
http://alexandriava.gov/tes/info/default.aspx?id=62680
Here is a presentation about it:
http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/recreation/info/WaterfrontCommUnionStStudyPresentation21June2012.pdf
On slide 18 of the presentation, there is a chart that shows that bicycle numbers are comparable to automobile numbers for most of the day on a typical Saturday (and pedestrians outnumber both).

[washcycle]

Recommendation from the waterfront plan:

4.11: Provide improved signage for bicyclists to improve safety and help
delineate the urban section of the Mount Vernon Trail between Bashford
Lane and Green Street. Encourage through traffic to use Royal Street as a
preferred route through Old Town.
4.12: Implement a bike sharing station to connect the waterfront to a larger
regional system that will extend the reach of transit and the parking
system as part of a City-wide program.
4.13: Rehabilitate and make surface improvements to the Mount Vernon Trail.
4.14: Reconnect waterfront bicycle routes to Jones Point Park as part of the
renovation efforts for that park.
4.15: Apply and enforce on and off road bicycle laws to help improve bicycle
safety and minimize pedestrian and bicycle conflicts and vehicular and
bicycle conflicts as recommended in the 2008 Pedestrian and Bicycle
Mobility Plan. The City should proactively explore and implement urban
design approaches that help minimize these conflicts.
4.16: Provide additional bicycle parking on the waterfront in Oronoco Bay Park
and near or at the foot of King Street with more racks and/or covered
bicycle shelters.
4.17: Explore improved bicycle facilities on North Union Street and North Royal
Street, as recommended in the 2008 Pedestrian and Bicycle Mobility Plan.

[Kolohe]

Most of those things are already planned independently of the waterfront plan, or like for Jones point already done now.

In other words, even if for reason the waterfront plan got completely scuttled, most of that stuff would still happen. (and how hard is it to put in signs?)

(and conversely, how much stuff isn't going to change even if it's in the plan, like 'enforcing laws' and 'proactively explore'?)

The waterfront plan, whatever form it ends up with, will do very little to affect the in-town portion of the MVT.