Thursday Morning Commute - As close to a CWL post as you'll get this year. Blame Tandem.

Good morning

• Yesterday the DC Council passed the Access to Justice for Bicyclists Act of 2012 and, I think, the Motorized Bicycle Amendment Act of 2012. ABC7 covered the former. 
• WABA is creating three new positions and hiring two new staff. 
• The DC BAC points out that the upcoming (and some are in the past) zoning meetings are a great chance to advocate for cycling. The zoning regs will define how much bike parking buildings must provide as well as rules about showers and changing rooms for bike commuters. 
• Tour de Fat 2013 takes a step forward. 
• Christmas Wish List Alert!! WMATA is testing 3-bike bus racks.
• Staff with DC-based LAB write about their favorite 2 mile rides, most of which are in DC. 
• Why Minneapolis plows their trails “We see the trails as highways,” said  Donald Pflaum, a transportation planner from the Minneapolis Public Works Department. Still the city is looking at narrowing a 20 foot wide trail to 16 or 12 feet to make way for a light rail line. 

Comments

[tdcjames]

"Trail diet", maybe?

I'm dreaming wistfully of the kind of two-wheeled mode share that would require a twenty-foot-wide trail, and the kind of government buy-in that would make it happen.

[Michael H.]

My wish list:

- Widen the Mt. Vernon Trail, especially between the 14th St. Bridge and Old Town
- Widen and improve the bike/ped path from the 14th St. Bridge in DC, leading to E. Basin Dr. and the Jefferson Memorial

There are other items, but these two are at the top of my personal list.

[Mike]

2000 people per day is a lower volume than we see on local trails like the W&OD or Custis. I think the main difference is that they were starting with a much larger right of way--the Washington & Old Dominion railroad was never the size of the Great Northern. If you look at the google imagery it appears that there may have been as many as 6 tracks along that line, and parts of the trail run through what appears to have been a switching yard.