Friday Morning Commute - The Others

Good morning

• Three very good suggestions for making the connection between the George Mason Bridge and the 15th Street cycletrack.
• DDOT's Capital Bikeshare Manager Chris Holben is named one of the people who are shaping Washington by Washingtonian magazine.
• Wow, "Who's parking in the L Street bike lane" reallyblew upyesterday. 
• The commuting method "Other" is way up in Georgetown, which means either more bike commuting or more segway commuting. 
• Vote DC? There's a jersey for that.
• Thanks to some good police work, three men who allegedly attacked and robbed a jogger on the Custis trail are in custody.
• Maryland is the process of updating its 2035 Maryland Transportation Plan, a long-range blueprint that will outline transportation goals and priorities. During a recent workshop on the new plan, Frederick city Alderman Karen Young (D) — who was recently elected chairwoman of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, a regional planning board that looks at transportation, economics and the environment — suggested that bike paths be installed in communities where people live and work. “A lot of people say ‘Bike paths are nice things to have, but are not necessary,’” Young said. “I would disagree with that.... We need to move toward anything that gets people out of their cars.”

Comments

[contrarian]

This is so meta -- WashCycle reporting on NBC4 reporting on DCIst reporting on a tumblr. We're one link away from the Internet collapsing on itself.

[charlie]

Meanwhile, that stupid construction at New Hamsphire and L continues.

As I've said, in 15+ years in DC and bikes I had maybe 1-2 negative car interactions. I'm now up about 12 on the L st bike lane. Almost got clipped when I had to pull out of the bike lane and make my left on NH b/c of construction equipment.

Given that L st is my main route, I don't see much choice -- I am moving in a month and that might save me - but it has not been a positive experience. L st before in the west end was much easier to ride.

[UrbanEngineer]

I appreciate the links to the additional L-Street cycletrack tumblr coverage. I found the comment section on the NBC washington story, especially on their facebook page, a pretty good read.

[Crikey7]

I went through the L street segment right before New Hampshire this a.m. The cycletrack was blocked, and the resulting car-bike mix was fairly chaotic.

[T]

They're good suggestions for bridge-to-15th St cycletrack, but I laughed at the less experienced riders take the sidewalk. No, it's that many of us experienced riders have either been hit or had too many close encounters that we opt for the sidewalk or through the Elipse. Between the busses pulling out, people trying to merge right to get onto Constitution Ave and general high volume of out-of-towndrivers right there, I usually opt for the non-15th St alternative.

I'm not optimistic the city will ever reach an agreement there because of the vendors. It would be a great extension. If they could fix te Maine Ave/15th St 3rd world nation intersection dilemma, that would also be nice. And I think signage between Maine/Ohio Drive that the left lane only goes to 395 and right lane to Tidal Basin area may also help. Every two weeks or so, someone climbs right up against me (I'm usually at around the speed limit there) or makes a way-too-close-for-comfort pass and then ends up merging left a few feet later.

My final suggestion would be for NPS or PP to stop putting those traffic cones right in front of the sidewalk entrance at the bottom of the bridge. I know the PP have ticketed folks for riding up Ohio Drive (called something else right there by Jefferson) the wrong way, but they also seem to cone the sidewalk entry points as if it were some sort of football tip-toe exercise lineup. Worse yet is when they park their vehicles right in that entrance and wonder why no one can get into it.

While I'm at it, maybe a little sign at the bridge-to-path merge there for those folks coming up the stairs indicating it's a MUP and they may encounter bicycles. People seem to congregate there causing all sorts of problems for folks going on or coming off the bridge.

[DaveS]

Awesome that the Vote DC bike jersey is a motor vehicle license plate.