TheWashCycle

If you get too powerful, you have to stop biking

The League has the story here.

News has been filtering in for days about theappointment of Denis McDonough to be President Obama’s new Chief of Staff.

We’ve been paying particular attention because he lives not far from the League’s own Scott Williams in Takoma Park, Md. In fact, they are passing acquaintances… i.e. McDonough usually passes Scott on his bike ride to work.

McDonough’s appointment was made official late last week, along with the shocking news that the new Chief of Staff may not be able to continue riding his bike to work. That, according to President Obama, “probably isn’t allowed.”

The League’s office is only a couple of blocks from the White House and we haven’t banned Scott from riding to work – so we don’t think it’s the distance or lack of a decent route that’s the issue. And I am sure Scott would offer to ride along with Denis in their own little bike train, if that would make the difference; we can be flexible with Scott’s hours, Mr. President.

Along with a Top Ten Reasons why Denis Should be Allowed to Bike to Work. 

Meanwhile, Tom Harkin is retiring from the Senate so that he can bike more. 

My wife is a great bicyclist. And I’ve never done RAGBRAI (the noncompetitive bicycle ride across Iowa), because they always do it when I’m in session. So there’s one thing [I want to do]. She goes on these great bicycle rides, but I can’t do them.

16th Annual Maryland State Bicycle Symposium

Monday Morning Commute - black four-inch silver-studded heels

Good morning

• A study aimed at improving the Long Bridge - the railroad bridge between DC and Arlington - could be finished later this year. "The long-range vision includes “multi-modal capacity improvements,” with an eye toward “high-speed and intercity passenger rail, commuter rail” and freight traffic, according to the study. Mass transit, pedestrian and bicycle needs also are being considered."
• I love that the headline of this story is not that "Of the 44,017 worldwide participants in the Strava Cycling Base Mile Blast, which challenges athletes to ride as many miles as they can during the month of January, [local resident Ben] Jacoby currently sits in eighth place" but rather that he chose to get a bike when he could've gotten a car. Because that's far more unusual. 
• Despite bad luck in recent sessions, three bills that aim to make driving that endangers cyclists and others illegal in Virginia are moving forward. The bill that would make following a cyclist too closely illegal was backed by the House Transportation Committee on a 20-1 vote.
• The town of Ridgely, MD will use SHA trail grants to improve it's short section of rail-trail called the Ridgely Rail Trail. This could someday become a stop on a railtrail between Easton, MD and Clayton DE. 
• And Herndon, VA uses it's bike trails to sell the city "District-based Trialogue Studio redesigned the city’s logo and created a marketing campaign that highlights the town’s weekly concerts, small boutiques and accessible bike trails."
• Coverage of the Inauguration alleycat.
• I think I mentioned this before, but a GGW story on Metro power outlets and power supply after a storm. I wonder if they could add an outlet or USB power port to CaBi stations. Power generated by the solar panel could first go to running the station and then charging the battery. But the excess power (and there must be excess since it works even in the depth of winter) could be shunted to the outlet. Most of the time it would just be a small public service, but in a catastrophe it could be huge. In addition, since all the power given away would be clean, they might be able to track how much they give away and sell carbon credits for it.
• When you look at the chart on the causes of road rage, several of them, including #1, could be attributed to cyclists. Missing from the list - ignoring TCDs. It makes me less likely to believe that getting everyone to stop at stop signs will end the occasional hostile behavior of drivers. Also, I wonder if drivers think of passing on the right as cutting, but moving to the front in a bike lane as not cutting. If so, chalk that up as another benefit of bike lanes. 
• Bike commuter groups in the New York City area have seen numbers surge in the last few years, and better facilities and bike-friendly laws are part of the reason. “Bicycling in from New Jersey and other suburbs took off after the city passed a law requiring landlords to accommodate bikes in buildings,”

Bike Snob NYC book signing at Bethesda, Maryland Barnes & Noble

I may have shown a smaller segment of this talk before, but I think this is it in its entirety.

The Re-Answer Issue

In the Answers issue of the City Paper one question is about whether or not a condo association can ban bicycles from the parking garage (because theirs did) and force bike owners to either pay for space in a storage facility or keep them in their apartment. 

My condo building decided to ban bicycles from being stored in our parking garage. They cut all locks on bicycles stored in the parking garage after a certain date, and disposed of them. As a storage alternative, they offered a small room, for a fee, for bike storage, but once that filled up, other residents were out of luck and now have to store their bikes in their living spaces. Can they really do this?

The City Paper says the condo association can do that, but I think they got it wrong. Or at least the answer is maybe, need more information.

The building has to provide indoor bike parking at the rate of one space for every three units and one outside space for every 20 units with a minimum of two. 

They're using a bicycle storage room, and the zoning codes say that "If a room or common locker not divided into individual spaces is used to meet these requirements, twelve square feet (12 sq. ft.) of floor area shall be considered the equivalent of one (1) bicycle parking space."

So the question is how big as that storage room and how many units are there in the building. Since the room is overflowing, I suspect that it isn't big enough to meet code. 

One thing that advocates could consider though is whether or not buildings should have to provide parking to tennatns for free, or for only a key deposit. I can see an argument on both sides of that question.

More land purchased for South Shore Trail

The oft-delayed South Shore Trail appears to be moving forward as the Maryland Board of Public Works approved the purchase of two parcels in Millersville, MD for Phase I of the project. 

The South Shore Trail will utilize the portion of the WB&A running between Odenton and Bestgate Road in Annapolis. The 10.3-mile trail will be linked in Odenton to the WB&A Trail, which would connect to Prince George’s County’s WB&A Trail at the Patuxent River. This trail will also be a component of both the East Coast Greenways (ECG) and the American Discovery Trail (ADT). 

The trail has been in development for a long time. Originally it was to be open in 2002. But Phase I, which connects Maryland Route 3 to Interstate 97, wasn't budgeted until 2005 at which point it was scheduled to begin in 2006. Later it was planned to start in 2008. But this purchase - which allows the trail to detour around a portion of nontidal wetlands - and an earlier one in September, should give people hope that work is imminent.

Currently, the trail only includes a stretch of 0.84 miles from the Westfield Annapolis mall to Anne Arundel Medical Center. 

Work is supposed to begin in the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2013, but "that could change." 

Originally this project was described as 10.3 miles, so I'm not sure why now it is 16.4. Perhaps they're counting the section to the B&A Trail. The trail will be developed in three phases and cost $4.2 million. 

Saturday Morning Ride - Crackdown

Good morning

• DC police crack down on pedestrians.
• Eastbound SE Freeway to close at the end of this month. This will make room for a new sidepath, among other things.  

Friday Afternoon Commute - Retraction

Good afternoon

• WAMU re-writes the Alexandria bicycle registration story. As noted in the comments yesterday, Alexandria is moving to end longstanding regulations requiring bicycle owners to register their bikes with the city, and pay a fee. "The need for local registration of something like a bicycle is probably no longer necessary," Deputy City Attorney Chris Spera  says. "If an owner is concerned about his or her bicycle being stolen and being able to track it, there is a National Bike Registry that serves that function."
• This isn't really news. We've known the M Street cycle-track wouldn't come until later this year for some time. 
• A map of states with dooring laws. Even Florida has one Virginia! Yeah, that Florida.
• "The Town of Williamsport will use a $10,000 state grant to create a 1.3-mile circuit of bike lanes on town streets, with enough funding expected to be left to mark South Conococheague Street for cyclists down to a new park-and-ride lot to be built near the Interstate 81/Md. 68 interchange, Town Clerk Donald Stotelmyer said" This is to get people riding the C&O Canal to get off and ride around town. "Local businesses already have experienced increased business since the town added bike lanes in both directions on Potomac Street,"
• True. And I was robbed of 155th place.
• The Open House on the MacArthur Blvd Trail shift was last night. Did anyone go?

Friday Morning Commute - Your cheating heart and lungs

Good morning

• A look at why doping is so prevalent in cycling. "Doping is so effective in cycling because the sport is almost entirely a test of endurance. A basketball player can increase his endurance and strength through cheating, but it’s difficult to improve shooting technique with drugs. The same goes for such other high-technique sports as tennis and soccer." Of course, there is cheating in every sport - even chess. And Scrabble. And Poker. And figure skating. Let's face it, when people really, really want to win. Some of them will cheat. 

The Oregon Avenue Preferred Alternative no longer includes bike facilities

The FHWA, in coordination with DDOT, is issuing a FONSI for the Preferred Alternative, Alternative 3 Modified, for the rebuild of 1.7 miles of Oregon Avenue as identified in the Final EA for the Oregon Avenue Rehabilitation project. Unfortunately

Alternative 3 was modified to reduce the typical cross-section for the Northern Section of the roadway in response to public comments regarding impacts on adjacent property owners and tree removal; dedicated bike lanes or shared bike paths are not included in the Preferred Alternative.

Originally Alternative 3 was to be 10 feet wider in the Northern Section and use that to include a 10-foot share-use path. But now it will only include

In the Northern Section, or north of Nebraska Avenue to Western Avenue, the Preferred Alternative would transition to a cross-section width of 33 feet and would consist of two 10-foot travel lanes with curb and gutter, a 4-foot grass strip/tree buffer and a 6-foot sidewalk for pedestrians on the west side, and curbing only on the east side.

So the road is unchanged, but the vegetative strip is narrower and the 10 foot trail becomes a 6 foot sidewalk.

They try to justify the removal of bike facilities to mollify NIMBYs by citing the bike plan.

Although the Preferred Alternative does not include dedicated or shared bicycle facilities, the alternative is consistent with the DC Bicycle Master Plan because it would improve safety along the existing bicycle route by providing a consistent roadway width and stabilizing the edge of pavement

But that is some weak sauce in my opinion.The bike plan represents the best attempt of DDOT to meet the needs of cyclists at the time (2005). When it is doesn't do that, citing it doesn't make that go away. And based on the comments they received (there are 2 pages of names of people who sent in the "Bike form letter" supporting it)*, cyclists very much supported alternative 4.  You can't use an oversight to justify a bad decision. 

Still, this is a small improvement from the current state, which with the exception of a very short stretch of sidewalk north of Moreland Place, currently lacks amenities to serve pedestrians and bicycles at all. But a sidewalk isn't really a bike facility. 

Another good alternative for cyclists was 4.

In the Northern Section, or north of Nebraska Avenue to Western Avenue, Alternative 4 would have a cross-section width of 44 feet and include two 10-foot travel lanes, a 4-foot bike lane, 10-foot vegetated swale, and 5-foot sidewalk on the west side, and a 4-foot bike lane and mountable curbing on the east side. 

Alternative 4 is also the most expensive at $35.3 million. Alt 3 was $30.5 million and the preferred alternative would be $27.2 million. 

I believe the Finding of No Significant Impact is only for the Preferred Alternative, but the other alternatives score almost identically. 

I don't see any signs that there will be more opportunities for public input, so it looks like this is lost opportunity. 

*Rereading my own comment, I'm blown away by it's elegance.