TheWashCycle

Thursday Morning Commute - Ridicule is step 2

Good morning

• WABA is asking cyclists to testify to the DC Council in favor of safer streets and more protection.
• Kidical Mass' last ride of the year is this Saturday and includes a costume contest. 
• Humpback Bridge MVT work to be completed in about two weeks.
• Compete coverage of Alexandria's entrance into CaBi. 
• Residents are advised to continue to avoid any direct contact with waters in Holmes Run downstream of the Ripley Street fair weather crossing in the City of Alexandria.  A portion of the bike trail on the north side of Brooke Valley Park has been closed due to the spill and emergency construction now taking place on site; however, trail riders may use Holmes Run Parkway.  The City and Fairfax County are working jointly to address the two broken sewer pipes identified on Friday, October 7.  The spill is currently contained; however, repairs on the broken sewer pipes will be ongoing.
• Reportedly a group of cyclist riding on the GW Parkway this weekend - which is illegal - were buzzed by a diver. No biggie. Happens all the time. But then the car turned around, made a loop and came by again, passing the cyclists again and then, this time, quickly slamming on his brakes causing one cyclist to crash into the back of the car. The car sped away before anyone could get the tag #. The cyclist was taken to the hospital with a broken hip.
• Though linked to earlier, here is the WABA post on the extension of the WB&A trail across the Patuxent and south to the ATTS. One plan to cross the Patuxent involves a 1 mile detour. Considering the distance people are willing to bike to work or errands (3-10 miles), a 1 mile detour will really reduce utility. 
• GM ran a set of ads targeted at college students designed to make cycling and walking look like transit for losers. It appears to have backfired and they have pulled the ads. I don't find it offensive, if anything it's a compliment and tacit recognition that younger people are interested in biking and walking. They're a car company; of course they don't want you to go car-free or car-lite. You don't hate a shark for killing, that's what sharks do. As is often misattributed to Ghandi "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Coincidentally, this was just after the League of American Bicyclists named their bike-friendly universities - which included both George Mason and the University of Maryland at the bronze level (Texas got an honorable mention). 

* The actual quote is "First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you. And that, is what is going to happen to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America." and it's from a 1918 US trade union address by Nicholas Klein. USA! USA!

Holmes Run Trail

Holmes Run trail by bikesnick

Thursday Morning Commute - New W&OD Bridge

Good morning

• The new W&OD bridge over the Capital Beltway will open June 15th. They'll be a ribbon cutting at 10am. 
• GGW on complaints that some of Virginia's transportation money is going to something other than roads "If you're a demagoguing state delegate, though, why talk about real priorities when you can complain about something that constitutes 0.0023% of the total transportation budget?"
• The City of Alexander has completed the plans for the Holmes Run Chambliss Crossing which will connect Alexandria and Fairfax County.

Holmes Run Underpass

Photo by by Aperturef64

Thursday Morning Commute - early spring

Yesterday was groundhog day, when Punxsutawney Phil came out of his hole, saw his shadow and declared an early spring. Today is my sister's birthday when she gets out of bed, sees her reflection in the mirror and declares herself still 29.

• Who wants a trail in their front yard? Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, that's who. He sold 275 linear feet of his property frontage to Fairfax County  for a trail along Spring Hill Road. At 6 feet wide it's more like a sidewalk really. The trail will "give pedestrians safe passage to Spring Hill RECenter, Spring Hill Elementary School, Tysons Corner and the future Metrorail Silver Line." Update: Apparantly he didn't really want it that much. Here is an article from 2006 (alluded to in the comments) about the long-running battle. The original offer was for $19,000, but he eventually got $81,000.
• Capital Bikeshare is turning non-cyclists into errand-by-bike regulars.
• More discussion, this time at City Paper, about "why CaBi isn't being used EOTR" (and the since removed statement that "African-Americans... are averse to colder temperatures"). One issue that hasn't been mentioned is that the street-grid EOTR is just awful. Each little neighborhood appears to be turned at it's own angle, many streets don't go through and it all looks kind of suburban. DC really dropped the ball when they let it develop like that.
• DC streets could be getting safer.
• I'm not sure how one would do this for DC, but we could add in a Capital Bikeshare profile.
• A more detailed description (including a map) of some of Alexandria's 17 grant-funded bike/ped projects.

Alexandria Transportation Committee to discuss bike/ped grants

One agenda item for this week's Alexandria Transportation Committee is it's pedestrian and bicycle grant projects.

The City currently has 17 bicycle and pedestrian projects that are partially or fully grant funded. The cost estimate for all of these projects is approximately $16 million. The City currently has $7.7 million for these projects with $8.3 million unfunded.

Which includes

• Holmes Run Bike Trail Study – The study and design resulting in a preferred alignment for significant upgrades to the trails and tunnels along the Holmes Run Greenway from North Ripley Street running north beneath I-395.
• Holmes Run Bike Trail Construction – Construction of the preferred alignment from the Holmes Run Bike Trail Study.
• Holmes Run Shared Use Path Crossing – Construct a low profile crossing over Holmes Run at North Chambliss Street.
• Bicycle Parking and Pedestrian Signals at Schools – Installation of bicycle parking and pedestrian signals at schools.
• Mount Vernon Trail Safety at East Abingdon – Widening the Mount Vernon Trail at East Abingdon
• Wilkes Street Bikeway – Bicycle intersection improvements to Wilkes Street to provide an on-road, east-west bikeway connection between major shared-used paths
• Eisenhower Multi-use Trail – Construction of a [trail] underpass at Eisenhower Avenue.
• Old Cameron Run Study – Feasibility study and conceptual design for a bicycle/pedestrian trail between Eisenhower Avenue near Telegraph Road to the Mount Vernon Trail.
• Four Mile Run Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge – Design of a bicycle and pedestrian bridge that would connect Commonwealth Avenue in Alexandria with South Eads Street in Arlington

The grant projects that need additional funding include the Holmes Run Bike Trail Study, the Holmes Run Bike Trail Construction, and the Four Mile Run Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge.

The meeting is planned for Wednesday, February 2 at 7:30 pm and will take place at Alexandria City Hall (301 King Street) on the first floor in the Sister Cities Conference Room 1101. All meetings are open to the public.

Alexandria's Priority Transportation Projects

The proposal to fund Alexandria’s Priority Transportation Projects is being conducted by the City of Alexandria for the purpose of identifying and implementing near and long term projects that have the most transportation needs within the City of Alexandria.

What's New

• Alexandria stakeholders are encouraged to attend one of the upcoming city-wide community meetings:
  Thursday, November 11  ------- Sister Cities Room 1101, 301 King Street, City Hall
  Wednesday. December 8 ----- Beatley Library, Community Room, 5005 Duke Street
  Thursday, January 13 ------ Mount Vernon Recreation Center, Community Room, 2701 Commonwealth Avenue
• The public is encouraged to give comments online, please click here to do so.

Virginia decided to allow Northern Virginia to raise taxes and fees to pay for transportation. These meetings will discuss what to do with the Commercial Real Estate Tax revenue that results from this decission. Most of the projects proposed are transit related. But in Tier II there are some bike projects including:

• Improvements to Holmes Run Greenway between Beauregard Avenue and N. Ripley Street and construction of a trail connection from Mill Road at Eisenhower Avenue to South Payne Street.
• Multi-use path projects to provide increased bicycle connectivity including a trail along Backlick Run- Construction of a shared use path between Boothe Park west to the Fairfax County line.
• Widen Van Dorn Street over Duke Street to accommodate pedestrians and provide multi-modal facilities consistent with the City's 2008 Transportation Plan.
• Construct extension of Holland Lane south from Eisenhower Avenue to Old Cameron Run Channel. The roadway extension would provide multi-modal facilities.

Saturday Morning Ride - Goldilocks

Its another beautiful day for riding.

• A teenaged cyclist was killed after a crash with a car in Virginia Beach. Reportedly he was wearing no helmet and ran a red light. The next day a cyclist was hit and injured in Richmond, the driver drove away and police are looking for him.
• Volunteers create a teaching garden along the MBT. Speaking of the MBT, does anyone use the trail elevator to the NYA Metro station regularly? One commenter reported that it is often not working.
• Steve Offutt writes about his first CaBi experience at CPB. He had some problems, but found it to be mostly positive. I too finally had my first experience. I had more trouble figuring out how to get my bike then I expected and the seat kept sliding down, but otherwise I found it to be a great ride. It's how I plan to get to jury duty next week. Yesterday I saw six people riding CaBis. I think that's the same number of non-DDOT employees I saw riding SmartBike over the length of the program.
• GGW suggests using CaBi to fill the gap in Metro due to this weekend's closure. This is part of what I meant by "it will change everything".
• TheCitFix has an informative post on the effort to keep CaBi stations "Goldilocked" neither too full nor too empty*. "The company’s contract states explicitly that a station cannot be full or empty for more than three hours at a time between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and midnight. Obviously, the company’s goal is to try to beat that. They have laptops in their trucks that map the bike distribution in real-time." And I love that Velib used market economics to solve the hill problem "Return your bike to one of 100 stations perched over 60 meters above the rest of the city, and 15 minutes of free riding is added to your account.” So far it’s been successful."
• WMATA has been reportedly evicting cyclists from their lockers without giving any warning or notice. They won't get help from foreclosure freeze, but WABA wants to help.
• Alexandria's Beauregard corridor plan includes some bike projects in it's second tier. "Included are some Complete Streets projects and three bike-related projects: improvements to Holmes Run between Beauregard and Ripley St, a trail extension along Backlick Run continuing to the Fairfax County line, and a new trail between Eisenhower Ave/Mill Rd and South Payne St running along the old Cameron Run channel." Unfortunately, there is no funding at this time. 
• A letter writer to the Post says that changes in laws are not enough, we need to redesign cities as well. And another wishes they would cover pro cycling more.
• The final plan for the Southwest Waterfront was released. "Maine Avenue SW will be turned into a 60-foot expansive boulevard with 10-foot, two-way bike lanes and a center-lane streetcar system." It will also include the western leg of the ART, but I'm not sure if cyclists will be allowed on it or will use Maine - similar to Yards Park.
• Rep. Jim Moran is "pressing for a transit system to connect parts of Northern Virginia not served by Metrorail; a bicycle path along the ridges overlooking the Potomac River; and a boathouse near Theodore Roosevelt Island, where high school crew teams could practice." Wow, we really need a lot of boathouses in this town.
• Ralph Buehler, a bicycle transportation researcher, will be speaking at Catholic U next week. Richard Layman and WABA's Casey Anderson will be doing a presentation on best practice planning and implementation to increase bicycling take up in the suburbs in Rockville on Monday.
• DC Streetsblog has a new reporter. Naturally, she's a bike commuter.
• Kate Ryan interviews Maryland State Highway Administration's Bicycle Safety Coordinator Peter Moe about the new Maryland bike laws. "You can and should expect to see bicyclists on any roadway, apart from our interstates. Bikes are considered a legal vehicle, and they have a right to the roadway."
• Baltimore's mayor signs the new bike safety laws. "One of the measures, which recently cleared the City Council, would require the use of bicycle-safe storm grates on any new roads in the city. The other would increase the fine [to $75] for motorists who park in bicycle lanes." Relateldly, I was driving with Trike and I saw a motorcyclist use the bike lane to pass all the stopped cars and get in front of them - just as a cyclist would. Technically that's illegal, but he did it slowly. I have mixed feelings.  The interesting thing is that the car in front of me pulled up to get even with the motorcycle. A photo of the motorcyclist after he passed me is below (when I took this photo I was safely stopped at the light, fyi).

;

* I know, something is either full or it isn't, there is no "too full", but it works better with the Goldilocks reference.

Maryland State Highway Administration's Bicycle Safety Coordinator

Serial Flasher in Alexandria

Creepy

Five indecent exposures along popular bike paths in Alexandria have detectives trying to determine if there is one perpetrator.

All five victims were walking on the bike paths along Eisenhower Avenue, Holmes Run Parkway and Holmes Run Park.

The first time was March 16, around 5 p.m. A woman was walking along the bike path in the 4000 block of Eisenhower Avenue. A man called out to her and when she turned and looked, he exposed himself at the edge of the woods.  She called police, but the suspect ran away.

The next incident was about a month later on the same bike path about a block away.  Then three more indecent exposures:  one on the Holmes Run Parkway bike path and two on the Holmes Run Park path in the area of Duke Street.

I wonder if this is the same guy who was flashing women on the W&OD Trail, he just moved elsewhere when the police increased their presence.

Saturday Morning Ride

Creepy dude on a bike.

Notes from the Alexandria Transportation Committee Meeting

Of note in the city's [CLRP and TIP] project submissions are:

- Funding to study the Holmes Run Bike Trail from I-395 to Ripley St. This is the stretch that is right up along the spillway and is in drastic need of improvement.

- Two items that were covered at last month's Pedestrian and Bicycle Citizen's Group meeting: the bike/ped underpass of Eisenhower at Cameron Run, and the Eisenhower Ave Complete Streets project.

Curiously, there's public concern that it doesn't do enough for pedestrians, meanwhile I dropped a bombshell about supporting not just bicycle access to the station, but THROUGH the station area...my rationale being that connecting the existing bike/ped trail tha parallels Metro (between Braddock Rd and Commonwealth Ave) down to Duke St will require figuring out a way to get it through the King St Metro station area.

Tickets are on sale for the WABA/Bike Arlington movie night.