TheWashCycle

NNMC BRAC just got worse

Last month I wrote about the problems around the NNMC BRAC expansion. NNMC should be a cycling hot bed, as it's nestled in between three trails and has a workforce that's legally required to stay fit.

In the design, the State Highway Association (SHA) is ignoring its own recently adopted guidelines calling for bicycle enhancements to be incorporated in all major SHA road construction projects.

In some cases the work they are doing will make it harder to add master planned bike facilities in the future because they are taking all of the available right of way.

Two Black Wheels recently reported on the traffic counting process around the medical center.

Neither counter had been instructed to count bicycles specifically although Worker One pointed out that cyclists were to be included in either pedestrians or automobiles based on whether they were riding on the sidewalk or road.  Worker Two did not count cyclists at all unless they were walking their bicycle on the sidewalk, in which case the cyclist was to be counted as a pedestrian.

I waited on the corner of Wisconsin Ave and Jones Bridge Road to take [a] photo of the counters for about twenty minutes.  In that time I counted nine bicycles including myself.  Surely, the total number of cyclists in the neighborhood are not an insignificant number.  A friend, who also spoke to them, reports that the traffic counter with whom the friend had spoken stated that tons of bikes had been seen but none counted.

Ah...science. 

In further bad news, Two Black Wheels won't be reporting on this anymore.

When I first came to USUHS I made a conscious decision to not discuss my critiques of USUHS issues because such issues need not be discuss in this forum.  I considered NNMC issues to be somewhat different, but now feel differently.  My feelings have changed not due to any outside pressure, but because of a fuller consideration of the boundaries of the profession God has chosen for me.

That's certainly understandable. I knew a guy who worked for the IRS and was a stand-up comic. He didn't do jokes about the IRS, despite the rich territory, because you don't bite the hand that feeds you. So, if you find any information about how the NNMC BRAC is going and how it's dealing with cyclists feel free to send it on to me and I'll try to follow up.

National Naval Medical Center BRAC not looking good

Late last month I wrote about the Base Realignment and Closure plan , which will move the Walter Reed Army Medical Center from its current location in Washington, D.C. to the campus of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

Since then more has been brought to my attention. First, there's this article from the Gazette which points out that the $200 million project is only "expected to [cause] small improvements in efficiency with the new traffic from BRAC after the projects are completed." Many people claimed that it does little to nothing to improve safety for pedestrians, increase transit or make cycling easier.

Angela Atwood-Moore, president of the Bicycle Commuter Club at the National Institutes of Health, sharply criticized SHA for not promoting bike infrastructure as a way to reduce the number of cars on the road.

"You can't do that by making it easier for people to drive their cars," said Atwood-Moore.

In the design, the State Highway Administration (SHA) is ignoring its own recently adopted guidelines (2-602 of the Annotated Code of Maryland) calling for bicycle enhancements to be incorporated in all major SHA road construction projects

As to any new transportation project or improvement to an existing transportation facility, the Department shall work to ensure that transportation options for pedestrians and bicycle riders will be enhanced and that pedestrian and bicycle access to transportation facilities will not be negatively impacted by the project or improvement.

In some cases the work they are doing will make it harder to add master planned bike facilities in the future because they are taking all of the available right of way. The bicycle facilities the plans impact include

1) A planned multiuse path on Ceder Lane between Rockville Pike and Old Georgetown Road

2) Widening the existing Bethesda Trolley Trail (aka North Bethesda Trail) which, near NIH, is just a narrow sidewalk (which at one one intersection has a telephone pole in the middle). Widening Old Georgetown Road could make it impossible to widen the trail to be AASHTO-compliant. As Jack Cochrane points out "The county wants to widen the trail and move it a few feet from the street. Some homeowners are not opposed, but signs are not good that NIH would allow any widening on their land.  The real crime is that the BRAC proposals widen both Cedar and Old Georgetown (not to mention Rockville Pike, etc.) yet do not call for any improvement to this trail. Depending on NIH, that could kill chances of ever widening the trail."

View Larger Map

3) Widening and other upgrades to the multiuse path on the east side of NIH (running on the west side of Rockville Pike between Jones Bridge Road and Cedar Lane)

4) Striped bike lanes on Old Georgetown Road, Jones Bridge Road, and Connecticut Avenue in the vicinity of the intersections covered in the BRAC scope of work.

Congressman Van Hollen wrote a letter to SHA asking them to include bicycle and pedestrian improvements in their plans. He rightly points out that "if attempts to improve automobile access come at the expense of bicyclists, then efforts to relieve traffic may actually increase the number of cars on the road as bicycle commuters turn to automobiles to get to work."

Right now, as the area tries to move away from an automobile-centric way of planning roads - such as just up the road in White Flint - this seems like backward thinking. ACT wrote which raised concerns about the excessive focus on moving automobiles as part of the EIS process.

It's foolish to focus solely on improving automobile access at a facility that is

a) Across the street from a Metro Station
b) Surrounded by three bike trails
c) In a walkable area
d) With frequent bus service

Especially at a facility focused on health.

WABA and Mobike are working with the NIH Bike Commuter Club and neighborhood groups to encourage SHA to include better bicycle accommodations as part of the Bethesda BRAC project.

Anyone interested in weighing in on behalf of including these improvements can send an e-mail to:

Barb Solberg, the project representative, at BSolberg@sha.state.md.us

Update: I missed this article when writing the initial post. 

State transportation officials are getting more pressure to focus on bike and pedestrian improvements as part of a solution to new traffic caused by Walter Reed Army Medical Center's future move to Bethesda.

Community members continue to criticize the lack of long-term plans for the area around the future Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at the current National Naval Medical Center campus. They argue that proposed improvements at four intersections near the campus do not facilitate the ultimate goal of taking cars off local roads, and that bike and pedestrian upgrades should be a focus of the $36.2 million in state and federal money available for Base Realignment and Closure project improvements.

Residents are interested in pedestrian and bike paths similar to the wide path and associated grass buffer in front of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Hopkins said. They are also interested in promoting better connectivity between the existing paths.

County BRAC Coordinator Phil Alperson also said at the committee meeting that he expects to hear "fairly soon" about a $750,000 grant requested [WC:it was granted] from the Department of Defense that would pay for a county study of the bike and pedestrian facilities around Navy Med.

The facilities that would be studied for potential upgrades are located along Cedar Lane and West Cedar lane, Battery Lane, Glenbrook Parkway, Rockville Pike and Jones Bridge Road.

SHA engineer Barb Solberg, who is working on the intersections, said she didn't know if the bike and pedestrian improvements would help reduce the traffic on BRAC-affected roads.

Two out of 82 public comments received as of April 21 were supportive of the projects, according to Solberg.

Committee chairman John Carman said community members could choose to turn down the money for the improvements and instead request a new long-term master plan for the area beyond September 2011, when the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is required to open.

"Are you willing to accept nothing?" Carman asked.

Considering the complete lack of support, I think people are willing to accept "nothing". Though "nothing" is not how I would phrase the status quo. And really, it's their car-centric improvement or nothing? {Don't worry it isn't]

National Naval Medical Center BRAC process

Harry Buckles at Two Black Tires wrote recently about the BRAC planning at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda

I have looked at both the Montgomery County BRAC site and the Navy NNMC BRAC site and can find almost nothing to suggest that anyone has even seriously considered the benefits of increased bicycle facilities.

He emailed them about it and got this response

We highly encourage staff members to consider commuting alternatives such as bicycling to work.  In response, we have added additional bike racks across the facility. You can find the locations of all bike racks listed on our Commuter Solutions intranet website.  Most notably, we have established racks inside the staff garage (bldg 54), on the entrance level, allowing easy access to the hospital and cover from inclement weather.

 

In addition, we have recently posted our Master Plan for the campus on the NNMC internet website.  The Master Plan outlines organized growth for the campus  for the future. Specifically, regarding bicycles, we have identified the following improvements to be made:  

* Provide sidewalks along Grier Road south of South Palmer Road and South Palmer Road east of Grier Road
 * Support the improvement of local area regional pedestrian and bicyclist facilities by public agencies
* The use of alternative travel modes will be promoted through the provision of bicyclist amenities (on-campus Class II or III bikeways and connections to area Class I bikeways, area bicycle network maps and way finding signage, racks, bike lockers, and showers located at key locations)  

This is a very brief list of all the goals we hope to achieve, but hopefully it will give you some understanding what we intend to accomplish.

I wrote about the BRAC process 18 months ago and how the Naval Hospital ought to try to connect in to the three trails (Future Capital Crescent (CCT) - in green on map, Rock Creek Park - Blue, and North Bethesda - Red) that surrounds it. But as Harry points out the Transportation Management Plan doesn't even mention bicycles.

Connecting to the Rock Creek Park trail would be somewhat easy as a Rock Creek feeder stream cuts across the facility from SW to NE. Though getting under the Beltway might not be a piece of cake and it would require a new North security gate. Still, it's only about 800 feet from the trail to the Hospital edge. Another option would be to use the Cedar Lane underpass and Elmhirst Parkway.

From the Future CCT, access could be made better for those heading east by connecting the CCT using Pearl St/Maryland Avenue. This would also require some planning. Getting onto Pearl, as I recall, is not direct. And Pearl is one-way for part of the road. And finally a better Maryland Ave-Jones Bridge-Gunnell Road intersection would be needed. Improvements to Jones Bridge Road would help those who are heading west to the Hospital.

Local roads could also connect the Hospital to the North Bethesda Trail if access could be routed through the NIH property across Rockville Pike and over the planned pedestrian bridge.

Finally they should tak a page from their NIH neighbors and try to set up a bike bucks program. If NIH can build a bike commuter club, so can the Navy.

Christmas Wish List (CWL) 2005-07 Review

The past three years have featured a regular December feature I call the Christmas Wish List. Before getting into this year's list - which will again take a unique turn - let's look at the progress from the previous three years.

For anything skipped there is no status.

Updates from one and two years ago.

2005

1. Mt. Vernon trail expansion - A setback. Unfortunately, this was left out of the Park Service's EA. Boo!

2. WB&A to ATTS connection - Found out the Glenn Dale-Seabrook-Lanham and Vicinity Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment includes plans to build a sidepath from the southern end of the WB&A along highway 704. If it went far enough it could connect to the Marvin Gaye Park trail and then to the Anacostia Riverwalk. 

3. Suitland Parkway Trail rehab and extention - DDOT, at least, is looking at rehabing it's portion of the trail. I'll know more abou this on Tuesday.

4. Four Mile Run Shirlington Connector - If all goes according to plan, this should open in March of 2009. Hooray!

9. New York Ave Met branch Trail - opened in 2005, it's sat basically useless since. But on July 22nd of this year a 12-month contract was signed to finish this section to Franklin Street. So this should open by the end of July 2009. But there was a hold up with PEPCO and their land and so construction north to R Street won't start until the spring. Still I've heard it is to be finished in 2009. Hooray!

10 - Connecting to the 14th Street Bridges - Work began in January on the Humpback bridge that will create a new crossing under the GW Parkway, but in October the Arlington BAC reported that the Pentagon Area Bike and Pedestrian Access plan showed the proposed trail underneath the new Humpback Bridge will end abruptly and not connect to anything. The North Tract crossing, meanwhile, is back on track. The park was renamed Long Bridge Park and the Park Service began work on the EA.

11- Improve Rock Creek Park Trail - The MUP was repaved this spring from Virginia Ave to P Street, but the larger work languishes in NPS/DDOT purgatory. The EA for the redesigned trail was to come out in July last I heard, but if it did, I missed it.

2006

10 - WB&A extension to DC and BWI - This is a little different than what was mentioned in 2005, but it still benefits from the same Glenn Dale-Seabrook-Lanham and Vicinity Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment. At least for going south. Plans to cross the Patuxent were listed as high priority in Maryland's Trails Strategic Implementation Plan (even if they did call it the BW&A instead of the WB&A). Also I noted that at some point the trail was extended south of Patuxent Road along Brager's Road, but I'm unsure how far south it goes right now.

11 - Dupont Circle Bike Station - Though not necesarily a setback, an art group has its gaze set on the same space I covet. This is just like in high school when Billy Shepherd and I both wanted to date Violet Rassmussen. Let's hope the Arts Coalition for Dupont Underground doesn't play quarterback like Billy did or this could end just as badly. On the upside, work began on the Union Station bike station, which means DDOT may be willing to look for a second location.

2007 - Bridges

1. Wilson - While both spans of the bridge are open and have been since the summer, the opening of the bike trail between Alexandria and National Harbor has slipped to NET Spring of 2009. A trail from Route 1 south of the Capital Beltway to the Washington Street deck reportedly opened this Fall (I haven't seen it yet) and a trail from Telegraph Road at Huntington Avenue, passing over the Beltway to connect with Eisenhower Avenuewill open late in 2009. Hooray!

4. 14th - The EIS process has continued all year and will conclude in 2009. Sadly, I have not been able to make it to any of the meetings or know much about it. Anyone have any status? A new 14th street bridge with better bike access was included in the non-official new plan for the National Mall.

Battery Lane Urban Park

M-NCPPC will host a public meeting on Wednesday, March 12 at 7 p.m. at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane 2nd Floor, Bethesda to help plan the future of the Battery Lane Urban Park. This park lies along the route of the North Bethesda Trail at the north end of Norfolk Avenue. One of the issues to be considered is whether or not the park should serve as a stop on the "Norfolk Avenue Urban Spine" - the connection between the Capital Crescent Trail and the North Bethesda Trail.

Grosvenor Mansion

The North Bethesda Trail runs alongside the Grosvenor Mansion site. The area is slated to be developed into a school and some are asking that some of the land be set aside.

A group of North Bethesda residents submitted a petition and letter to the county Planning Board Monday, in an effort to convince the county to purchase at least part of the Grosvenor Mansion property.

The letter, which in its shortened, petition form was signed by nearly 250 neighbors, states, ‘‘designating the property [as Legacy Open Space] would protect the last remaining area of forest...[and] buffer and protect Fleming Park and the local bicycle path.”

Ten for Tuesday - Back from Vacation

1. This is really just another car-hits-cyclist story, but then again, it isn't

An unidentified middle-aged male cyclist was trapped under a Girls Gone Wild full size chartered bus last night for approximately 20 minutes.

2. Will David Cameron get along with Bush as well as Tony Blair? He rides a bike, but sounds like...Al Gore.

British opposition leader David Cameron rides a bike to work, is building a windmill on his roof, wears sneakers and likes to be called "Dave" _ all of which endear him to urban yuppies but disturb many of his fellow conservatives.

3. I missed the D.C. Environmental Network's Make-Up Mayoral candidates forum as I was 3/4 of the way up Mt. Rainier at the time, but if you went and have notes, email them to me and I'll post them up. And there are three more forums for lower offices.

August 10th - WARD 3 Council Candidates FORUM
PARTICIPANTS SO FAR: Bill Rice, Jonathan Rees, Eric Goulet, Sam Brooks, Paul
Strauss, Catherine Wiss
TIME: 12 TO 1:30 PM

August 17th - Council Chair/At-Large Council Candidates FORUM
PARTICIPANTS SO FAR: Phil Mendelson, Kathy Patterson
TIME: 12 TO 1:30 PM

August 24th - WARD 1/WARD 6 Council Candidates FORUM
PARTICIPANTS SO FAR: Tommy Wells
TIME: 12 TO 1:30 PM

And while I'm talking about my vacation, I spent a day in Seattle. Everywhere I went there were bike facilities. More bike racks than you could use at once, bike lanes, sharrows, etc... Everywhere I went I saw people cycling. Every corner looked like 18th and U NW. It's impressive and something for the DC area to continue to aim for. They don't use the inverted U racks very often and instead use longer racks with a bar across the span (see photo). Does anyone have experience with these? Are they better?

One disappointment, I didn't get to ride the Burke-Gilman Trail, which I wanted to.

4. Construction on the Montrose Parkway, a 1.8 mile 4-lane highway, has begun in Montgomery County. The location is just north of the terminus of the North Bethesda Trail and includes a bike path.

Widened sidewalks and a new bike path will also enhance safety along Montrose Road, Gonzalez said.

‘‘I have seen little kids...on bicycles riding on that sidewalk immediately adjacent to traffic traveling 50 miles per hour,” he said. ‘‘That’s not very safe.”

5. David Cameron might need a license plate when he bikes to work so that the red light cameras can monitor him.

"I think, I'm now persuaded, we should actually say that bikes and their owners should be registered," London Mayor Ken Livingstone told LBC Radio. "There should be a numberplate on the back so that the ones breaking the law, we can get them off the cameras. It's the only way you can do it."

Denver is also cracking down on bicycle scofflaws.

Patrol officers use radar guns to gauge a person's speed and ticket skaters and cyclists who are breaking the speed limit, Denver television station KMGH reported. The enforcement came as a result of an increase in accidents involving pedestrians, Denver police said.

6. I missed all the heat, but I hope everyone took care of themselves,

Bicycle messenger Gravett Dhuja tried to look at the bright side as he rested near a Capitol Hill office building: "It's been hot, but rain is a lot worse for us."

because the heat can have serious implications.

An autopsy could determine whether the hot weather was a factor in the death of a Frederick man who was found dead Tuesday evening next to his bicycle.

7. Three letters came into the Post about "The Next Washington." All three were largely about transportation. Sadly, only one mentioned bikes.

More of our population consists of retirees, empty nesters, young, creative singles and families. These groups increasingly seek to live near transit and where it is possible to walk, bicycle and take shorter car trips to schools, stores and work.

8. The RFK criterium was this past Sunday. Here's a great photo from it.

9. If you're a WABA member, you can now get discounts on Zipcar and City Center Fitness Club memberships and on yoga at Flow.

I'm thinking about getting rid of my car for good, so that zipcar discount looks appealing.

10. There are plans to upgrade a foot and bike path over Route 29 to better unify Eastern and Western Columbia, Maryland.

“It could cut down on congestion and road traffic,” he said. “There are so many wonderful things that could come out of this if it is done right.”

New Section Complete

No, the title doesn't refer to the new Wilson bridge, but rather the latest piece of the North Bethesda Trail (NBT). While I was gone last week (yes, work dropped some serious coin to send me all the way to northern Bethesda - I'll never get used to the accent) I wound up riding past a new piece of the NBT.  It runs along the old trolley line ROW just east of Fleming Avenue, from Grosvenor Blvd to the Beltway. I didn't have a camera with me, but here's a photo of the same area last fall when it was flagged for construction.
 
Another bit of construction began recently on the Mount Vernon Trail just south of Dangerfield Island. Here the trail is being moved away from a wetland portion and raised up, ostensibly to avoid an area that is often wet. No word on whether or not the new trail portion will be graded so that the center is higher than the edges for good drainage. This (I forget the technical term for it [crowning]) is almost never done on trails (though always on roads) so probably not.

The point of all of this is that I couldn't find anything about either project anywhere. No reporting in the media. No news on the NPS website for the GW Parkway. When I started this blog I asked the bike coordinators of DC, MoCo, PG County, Alexandria and Arlington to put me on their regular mailing lists. I get occasional emails from Jim Sebastian at DDOT. That's it. I get regular, unsolicited letters from Eleanor Holmes Norton where her office tells me all about the things she's doing to make my life awesome.  Sometimes bureaucrats need to behave more like politicians.  How hard is it to get a small periodic update together and send it out? Certainly easier than updating a website (which is also rarely done). What I'm talking about is open government and asking bureaucrats to promote themselves and the work they've done.

I do get emails (again unsolicited but welcome) from Alexa Viets with NPS's National Capitol Region Office for example one that told me that starting today NPS will begin to add a cofferdam at Outlet Bridge.

Pedestrian and bicycle access will be detoured to the northbound sidewalk of East Basin Drive during this brief closure. The planned completion date for all work is November 2007

How hard is that?

CCT to NBT

I had been having trouble getting from the Capital Crescent Trail to the North Bethesda Trail, mostly because I was following this cue sheet which is riddled with errors.

Here's what I have now. Coming from the south,

- Turn left on Little Falls Parkway and stay on it until it turns into Glenbrook Road.
- Follow Glenbrook all the way to Rugby Avenue
- Follow the trail through the park straight ahead. This will take you to the NIH campus and the paved path on the south side of the perimeter fence. But be warned:

The purpose of the paved path was to provide a paved route for non-NIH pedestrians outside the security fence around the southern campus perimeter.  It was not intended or designed as a formal bicycle trail.

turn left on the paved path and take that out to Old Georgetown Road.
turn right and follow the sidewalk/side path to the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Charles St.
There you'll find the North Bethesda.

Alternatively you could just turn left off of Glenbrook onto Old Georgetown. For more directions around NIH look at the NIH Bike Commuters Club website.

The "paved path" along the south side connecting Old Georgetown to Jones Bridge is nice, but why not create a formal bicycle trail? What they have now is too narrow and meanders.

CWL #5 - North Bethesda to CCT

This is the fifth project on my 12-item Christmas wish list for DC biking projects.

#5 Connecting the North Bethesda Trail to the CCT

Cost:Unknown
Status: #6 Priority of MCBAG, DPWT working on Trail improvements this winter, plans approved
Probability: high

With work beginning this past November on part of the North Bethesda Trail between 270 and 495 along Fleming Road, and improvements (albeit controversial) being planned for Norfolk Road, not much is needed to complete the 2.1 mile connection between the North Bethesda Trail and the Capitol Crescent Trail - arguably the regions premiere trail.

Bike lanes are planned for Exeter, Norfolk Avenue and Woodmont Avenue with a bikeway through Battery Lane Park, and a shared use "North Bethesda Trail-NIH Connector" path from Battery Lane to the end of the North Bethesda Trail along Ceder Lane. In fact, the only hold up seems to be NIH which plans on building a security fence that will thwart the trail. WABA and the county have tried to intercede, but I'm not sure how that's going.

Addendum: Since I wrote this, I've ridden up here again. Here's what I know. NIH built their fence and a trail along the south side of the fence. So you can get from Norfolk to the NBT on trail and sidewalk, but it ain't pretty. They still need to improve the connection from NBT to NIH and add some signs guiding you from one to the other.