TheWashCycle

Friday Morning Commute - Helicopter Landing Area

Good morning

• The Arlington Urban Forestry Commission, at their May 24th meeting, decided to send a letter to the County Board asking that the Washington Boulevard Trail in the Penrose neighborhood be built on Courthouse Road instead of along Washington Blvd. If not possible, they suggest that the trail be narrowed, built on a raised platform and built with more curves to avoid large trees. Building the trail as planned  will require the loss of 174, mostly native trees, and impacts to another 125. In addition some people in the Penrose neighborhood don't want the trail. The commission will also recommend that the County approach the DOD about putting more of the trail near Towers Park. The project is 80% designed and now needs the Board to approve the contract for construction.
• Bicycle theft is way up at Metro stations. Up from 18 to 47 in the January to March period of the last two years.
• Unhappy with a trail that connects his neighborhood to the Indian Creek Trail (part of the ATTS), a local man built his own trail. "Li said his goal was to get the county to build a paved pathway, and he won’t have long to wait. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is slated to begin construction this summer on a bike trail — part paved path and part boardwalk — to connect Nevada Street to the Indian Creek Trail. The new trail will not go over Li’s trail, but will reroute bikers and pedestrians to another section of the Indian Creek Trail."
• A new AASHTO Bike Guide is out. "this 200-page publication has undergone extensive revision and expansion since it was last released in 1999. It includes guidelines to design, build, modernize, and preserve bicycle facilities, signage, and bicycle parking facilities that can accommodate daily commuters and recreational users."
• The improvements to the Columbia Island area Mount Vernon trail crossings start today (See Video below). 15mph speed limit on the roads in the area? Who knew?

Thursday Afternoon Commute - How can you have a five-foot shoulder on a 55 mph highway and bring your grandchildren with you?

Good afternoon

• A cyclist was hit by a WMATA bus and the driver drove away. The cyclist tried to contact WMATA and were told that there was no way to find out which bus it was and WMATA did not take any responsibility.
• VDOT tries to reroute the Virginia Capitol Trail away from Route 5 to make it more appealing to recreational riders. The locals are not happy. "Concerns included safety and traffic control, loss of property to the trail, and the use of taxpayer money to redesign, build and maintain the trail."
• A student, riding his unicycle to school, was ticketed for riding a bike on the sidewalk. But he argued that a bike is defined as having two or more wheels. 
• Bicycling stamps are available today.

Monday Afternoon Commute - "The bicycle has changed everything"

On Saturday I was driving down North Capitol and saw an electric car (plugged in to one of the row houses across from McMillan) with about 8 identical, newish looking bicycles attached to it. Another 6-10 of the same bikes were in the front lawn. Seemed like a weird place for all that. Maybe they could have used one of these. 

• JDLand was right. The new 11th Street Local Bridge will open soon - as in Wednesday. I plan to go by and check it out, but I'm not sure what it means for bike/ped users.
• The Rock Creek Conservancy is going to be hosting some events on National Trails Day - June 2nd, including a bike hike with NPS. 
• The budget for the City of Manassas was approved without money for the Winters Branch Bike Trail. 
• Indian officials had noticed that "the high school dropout rate soared when girls reached the ninth grade. This was primarily because there are fewer high schools and girls had to travel longer distances to get to school." Guess what the solution was? And the addition of a bike to households has created opportunities for the whole family, since the girls can carry siblings to school or use it to run errands after school. 

Tuesday Morning Commute - Wetlands Bridge Open today

Good morning. Noticed the headline yesterday "Secret Service Scandal Widens". Has there every been a headline "Scandal Narrows"? Probably not. They might as well have used the headline "We're still talking about the Secret Service Scandal, so you know what that means."

• The St. Elizabeths East Campus Transportation Network Environmental Assessment is out. it would remove a barricade east of the river, but not do much more. 

Alternative 1 and Alternative 2 would open the campus’s roadway network to cyclists, providing alternative bicycle connections to Alabama Ave. and Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. The low-speed nature of the proposed street network on the East Campus would accommodate cyclists with safe and attractive facilities, providing a parallel network to the primary facilities mentioned above. Both of the alternatives provide on street bicycle lanes  along 13th St.Improving bicycle facilities would make cycling a more attractive option and contribute to a mode shift away from single-occupancy vehicles

• VDOT's list of 2012 Tentative Enhancement Allocations includes $190,000 for the Potomac Yard - Four Mile Run Trail Connection which will construct a paved connection between the Four Mile Run Trail and existing bicycle / pedestrian facilities in Potomac Yard and $80,000 for the translation of a statewide pocket safety guide for bicycle/pedestrian/motorist safety into an additional language, create an electronic version, and fund local safety classes.
• It also includes money for part of the following projects
  • bikesharing at the University of Virginia*; the conversion of a ca. 1881 bridge in Bristol for use as a bike trail
  • construction of a bicycle/pedestrian trail system to connect the historic sites of Belmont, Chatham Manor, and Ferry Farm
  • construction of an asphalt, bicycle and pedestrian trail connecting Pierce Elementary School to residential areas in the Town of Remington
  • construction of a multi-use trail from Occoquan Regional Park to the Laurel Hill Greenway
  • Construction of a multi-use trail on abandoned Chesapeake and Ohio right of way from the City of Covington to the Town of Hot Springs
  • Construction of Virginia Creeper trailhead facilities; a connector trail linking the Virginia Creeper Trail and the Overmountain Victory Trail
  • Construction of a multi-use trail along abandoned Norfolk Southern right of way from the Town of Appalachia to the Town of Big Stone Gap
  • Construction of an extension to the New River Trail from its existing northern terminus in the Town of Pulaski to Randolph Park
  • Construction of a multi-use trail through the communities of Roanoke County
  • Construction of a multi-use trail throughout the communities of the City of Roanoke
  • Construction of the Tobaco Heritage Trail, a multi-use trail throughout the communities of the City of Roanoke
• Arlington installed two new CaBi stations yesterday. One at 20th & Vietch and the other at Veitch & Key near Courthouse.
• Park Police are ticketing cyclists at Hains Point, but they're saying things like 'you don't have to unclip or anything, but at least slow down. You just blew right through it and turned right, so I had to stop you." which seems reasonable. 
• Manassas Trail Meeting on Thursday. 
• Fairfax County students to participate in National Bike to School.
• New Bicycling postage stamps coming this summer.  

*I believe this is in Rep. Eric Cantor's district, which is interesting because he opposed and belittled bike sharing in DC. 

Saturday Evening Ride - We'll leave the light on for you

Hello

• DDOT has installed 4 miles of bike lane and 1 mile of shared lanes so far this year. That makes up for 2011. Now they only have 10 miles to do in 2012. "The new bike lanes are on 4th Street, SW; I Street, SW and SE; Columbia Road, NW, New York Avenue, NW; Tilden Street, NW; and Upshur Street, NW....In addition there is a combination of new bike lanes and sharrows on R Street from Florida Avenue, NW to the Metropolitan Branch Trail in NE; and there are new sharrows on Oklahoma Avenue, SE."
• There were 164,911 trips on Capital Bikeshare in March. That's a one-month record (though is won't last long) as well as a 60% increase from February and a 157% increase from last year.
• The High Bridge is open. But based on the name, they really should have waited until April 20th. "It is the final link in connecting 31 miles of linear state park. It is the most prominent of numerous cultural and historic areas connected by the park. Efforts are still ongoing to extend the park into Burkeville on its eastern end and Pamplin to the west."
• What you, and I, missed on the Down the Tubes ride hosted by WABA and DC Water. Seriously, this is the kind of thing I could've really geeked out on. 
• "Virginia’s state parks will designate areas for cyclists to camp even when campgrounds are full, to ensure that long-distance touring cyclists will always have a place to stay."
• According to a new report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group "In 2009, 16- to 34-year-olds as a whole took 24 percent more bike trips than they took in 2001, despite the age group actually shrinking in size by 2 percent.” And that's only going to go up when they hear about High Bridge.
• The covered bike parking at the University of Michigan is really nice. 
• In Seattle, a coffee shop asked the city to install a bike rack and the city declined. So they asked a local art group to build one, which they have installed and gets used all year long. But now the city is complaining that it isn't permitted and is too big for the space where it has been placed. They've offered to move the site up their list for installation.

Tuesday Afternoon Commute - Jesus would have been a cyclist

Good Afternoon. Don't forget to vote (unless you live in Virginia, then you're too late or too early).

• A 3rd CaBi station opened on the Mall yesterday, near Smithsonian Castle. The other two Mall stations have consistently been among the top 15 busiest. "The Mall stations are most heavily used by casual users, not long-term subscribers. That means more money for the system, which already has made enough to cover its operating costs in the District. So far, data show, casual users have outnumbered subscribers at those stops by more than two to one."
• More about the Daily Rider bike shop on H Street. 
• New CaBi stations are also being installed on the R-B corridor - along with more bike parking.
• Bike sharing is feasible in Reston. 
• "The first span of the pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Dulles Toll Road at Wolf Trap Farm Park was installed last night." The final span will be installed tonight. 
• Bike Snob's latest book reviewed by the Post. 
• Another article on the public perception of cyclists. 

Monday Afternoon Commute - Staple

Good afternoon

• Another Best of DC winner - BicycleSPACE, for best unpretentious bike shop. But which is the best pretentious bike shop? They also won the best bike shop as voted on by readers. The Bike Rack and City Bikes came in 2nd and 3rd. But they have new competition - The Daily Rider just opened. 
• For best bike parking they went with the staple rack. I'd place it below the inverted U, bike valet and a CaBi rack. 
• The 11th Street Recreation Bridge is by no means a done deal, but there is good news about access to the Navy Yard Promenade from the meeting "the Navy Yard now actually finds it somewhat of a burden to open and close the trail every day, and would like to avoid that responsibility. They've also added more security along that edge of the yard, making them more comfortable just allowing public access along that side. He gave no firm details, but it sounds like residents can hope for a 24-hour trail in the future." 
• Let's not get too excited about 2011 regional bike fatality numbers. Yes 5 is down from the previous year's 9, and lower than the average over the last 10 years (6.3 per year). But we're dealing with such a small sample size that it's hard to call it anything other than noise. Let's throw together a few years below 6 fatalities and we can call it a trend. 
• Washington, DC makes Huffington Post's list of Top 10 Cities for Cyclists. We did not come in 10th place though as The Needle implies. They're listed in alphabetical order. 
• GGW has the designs for the L Street cycletrack. It will be one way only and buffered, with bike boxes at most intersections.
• "From 2010 to 2011, bike trips through 20 city intersections surged nearly 21 percent, according to District Department of Transportation data."
• The bike path/emergency access road that is to be built along the edge of the Army-Navy Club is still waiting on more detailed engineering and funding. And probably the end of a lawsuit. While some people worry about the crime the path will bring, others note that it isn't behind schedule because there never was one, nor are the high costs a surprise to county staff. 
• Virginia Commonwealth is a new Silver Bicycle Friendly University. 
• American cyclist Levi Leipheimer was hit from behind by a car while training in California Spain. He had a sore and swollen lower left leg but no broken bones.
• Bike movie. What it needs, looking at movie revenue this week, are some other kids trying to kill him as part of a tv show. 

Fairfax County Parkway repaving meetings

Here

VDOT will be repaving 24 miles of the 32-mile, six-lane Fairfax County Parkwaybetween Route 7 in Dranesville and Rolling Road in Springfield. While the road has been repaved several times, the paved sidepath has never been repaved.

Monday Morning Ride - 2012

Good morning. I hope everyone avoided Y2K+12 related computer bugs.

• Vincent Orange is busted for parking in the 15th Street cycletrack. He issued a twitpology, but without explaning how it happened.  
• Dr. Gridlock has one expected bike facility for 2012 that I left off "construction of a pedestrian bridge between the Minnesota Avenue Metro station and Kenilworth Avenue to the Parkside community." It's not too significant though, because they're just replacing or rebuilding an existing pedestrian bridge.
• Alexandria's Transportation Commission meets on Wednesday. It looks like some budget reductions are coming down the pipeline and as a result, funding for the Backlick Run multi-use paths is delayed. 
• If I'm reading this article about "bizarre" new laws proposed in VA this year correctly, Del James Edmunds (R-South Boston) has submitted a bill that would basically bring the Idaho Stop to Virginia. The reporter doesn't seem to understand the issue very well. "The gen­esis of a bike measure from Del. James E. Edmunds II (R-South Boston) is less certain. He did not return e-mail and phone messages seeking comment. The bill would free bicyclists who approach red traffic lights from the need to — who knew? — wait two minutes before pedaling on." (Update: See the bill here. It is not an improvement)
• More on the plan of Frederick, MD police to stop teenage cyclists from cycling recklessly. "Children older than 10 are prohibited from riding bikes on sidewalks in the historic district, but can ride bikes on Carroll Creek Linear Park as long as they are not negligent, according to city law."
• While there is one report that trail clearing has begun for the South Shore Trail between Odenton and Annapolis, a witness says it looks like brush clearing for the power lines over the old ROW.

2012: Looking Ahead

Before we look back at 2011, here is a look at the facilities and projects that are scheduled to (or may) happen in 2012.

Work will begin to close the gap between the Anacostia Tributary Trail System in Maryland and DC's Anacostia Riverwalk trail. This is the Kenilworth section of the ART. I also expect the two ART bridges over the railroad tracks to be finished in 2012 as well.

Capital Bikeshare expansion in DC, Rockville, Arlington, and Alexandria

Work might begin on a ramp to replace the stairs that connect the Metropolitan Branch Trail to L Street NE and on the Rhode Island Avenue Metro bridge.

The Downtown BID will organize the Freedom Plaza BTWD event.

The Potomac Power Generating Station along the MVT will be closed. 

DC plans to add 4 miles of bike lane that is ready to go (and possibly more) and Arlington will extend bike lanes on Crystal Drive.

Arlington might build the portion of the proposed cycletrack along Army Navy Drive/Joyce Street that is under I-395; start the Washington Boulevard Bridge over Columbia Pike and complete the improved Glebe Road bridge over Arlington Blvd. The trail on the west side of Arlington/Washington Blvd will be extended to Columbia Pike and work could begin on the Route 110 Trail.

More bike parking at the Rosslyn Metro.

The 2012 Rails-to-Trails Sojourn will once again be along the C&O/GAP route from DC to Pittsburgh.

Also, "Premium Rush" on August 24.

Surely there is more that I've missed.