TheWashCycle

Drivers skeptical of congestion charging, but can be convinced to support higher gas tax

A MWCOG study, paid for by a grant from the Federal Highway Administration Value Pricing Pilot Program and performed over 2011-2012 is ready to be presented tonight. The study deals with public attitudes towards various methods of pricing roads. They studies three scenarios - HOT lanes, GPS-based VMT with a congestion component and congestion zones or as they put it:

Scenario 1: Priced Lanes on All Major Highways – variably priced lanes on all interstates, as well as some other major roadways
Scenario 2: Pricing on All Roads and Streets – variable, per-mile pricing using vehicle-based GPS systems
Scenario 3: Priced Zones – drivers pay a fee to enter or drive within a designated area

The major conclusions are:

1. People see congestion and funding as major problems, and that only goes up the more they learn and talk about it.
2. People are very oppossed (86% opposed) to GPS tracking for road pricing - out of privacy concerns and a sense of a lack of choice. But they're OK with the other two scenarios (32% and 34% oppossed). With more information, support for HOT lanes increases, and support for GPS-based VMT decreases.
3. "People were skeptical about the effectiveness of the scenarios, particularly in reducing congestion. They did not believe that pricing could actually reduce demand because, they said, driving for most people is a necessity not a choice. Participants emphasized that people in this region drive because they have to, not because they want to."
4. Support for raising the gas tax went from 21% to 57% once people learned more about it and considered congestion pricing alternatives

Obviously, any effort to increase pricing for driving - especially congestion - will likely make cycling more appealing and possibly provide revenue for facility improvement.

Tuesday Afternoon Commute - Oprah

Good afternoon

• The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is hosting a public meeting to share plans for a federal transportation planning study that will focus on pedestrian safety for residents and multi-modal transit users at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue, SE and Potomac Avenue, SE. The public is invited to attend and hear about the details of this study and future plans for this area. Representatives from DDOT and the project’s technical team will be on hand to answer questions.
• Using a phone app and organizing themselves on the Washington Area Bike Forum, local cyclists create a winter biking contest called "Freezing Saddles". 
• More on the recent bicycle fatality in DC "According to investigators, the victim had a barbecue grill tied to his handlebars using a piece of twine. As he was riding, investigators say, part of the grill and a piece of twine got entangled in the wheel, causing the front wheel to lock up....While Alvarez-Benitez was found with a helmet, police say, it is not known if he was wearing it when he was thrown from the bike." [See a video below the bump]
• Assualt with a bicycle. I've actually written before about how difficult this is to do and how it puts the cyclist at such high risk (falls can kill as the prior link shows), but I guess people out there are still stupid enough to try (and awful enough to commit hate crimes). 
• Politco has a story on funding Capital Bikeshare, but it's behind the paywall. "The red blur of a Capital Bikeshare bicycle whizzing by has become a Washington fixture, and now the company and others like it are taking a harder look at advertising revenue to keep it that way. After getting off the ground with federal and local dollars, Capital Bikeshare sees ad revenue as a way to move toward greater independence and sustainability. “If you can be independent and sustainable, then that’s the dream,” said Tim Blumenthal, president of the cycling advocacy organization Bikes Belong. Caitlin Emma has the story for Pros:"
• I feel like I've read a very similar article to this one about how biking is changing housing. Maybe I'm thinking of this one? Or this one?
• And then, there is just so much out there about Lance Armstrong.

Monday Morning Commute - Pigs on Wheels

Yesterday I was riding my bike and a driver pulled up next to me at a red light when I kind of thought they should wait behind me, but otherwise I didn't think much of it until he rolled down his window. "Oh brother, here it comes," I thought to myself. And then he asked "Would you like me to ride behind you for the next few blocks for safety?" It was really very nice. Unnecessary, but gracious. Good cycling moment. So I gave him the finger (I'm joking)*

• This, in Old Town "A local resident was lurking on the corner, harassing and physically assaulting any cyclist who did not happen to put their foot down and come to a complete stop at the intersection. The resident was jumping out in front of cyclists in a dangerous and aggressive — as well as illegal — manner. The police arrived, but the resident went into hiding after changing his clothes. Seeing the officer coming, he would not answer his door when the officer knocked."
• "The existing Southgate Road would be realigned to the western edge of the Navy Annex site to maintain appropriate access to Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, while directly linking the Navy Annex site to the existing Arlington National Cemetery grounds.  Engineering and design work must be completed to determine the exact location for a realigned Columbia Pike and the parties must work out the exact acreage and parcels to be exchanged."
• Meanwhile, on the other side of the Pentagon, VDOT is taking public comment on a proposed design for the reconstruction of the Washington Blvd bridge over 110. "it includes a 14-foot shared-use path on the east side, and an eight-foot sidewalk on the west side. Not only is the trail side widened, but there is a physical barrier added between the path and car traffic. The VDOT project page doesn't mention it, but I believe the "lengthening" of the bridge mentioned will also help provide additional space for the long-mired 110 trail." [See image above] I used to bike this route all the time, and this will be a big improvement.
• The Trolley Trail and where it will run becomes a sticking point for the Cafritz property in Riverdale Park.
• “Five years ago, I don’t think businesspeople were even thinking about bikes as a part of business. Today it’s definitely part of the discussion.” He notes that Accenture recently relocated their Boston and Washington, D.C. offices from suburbs to the city to offer employees better opportunities for biking, walking, and transit....Leinberger marvels at how bicycles are changing Washington, D.C., where he lives. “Bikes have been a critical part of D.C.’s turnaround. They are putting in protected bike lanes, which does a lot more to encourage riding than just a white line of paint between people and a one-ton vehicle.” Ellen Jones, director of D.C.’s Downtown Business Improvement District, agrees. “It’s just crazy how biking has taken off here, especially the new bikeshare system which a lot of people are using for commuting,” she said. We spoke after she returned from an appointment with managers of a high-tech company wanting to rent an old warehouse downtown. “A lot of their employees bike to work and they were concerned about whether they could easily get their bicycles upstairs. When bicycling is part of the final decision on where a company relocates, then we know its impact.”
• New Obama Chief of Staff might be a bike commuter. "The 6-foot-3 McDonough often plays basketball with the president and, Bloomberg notes, he usually rode his bike from his home in Tacoma Park, Md., to work until a recent accident."
• Another story on DDOT's new Douglass Bridge plan. Nothing really new here. 
• How some non-cyclists see us. 
• In LA, a cyclist is left in the road by a hit-and-run driver. When the police fail to help him, he tracks the guy down on his own. And in keeping with cliche's, he was a lobbyist.

*I once asked my British roommate what was the weirdest thing she'd noticed about Americans that she didn't expect and she said it was that immediately after making a joke like this, they say "nah, just kidding" or something. Brits, she claimed, never do this.

Monday Afternoon Commute - Tax Dodging

Good afternoon

• Washington/NoVa bike-sharing system is still the country's largest (of 18).
• Metropolitan Branch Trail lighting improves and work is ongoing to create a permanent maintenance solution. 
• More MSM coverage of the Virginia dooring bill. 
• Profile of local professional cyclist Joe Dombrowski.
• To the "cyclists don't pay for roads" argument, neither do drivers (in state at least). "He said he is working on legislation that he thinks all sides might agree to. It would increase the gas tax but reduce income taxes, effectively only raising taxes on drivers passing through the state. To make up for the general fund money that would be lost with the income tax reduction, Albo’s legislation would include corporate income tax changes that would raise taxes for out-of-state entities that make money in Virginia, he said."
• From the comments - "they hate us for our freedom". "The motorist is born free, but everywhere he is in queues. The courier burning through a red light, even the quiet law-abiding cyclist like me who only rides very slowly through red lights, demonstrates the freedom that car drivers have traded for comfort."
• Touching story that ends sadly due to a bicycle accident. 

"I don't know what this is supposed to be."

Deborah Simmons at the Washington Times wrote an article that I don't even really know how to criticize, because, to quote Mr. Leland from Seinfeld, I don't even know what this is supposed to be.

plans for a walkable city and bike lanes that increasingly make the city less and less friendly to drivers are rightly a look to the future for unclogged roads and enhanced mass-transit networks.

So...are bike lanes good because they will unclog roads or are they bad because they're unfriendly to drivers (which we all know isn't true)? I can't tell.

Pushing for voting rights, making a city walkable and more friendly for bicyclists might be quaint urban trends, but such policies are out of sync with the real regional world, which includes commuters from Prince William and Loudoun counties in Virginia, and Frederick, Charles, Howard and Anne Arundel counties in Maryland coming into in the city while D.C. commuters move in the opposite directions.

Driving is the only way most of them can even pretend to have a family life.

OK, so it appears that bike lanes are "out of sync with the real regional world" and that this is bad, even though I don't know what the real regional world is. But, in order for people who don't pay taxes in or live in my city to have a family life I have to give up crosswalks and stop asking for voting rights. Maybe this is like the Higgs Boson and I just can't wrap my head around it. What does voting rights have to do with driving?

Another brilliant article from Simmons whose previous bike article was about balancing the District's budget by cutting Capital Bikeshare.

Her bio calls her an "award-winning opinion writer." Dear God, what award did she win and how can I avoid it?

Friday Morning Commute - It only gets brighter from here

Today's the shortest day of the year [But don't mention it to him, he's kind of sensitive about it]. 

• New Jersey Avenue redesign is out. It still has bike lanes, but "The corner of K Street and New Jersey Avenue (point C) will no longer get the "innovative" bike lane treatment that routes cyclists next to the crosswalks at corners. Meanwhile, at New York Avenue and New Jersey Avenue, instead of having the tiny islands to route the bike lanes at all 4 corners, there are only 2" And they end one block shorter. 
• Speed limits are not going up, but traffic fines are going down - and by more than the Mayor asked for. As for speed limits, those that were raised by the Mayor will be going back down. 
• "Maryland Transit Administration officials on Tuesday unveiled new renderings for the Bethesda station on the Purple Line, a 16-mile light rail planned to connect Bethesda with New Carrollton. The new designs include a five to seven foot sidewalk alongside the light rail through the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel." [See image] I think this is a good compromise. It splits the "trail" into a ped section through the tunnel and a bike and ped section out of it. And it serves as a placeholder for when the buildings are re-developed. [But then, it's possible the sidewalk was originially my idea, so of course I like it]. "Montgomery County is funding a project to re-build a portion of the Capital Crescent Trail alongside the light rail line. The Purple Line project has been hotly contested by some trail advocates."
• Chain Bridge and bike commuting. 
• NYC bikeshare gets a loan from Goldman Sachs. Debt, bailout, biking (all near the UN) - the tea party will love this. 
• LeBron James - America's Biggest bike commuter? Fly him in for BTWD. And it doesn't end there. He got teammates Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers to participate in a Critical Mass ride with him. 

Broad Branch could get climbing lane for cyclists

By Ken Katz

Last night DDOT hosted the second Public Meeting for the Broad Branch Road Environmental Assessment, part of the NEPA process. Essentially a show and tell without formal presentation, the various alternatives were displayed with engineers and others present (e.g., a National Park Service representative, Jim Sebastian from DDOT) to answer questions as we the public walked around from alternative to alternative.  The underlying motivation is the complete rehabilitation of the 1.7 mile segment of Broad Branch Road between Beach Drive and Linnean Avenue. No one familiar with this stretch of Broad Branch would deny (I hope) that changes are badly needed in order to "create a safe facility for all travel modes - auto, bicycle and pedestrian": a stated objective of the Broad Branch Road redesign.

The alternatives start with minimal restoration and improvement (Alternative 1), then escalate infrastructure for pedestrians (Alternatives 2 and 3) and finally bicyclists (Alternative 4).  The latter three alternatives each also include improved storm water management, road side retaining walls, a cleaner T-intersection with Brandywine Street,  and a long desired connection from Soapstone Creek to the parking lot; all maintain two travel lanes.

Alternative 2 adds a one thousand foot length, five foot wide pedestrian sidewalk, an improvement since currently no sidewalk exists at all along this section of Broad Branch Road. The sidewalk is limited to one thousand feet because Alternative 2 limits itself to the current right of way and that is all that is possible within that constraint.  Extending the sidewalk along the full 1.7 mile length of Broad Branch in Alternative 3 requires additional right of way (compared to current) in the areas beyond the thousand foot Alternative 2. Alternative 4 adds a single one way bike lane heading north, and requires a bit more right of way beyond Alternative 3, although not much more.

The renderings lack contours so it isn't obvious that the single northbound dedicated bike lane is in the uphill direction - making it a "climbing lane", analogous to the extra lane in the climbing direction of roads going up mountains.  The idea is that southbound downhill cyclists will be able to travel at close to automotive pace, assuming of course the cars aren't speeding.  Nevertheless, cyclists uncomfortable sharing the road (and in this section of road I will admit even I might fall into that category, at least under less than ideal conditions) would end up using the sidewalk. Thus my suggestion to Jim Sebastian that an alternative accommodation might be to remove the one way bike lane and instead add to the width of the sidewalk to make it a true multi use path.

For more information, to see the displays & handouts, and to download (and then print, fill out and send in) Comment Sheets:

http://www.broadbranchrdea.com/public.html

Thursday Morning Commute - Tight Space

Good morning

• Tonight, DDOT will host the second Public Meeting for the Broad Branch Road Environmental Assessment. "It is a very tight space, but there are some alternatives that include bicycle and pedestrian accommodations." says Jim Sebastian. 
• Bike and Roll's annual used bike sale is this Sunday. 
• The developers of the Bergman's Cleansers site along the Custis Trail at Veitch will be given direction to improve the Custis Trail/Lee Hwy sidewalk intersection, just west of the I-66 overpass. One part of that will be to change the triangle intersection into a T-junction (see image below)

Friday Afternoon Commute - Cardboard

Good afternoon

• Wired's autopia feature covers bike sharing and CaBi in particular. 
• Local retail stores not really impacted by USADA's Lance Armstrong report. Michelob Ultra sales, however, have plummeted. 
• Metro is seeking input on how to improve and how to prepare for the future. So far, only one discussion topic even mentions bicycles or bicycling - and then it is just in passing. I made a list of recommended Metro improvements several years ago (since then #3 and #5 have been enacted), but we could also talk about bike parking, CaBi station space/integration and preventing bike theft and ending full day bike bans such as on the 4th of July. 
• There are some good common sense improvements suggested in this article about the place where the Rock Creek and Potomac Park Trail crosses the old western turnaround of Constitution Avenue. I reeally like the idea of closing the circle and extending the trail straight across the site along the road. It would make for a nice park and perhaps the site of a future memorial. 
• A cyclist crashed on Qunicy Street in Arlington because of a very poorly patched utility cut in the pavement (video), and Mark Blacknell points out that poor pavement is often the cause of crashes. "Failure to aggressively hold itself and others to reasonable standards of safe pavement — both temporary and permanent — does a real disservice to Arlington County." In a later column, he follows up with Dennis Leach, the county's transportation director. 
• A couple of weeks ago, WABA met with Montgomery county officials and representatives of Montgomery Preservation Inc. (MPI) " to resolve the impasse on the trail alignment as it crosses Georgia Avenue and passes the historic B&O Train Station that serves as a headquarters and event space for MPI.  At this meeting, MCDOT officials stated that the agency, the County Executive, and the County Council were committed to the Master Plan Trail Alignment and to a grade separated crossing of Georgia Avenue, and that design work is beginning."  So, according to WABA the issue of alignment is resolved. That's good news. 
• Here's more good news. $2.3 million has been allocated to build a W&OD Trail overpass at Wiehle Avenue. It was funded as part of improvements identified in the Reston Metro Access Group study, in which FABB participated several years ago. "In the interim, $46,000 was allocated for installing a raised median and additional signage there. This is a relatively low cost measure that would help slow motorist at the crosswalk, especially those using the left turn lane."
• "Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Bethesda has proposed the county seek authority from the state to establish either a local gas or sales tax to fund transportation." This is relevant for two reasons. One, higher gas prices might induce more biking (though probably not much) and, two, some of the money would likely go toward building the Purple Line. The Purple Line will change the Georgetown Branch Trail from an unpaved tree-lined trail that ends suddenly, into a paved and completed Capital Crescent Trail all the way to Silver Spring. 
• Next week, the Virginia Transportation Board will be holding a public meeting in Fairfax to "discuss projects and programs in the CTB’s current Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP) and provide comments for the development of the Fiscal Years 2014-2019 SYIP"
• The $20 bike with a cardboard frame could change the world. "These bikes need no maintenance and no adjustment, a car timing belt is used instead of a chain, and the tires do not need inflating and can last for 10 years," he said. It would also put an end to bike theft. 

Monday Afternoon Commute - Tunnels

Good afternoon. I had the experience the other day of riding my own bike home from an errand and then riding to my usual CaBi station instead of going home.

• DDOT and the FHWA will host another public meeting as part of the NEPA process for the Virginia Avenue Tunnel project. The meeting will be on Thursday, September 27, 2012, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Capitol Skyline Hotel, 10 I Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. This project could include a bikeway along the rebuilt Virginia Ave. 
• One candidate in the awkward ANC 2A01 race will focus on additional bike racks and a Foggy Bottom "heritage trail."
• GGW describes the issues in the M St SE/SW cycle-tracks vs. transit decision. 
• People in DC do lose their license. [But how bad a driver does one have to be?]
• A trip along the Great Allegheny Passage. 
• Older drivers aren't the problem, it's unhealthy drivers that are.