TheWashCycle

No, the District is not lying to us about bike lanes

Marc Fisher wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post late last year that got some attention. I mostly ignored it because I just feel like the Post has to drop an anti-bike lane article every so often just to remind us that they're there. But in the new political climate I'm a little more interested in punching people, especially when they're being dishonest and more so when that dishonesty is in the Washington Freaking Post. Fisher more recently went on a City Cast DC podcast to repeat and expand on his dishonest piece. Right now, I personally have no patience for the Post publishing things that are so riddled with falsehoods when what we clearly need is unvarnished truth and lots of it. The Washington Times? Sure I expect dishonesty from them, but the Post needs to be better. So here I am coming out of semi-retirement to respond. 

We're not talking about getting a few facts wrong, the very thesis at the heart of it is wild and Fisher presents no evidence that it's true. His claim is that the people in the District who are responsible for planning and/or building bike lanes are lying to us about why they're building them. That it is neither about making streets safer nor encouraging cycling. He makes two claims about what the REAL reasons are. One, is that they are doing it "to gum up traffic to discourage people from driving." The other is to "encourage a wholesale shift in race and class in certain neighborhoods." These are two extraordinary claims and, as Carl Sagan often put it, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Sadly, Fisher provides no extraordinary evidence. He also provides no ordinary evidence. What he lacks in evidence though he makes up for with innuendo and conspiracy theory.

The only "evidence" he cites - in the podcast, not in the article - is off-the-record statements by unknown "people in power" that he says backs up his claim, but for us to believe that we'd need to believe HIM. Here's why believing him is a bad idea: Fisher gets a lot of things wrong. Is it because he's too sloppy and/or stupid to find the truth or is he dishonest enough to present falsehoods as truth. Normally I assume ignorance instead of malice, but he's a journalist. Finding out the truth and reporting it is his job (admittedly, this is an opinion piece, but he claims to do reporting here), and he works for the Washington Post - which is one of the country's most highly regarded papers, so I'm going to be generous and assume he's good at his job. Which means he's lying. But feel free to join team stupid - it is also a strong team

***

Fisher states in the article that D.C. will never be Amsterdam or Portland which IS factually correct, but it is incorrect that we will never be LIKE them. He says it again in the podcast claiming that time that we're not going to be "like" them. "That's not going to happen. This is a suburban-oriented metropolitan area where a lot of people drive in the suburbs" Well Marc Fisher, Surprise! We're practically Portland now.

Furthermore our bike commute rates from 2012-2019 were above where Portland's were in 2023, so we were Portland for the better part of a decade. In the podcast he calls trying to match Portland unrealistic and antagonistic, but getting to 3.7% hardly seems unrealistic - we've been there before. And what's antagonistic about trying to marginally increase our bike commute rates? What's antagonistic about trying to reach the District's stated bike mode share goals?

He also claims that we will never be one of those college towns with more bicycles than cars - which is not actually a thing I am aware of. Which college town is he referring too? Not even Davis, CA (11.7%) is like that.

It's dishonest as hell to kick off the article by setting an unrealistic goal (more cars than bikes) that no one involved in bike advocacy has set and then using that to imply that bike lanes have failed; and to simultaneously claim like we can't reach achievable goals like matching Portland. But that's how he starts it - with dishonesty.

At least it tells you right away what this article is going to be by using a tired, old anti-urbanist trope. Break out your Bingo Card.

***

At one point he cites a stat that's more wrong than right, and entirely deceptive "the portion of D.C. residents who bike to work peaked in 2017 and has decreased each year since, falling from 5 percent to 3 percent." First of all it has not decreased each year. It bottomed out in 2021 and then increased in each year since then. Second, it peaked at 4.96% and is now 3.46%. "5%" and "3%" are correct by rounding, but it would be more accurate to say it is down by 1.5% not the 2% he has chosen to present it as. In that time span people changed the way they "commute" to work - in that many people don't, and it's deceptive to include them.

In 2017 of the people who physically went to work - which is what we care about in this case - 5.35% of them did so by bike. In 2023, that number was down to 4.76%. In other words, the drop from 2017 of people commuting to work by bike as percentage of people who are COMMUTING to work is down by only 0.59% (or from 5% in 2017 to 5% in 2023 if we want to round like Fisher does). In 2023 DC's bike commute share was the 3rd highest on record - if we ignore work from home people, as we should. And it has grown each of the last 3 years. Looking at commuting across the pandemic is interesting, but I doubt it tells us much about how DC's efforts to make bike transportation better are working. 

Is getting all of that wrong sloppy or deceptive?

***

He then cites a 2008 study on biking in "DC" showing that 88% of cyclists are White, but that study is actually of the DC Metro area.

BikinginLA does a good job of debunking this so I'm not going to repeat it all here: 

Is he too dumb to get this right, or is he trying to trick his readers?

***

The article really could've benefitted from talking to someone at DDOT or DC Planning. When he mentions the suggestion of local anti-bike lade advocate Rodney Foxworth to use "less intrusive tools to slow traffic, such as better signage and adding more bus routes to the avenue" someone from DDOT could address them. Is signage very effective (my experience with speed limit signs says no)? How do they compare on a cost/benefit basis? Can we simply "add bus routes" to every road with high amounts of dangerous driving - seems complicated and possibly bad for transit? How well does THAT work?

***

So Fisher either doesn't know what he's talking about or he's trying to fool his readers or both. Nonetheless he makes his claims often, writing once that "[Bike lanes] are often installed not to satisfy the... residents who pedal to work but mainly to make car traffic worse enough that people will be discouraged from driving." But the claim is undermined shortly thereafter when he notes that the road diets would "induce slower driving — and maybe more bike riding" which are the actual stated goals. Either of his two "secret" goals would be quite a story, but trying to claim it's both? That feels like he's just throwing all the mud he can to see which one sticks (which I know is the culture of the day, but I don't have to respect it). Further, they seem contradictory - does Fisher think that the kinds of wealthier people who move into low-income urban neighborhoods are looking for "traffic constipation"?

Here are things Fisher doesn't show, or even try to show, but really should in this piece:

1. That bike lanes lead to gentrification - or that planners believe they do.
2. That bike lanes gum up traffic - or that planners believe they do.
2. That people in the District government are stating that this is the reason for installing them, or even ONE reason for doing so.

At one point he writes that "Whether the intention behind bike lanes is to alter population it’s the effect that matters." I disagree - they both matter, at least to this article. Whether that's the intention is the difference between this article being truth and make-believe. I would think that would matter to him and the Post. And as a journalist he should've tried to answer it rather then hanging it out there like both possibilities are equally valid. It's the basis of his whole theory and he's just "people are saying" it like a dishonest politician.

To make such inflammatory claims without proof is wildly irresponsible and downright unprofessional. The Post should be ashamed of itself. That sure as hell isn't journalism.

Not only is the claim made without evidence, it also doesn't make any sense. If the point were gentrification why would the District be building bike lanes on Arizona Ave, Columbia Road or M Street SE/SW - those areas are already wealthy?

Further, we'd have to believe that they don't know that most of the literature shows that bike lanes DON'T cause gentrification and are hoping it will work anyway.

Likewise they'd have to believe that road diets are "a recipe for traffic constipation and commuter headaches" even though this has been widely studied (even by DDOT), and those studies show they are not.

Again stupid or dishonest? You make the call.

Near the end of the article Fisher writes "What doesn’t make sense is to hand car lanes over to cyclists when your real motive is to gum up traffic to discourage people from driving. That’s not an honest way for government to push its goals." You know what else isn't honest? Fisher's framing of the issue in this way. Making such a statement repeatedly without evidence, well, it’s just trickery.

If Fisher had wanted to talk about mobility justice that would've been great. If the article was about how having advocates present themselves as laser-focused on bike facilities creates a negative response in neighborhoods where people think they have other more serious problems is counter-productive, that would've been a good discussion. As would a piece on how to improve a neighborhood (Foxworthy's claim that "fighting crime or providing services more efficiently" would be better) WITHOUT it leading to gentrification. If he was concerned that DDOT came in and started telling the people in NE what they needed for safe mobility instead of starting by listening to them about their concerns and building a plan to match that then that would be a story - and one that surprised me. But DDOT has been discussing this in the neighborhood for months, so that also doesn't seem likely.

But instead he went with this crap. Nice job Washington Post.

*** My Thoughts on the City Cast DC podcast ***

The podcast is entitled "Is the City Lying to us About Bike Lanes?" and the usual rule about journalism titles that ask a question is that the answer is almost always "No" and that's true here. Or at least Fisher never proves they are. He does assert that people told him this - off the record. Which is convenient for his argument, but inconvenient for the rest of us.

Listening to this, I think it would be fair to wonder if host Michael Schaffer actually read the article before doing this interview because at times it seems like he did not. For example he says that Fisher did a "bunch of reporting" on it all we can see is that Fisher read a few articles and interviewed two people. And, as I showed above, got several key facts wrong. He states that Fisher showed that people saw the SD bike lanes as an effort to push them out, but Fisher didn't show that at all. He refers to a road diet as a "car diet". When Fischer says things that are factually untrue, Schaffer is not prepared to push back - although that may not be how the show works either.

To his credit he does get in a couple of very good questions and comments, like pointing out that the bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue were stopped by rich, white people. Fisher quickly recognizes that this undermines his thesis so he pivots to saying that it was also the merchants, who don't live in DC, who helped kill it.

On that Fisher also says that they were "correct" in their claim that the road diet would be bad for business and kill the mom and pop shops there. This is, of course, wrong. Many studies show that road diets are good for business. But it also shows him taking contradictory positions that bike lanes are bad for business AND they cause gentrification. I would say, and the data backs me up, that road diets are good/neutral for business, don't cause congestion and don't cause gentrification but they do improve safety. And I'd say those things because they are true and I don't want to lie.

Early on, Fisher talks about how he got "ticked off" because planners were being sneaky, then he completely undermines his claim when he says "they didn't explicitly say 'We're going to gentrify your neighborhood'". Well then, what DID they explicitly say? If we're relying on Fischer to read between the lines for us, then what words were used become doubly important. He then says that the people living on SD Ave "felt double-crossed and tricked and... they're right" - but again, there's no evidence of either of those things.

Fisher says he talked to WABA people and asked them why they talk in combat terms like "traffic violence". He then says that to bike advocates "traffic violence" means "car drivers" which is hogwash. Is this a lie or is he stupid? It's gotta be a lie. That's not what bike advocates think it means - it refers to crashes that cause death or injury, especially those that result from dangerous driving. And anyone who's ever been hit by a car can tell you that it IS violent. Even non-injurious bad driving - like a punishing pass - can be violent in the same way that having a gun pointed at you is. There's no way that someone at WABA thinks the act of driving is inherently violent. 

Fisher brings in the scofflaw cyclist image as part of what drives people who are anti-bike lane, but he doesn't discuss if this is a rational position to take.

He goes back, at one point, to this question: "Is [DC] forever Chocolate City, proud capital of Black America, or is it a fast-morphing magnet for hyper-educated young people — most of them White — who migrate to the city to populate think tanks, law firms, nonprofits, and government and its contractors?" This is a false choice of course because we can have room for all of these people. It's irresponsible - and racist as fuck - to imply that EITHER the city can be the proud capital of Black America OR it can have educated young professionals and bike lanes. Turns out that black people can also be young, educated and professional. Black people can and do bike.

I do agree with Fischer that to some extent, bike advocates and DDOT have to have the same fights every time they want to put in a new bike lanes. What I don't agree with is that the problem is that we haven't "dealt with what is dividing people". What is dividing people is that some want more space dedicated to cars and some want less. And that's zero sum. I'd like to believe that providing data that shows that road diets don't increase congestion would help, but some people won't accept it.  And having people like Fischer give a megaphone to falsehoods about it doesn't help. The guy is literally part of the problem here. Nor do I agree that Arlington is doing anything significantly different than DC is - both are putting in PBLs and bump outs. The main difference is that Arlington is only 9% black, so there are few historically black neighborhoods to put bike lanes in.

Schaffer does ask the question - how do we make neighborhoods better without it looking like an attempt to gentrify neighborhoods? Which isn't really a bike lane thing but is a good question.

***My darlings I couldn't kill***

Fisher claims that "the people are winning" because the Mayor has caved to those who oppose a road diet on Conn Avenue. This ignores the fact that those who support the road diet on Conn are also people. In the podcast he calls this the "correct decision" without stating by what metric it is correct.

Near the end he gets the closest he ever does to giving some evidence when he states that "[Foxworth and ANC Rep VJ Kapur] agree that bike lanes can make neighborhoods more attractive to developers" I like bike lanes, but I doubt this is true. I can't imagine that bike lanes are driving any development decisions. Kapur represents the area of the South Dakota Ave Bike lane who is in favor of the road diet. That the road diet is supported by the ANC rep, the Ward 5 Council Member and some grassroots organizations sure seems to counter the thesis that this is being forced on people from outside.

There are other responses here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/05/bike-lanes-washington-dc-fisher/

Work on the Capital Crescent Trail extension to restart soon

It's been nearly 5 years since the Georgetown Branch Interim Trail between downtown Bethesda and Stewart Avenue on the west side of Silver Spring was closed to allow for construction of the Purple Line and extension of the Capital Crescent Trail all the way to the Silver Spring Transit Center and the Metropolitan Branch Trail; and things have not necessarily gone smoothly. In fact 5 years ago the project was expected to complete around now, but delays and a contract dispute that involved managers walking off the job in 2020 have delayed completion to at least October 2026. (But what's a 4 year delay on a project that's already 30+ years old) It's unclear when the trail extension would open, but there is reason to believe it will be prior to 2026, as that section will be completed before the section east of Silver Spring.

The good news is that work should restart in August. The relevant parties recently closed on a new $1.76 billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Build America Bureau. Construction is currently underway with a new contractor, and MDOT has been doing some utility work in the interim, but work will really pick up in August.

Along with the light rail and the trail, the Purple Line project will allow for at least one new park alongside both in Lyttonsville, which will serve as a rest stop along the trail. The site is next to the junction between the old Georgetown Branch and the existing CSX tracks and is currently being used as construction staging for the Purple Line. The project intends to incorporate remnants of the historic Talbot Avenue bridge, which used to serve as part of the interim trail and was torn down in 2019.  into the park to commemorate the unique history and culture of Greater Lyttonsville.

The process is pretty early on, and a design won't be completed until next summer. 

Last year, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich proposed to single-track the Purple Line in downtown Bethesda, thereby allowing the train and the trail to use the same tunnel. The plan has been to build a separate tunnel for the trail, but running them in the same tunnel would save the county $54 million. The Council didn't support it and Maryland rejected the idea. (Maryland is building the light rail, Montgomery County is building the trail).

The County Council and Executive have been debating the tunnel regularly since the trail was closed, in part because the price keeps going up; and this year Elrich proposed delaying the start of the tunnel work by 2.5 years which would mean it wouldn't open until 2030. The funding plan has become an issue in this year's executive election.

In the meantime, Phase 1 of the CCT surface route, between the Bethesda Avenue trailhead and Elm Street Park was completed in May of this year. It's unclear when Phase 2, the part in Elm Street Park, will begin.

Also completed, in April of 2021, was a new trail counter near the Bethesda trailhead.

One other piece of good news from last year is that the lawsuit by opponents of the Purple Line was finally defeated. 

The Other GAP trail 2022: An updated status of the Metropolitan Branch Trail

It's been almost 35 years since WABA began working to preserve the rail ROW that would become the Metropolitan Branch Trail. Despite numerous delays, large sections of the trail have been built and are opened. A key section from the Fort Totten Metro fo John McCormack Avenue just opened. So below is a look at where the complete project stands today.

Montgomery County

Starting at the northern end, two sections have been built. One, from Colesville Road to Ripley Street, opened in 2013 as part of the Silver Spring Transit Center and another 100 foot long stub was built south from Ripley as part of the Solaire Building.

MC GAP 1 - From Ripley, a one-block gap exists to Silver Spring Avenue. This section is currently under construction as the "Ripley II" project, which should be completed this year. The development will also include a special bicycle entry for those using the trail

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Between Silver Spring Ave and the B&O railroad station, a one block section was built as part of the Progress Place project, but that section has been imprisoned for crimes it did not commit.

What did you do trail? What did you do?

MC GAP 2 - From the B&O Station to the intersection of Fenton and New York Avenue is one gap that will be closed in two phases. Phase 1, from New York Avenue to King and then west along King to a dead-end was completed in 2018 (since the last report 5 years ago). The County had planned to complete  Phase II by 2021, but there have clearly been significant setbacks as completion now isn't planned until 2025 - and that is based on the premise that they started work in February, which I have heard nothing about. Last year, WABA reported that work could start in Fall of 2021. I'm not sure what the delays are caused by.

*****

Between New York Avenue and the DC line the trail is complete and has been for over 15 years.

Prince George's County

Another part of the trail is the Prince George's County Connector that will connect the trail at Fort Totten to the Northwest Branch Trail at Hyattsville in Prince George's County. One piece of that, from Eastern Avenue in DC to Russell Avenue was completed in 2010.

PG GAP 1 - 5 years later, I still can not find any information on closing the Russell Avenue to Chillum Road gap. I'm not sure it is even a desire for PG County anymore.

DC

From April to June of 2021, DC built a 450-foot section of the trail along Eastern Avenue from the Maryland boundary, where it connected to an existing section built by Montgomery County, to Piney Branch Road.

DC GAP 1 - The largest gap in the system is now, shoreter, from the Piney Branch to Fort Totten Metro. This has also been broken up into multiple projects. 

Farthest north is the Piney Branch Road to Blair Road section. This project is still in design and according to the public meeting in December, won't be done with property acquisition until spring of 2023 with work to begin sometime that year. They plan to have a 30% design meeting on June 7th. 

The Fort Totten to Takoma section of the MBT has completed final design and will go out for construction solicitation soon, with a groundbreaking this Fall (again about 3 years later than expected in 2018). Construction is expected to be completed in 2023. There is also a small 100-200 foot section of the Prince George's County Connector in DC, but DDOT currently doesn't have any plans to work on that.

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The Brookland to Fort Totten Metro section was completed this month, after a couple of years of delay.

*****

% years ago, I said that "from Bates to M St, NE, the trail is completed, having been built as part of several other projects including the New York Avenue Metro to 8th Street section" but now I think people see the 8th Street section as a new gap. o let's say the trail is complete from Fort Totten to Monroe St, NE. 

DC GAP 2

The 8th St, on-road section of the trail is built as originally designed, but we've come to expect a lot more from bike facilities over the last 20 years and so the section from Monroe to Franklin is now a new gap. The whole history of how a Protected Bike Lane facility along that section was designed and worked out and then in September it fell apart is pretty thoroughly covered here. But since then DDOT has started shopping around a new PBL project, so we'll see.

****

From Franklin to M St NE, the trail is finished and has been for more than a decade.

DC GAP 3 - the last gap is a half block gap from just south of M Street to street level at L. Currently a trail and stairs exist, but the long-term plan has always involved a ramp here. This will be constructed along with the NoMa Station projects Phases II-IV. This lot has remained stubbornly undeveloped even as every other lot in NoMa blows up. All I can say is that it is still planned.

But there have been other improvements in the last 5 years, . The Z-Curve that used to be at R Street has been straightened out the whole trail there widened and improved thanks to development of One501 and Alethia Tanner park. The intersection at Monroe has also been improved - a little.

Five years ago I hoped that the project could be finished by 2028, and for the DDOT and Montgomery County parts that still seems possible. The NoMa station place - who knows? But if the PG County Connector Trail - from the Fort Totten Metro to the Hyattsville Metro/Northwest Branch Trail - isn't dead then it's at least in a coma and 2028 might be too ambitious a target for it. 

Arlington's natural surface trails study; pump tracks, bike parks and mountain bike trails on the agenda

Arlington County is performing a Natural Surface Trails study this year. It kicked off in December with an RFP and a literature review and will lead to public engagement over the summer with a final set of recommendations to follow.  The study will investigate a range of options for trail management, resource protection and maintenance issues; including new trail segments and segments to close. It will include a major inventory and assessment of existing trails, and a lengthy public engagement process starting this summer. This will include community input on bike-related options including pump tracks, bike parks, and mountain-biking trails. 

The study comes out of the Public Spaces Master Plan process for which one goal is to "Explore opportunities to provide space for pump tracks and cyclocross on a temporary or permanent basis, while balancing potential impacts on natural resources and trees". Mountain biking is on more tenuous ground

prior to exploring potential locations for mountain biking, the community would need to have a more robust and broad conversation to understand the needs of the users and impacts on the natural environment.

This is being done now in part because of the pandemic.

The PSMP’s Action Plan assigned these actions medium- and long-term priority. However, due to an increase in trail usage during the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns from natural resources advocates about increased recreational use and its impacts to natural areas, and ongoing community requests to provide mountain biking opportunities, these recommendations have become a higher priority.

Right now this is just a study that may come with recommendations that may lead to some action in the future (far off future?) but this is how projects often get started - with an acorn not a tree.

Rose Park Trail rebuilt and bridge in place as DDOT's Rock Creek Park trail project chugs along

It's been a few years since we last checked in on the Rock Creek Park Trail rehabilitation and since then there has been a lot of exciting progress. At that time, the federal government had wrapped up their project and DDOT was making plans to start theirs. Work on the DDOT project began at the end of last March. 

The DDOT project is doing the following

• Rebuilding, widening and realigning 3.7 miles of the trail from P Street NW in Georgetown to Broad Branch Road NW (including Rose Park Trail)
• Building a new 0.8-mile trail along Piney Branch Parkway
• Building a new 110-foot pedestrian bridge south of the ZooTunnel
• Reconstructing and reopening the Zoo Loop trail
• Building a new 0.2-mile trail from Peirce Mill to Broad Branch

It's is broken into 7 stages (with one stage into two parts). Stage 1, which is the Rose Park Trail and Stage 4, the Western Ridge Trail were both completed in 2021 - though Rose Park lighting wasn't completely resolved until early 2022. 

Since the September meeting the Pierce Mill (6)  and Broad Branch (7) sections have been completed as expected. But it's not clear if they'll finish the Zoo Loop (3) this winter.  Work on Piney Branch (5) began in November and is scheduled to complete at the end of the year. Work is also underway on Stage 2, which is to be completed by summer. 

The Rose Park Trail is much improved. It had a worse surface than most mountain bike trails, but is now smoother. It's still narrow, but not as much so and in order to keep cyclists from going fast - which is not appropriate here - it has rumble strips.

It also includes a beautiful trail connection to the Rock Creek Park Trail.

The Western Ridge Trail also looks nice.

The Pierce Mill section was completed in December, but I don't have a photo of it or the new pedestrian bridge there. Here's a photo of construction though.

They've already poured some, if not all, of the Zoo Loop pavement and at last report they were working on stream bed stabilization, but the big news is that the span for the new bridge is in place. 

The other thing they're still working on is the Piney Branch Trail which is partially completed on the north end.

The whole DDOT Rock Creek Trail project should wrap up in 2023. 

Tangentially related is this story about how trail work inadvertently pushed onto land that was once part of the Mount Zion and Female Union Band Society cemeteries. These are historic black cemeteries - among the oldest in the city. Part of the trail, near the Devil's Chair bridge, has been closed and will remain closed until an archeological exploration of the cemeteries is completed. That will begin on March 21. 

The cemeteries’ land was acquired by the US government via eminent domain in 1931 for the development of Rock Creek Parkway, but there is little evidence that the grounds were checked or that any bodies were reinterred elsewhere. 

The excavation was set in motion in the fall of 2021, when Mount Zion-Female Union Band Society Memorial Park’s executive director, Lisa Fager, found a construction crew working on expanding a bike path within the cemeteries’ limits. No one had contacted her or her organization, which has been focused on the cemeteries since 2005. In fact, the burial grounds had been left off the maps used by city and federal agencies. 

That section of the trail has been closed since the fall, in order to prevent any damage to the area before it’s closely examined.  The project had to wait until temperatures rose, because the sonar technology requires the ground to be warm.

There’s no detour or alternative route, so don’t plan on using this part of the trail until March 28, when the area is scheduled to reopen.

2021 Christmas Shopping Guide

Happy Holidays. The Christmas and Holiday season is upon us and I recently got the chance to try out some items for free that might make good gifts for those on your shopping list.

First off, my wife and I loved these convertible mittens. Technically they're for women, but I was able to convince her that I should get them. They're 3 season mittens, but I might need something with more heft for the coldest DC commutes. Still these have become my primary biking/running gloves, at least until I inevitably lose one. I generally prefer convertible gloves anyway, but  I like the reflective strip which is in a good place for cycling, both riding and signaling and the magnetic hold on the thumb cover that keeps it out of your way - same for the pocket for the mitten. They clip together so that people who are better at not losing things than I am can keep them together and they're just generally solid mittens. I also got a handwritten note with them, which is nice. The whole website looks like a good place to shop for winter sports enthusiasts. 

The most interesting thing I got was Wind Blox. This is product specifically designed for cyclists with the purpose of reducing wind noise when you bike. Now I'd never really put wind noise as something I was bothered by, and now I always wear a helmet that covers my ears, but I tried them with an older helmet and they really do work. We even put the focus - the ear muff ones - on my wife's helmet. They put your ears into a pocket with a little space around them for better hearing. The problem with riding in DC is that even if you can get rid of 80% of the wind noise, you just get more of the traffic noise. One thing about these is that we had some trouble getting them in place and realized that the straps to my wife's helmet are a little farther from her face so they don't work quite as well. But it's a novel idea that is probably not something your gift recipient already has.  There's an array of products for different helmets and different users - even those with hearing aids. 

We lose water bottles in our house like it's our job, so when we got the bubi bottle my son quickly claimed it as his own. This is a water bottle that's made from silicone instead of plastic or metal. What we like about is that it doesn't get dinged when dropped, can go through the dishwasher and stores easily. But we still get a slight chemical taste from the water that we hope will stop over time. I'm not sure it's a bike gift (it's not rigid enough for a water bottle cage) but it might be a good stocking stuffer for a kid. 

These goose down socks haven't been as big of a hit with Mrs. Washcycle as I expected, but I like them. If she puts them on before her feet get cold they stay warm, but once her feet get cold even these can't save her. I've had a different experience. Putting them on warms up my cold feet and they might be a good for post winter biking triage. I haven't tried them winter camping yet, but it's almost like the activity they were made for. They're incredibly light for backpackers too. They're a little awkward to walk around in though.

The one thing I can't really say much about is the Faran Sport Mosquito repellent shirt. It came just as the mosquito season ended in DC. It's a well-made, comfortable technical shirt. Does it repel mosquitos? I have no idea because we had none to repel, but Outside magazine thinks so. I'd never heard of a "Bug repelling" shirt so my whole world is open to the idea of clothes that can repel mosquitos, which get intolerable around here in the summer. We're willing to give this a shot when the critters come back, and I really hope I can give a positive report then. Fingers crossed. 

Regional Travel Survey shows a dramatic increase in cycling

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board’s (TPB) once-in-a-decade Regional Travel Survey was completed last year, but analyses of the data has been coming out ever since. Last March the TPB wrote an article on four trends from the study of which one was a dramatic increase in bicycling since 2007.

Like many other metro regions, the greater Washington region has invested heavily in bicycle infrastructure by retrofitting streets with bike lanes and connecting multi-use trails, in addition to launching Capital Bikeshare in 2010. These investments appear to have paid off in terms of promoting more bicycling in the region. The share of all trips by bicycle doubled regionwide since 2007/2008, and increased three-fold in the region’s core including the District of Columbia, Arlington, and Alexandria. Share of daily walk trips, regionally, remained steady at about 9 percent.

While much of that comes at the expense of rail transit, driving is also down.

The other trends were decreased rail transit, decreased driving and fewer overall trips. 

Bicycle Mode share sits between walking and taxis for commuting, but makes up a smaller share of non-commute trips. 

Meanwhile, this chart pushes against the "only rich people bike" claim.

Anyway, no surprise that biking and walking make up a smaller mode share at night and off-peak - all the more reason we need good transit at those times.

Capital Crescent Surface Trail and Tunnel will be reviewed by the Planning Board on October 14

The Montgomery County Planning Board will review and provide advisory comments to MCDOT on the Capital Crescent Surface Trail Phase 2 and Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) Under MD 355 projects on Thursday, October 14.

The interim CCT (or the Georgetown Branch Trail) used to go under Wisconsin Avenue in the old rail tunnel, but that has been closed since work on the Purple Line began and when it all reopens the light rail will use the tunnel. So the plan is build a new tunnel just south of the rail tunnel and an improved surface route.

The tunnel story is much longer than that, if you must know, and if you started digging the trail tunnel's grave every time it was in trouble you'd be in China by now but last year MoCo voted to build their part of the tunnel despite a higher than expected price tag. The tunnel west of Wisconsin was built as part of the Carr section and the part under Wisconsin Ave and to the east built by the County. 

The Capital Crescent Surface Trail Phase 2 project would construct a 10-foot-wide shared-use path along the east side of 47th Street from Willow Lane to Elm Street.

Phase 1 of the trail tunnel would construct the part of the trail west of the Wilson and Elm, a bicycle storage facility inside of it, an interim trail connection between the Capital Crescent Surface Trail Phase 2 and the Capital Crescent Trail Mainline project under construction as part of the Purple Line project and reconstruct the northern portion of Elm Street Park and the east/west promenade through the park.

Phase 2 will finish the tunnel, reconfigure the surface route and redevelop parts of Elm Park

The Staff report includes some comments including  making sure utility poles are far enough away from the trail and...

Bicycle Parking Station
3. Provide stacked bicycle racks with lift assist.
4. Provide changing rooms and showers.
5. Provide secure access to the long-term bicycle parking area with CCTV security cameras, blue light phones in the bicycle parking area and access by key fob or other means.

Capital Crescent Surface Trail
10. Design the Capital Crescent Surface Trail north of the Promenade with a maximum running slope of 4.5% and a maximum cross slope of 1.5% to allow for construction tolerance in asphalt construction.
11. Reconcile the differences in the design of the Capital Crescent Surface Trail Phase 2 with the Capital Crescent Trail Under MD 355 Phase 1 where they merge at the intersection of 47th Street and Elm Street: 1) extend the curb along 47th Street at the Promenade to the corner of the Air Rights Building loading dock area, 2) coordinate the alignment and grading of the trail. Relocate the manhole for the sewer out of the pedestrian plaza area.

Capital Crescent Trail Civic Green Connector
12. Match the Capital Crescent Trail paving pattern of the Capital Crescent Civic Green Connector to the pattern in front of 4735 Bethesda Avenue.

A possible future for the Elm Street Park

Indoor bicycle parking near the west end of the tunnel.

The east end of the tunnel.

Mount Vernon Highway Trail Project is underway, to be completed this winter

In May, Fairfax County started working on the Mount Vernon Highway Trail Project. The project will build a 10-foot wide sidepath along parts of Mount Vernon Highway between Grist Mill and Washington Mill Park. 

This $6.5 million, two-mile stretch is part of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail between Richmond Highway (Route 1) and Southwood Drive and in accordance to the Countywide Trails Plan.

It will also build a 14' trail bridge over Dogue Creek. There are some existing, and shoddy, trail segments and these will not be rebuilt as part of this project. 

Relocations of utilities began in June 2021 and are expected to be completed by September 2021. Utility relocations including gas, electric, and communication lines are necessary to accommodate the proposed trail. The Washington Gas line relocation is in process. The construction of the trail project is expected to start Fall 2021.

The project is to be completed in Winter 2022.

DC allocates $2.2 million to study Connecticut Avenue PBL

After being left out of Mayor Bowser's budget, the DC Council recently allocated $2.2 million to continue the work to redesign Connecticut Ave that might include a PBL. This project, the Connecticut Avenue NW Reversible Lane Safety and Operations Study, is one of the possible permanent traffic changes to come out of temporary changes made during the Covid Pandemic. 

The District is considering adding bike lanes and making other changes to a 2.7-mile segment of Connecticut Avenue NW, where city leaders envision a corridor with less vehicle traffic and better access for pedestrians, transit users and bicycles. The $4.6-million makeover would add a northbound and southbound bike lane and remove reversible rush-hour lanes — a source of confusion among drivers— resulting in fewer car lanes.

The concept, which has broad support among bicycle users and road-safety advocates, is worrisome to drivers and some businesses over fears that a bike lane would reduce already-scarce parking. 

Parking you say? I guess there's a first time for everything.

Cyclists have been advocating for bike lanes on CTA for as long as I can remember, and protected bike lanes on CTA, albeit farther north, were in the original "Bikeways Plan" that the DC proposed to meet EPA mandates back in 1974 - so this has been a long time coming. More recently Connecticut Avenue was identified as a Bike Priority Corridor in moveDC 2014 and the 2021 Update.

At the center of the plan is a push to remove rush-hour lanes from Woodley Park to the Chevy Chase neighborhood of Washington, a stretch of six-lane road that carried an average of 32,000 vehicles daily before the coronavirus pandemic. The two reversible lanes allow four of the road’s lanes to carry southbound traffic during the morning rush, then reverse in the evening to carry northbound traffic out of the city.

As the road is reduced to four lanes, a protected bike lane would be added in each direction, with parking and loading zones removed on one side of Connecticut Avenue. More than 300 parking spaces would be eliminated, according to a DDOT analysis. The new configuration would cut parking availability outside of rush-hour and car-lane capacity in half for peak direction travel during rush hour.

The proposal would remove rush-hour parking restrictions, enabling all-day parking on one side of the road. 

But they're also considering a non-bike option even though they admit that it's out of sync with their current plans and Vision Zero.

The city is also considering removing the reversible lanes without building bike lanes. In that plan, which would lower the project’s cost to $1.9 million, there would be three lanes in each direction during peak hours and two in each direction during nonpeak hours. Parking would be preserved on both sides of the road with rush-hour restrictions remaining.

DDOT says of the project

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is studying the feasibility of removing the reversible lane system as part of the city’s Vision Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. Per the findings of the previous 2003 DDOT study, there is renewed community interest in reviewing the reversible lane system and exploring concepts for other mobility options such as bike lanes. 

Regardless of what happens with the bike lanes, removing the reversible lanes is popular and seems to have more momentum

Removing the lanes would bring a 36 percent reduction in crashes during peak hours, according to DDOT.

While about 300 bicyclists use the corridor daily, more than 3,000 bike trips would be made on the route after a bike lane opens, according to city estimates.

I don't know if it's the pandemic or years of education/advocacy, but this time things feel different.

“The commuters who are going down there at 50 miles per hour, they don’t even see my business because they are moving too fast to get through it,” said Krigman, who also is a member of Woodley Park Main Street. “So I’m very pleased with the prospect of slowing down Connecticut Avenue.”

In fact, when DDOT tried to restore the reversible lanes in June, neighborhood opposition caused them to reverse direction. 

There are a couple of designs with PBLs on each side, and then a few designs with a two-way protected cycle track on the west side, but both WABA and all four impacted ANCs support the one pictured above (Concept C) if you can't decide. 

DDOT was to make their management recommendation by the end of last month and then there's another public meeting tentatively scheduled for the fall.  But don't get too excited construction may not occur until 2025.