The District has a goal of getting 50 miles of bike lanes by 2009. They were up to 17 miles in September, 2005. So they'll need to add about 11 miles a year to make it. Rather than running around putting in bike lanes where they're most needed, they wait for a street to be resurfaced or reconstructed and then add the bike lanes in with that construction. It's cheaper and has less impact on traffic. It's a policy of patience and considering the limited funds I'm OK with taking the low hanging fruit.
There are about 13 miles of bike-lane-ready-street scheduled for work in 2006. The whole list in rather long, but here are some of the longer sections:
21st NW between Virginia and Florida
22nd NW between Virginia and Massachusetts
11th NW between Penn and Rhode Island; and between Clifton and Park
East Capitol between Burns and Southern
Warder/7th NW between Columbia and Upshur
E NW between 2nd and 13th
6th NE between C and Florida
14th NW between Thomas Circle and U
Tilden NW between Connecticut and Shoemaker
Q NW between 14th and New Jersey
Of course some places where bike lanes were to be added have been sacrificed. One result of the Logan Circle church parking issue is that some area streets are getting back-in parking to increase the number of available spaces. Where is that extra parking space coming from? That's right - bike lanes. So for a few hours of parking on Sunday, bike lanes will be removed 24-7. It's going to be tough to get to 50 miles if bike lanes are seen as expendable.
It's an interesting commentary on the city's priorities that adding bike lanes has to wait until a road is scheduled to be repaved, but removing them to create parking is done ASAP.
Posted by: Contrarian | May 23, 2006 at 10:55 AM
A bike lane is already in place on Warder/7th St between Columbia and Upshur? I've ridden that route everyday for over a decade, and I sure don't remember seeing one!
OK, I'll look carefully this evening...
Posted by: tom f. | May 23, 2006 at 03:05 PM
Whoops - read it to quickly - it will be in place in 2006, not there now.
Posted by: Tom F. | May 23, 2006 at 03:08 PM
50 miles of bike lanes in all of DC?? My city with a population of 81,000 people has something like 400 miles of bike lanes. I'm talking marked bike lanes on the sides of streets.
Posted by: Fritz | June 01, 2006 at 02:49 AM