TheWashCycle

Fixies Law Changed

Shortly after this article ran in the Post,

Fixed gears have boomed in popularity over the past few years, according to Euan Fisk of City Bikes in Adams Morgan. The coolness factor comes from two sources. First, experienced cyclists seek out fixies because riding takes a more-advanced set of cycling skills, so it's a new challenge to master. Second, much of the cachet of a fixed gear comes from building it yourself like a cash-strapped messenger, slapping on some anti-car stickers and ending up with a bike unique to you.

the law regarding fixies and handbrakes in D.C. was changed, as was reported by bikeportland (I know I got scooped by an out of town blog, thanks to Graham for the link). Thanks to WABA, fixed gear bikes no longer require separate handbrakes. It's a small thing, but it's a good change.

Maryland Bicycle and Pedestrian Symposium

The Symposium is on February 9th. Sign up and information are here.

Come and learn about bicycling and walking in Maryland. Learn about Bicycle Friendly Communities, Complete Streets, Recreational Trails Program, Transportation Enhancement Funding, trails being built and planned, and legislation that will affect you as a bicyclist and pedestrian.      

Network with others who are working to make Maryland a better place for bicycling and walking.

Discuss bicycle and pedestrian issues with planners, other advocates, legislators, their staff, and visitors. Increase the General Assembly's awareness of walking and bicycling in Maryland.

Meet your legislators.  Let them know that bicycling and walking are important in their districts.

Bike-ped groups and government agencies are invited to have displays promoting any facet of bicycling and walking in Maryland. This symposium, scheduled for the legislative period, is an effective forum to show legislators the widespread interest in bicycling and walking in Maryland. Exhibits are expected from transportation, health, planning, recreation, tourism, and environmental organizations.

WABA launches new website

Check it out. It's pretty swank.

North Tract back on Track

The North Tract project, which is going to eventually provide two much needed connections to the 14th Street Bridge, one under the humpback bridge and one over the GW Parkway, appears to be back on track. After the land deal with Monument realty fell through back in September, they renegotiated and it a new preliminary agreement was reported recently in the Post.

Arlington has reached a preliminary agreement for a land swap that will give the county a prominent location just south of the 14th Street Bridge for the sports center in a 30-acre aquatic and sports facility.

The county will swap a piece of land near Crystal City for a parcel owned by District-based Monument Realty LLC.

A previous deal with Monument would have made the county $25 million. That deal collapsed last year because of the softening condominium market. County officials could recoup about $25 million by selling building rights for another part of the property.

There was a bigger article the next day in the Alexandria/Arlington Extra. The thing that worries me is that the project just lost $25 million (or 1/3 of its first phase funding) and it was already doing badly.

But North Tract is as much as two years behind schedule, and rising construction and other costs have added millions to its price tag. The loss of the $25 million, county officials said, is likely to cause changes to the first phase of the project.

"Phase 1 will have to be scaled back from what we could have spent for $75 million," said Tobin Smith, chairman of the North Tract Citizen Advisory Committee.

Officials appear to be sugar coating it, claiming that it's not as bad as it seems

The county expects to recoup some of the $25 million by selling building rights for at least 150,000 square feet of the seven-acre parcel it is acquiring. Those rights, which would allow a developer to build on that portion of the parcel, were not retained by the county under the initial agreement with Monument.

I'm not sure I understand. Was the county going to allow Monument to build on their land (or sell the rights) but now they keep it, or were they not going to allow anyone to build on it but now they are? If the former then it's not so bad. If the latter then they're just building on parkland. Anyway, let's all hope that this still means that the critical connections to the Mt. Vernon Trail are built along with the trails across the park.

Open letters

Jeff's recent incident, as well as my recent theft (someone stole my $18 bike light) reminded me of this Kids in the Hall sketch...

Open Letter to the Guy Who Stole Bruce's Bike Wheel

Scott [Voice-Over]: And now Bruce McCulloch with an open letter to the guy that stole his bike wheel.

[Bruce enters, bike lowered from above. Lots of "Ah"s from the audience]

Bruce:   Well, why did you do it? Are you some sort of jerk or something? It's *my* front wheel! What did you think, that I'd -- drive home and not notice it was stolen? What are you then? Some sort of *prick*? Some sort of idiot? Some sort of thief? What would you do with just my front wheel anyway? What good would just one wheel be? You human loser! Well, why didn't you buy your own wheel if you wanted one so badly. That's what I did.

[Music starts as Bruce turns away and stops when he turns back.]

Well, don't you think I need that wheel? Well, well, what were you thinking? JERK!

Scott [Voice-Over]:That was Bruce McCulloch with an open letter to the guy that stole his bike wheel.

---

Open Letter to the People Who Watched the Guy Steal Bruce's Bike Wheel     

Scott [Voice-Over]: And now Bruce McCulloch with an open letter to the people who watched the guy steal his bike wheel.

[Bruce enters, bike lowered from above]

Bruce: Well, you knew it wasn't his wheel!  What did you think?  He was coming back for the rest of his bike later?  Well, why didn't you do something?  Why didn't you say   something?  You human piece of apathy!  Why didn't you say, "Hey! That's not your wheel!  That could be Bruce McCulloch's wheel!  We love him!   And he loved that wheel!"  Just eatin' brunch.  Well, didn't you think I needed it?  I did!  Well, look at that!  Feast on that act of violence! Good work, Einstein!  Pus!

Scott [Voice-Over]: That was Bruce McCulloch with an open letter to the people who watched while the guy stole his bike wheel.

[Bumper video of Bruce walking his incomplete bike.]

Oh how I miss that show.

Three articles from the Gazette

Three articles in the Gazette caught my attention. This one about how Frederick County is actually going to promote biking and walking to school.

Robertson is just one of the parent advocates who felt discouraged by the lack of specifics, such as busing costs, in the report. Other parents were also concerned that the report focused more on biking and walking than on busing.

This obituary about Jim Luhr,

Luhr, known to his University Park neighbors as an avid bicyclist, rode his bike to the Metro almost every day. Despite a work schedule that often kept him away from home for 12 hours a day, Luhr was known as ‘‘the bearded man” who would always make time for neighbors, often teaching local kids to ride their bikes.

And this story about Ward 5 special election for the Takoma Park City Council,

Reuben Snipper worked on a committee to get a bike path and bridges put in place along Sligo Creek.

Perils for Pedestrians at VeloCity 2005

Perils for Pedestrians went to Velo 2005 and this link takes you to four interviews they did. There isn't a lot in here that most people don't know. The highlight for me was when one interviewee accidentally referred to commuters as "comutants." Sometimes I feel like a comutant.

CPABC profiled

The the College Park Area Bicyclists Coalition (CPABC) was profiled in the Gazette this week due to their involvement in the Mid-Maryland Bike Map.

The Mid-Maryland Bike Map, compiled and distributed by the College Park Area Bicyclists Coalition (CPABC), highlights bike trails and other routes from south Hyattsville to the northern edge of Laurel, covering about 240-square miles. The map includes part of the District and an eastern portion of Montgomery County, including Silver Spring.

The article has some interesting stats,

Prince George’s lead the Washington, D.C., suburbs in biker and pedestrian deaths from 1994-2003, averaging 28 fatalities per year. The District averaged 18 deaths, with Montgomery County close behind at 16. Fairfax County averaged 13.

And this quote which may be controversial

‘‘One of the things [the map] prevents people from doing is competing against traffic,” said Brandt, a university police officer for 27 years. ‘‘It takes a very experienced cyclist to navigate a road like Route 1, especially during rush hour.”

Signless Streets

Found this article on Marginal Revolution about signless streets in Europe. MR has a long discussion in their comments section - they get more readers than me - about it so check that out.

The utopia has already become a reality in Makkinga, in the Dutch province of Western Frisia. A sign by the entrance to the small town (population 1,000) reads "Verkeersbordvrij" -- "free of traffic signs." Cars bumble unhurriedly over precision-trimmed granite cobblestones. Stop signs and direction signs are nowhere to be seen. There are neither parking meters nor stopping restrictions. There aren't even any lines painted on the streets.

"The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman.

This reminds me of something Nancy said in the comments a few days ago about how we shouldn't think of ourselves as fighting others on the road, but cooperating - which this kind of system would require in spades. This would also put an end to people complaining about cyclists running stop signs (cause there would be none).*

Psychologists have long revealed the senselessness of such exaggerated regulation. About 70 percent of traffic signs are ignored by drivers. What's more, the glut of prohibitions is tantamount to treating the driver like a child and it also foments resentment. He may stop in front of the crosswalk, but that only makes him feel justified in preventing pedestrians from crossing the street on every other occasion. Every traffic light baits him with the promise of making it over the crossing while the light is still yellow.

And it does seem to work where it's been tested.

The plans derive inspiration and motivation from a large-scale experiment in the town of Drachten in the Netherlands, which has 45,000 inhabitants. There, cars have already been driving over red natural stone for years. Cyclists dutifully raise their arm when they want to make a turn, and drivers communicate by hand signs, nods and waving.

Now traffic is regulated by only two rules in Drachten: "Yield to the right" and "Get in someone's way and you'll be towed." Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically.

I was concerned by the use of cobblestone and how that affects cycling, but it seems from the photo (It's the best I could find) that it's a bikeable surface (probably not too rough).

Over the last few weeks I've been thinking and writing about various biking facilities and the philosophies behind them. There's 1) the status quo, bikes on roads like cars; or sidewalks like pedestrians 2) bike lanes separated from traffic by a line of paint 3) separated bike lanes with a line of pylons or a wall and 4) this system of safe chaos. I feel like I've used 1-3 and each has its place. None is perfect for every situation. #4 is interesting because it may be.

*I'm always surprised when people complain, usually quite angrily, about stop light/sign running cyclists. Not because they don't do it, cyclists do, but that their complaints seem so out of whack when compared to the risk. If you could complain about traffic safety 100 times a year maybe one complaint could reasonably be about scofflaw cyclists/pedestrians. Speeding, drunk driving, driving while sleepy, driving while using a cell phone would have to take up around 90 of the rest. I started paying attention to what people complain about and what I hear is this: "I was almost run down by a cyclist." I have yet to hear "I was run down by a cyclist." Not that it doesn't happen, but it's rare. I think some people are really bothered by others breaking the law - regardless of what, why etc... Which is why the illegal immigration issue gets some people so angry. Anyway, if there were no laws per se, then that wouldn't be an issue. As I've said before, I don't care if people obey the law - as long as they drive/bike/walk safely and courteously. Speaking of the law, I saw this letter. I think in DC it's legal to ride two abrest, but I'm not sure about Virginia, still I would've probably switched to single file and let them pass.

Fenty's Bike Plans

DCist broke out all of Mayor Fenty's transportation plans yesterday and I'm going to break out all the bike elements that they mentioned. He states that

We can enhance our already national-level leadership in walkability, bicycle, and transit access, by providing clean transportation alternatives to more District residents and neighborhoods.

And sets the goal to, within the first year,

break ground on Phase II of the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which should be welcome news for the cyclists who have been pushing the city to finish the Metro Branch for years. There are plenty of other trails, bike lanes, and bike racks that need to be addressed, but the Metro Branch is a good first priority.

Doesn't DCist know that the proper nickname for the trail is the Met Branch, not the Metro Branch, sheesh. I'll let them slide since they do have a photo of a cool ddot bike rack. On the downside, the 100 days and Beyond plan mentioned the word "bicycle" exactly once - in reference to police patrols. The word bike doesn't show up. It would've been nice if adopting the BAC's legislative agenda (revoking the mandatory registration law, defining a safe passing distance, etc...) had made the 100 day agenda.