TheWashCycle

Funny, I almost mentioned this

When I was writing about the Purple Line this week, I almost said that though I wouldn't oppose that, I would oppose any attempt to do the same on the W&OD. But I didn't, because that would've been silly. No one would propose something so crazy. Then I read this..

Though it may not be considered until 2008, Del. Robert Marshall (R-south-central Loudoun) has introduced legislation into the General Assembly to look at the possibility of building a light rail system along the Washington & Old Dominion Trail.

It doesn't seem to be a likely event,

Some of [the challenges such a project would face] include a Dominion Virginia Power easement along the trail that prevents uses other than a park; since the park authority bought the land with federal land and water conservation money, if turned into a rail corridor, the park authority would have to be compensated with money and substitute land; also, there are now 60 "at-grade" crossings along the trail that would make building a light rail system a costly endeavor, the park authority said.

And it appears to have been tabled,

A House of Delegates joint resolution to form a subcommittee to study the feasibility of running light rail along the Washington and Old Dominion Trail was "left" in committee last week. The move means the General Assembly will not consider the proposal, made by Del. Robert Marshall (R-south-central Loudoun), this year.

Here's why I don't think it's a double standard. The Georgetown Branch was purchased to be a transit route with a trail and the W&OD was purchased to be a park with a trail. Hopefully the state won't even waste its time on this one.

Purple Push

The Purple line is back in the news.

Supporters of a transit link between Montgomery and Prince George's counties are renewing efforts to persuade state lawmakers to fund a light-rail system that they say would bring environmentally friendly traffic relief.

For more on this issue see this previous post (Purple Passion). The trail continues to be held out as a reason to not build the rail line.

Opponents say a light rail along the most studied route between Bethesda and Silver Spring would destroy the Georgetown Branch of the Capital Crescent Trail, a popular wooded walking and bike path in an otherwise urban area.

Destroy is probably too strong a word, since a trail would continue to run the same general route and would even continue in to Silver Spring, but it would become less parklike. It's important to think long-term on this. An underground, metro-compatible system would be the best technical decision - no doubt. Is it the best value? Hard to say. But if the trail becomes the reason to not build the rail, it will set back railbanking efforts in general. Already in Seattle they're having trouble setting aside a rail line for interim trail use because transit advocates fear they'll never get it back.

Metropolitan King County Councilman Larry Phillips wants to see passenger rail developed in the near future, warning that Sims' "trails first" approach might make it impossible to bring back rail later.

"I think of trying to convert the Burke-Gilman Trail back into a rail line," Phillips says. "Politically, it won't go."

We have to be seen as dealing in good faith, or no one will deal with us in the future. It's like borrowing your friend's "Joshua Tree" CD. If you don't return it promptly, you'll never get to borrow their "Office" DVDs.

In other CCT/Georgetown Branch news

DPWT has graded the Interim CCT east of the Rock Creek Trestle and has taken the barriers away that had marked the trail as closed. The newly graded surface is minimally compacted crushed stone, with some course gravel or bare earth in places. The deep ruts are gone, and the trail is once again passable for bicycles except those with narrow profile road tires. For now.

But the underlying storm water drainage problem has not been addressed. We remain only one bad storm away from having this trail repair be washed away.

The CCCT worked hard last spring to get funding in the FY07 Operating Budget to address this storm drainage problem. As a result DPWT was tasked to do a drainage study of this area and to perform trail repairs. $200k was allocated in the DPWT Operating Budget for this purpose. DPWT has just completed the drainage study, and is now deciding what corrective measures will be taken. Cleaning the large storm drain at milepost 0.5, fitting that drain with better trash screens, restoring the side ditches along the trail, and paving several hundred feet of the worst trail sections are options being considered. DPWT representative Dan Sheridan has indicated to CCCT Chair Peter Gray that DPWT expects it can complete some of these actions this spring. We will continue to urge DPWT to move forward as quickly as possible.

Trail Map 2.0

Sign Posts
Originally uploaded by Eye Captain.

I've been working on the trail map and now I have a new version up. It has a few changes, some of which might be improvements. It has a new color scheme - I'll wait to hear from Nancy to see if it's better. Instead of labeling each trail with a different color and an enormous legend, trails are now labeled with markers (the markers are then linked to another website about that trail). Trail color now tells you what kind of trail it is (Rail Trail, Stream Trail or Other).

I consider this a work in progress (Phase III is in the works) so let me hear complaints, comments and suggestions.

Addendum: Just noticed it doesn't work right in IE. Will work on it.

Mt. Vernon Trail Mural

The Mirant Power plant is planning to build a 1200 foot long mural along the busy Mount Vernon bike trail.

Officials from Atlanta-based Mirant Corp. told the city in late December of plans for the George Washington Mural Park, an elaborate series of panels to be painted on a new cedar fence at the plant that runs a quarter-mile along the Mount Vernon trail, one of the busiest National Park Service trails in the country.

Bob Driscoll, chief executive of Mirant Mid-Atlantic, said that plant officials were initially encouraged by city and Park Service officials, who later began backing away from the project as controversy arose.

"We want to demonstrate we're good citizens of Alexandria," he said. "We thought this was one step that could improve the view of the plant from the Potomac River and from the bike path."

Driscoll is surprised by the negative attention. I see his point, but this is clearly a case where community outreach early on could have averted the situation. If people just want to "paint the wall and plant some shrubs" that would have come out. I don't agree with negative slant of this statement:

Thomas Luebke, secretary of the fine arts commission said, "It wants to educate people with the kind of information you'd expect to see in a museum or a historic site, not on a jogging trail."

I think trails are great places for educational and historical information. Heck, the trail goes to Mt. Vernon - can't get much more historical and educational than that. That having been said, I don't see this mural being particularly educational.

I can appreciate their attempt to clean up the jarring transition area between the park and this industrial site, but it's the unilateral process that seems to have burned them. Hopefully something nice will go in - if not this.

Another Trolley Trail

I found this report recently about the South Railroad Street Park in Fairfax County. The Fairfax County Park Authority is in the planning stages for a new - very short - linear park in Dunn Loring.  Their conceptual plan was approved in September of 2006.

South Railroad Street Park is a 2.04‐acre linear park located along Railroad Street between Gallows Road and Morgan Lane.

It's to be built along the right of way of the old Washington, Arlington and Falls Church Railway (if you ride the W&OD out past Dunn Loring, you can still see the old abutments where the trolley passed over the railroad - pictured).

The Park will include a trail running the length of the park (about 0.3 miles - so this is not exactly something you'll want to spend the day on). It's not clear if this will be bikeable. Even if it is, its use would be limited to the immediate neighborhood.

A trail is proposed to run from the western end to the eastern end of this linear park. Connections to this trail will be provided from all the intersecting public roads (Railroad Street, 4th Place, Sandburg Street, and Morgan Lane). Expressed user preference is for a natural surface trail to minimize the perceived impact on natural and cultural resources within the park. However, this does not preclude continued use of the existing concrete sidewalk, nor does it remove the possibility of adding a stabilizing surface such as stonedust or asphalt on sections of the trail as needed to prevent erosion and to provide accessibility.

It's not really a rails-to-trails opportunity (if the rails still existed, you could ride this) and it would be a stretch to tie it into the W&OD, and even then it would dead end, but I found it while looking up info on the College Park (Prince George's?) Trolley Trail and thought it interesting.

Who’s killing the Met Branch Trail?

Much as with "who killed the electric car" there is no single bad guy as the Examiner article points out.

First, track owner CSX squabbled over control of the pathway. The city used eminent domain and took it to court, where they are now. Pepco owns some of the land. Metro controls little pieces. Neighboring real estate developers have been supportive, but they’re in the mix. Then there are the feds: Funds have to come through the Federal Highway Administration; the Park Service controls land around Fort Totten. The D.C. Department of Transportation is no paragon of speedy action.

The article doesn't have much new information, but it's nice to see the MSM pick this up. The article doesn't give any idea of what is holding the project up right now, or when construction will resume. It's almost like no one knows.

Dunn Loring Project

When I want to ride the western portion of the W&OD, I head to Dunn Loring. So I'm somewhat interested in the development project out there that was recently approved.

Office workers will walk across Gallows Road to new towers rising there. Residents will live in three towers, one as high as 13 stories and the others six stories, set around trees, trails and a landscaped plaza.

The Metro station parking lot, now with 1,320 spaces and a Kiss and Ride area, will become a six-story parking garage on the I-66 side, with 2,000 spaces and stores underneath. About 1,150 additional underground parking spaces will be built beneath the apartments, said Mark Looney, an attorney for the developer.

The plan for part of it is to create a town center feel. Even though it is being built right at a metro station, some serious Transportation Demand Management is going to have to go on - and that means more than parking. According to the traffic consultants website, they did consider bicycle impact in their design.  Specifics are hard to find, and that makes me skeptical. They should find a way to take advantage of their proximity to the W&OD trail at the least - either via Gallows Road, or a small trail connection north of I-66 to Sandburg Street.

Austin-Portland

Cyclists here cruise on a 275-mile network of bikeways that includes on-street marked lanes, paths separated from motor traffic and specially designated bike boulevards — streets with lighter automotive traffic that are designed to appeal to cyclists.

That's not about a city in Europe. It's about Portland, Oregon. Here's how they got there.

Cyclists point to the cancellation of plans for the Mount Hood Freeway in the early 1970s as a turning point. Federal money was in place to build a freeway through southeast Portland. Forward-thinking city transportation planners halted the project, pouring the money instead into a light-rail system and smaller bike and pedestrian infrastructure projects scattered around the city.

"That was the start of it all," Maus says.          

Since then, a legacy of pro-bicycle officials has been elected at all levels of government.

In 1971, Don Stathos, a Republican state representative angry that his grandchildren couldn't ride safely to school, penned the Oregon Bicycle Bill. That law set aside 1 percent of all state highway funds to build and maintain bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

"We're now seeing fruits of that," says Kiran Limaye, the bicycle coordinator for TriMet, the public transportation agency for the Portland region. "Anytime there's a road going in, they're required to think about the whole community."

Cycling really took off in 1991 when a cycling mayor, a pro-bike City Council and the advocacy association joined forces. Two years later, the city had a master plan, hired a full-time bicycle director and put its plan into action.

This was one of my favorite parts

In addition to on-street bike lanes (and a city hot line to call if someone parks a car in one)

Wow, someone cares.

There are also 30 miles of "bike boulevards," residential routes with traffic-reduction techniques such as traffic circles that make them more attractive to cyclists than cars. These boulevards were created in response to cyclists who said they felt uncomfortable riding in bike lanes on high-speed streets, separated from vehicles by nothing but a paint stripe.

Four of the five bridges downtown are bikeable, with wide sidewalks. A 2005 survey showed that an average of 10,000 trips per day are taken by bike across those bridges — three times as many as were taken in 1992.

Downtown, the city is adding more bike parking and redrawing lines at some traffic signals, creating bike-only "boxes" so cyclists can pedal to the front of traffic waiting for lights to change. That makes it safer for cyclists to make left turns, and keeps them from inhaling car exhaust as they wait at red lights.

"Yield to bike" signs have been put up at some intersections and on-ramps, and the city is installing about 350 signs and pavement markers around town that note distances and estimated cycle times to major points of interest. "Sharrows," pavement markings that alert cars and cyclists that they should share a single lane, also are being added on stretches of road that are too narrow for regular bike lanes.

Some cycling paths have their own traffic signals, and in about 10 spots around town where bikes and cars mingle, the bike lane is painted solid blue where it crosses traffic. The markings help cyclists know where to cross dangerous exit ramps and let motorists know bikes have a right to be there.

And it doesn't end there

All buses are equipped with bike racks, and light-rail trains have hooks so cyclists can hang their bikes inside the cars. The agency also maintains bike racks and bike lockers at its park-and-ride locations. At $1,500 in city costs for a spot to park a bike, the lockers are a bargain compared with the $10,000 or so it costs for the paving and maintenance of a car parking spot.

The next day the same paper wrote an article about how to get Austin, home to two of the world's most famous cyclists, to where Portland is.

In Portland, bike ridership doubled after the city put in about 165 miles of bike lanes, mostly on arterial streets.

One way to start is to organize a high-profile event that would close a major road or bridge to motorized traffic, letting bicycles take over for one day, like Portland does with its annual Bridge Pedal. "That was really helpful for us in the '90s to get massive quantities of folks out training and experiencing the feel of city riding," Birk says.

Which is why BikeDC, or something similar, is needed here again. I'd love to bike the GW Parkway.

Stallings has other, more controversial, ideas, too. He says city policy should require new office buildings to include indoor bike parking and shower facilities for commuters. He'd also like to see a required bicycle awareness course for motorists who get speeding tickets or run red lights. Requiring downtown employees to pay for parking, increasing gas taxes and offering rebates for electric bicycles also would encourage biking, he says.

"Just because we're used to free parking and cheap gas, who thinks that's a God-given right we'll have forever?" Stallings says.

College Park Trolley Trail Expansion (South) Part 2

I went to the Trolley Line Hiker-Biker Trail Event on Saturday. It was really a great experience. Maybe the best community development meeting I've been to.

First of all, I can confirm that the trail from Calvert to Albion road (Phase III of the College Park Trolley Trail) has been completed. It's much nicer now, with a little park space at one end(pictured), curb cuts, landscaping and it's about 10 feet wide. My only suggestion is for a sign on the northern end that will direct one how to get to the metro (down Calvert) or to continue on the trail (it kind of ends on Calvert and you need to ride on Rhode Island Avenue and pick up the trail across Paint Branch Parkway). I've updated my bike trail map - to reflect this (I left a gap in the map, because there is nothing connecting the pieces - no trail, no lanes, no sharrows, no signs, no markings - and something is needed even though the street there is perfectly safe to bike. Something directional is needed).

The meeting was packed. Not just standing room, but so much that people couldn't get in. I'm sure we were violating the fire code. The buy in was great. The Mayor, city council and state representative were all there, as well as the mayor of Hyattsville. They showed a film (which you can get here) of the streetcar rolling along the line and that was a big hit. Outside they had a beautiful old automobile from the 40's (No, the irony of using a car to promote a hike-bike trail made from a trolley line was not lost on me, but it was a nice touch). Then we hiked the right of way.

A Q&A would have been nice, but they wanted to get everyone out to accommodate more people who wanted to watch the video (and at this point I don't think they have many A's for people's Q's). They also should have made a sign up list so that they have a pool of supporters to call on easily. But now I'm just quibbling.

Found out that EYA is developing a piece of land in Hyattsville (not this, but across the street from it) in about a year and as part of that they plan to build a trail on the trolley right-of-way that crosses the property. According to the October 2006 Town Cryer:

EYA plans to develop the trolley right of way into a hiker–biker trail connecting Riverdale Park, downtown Hyattsville, a public park, and two planned tot lots. Riverdale Park is looking into extending the trail to College Park. Maybe we can also arrange for bike lanes that connect Town Center and the trolley bike path to the Anacostia Branch trails. Bike enthusiasts (in Hyattsville) contact Ward 1 council member Rob Oppenheim (301-779- 1745, or wc.rob.xxyy (at) xoxy.net) and you can help make this happen.

The town of Hyattsville Riverdale Park has authorized "Investigating establishing a hiker / biker trail along the old trolley lines including authorization to investigate legal issues such as title and any other practical issues." So that portion seems to be coming along, leaving Riverdale as the gap.

Moving north from the EYA project, the next issue is the power substation south of Madison. No one was sure if the trail could fit between the substation and the railroad tracks, or if permission could be gained to do so, so that might create a detour.

Then of course, there's CSX. The trail at this point runs about 15 feet from the centerline of the track and no fence separates it (there are social trails crossing the tracks in several places). You know CSX is going to throw a hissy fit about this, so that will have to worked out. The trail will pass within feet of the Riverdale MARC station, so hopefully some covered bike parking can be put in.

I asked about the name of the trail. The "College Park Trolley Trail" doesn't fit for a trail that goes from Hyattsville, through Riverdale and University Park and may continue north of College Park. I threw the name "Prince George's Trolley Trail" out there. We'll see if it (or something else) sticks. Right now it looks like Trolley Trail seems to be the generic name. [On the DC bike map they call it the "Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail." I just got my new one, BTW, and it's much better. The color scheme really makes the bike facilities stand out more).

From Queensbury Road to Albion the right-of-way is bikeable now (if the mud isn't too bad). Though they need to add a curb cut on the southern end of this section.

Just before Albion, the right-of-way crosses over a Metro tunnel. There has been some concern (from whom, I don't know) that the trail might be too heavy for the tunnel. That seems ridiculous.

Right at the end of Sheridan Street is the old trolley turn-around (a loop where the trolley would literally turn around). That would make a great pocket park/rest area/dog park whatever.  There's also a place to connect the trail into Tuckerman street.

It's a good project, turning an abandoned piece of property into a recreational and transportation tool, and they've done a good job of discussing the historical and cultural significance of the project as well (It gives a real sense of place to the communities). They're still negotiating with the owner's of the right-of-way, at least one of whom was there and seemed willing to sell or donate the land.

Widening I-66. At the expense of cyclists?

A workshop was recently held to discuss the widening of I-66. Well, sort of a workshop...

people [came] recently to discuss with state officials a controversial plan to widen a portion of Interstate 66 inside the Beltway.

But the only ideas discussed at the two-hour meeting were those proffered by transportation and state elected officials, participants said, leaving many of them frustrated and disappointed.

The proposed improvements include the extension of the on-ramp from Fairfax Drive to Sycamore Street, the extension of the merge lane from Washington Boulevard to the Dulles Access Road, the addition of a lane on the Washington Boulevard on-ramp and the extension of the on-ramp from Lee Highway (Route 29) at Spout Run to Glebe Road.

Yet the "vast majority" of the workshop participants are opposed to the plan

Arlington residents and elected officials have been vocal critics of widening the roadway, arguing that a 1977 agreement between then-U.S. Transportation Secretary William T. Coleman Jr. and the state of Virginia to limit the highway to two lanes in each direction should stand despite the pact having been modified several times since.

Most important to this blog...

Opponents of the project also are concerned about the impact the changes will have on the bike trail that runs adjacent to the interstate and the surrounding neighborhoods.

State officials have said that no trails will be destroyed.

This blog remains skeptical. It seems like a real good solution - in 1967. Instead I'd think that removing the Rosslyn Metro bottleneck, running free/cheap rush hour buses, or increasing the HOV restriction to 3 per car would be a 21st century solution. Bu that's me.