After writing about the proposal by some C Street NE residents to run a bike lane down the center of C Street NE and saying that I don't love the idea, I saw this proposal from New York for Allen and Pike Streets - which are kind of the same street, it just changes names and bends a little.
The street presently has a narrow pedestrian area in the middle - they call it a mall, three lanes of traffic on each side and bike lanes beyond that. To get from one mall to another, pedestrians have to cross to the sidewalk, cross the street and then cross to the other mall.
The new proposal is to make it better for bicyclists and pedestrians by giving them slightly more of the space. First it closes several of the crossings, connecting many of the malls. The other 11 intersections are redesigned to remove left turns, and with them many of the conflicts - and crosswalks are added between malls. The mall is made 14 feet wider, by moving the bike lanes there and changing the roads to 2 lanes - with wide outside lanes which are also better for cyclists.
While I stated reservations about putting a bike path in the middle of C Street (or Pennsylvania Ave SE), if DDOT were willing to go as far as NYC DOT is, that might be different.
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