Rock Creek Park Trail Repaving

On the BikeWashington yahoo group, someone asked about this 2005 letter to Dr. Gridlock.

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I drive on Rock Creek Parkway most days, and on occasion I am frustrated to come across cyclists using the road instead of the adjacent bike path. Their presence is dangerous in a number of ways, such as when drivers try to pass them on the winding, two-lane portions of the parkway.

Are cyclists required to use an adjacent bike path when one is provided?

David Morgenstern

Washington

No, not in any of our jurisdictions, according to Eric Gilliland, executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association.

Many bicyclists eschew the Rock Creek bike path because it is cratered and cracked from tree roots and has too many puddles when it rains, Gilliland said. Can't blame them.

You may be interested to know that the Rock Creek bike path, from P Street NW to Broad Branch Road NW, is scheduled to be rebuilt. That project, involving the city and the National Park Service, is scheduled to start in January 2007 and take six to nine months to complete, according to the District government's bicycle coordinator, Jim Sebastian. That may take more bikes off the roadways.

Of course, as most of you know, that project did not start in 2007 and therefore is not finished. Eric did give an update on the status.

The NPS and DDOT are going to start the EA process for the trail reconstruction within the month.

The hold-up has been that NPS didn't want to widen the trail, and DDOT didn't want to pay for a narrow trail. But it appears that WABA and DDOT have convinced them of the need for a wider trail with better intersections. That's good news.

And while this project might take some bikes off the roadways as Dr. G hypothesized back in 2005, I suspect most cyclists will stay on the parkway, simply because it's so much faster. Sorry Chris Core.

Photo by M.V.Jantzen

Comments

[Jack]

The best thing about the Dr. Gridlock column here is that 1) he called WABA for comment and 2) he printed the rebuttal. A few years ago the previous Dr. Gridlock (yes they change, like Dr. Who) printed a letter from someone saying bicyclists had to use the path and did not rebut the error. So many cyclists protested that he started asking WABA for comment after that, but it was too late and he never corrected the initial error.