Usually "Park and Ride" means park a car and ride a bus or train, but Delaware is recognizing that it doesn't have to. When one of their park and ride parking lots was becoming too popular, the dedicated stimulus funds to expanding it.
adding more than 100 new parking spaces but also a bicycle and pedestrian path that connects to the facility.
Despite the fact that a highway (with a bus stop) and the Mount Vernon Trail run right next to it, the parking lot in Belle Haven Park is designated as "not for commuters" by the National Park Service. So you can get a ticket if you park your car there and ride to work. This is despite the fact that the lot sits empty during weekdays 99 percent of the time. As a result, many bike commuters park on neighborhood streets and cross the four lane GW Parkway at rush hour. The National Park Service could learn a thing or two from Delaware.
Posted by: Lars | September 14, 2009 at 01:49 PM
I was about to respond to Lars with the observation that the National Park Service does not consider it to be part of its mission to have its parks used to facilitate commuting, say by allowing a park and ride lot in a park.
But then I remembered the National Park Service refuses to close Beach Drive on weekdays, even during non rush hour periods, because that would interfere with using Rock Creek Park for commuting.
Posted by: silverspringtrails | September 14, 2009 at 02:57 PM
The NPS of the National Capital Region is hard to figure out. Over the last few years, they have done a pretty good job of upgrading the bridges on the Mount Vernon Trail and of clearing a humungous tree that fell across the trail near Belle Haven Park.
Posted by: Lars | September 15, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Similar "no commuter" restrictions are posted at Scotts Run park, on Georgetown Pike (road that goes to Great Falls, VA) near the Beltway. This is, I think, a county park - so it's not just NPS that has these restrictions.
Posted by: purple eagle | September 15, 2009 at 12:25 PM