September 2009 DC BAC Meeting Notes

The meeting started with a presentation by consultants from Toole Design. They're working on preliminary designs for both the South Capitol Street Trail (SCST) and the Oxon Run Trail as a combined Ward 8 connectivity project. So far they've done site analysis, stakeholder outreach including a youth bike route and worked on some design alternatives.

In some places, the SCST has plenty of room and will be 10 feet wide with a 3' buffer on the base side and 10' on the street side. In other places the trail will narrow to 6 feet with no buffer. There are eight of these "pinch points" to be worked through.

One pinch point is at South Capitol Street and Firth Sterling Avenue. Here the trail will have to cross the street car tracks and navigate around the street car platform. Despite the fact that the SCST is in the Bicycle Master Plan and despite this plan pre-dating the streetcar design by a few years, the streetcar project does not incorporate the trail of make allowance for it. The trail will be wedged between South Capitol Street and the streetcar tracks instead of using the streetcar platform. If they reduce the number of lanes on South Cap they can make a wider path. If they reduce the number of lanes and shift the road 15 feet they can add a buffer.

Another pinch point is at Overlook Avenue SW and Laboratory Road/ Shepherd Parkway SW. It occurs where a turning lane narrows the sidewalk. Their preliminary design takes the trail from the west side of Overlook to the east side on a mid-block crossing with a landscaped median. It might also be possible to use the extant crosswalk at Beyer Road SW.

This project does not include a connection along Overlook Avenue/I-295 past Blue Plains all the way to Oxon Cove.

They didn't discuss Oxon Run in any detail. But for both projects they're working on a 30% Design alternative which they plan to complete in January 2010.

Metropolitan Branch Trail - Heather Deutsch, DDOT's project manager for the Met Branch Trail talked about that project. They've partnered with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities to create a logo and wayfinding standards. They've launched a new website at metbranchtrail.com. They laid the foundation for about two-thirds of the trail so far and they hope to pave about one-third of it within two weeks. They hope to have the other third paved within the next six weeks. The paved part of the trail will be 11 feet wide with 2 two-foot wide unpaved jogging paths on the outsides. The section from R north to Franklin Street and over Rhode Island Avenue should open by late fall.

They installed the first Solar LED light and if that works well, they'll start installing the rest. There's a stairway being built to give access to a school along the route. They're putting in seating walls where the ROW narrows and benches & trees where it's wider. There will be a fence between the CSX tracks and the trail and it will allow vines and other greenery to grow in to create a visual barrier.

The small section from New York Avenue to R Street may not open until spring. In order to build the trail, DDOT needed permission from WMATA to handle drainage issues and that permit was delayed. Since asphalt cannot be laid in the winter, the last connection will most likely not be able to be completed until the Spring.  

There will be a ride of the Met Branch Trail on Sept. 19th as part of BikingTown DC, and a walking tour sponsored by Rails-to-Trails the next day from 2-4pm. Meet at the Brookland-CUA Metro station (Red line) outside the CUA (west) entrance. For more information and to RSVP, contact Kelly Pack at [email protected].

The Legislative Committee is working on complete streets legislation and investigating how other cities and states have dealt with it. Many have done it through executive order, so DC has a change to be on the cutting edge of this. Tommy Wells is still interested in changing the contributory negligence law if it can be done right.

The Bike Station at Union Station is headed toward a mid-September construction completion. Membership registration could begin around that time with the Bike Station open by Oct 1. They're a little worried registration will be overwhelming and some people talked of increasing the fees to handle that, but for now it looks like the price will stay at $100 a year with a $20 sign up fee. The opening ceremony might move from October 1st to accommodate the schedule of U.S Secretary of Transportation Roy Lahood who would like to cut the ribbon.

Smartbike now has1400 members which has almost maxed out the current system. They have more users this year than last year and their top day was 168 trips on one day. DDOT is still considering its expansion options but not much has changed. They're still talking with ClearChannel and still talking with other systems. There won't be any new stations until Spring. DDOT is doing more analysis on possible locations. They're also looking to get investment from businesses, developers and institutions (for $50,000 to $80,000 you too could have a smartbike kiosk). This would help expand the system beyond what CMAQ spending and the TIGER grant could do.

DDOT had about 200 people show up at Feet in the Street for biking, roller blading,  bike donations, face painting, tennis in the street, Mountatin bike riding with classes, bike repairs, etc.... With more lead time they think it could be a bigger success.  NPS may take it over.

So far the $1.5 million bicycle and pedestrian safety fund is still in the DC budget. $10,000 of that is set aside for the BAC. But that money could still be cut.

CarFreeDay is scheduled for 9/22

There was a discussion of how mutli-space parking meter installation is cutting into gains in bike parking installation. Sadly there is no new solution. DPW has paid to have meters removed, but they can't/won't modify the contract to include simultaneous parking installation (nor does DDOT want them to since they're not sure the contractors could do it right). Leaving some of the meters in place, as has been done in Philadelphia and Oakland, will mean that DPW will have to pay to remove them again. [DPW deals with removal, DDOT deals with parking]. So the only solution that seems viable to DDOT is to try and install as many inverted U's as they can. With 15,000 meters yet to be replaced (and 1200 bike racks installed since 2000) that will mean a lot of swimming against the tide. 

DDOT is still looking at options for the 11th Street Bridge. Basically, they have 14 feet to play with. They could install two 5 foot bike lanes and a 4 foot sidewalk; a 10' MUP and wide outside lanes (so that cyclists using the road can ride between the curb and the outside streetcar track; or a 14' MUP and let on-road cyclists ride between the tracks. Most people at the BAC meeting preferred the later. There was also talk of improving the connection to Anacostia Drive, SE.

Comments

[anonymous]

Did you get that email from Gabe Klein on SmartBike? It sounded to me like they are seriously considering an alternative vendor (cough cough BIXI cough). I, for one, would love DDOT to drop Clear Channel, shut down and gut the system entirely for six months, and then deploy BIXI all over the city. Done right the first time. All existing SmartBike users get a free year or something.

[Purple Eagle]

Progress on the Met Branch is encouraging, but I am disappointed to learn about the delay on the southern-most section. This is a crucial piece of trail . . for me, at least, the trail is not very helpful without the easy crossing of FL and NY. One would think that with as much time as they have had to plan this project, the agencies could have worked out their stormwater management plans earlier.

[silverspringtrails]

I agree with Purple Eagle - that easy crossing of FL and NY is a crucial part of the Met Branch.

I've heard talk of signing the MetBranch route where it follows the streets north of Brookland and Fort Totten to Takoma. The new website photo tour shows a nice Met Branch route sign as the first photo. But as of last week I could find no route signs north of Brookland. Are there still plans to mark the route north of Brookland? If so, what is taking so long?

[Washcycle]

@anonymous, I didn't see the email (I'm not a member anymore. I didn't want to take a membership from someone who would actually use it). Can you send it to me?

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1126516277]

Is there a functioning Bicycle Advisory Council? No meeting minutes for this group have been posted on the DDOT Web site for over a year.

[Washcycle]

There is. But there is a movement to disconnect the BAC from DDOT. BAC is meant to advise the Mayor and District Council on bicycle issues. It also serves a citizen oversight role. As such it's inappropriate for DDOT to host their information, set their agenda, write their minutes etc...all of which has been done in the past.

One thing the BAC will do with its $10k is to create an independent website where it will post minutes and solicit feedback.

[Richard Layman]

Re: There's a stairway being built to give access to a school along the route.

I wonder if it will have a "trough" for bikes to go up and down the stairs.

[Washcycle]

@Richard, I didn't ask, but the other stairways thus far have had a trough. I think everyone's disappointed that the key NY Ave to R Street section is taking so long.

As I understand it, WMATA's engineers signed off on the project a couple of months ago and had that been the end of it, it'd be opening in spring. But WMATA tried to get DC to pay them to use the land - even though the trail connects to their station - and so the negotiation over that caused the slip.