Lon Anderson of AAA in for a live chat at the Post

Here at 1pm. In case you need a refresher, here is part of Anderson's lovely little essay on DC's War on Drivers. Enjoy...

That said, recently the District government, and Mayor Adrian Fenty's budget in particular, have made it clear that it's war on motorists, and that's a huge concern to us and our over 80,000 DC AAA members. The "war" is best illustrated on two fronts: the budget and the bicycle proposals. Let's look at the budget issues first.

[snip]

But, at the same time, DC is moving aggressively to take lanes away from cars and convert them to bicycle ways (15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue for starters).

Our city is already struggling with its congestion for several reasons:

· The loss of so many alleys that used to be available for deliveries. So now, many delivery trucks just double and triple park in our roadways, snarling our streets daily.
· Increased security has meant lanes, roads and parking spaces have all been taken away around federal buildings because of the terror threat. Remember when Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was a busy national boulevard carrying 29,000 vehicles a day?
· Continued growth in vehicle traffic, especially as the economy rebounds and business and residential revitalization in the city continues.
· Likely further loss of lane space to trolleys that will be installed. FYI, I am a big trolley fan and spent the last day they operated in DC riding the rails with my grandmother, who boldly predicted that "Washington will rue the day it ended this service."

So, in a region that already has the second worst commute in the nation, according to the Texas Transportation Institute's latest study, we are going to further shrink highway capacity for cars and trucks and hand it over to bicycles? Is it realistic to think that, at a time when the residents of Beijing are hanging up their bicycles for cars by the thousands every day, that our residents are going to hang up their cars for bicycles en masse?

Comments

[Fred]

A stands for... I won't repeat the word I would like to use!

[TurbineBlade]

Yep. One more lane on the beltway ought to do it.

[Just161]

The District has over THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED lane-miles of roadways for cars.

Striped bike lanes, which have not required taking a lane, reach FIFTY miles in the District.

DDOT made lanes on Penn and 15th for bikes, by converting a total of TWO AND A HALF lane-miles from cars. This is 0.07% - LESS THAN ONE TENTH OF ONE PERCENT of the District's total capacity for automobiles.

Good grief. Bike lanes have had nothing to do with congestion. If anything, bike lanes give people a way out of congestion.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2008/hm60.cfm

[dynaryder]

If memory serves,Penn Ave was closed like '93-94 ish? I also believe it was before the first WTC bombing,and certainly before Ok City. Post 9/11 has nothing to do with that one.

[washcycle]

I find it odd that he talks about shrinking "highway capacity" when the plan was to shrink Penn Avenue. I don't think of Penn Avenue as a highway.

[Erik Weber]

Remember when you couldn't take a picture of the White House for fear of getting run over? Such a pity that America's front yard is now an inviting public space where people read, run, walk, bike, play sports and protest nuclear weapons 24/7.

[washcycle]

It is nice as is, but it did cause a mess for bus routes, or so I've heard.

[Max]

If all us bike pedaling people would just stop the nonsense and drive cars...that would certainly solve the congestion problem.

[Max]

And thanks for the statistics Just161. It really shows the ridiculousness of their arguments. Perhaps the sidewalks should be forfeited over to motor lanes too.

[SJE]

One of the best things I did this year was dropping AAA and going to Better World Club, almost entirely catalyzed by Lon Anderson.

[Jonathan Krall]

The Q&A is on "holiday travel." AAA Mid-Atlantic has called for the Federal Transportation Fund to be spent on roads instead of transit, bicycling or sidewalks, so I submitted a question to ask if he therefore recommends that all Americans do their holiday travel by car.

I really wanted to ask him why AAA Mid-Atlantic is waging a war in cycling facilities, but that didn't seem very productive or relevant to the topic.

[Liz]

I posted a question for Mr. Anderson, and although I thought it was more politely worded than the two non-Thanksgiving related questions he did take, he did not take my question. Guess he didn't want to talk about bikes.

[Chris]

I thought America's front yard was the National Mall.

[darren]

Lon, you so crazy! In the chat, he states, "We do not and have not ever called for defunding transit. Period." Which is technically correct. They simply called for all transit, bike/ped, and other stuff to be funded out of general revenue funds, rather than devote gas tax revenues to such frippery. http://www.railstotrails.org/resources/documents/ourWork/Gagnon_original_article.PDF

Drivers, drive on with your extra $.05 a gallon worth of asphalt. The rest of you, best of luck with Congressman Mica et al.

[Jonathan Krall]

As darren points out, Lon answered my question:
http://live.washingtonpost.com/holiday-travel-with-lon-anderson-of-aaa-mid-atlantic.html#question-12

His answer was disingenuous to say the least. AAA Mid Atlantic has called for funds to be redirected away form transit and cycling and towards roads. For more info and to sign the petition to AAA, see:
http://www.railstotrails.org/ourWork/whereWeWork/national/news/AAA.html

[Dan]

Just want to clarify someone's earlier comment about the timing of closing Pennsylvania Ave.

Pennsylvania Avenue closed in 1995, after (and in response to) the Oklahoma City bombing.

I remember it well. I was a bike messenger at the time, and all of my deliveries to the New Exec Office Building (which took White House packages) got a lot less stressful.

[Bill]

I'm so glad I didn't renew my AAA membership this year and switched to Better World. I'm no longer helping to finance this idiocy.