15th Street Bike lanes, not so controversial

WUSA 9 has a follow-up to yesterday's poorly researched story on "protests" about the 15th Street bike lanes. They interviewed a wider range of people, including cyclists, about the impact of the new bike lane. Something I failed to mention yesterday was that not all of the parking spaces were removed. There are still several spaces along that stretch of 15th (any frequent riders want to guess how many?) and about a dozen were removed. Because of the law of diminishing returns, the least valuable spaces were the ones that were removed. If only 12 out of 100 spaces were removed, that is kind of trivial, especially since they were replaced with spaces on side streets.

"I think those meters are more of a deterrent," said Kenya Rennie, who herself bikes to work at Lettie Gooch Boutique. "I think the bike lanes are safer and actually quicker many times."

The District's Department of Transportation consulted with property owners when planning the lanes. Spokeswoman Karyn LeBlanc said that they adjusted plans afterwards.

"We actually went along the 15th Street corridor and those spaces where we had to remove particular parking spots, we reallocated new parking spaces on the side streets," she said. "And the idea behind the bike lanes was to create a safer zone for bicyclists but still provide that parking for people on the outside lane."

WABA meanwhile, sent a letter to the editor of the Examiner about the story. Among other things, they criticize the writer for unquestionably repeating statements by opponents, without noted the failures in their arguments (such as noting that riding on the sidewalk in that area is illegal or that bike lanes might very well increase business).

Finally, Mike Debonis points out that the bike lanes in question are in front of the Examiner's office. Curious.

Update: Despite the fact that I live in a glass house, I'm going to throw stones. The WUSA 9 story is headlined as "More Bike lanes, Less Parking Spaces" instead of fewer parking spaces. So, I'm not alone in making grammatical errors.

 

Comments

[TurbineBlade]

Thanks for posting this Wash - I submitted my angry letter to the examiner just a moment ago! ;)

[JeffB]

On a side note I used the 15th St bike lanes yesterday afternoon to make a grocery run. In just one block I came across 2 SUV's and a Federal Express delivery truck parked in them.

The Federal Express truck was behind the other 2 and the driver was just coming back to his truck when I rolled up behind him. He must have read the look on my face as he immediately apologized which I found curious. One apologizes for a wrong done unintentionally or unavoidably. I don't think that was his case.

Even worse - since he was hemmed in in front by the other two illegal parkers his only course to exit was either to drive over the pylons or to blindly back up about a 1/4 block using the bike lane.

I also noticed pedestrians were standing in the bike lanes while waiting for a walk signal to cross the street.

[JeffB]

I'll note that in the WUSA 9 video at about 1:33 (right before the end) there is an car parked in the bike lane.

But it must be OK as he has his Romulan cloaking device engaged.

[Steve]

Sorry this is not a 15th st. issue, but does anyone know why an MPD cruiser would be parked in the median bike lane on Pennsylvania in front of the FBI building?

There was a cop in the car this morning and bikes were just having to swerve around him in both directions.

[Mark Plotz]

Love the closing shot with the BMW parked in the bike lane.
I suppose that story is about as conciliatory in tone as our local media gets on a story about bicycling.
Funny thing about business owners and parking: they always complain about a lack of convenient parking, yet it is they and their employees whose cars are parked out front, in the prime spots, all day long.
Nice response by WABA but it is a little too narrow. At 2%--or whatever it is--of the commute mode share, we cyclists are still pretty small. So when biking improvements are made to a street it is important to point out how other users benefit. Like the businesses whose customers are no less likely to be run over crossing 15th Street. Or the residents along 15th Street who no live along less of a racetrack.

[Mark Plotz]

"Like the businesses whose customers are no less likely to be run over crossing 15th Street."

make that: now less likely...

[JJJ]

I find that newspapers frequently quote people making outrageous statements, and in the interest of being "unbiased" they don't correct them.

Fake example: "One lady was upset about the new lanes, Janice X said "hundreds of kids are being killed by these bikers"

The article then never follows up with actual stats, they just move on as if that was a fact.