Wednesday Morning Commute - Shut up Rybak

Good Morning

• In the race between bike, bus and car, bike is the winner. And yes, he obeyed all the traffic laws.
• "The completion of the Capital Crescent and MetBranch Trails was named as one of six conservation priorities selected from over 50 candidate projects by a jury. Representatives present from Purple Line NOW!, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, and Rails-to-Trails were recognized for promoting this project."
• More on the Spring Bicycle Friendly cities announcement - Boston and NYC made Silver too. "Washington, D.C. first received a Bronze BFC award in 2004. Over the last seven years, it unveiled several signature projects including buffered bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue connecting the White House and the Capitol Building, a world-class bike parking facility, Bikestation, and the largest public bike sharing system in the country. These major projects are supported by an extensive bicycling education and encouragement program for children and adults. Washington now has the highest share of bicycle commuters of any major city on the East Coast." Harrisonburg, VA made Bronze, and Frederick, MD got an honorable mention. Minneapolis made Gold, which I mention in part because it counters the "no one will bike when it's col argument" and because one of the reasons they made gold was because of "Winter plowing priority for bike trails". Also, they taunted us. Mayor R.T. Rybak tweeted, “NY, DC and Boston got silver…how cute.”

Comments

[MB]

Arlington's quite keen on gold in the next round. Glad to see that plowing priority was on the list for Minneapolis.

[Eric_W.]

Just as a reminder: The designation is valid for four years after which the community has to go through the renewal process.

The City of Alexandria earned a bronze level designation in 2009. After the add-on tax defeat we will see whether they will manage to improve to silver during the renewal process.

[Jonathan Krall]

Eric W: While Alexandria failed to pass the add-on tax, they did raise the basic property tax on everyone by 2 cents, with that money being earmarked for transportation. This is expected to raise 13.5 million, which is close to what the add-on tax would have raised. I am not thrilled that, unlike the add-on tax, these funds are vulnerable to being diverted away from transportation, but I am very happy with the overall level of funding.

[Eric_W.]

Jonathan,

I read about the "earmarking" but am less optimistic (but hopeful!) than you on the use of these funds.

Of course I hope and expect that Alexandria continues to improve its biking infrastructure and programs. There is definitely enough room...

Do you know whether these reserved funds come with the same conditions as the add-on tax, i.e. only for new projects and not for maintenance?

[ILikeGoldToo]

If Arlington is keen on Gold, maybe it should stop installing bike red lights - and instead solve dangerous intersection problems. Red light after red light on a short span of the Custis trail makes the trail unusable and will push Bikes into the stret.

[Froggie]

The biggest hiccup to Alexandria getting Silver-designated won't be funding...it'll be Complete Streets.

Speaking of the add-on tax, I did a short blog piece on it over the weekend. Surprised Wash didn't catch it...

[washcycle]

I was on vacation and I'm way behind. I have had to ignore a lot of stuff.