Good morning
- The DC BAC has a map showing all of the proposed bike lane additions and improvements for 2012. It includes
- the L&M cycletracks
- bike lanes for over a mile on 49th Street NE and other bike lanes on Illinois Avenue NW, Rock Creek Church Road NW, Cathedral Avenue NW, 11th St NW, 14th St NW, Reno Rd NW, West Virginia Avenue NE and Good Hope Road SE.
- A contraflow lane on Woodley Place NW
- A multiuse path to connect two sections of 10th St NW between R St and Rhode Island Ave. NW
- A cut through in the median of Rhode Island at 5th St that will allow cyclists to pass through.
- And other bike lanes - originally scheduled for 2011 - on New Mexico Ave/Tunlow Road, Piney Branch Road and 4th St NW/SW.
- Speaking of cycletracks, are valet's using the 15th Street cycletrack for parking? One commenter says yes.
meh. with the exception of the L & M cycletracks (which i hope against hope won't get the PPW treatment), this seems like a pretty unambitious year of bike lanes ahead.
Posted by: darren | December 12, 2011 at 09:31 AM
I don't know, it's over 10 miles. And the low hanging fruit is already taken, so it only gets harder from here.
They're removing parking for some of these, which is a pretty big change. There was a time when they wouldn't even think about that.
Posted by: washcycle | December 12, 2011 at 09:40 AM
Yes, low hanging fruit is taken. It's time to redo the bike master plan to figure out which higher hanging fruit to pluck, because with the exception of L/M, all of these additions are in outlying areas of the bike network.
I'd love to see the gaps filled in the 14th St lanes, the 15th St track go further north and south, Penn Ave track pick up on the west side of the WH, replace some of the downtown lanes with buffered lanes, do something (anything!) with 7th and 9th St NW, and M St SE/SW, try contraflow around 17th/18th/19th NW. It just seems like they're putting the finishing touches on the network, when they shouldn't be.
Where are they removing parking? That is a big deal
Posted by: darren | December 12, 2011 at 10:00 AM
All the easy ones aren't done yet. The 4th St SW lanes on that map are an such easy get that I can't imagine why they haven't been done yet. There are others left out there, it's just about finding them.
Posted by: Dave | December 12, 2011 at 10:43 AM
I thought I saw something in last year's schedule about lanes on I St SW from S. Capitol to 3rd St SW. Obviously, that didn't happen, but it's not on the new list either.
As for the 4th St SW lanes, some of those blocks have been blocked by construction sites and dumpsters (American Indian Museum) for a long time. I think they'd have to wrap up those projects before the bike lanes are striped and I have my doubts those will be finished in 2012.
The cut-through on Rhode Island and the link between RIA and R Street on 10th appear minor but I think they will be very useful "bike boulevard" additions...
Otherwise, I agree with Darren - we are FAR from putting on the finishing touches.
Posted by: KG | December 12, 2011 at 11:42 AM
Union Station area, Mass Ave NE, D Street NE, Louisiana Ave NW. Lots of potential for lane improvements in that area.
Posted by: Greenbelt | December 12, 2011 at 12:12 PM
South Capital, south of the Anacostia. Lots of room to stripe much-needed bike lanes here, though a cycletrack would be more appropriate.
Posted by: Jonathan Krall | December 12, 2011 at 12:26 PM
+1, 2 & 3 on Union Station. The place is a train wreck ( nyuck, nyuck ). A prize winning bike facility on the grounds with no way to get in or out? Whats up with that?
Posted by: Riley | December 12, 2011 at 01:30 PM
Columbus Circle in front of Union Station is under construction now, in about a year it'll look very different from the grass-and-dirt hobo camp out there before the construction.
Posted by: Dave | December 12, 2011 at 01:56 PM
Any news on the Columbia Road lanes? I thought they would be down by Thanksgiving. Thanks.
Posted by: D | December 12, 2011 at 10:11 PM
Commented on 2012 proposed improvements. I'm in support of the proposed bikelanes for 49th street. Think we should also considered finishing the lanes on Alabama Ave, add suitland rd to the district line, and include East Capitol Street giving points east of the river another connection to downtown.
Posted by: john | December 13, 2011 at 11:54 AM
Where are they removing parking?
West Virginia Ave for one, and I think L and M too.
Posted by: washcycle | December 13, 2011 at 01:03 PM
We're not done putting on the final touches, and we haven't even added all the bike lanes in the existing bike plan, but what we have is a manpower issue.
There is one person at DDOT who is primarily responsible for bike lane installation and frankly, he's overworked. He also deals with bike parking and reviews road projects for the bike team etc...
DDOT only installed 1 mile of bike lane this year because some paperwork got hung up within DDOT, which wouldn't happen if more people worked on this. [If the weather holds out, they could still hit 5 miles by the end of the year - so you may see a flurry of painting].
If you'd like to see more bike lanes, I'd suggest writing your ANC and Council representative as well as the Mayor. The problem isn't one of will, it is of resources.
Finally, it looks like work will begin soonish on an updated Bicycle Master Plan.
Posted by: washcycle | December 13, 2011 at 01:14 PM
Columbia Road lanes are still coming. You probably won't see any bike lanes on South Capital because they aren't in the bike plan and DDOT is working on a couple of bike paths to do the same thing.
Posted by: washcycle | December 13, 2011 at 01:15 PM
Sad but true about S Capitol St, I suppose, but that area is a wasteland for cycling and re-striping is way cheaper than rebuilding. Where are the guerrilla bike lane-painters when you need them?
Posted by: Jonathan Krall | December 14, 2011 at 03:10 PM