No one will walk their bike

Photo by JeffL

Comments

[antibozo]

Is this at Tilden St?

[Sam]

Looks like Tilden to me. The loose gravel is actually pretty treacherous, so of course folks have created that desire path on the grass instead.

[oboe]

Love it. Inspires me to "mark up" the "Cyclists Must Dismount" signs on the Mt Vernon trail at National.

[turtleshell]

It is Tilden and you can see Pierce Mill in the background.

It is a really goofy design. You have a paved trail used by tons of bikes and and road with a painted bike lane. The two are connected by a very short stretch "protected" by the walk your bike sign. The short stretch has sharp 90 degree turn and the surface is some sort of porous gravel, probably to reduce runoff.

A rider can't really take the turn with any speed since its too sharp and the gravelly surface is unstable. The goofy design invites riders and peds to ride or walk on the grass to bisect the sharp turn. It is a very poor design and embarrassingly poorly planned.

[Cap Hill Keith]

I saw this and was going to send it to you WashCycle glad someone beat me to it.

Turtleshell it is a very poor design.

[Greenbelt]

Probably costs as much to install and maintain the sign as it would to install and maintain a surface improvement?

[rcannon100]

Funny

But it also demonstrates a point. When infrastructure that is built that is #fail, it breeds cynicism and having members of the transportation system ignore the infrastructure. Sometimes putting up a dumb sign like this is worse than doing nothing at all - because you are training cyclists that signs like this are stupid and should be ignored.

Which then leads right back to the discourse about cyclists stopping for red lights and stop signs et al... well.... is the red light a #fail? Does the red light turn red for no reason for no traffic? Is it perfectly clear that it is safe to cross.

To be clear, I am NOT advocating cyclists run red lights. In fact, I am arguing just the opposite. The problem is not with the cyclists. The problem frequently is with the infrastructure (the sign, the red light, etc).

Stupid infrastructure builds participants of the transportation system who view the system as, well, stupid.

[rcannon100]

Or to paraphrase Douglas Adams, "I love 'Walk You Bike' signs; I love the sound they make as they go whizzing by."

[oboe]

@rcannon100

Anyone who has ever walked in this town (or God forbid, say, Springfield) is familiar with this phenomenon. Most signals are essentially "jaywalker training devices". The single goal of most signage is to promote the efficient flow of motor vehicles. So you end up with things like pedestrians stranded on a 1' concrete median for a minute or two while traffic whizzes by. Or VDOT installing "Dismount" signs where a MUT that's effectively the bike equivalent of I-66 crosses over an unused off-ramp (as is the case with the Mt Vernon Trail near National Airport).

[Edge]

This sign is really an indictment of the whole Rock Creek Trail. I almost always ride the road and skip the trail. All the roots and potholes make the trail dangerous, not to mention brutally hard on my rims.

We need a Park Superintendent who is a cyclist. Then we might see some progress n the trail rebuild.

[herbert]

where is jim sebastian of ddot? does he advocate for bicycles in dc, or not? maybe we should begin to ask if we need someone else in that position...

what is his PUBLIC leadership position on this sign?

austina casey seems clueless as well. when asked when the rock creek trailt would be repaved near the zoo, she DIDNT KNOW...

[washcycle]

where is jim sebastian of ddot?

At DDOT. Not at NPS.

does he advocate for bicycles in dc, or not?

Not. As a government employee it would be inappropriate for him to be an advocate. For advocacy, see WABA.

[d-man]

wow.

government employees dont advocate for policy? what planet do you live on?...

in fact, they do such advocacy, on many levels and in many ways (some subtle -- like merely setting agenda items). moreover, i think we should want our employees to be advocates! for many reasons...related to democracy...which clearly is too complicated for the commentators on this forum...

one form advocacy takes is to ignore the criticism of the public and hide behind the power of bureaucracy...and jim sebastian, as well as ddot bicycle planning, is doing just that...

[d-man]

and, as not to be coy:

i know and have spoken with jim sebastian of ddot on many occasions. he does not have the passion or insight needed for his position. end of story.