TheWashCycle

Bike Parking at 225 Virginia - the old Star Printing Plant

This building will open soon and I saw at least 9 of these bike parking racks on two sides of it.

Ribbon Cut on Adams Morgan Streetscape

DC had a ribbon cutting ceremony on the completed Adams Morgan streetscape and much of the media reported the same things, except DCist which complained about the bike racks. 

Most news outlets wrote about all the new amenities, including new bike lanes. The problem is, there are no bike lanes. There are sharrows. Now I know the average person on the street (see what I did there) may not know the difference, but there is a difference.

I really wish they'd put the sharrows in the cener of the lane. The lanes here aren't wide enough to require riding to the right, and if I ride in the center of the sharrows, there isn't room for a car to pass, so I don't really know what the point is. I can hear cyclists being honked at from here. 

Going north from Florida Avenue the sharrows actually "suggest" that you move over to the right after a bus bulb, wand then moving to the left again once the parked cars get in the way. Most experts don't recommend that you do this and that instead you "maintain your line." I hate to ask them to grind this sharrow out, but they should really grind this sharrow out and replace it. 

DCist meanwhile complains about the bike racks. I've used these neighborhood branded ones often and I don't have any problem with them. Maybe I'm not drunk enough. I bet they work a lot better outside of bar districts. 

Friday Morning Commute - Martini

Good morning. OT: Once the expanded Panama Canal opens, what will happen to all the ships that are perfectly designed to use the current Canal. Are they just going to be scrapped or what? Anyone know?

• Another month, another set of records for CaBi. 202,822 trips and 245,877 miles in June both of which are new highs. That makes for 4.88 tpbpd still below the record of 5.069 set last year. Trips are up 41% from last year and 3.5% above May. Miles are up 49% from 2011.
• A woman was sexually assault on the Capital Crescent Trail just north of Georgetown. "Investigators say an adult woman, jogging alone at 9:15 p.m., was attacked from behind, put in a choke hold and passed out. When she awoke, her pants were down and a man was fondling her. She screamed and he ran off." Video below the bump.
• Get a discount on an Urban Bike Adventure. 
• Look, I know that drunk driving isn't funny, but the guy's last name is Martini. That's a little bit funny, right? Also, he assaulted a bicycle police officer in Ocean City after the officer attempted to pull him over.
• Vienna discusses how to make the W&OD Trail safer. "the Vienna BAC is planning, to create an on-street alternative for bicyclists through Vienna....NVRPA plans to move the trail adjacent to the Community Center to pass through the existing parking lot, which is owned by NVRPA. The current trail location is on Town of Vienna Property and is one of the more narrow sections. This would also reduce a tight curve and should be a benefit trail users and eliminate the many people who now cross the trail to get to their cars in the existing parking lot."

No one will walk their bike

Photo by JeffL

Thursday Afternoon Commute - Very Good

Good afternoon

• A task force, including a member of the Bicycle Advisory Council, will study traffic fines for automatic speed cameras. I agree that the cameras should be about safety and not revenue. I heard Thomas Didone, a Montgomery County police captain, on NPR recently discussing how they choose locations, and it sounded rational and transparent. They have an advisory board that does the selecting. "we have set factors, an open criteria. We look at the amount of speeding on the roadway, the traffic volume, the amount of accidents on there, the pedestrian proximity and others, things that can be hit, the design of the roadway. And we have an open-above-core criteria in which citizen through the website can request consideration. We do an evaluation of that. And if it meets our criteria, it gets included in the program. So that way, it's above board and it's based on safety as the sole factor." I think DC could benefit from something like that. Anything that can be done to increase the legitimacy of the cameras as safety devices helps. Also, since the tickets are regressive. I'd love to see them tie the price of the ticket to the income of the driver - or perhaps charge 0.5% of the blue book value of the car. [Aside: I saw two motorcycles with the license plate bent way up so that one can not read the plate without climbing under the motorcycle. And cyclists are called scofflaws?]
• Over the last month there have been two attacks in Bethesda's Air Rights Tunnel on the Georgetown Branch Trail. In the video, the position that people are feeling uneasy is quickly undone by a mom pushing a stroller by herself in the background.  They also erroneously call it a former Metro tunnel. Do police really need to ride motorcyclists through the tunnel?
• There was a meeting last night on redesigning New Jersey Avenue between H and N Street NW. The redesign would make the road two-way and add bike lanes. 
• One journalist's take on biking in London. 
• The German Automobile Club ranked Europe's major bike sharing systems. They must be going with the Michelan system because only Lyon received the Very Good ranking.  

The Metropolitan Branch Trail and the Union Station Master Plan

Yesterday afternoon, I wrote that I hoped that the ambitious Union Station Master Plan would include an improved Metropolitan Branch Trail.  The plan is now out and it does include some consideration of the trail. 

Complementing the open space system, a new linear park will connect NoMa ’s planned park improvements at l Street with landscaping and the northern continuation of the Metropolitan Bike trail.

OK, so they have the wrong name for the trail. And it isn't just for biking. But it's a start.

It gets better:

the Master Plan promotes the use of bicycles by extending the existing Metropolitan Branch bike trail approximately one mile from its current terminus at the noMa-gallaudet U (new york ave) Metrorail station to the Union Station bikestation. the new bike path will be part of a proposed greenway along the west edge of the Union Station complex.  Bikesharing facilities also might be added along the greenway corridor, providing fullservice opportunities for bicyclists.

the Master Plan also proposes the construction of a greenway above the Metro right-of-way, connecting noMa to the north with Union Station, Metro, and Capitol Hill, providing a dramatic civic amenity and linear park. the proposed greenway will run along the west edge of the air rights development and will be used by station passengers, workers, residents, cyclists, and visitors to the Union Station district. the greenway is planned as a beautifully landscaped outdoor space providing a raised extension of the Metropolitan Branch trail bike path and pedestrian walkway, and connecting with the noMa- gallaudet U Metrorail Station and noMa’s planned park at l Street.

And check out the rendering of it.

So yeah, I want to go to there. But sadly, the west side wouldn't be built until 2023-2028. That's even if funding can be found. 

Thursday Morning Commute - One City

Good morning

• Mayor Gray's One City Action Plan calls for expanding bike share stations (by 87 by the end of the year which has already been reported) and bike lanes. Bike lanes would go from 56 now to 61 by 2014, which doesn't sound that aggressive compared to the Action Agenda from 2010 which aspired to have 80 miles by 2012. The One City Plan adds "DDOT will also add high visibility bike lanes with green paint beginning on L Street and in other high conflict areas. Lastly, additional pavement markers that help to better identify bike lanes will also be added to help increase bicycle safety."
• WAMU is not finding as many abandoned bikes as I'd expect. Maybe next they can focus on something that impacts safety.
• Ray LaHood "If accessibility advocates and biking and walking advocates make their voices heard in their state capitols and in their county and city councils, there's no reason to believe that the tremendous progress we've made in the last three years can't continue." Except that many state capitals are dominated by the kind of people who oppose spending money on biking. 
• Velib is 5 years old. 10% of Parisians are members, and car trips are down 25%. Velib has turned a profit the last 3 years. 

New Adams Morgan Bike Parking in use

Wednesday Evening Commute - Beijing Bicycle Crowdsourcing

I finally got a locker at the New Carrollton Metro station. But when I went to open the door, the whole thing fell off. To their credit, WMATA is sending me a key for a new locker today. In the absence of perfection, good customer service is the best you can hope for. 

• One would hope that the proposed overhaul of Union Station would lead to an improved Met Branch Trail south of L Street. I'd love to see it stay up above L and K with connections to both the H Street Bridge and 1st Street. The new building at K is something of an obstacle though. 
• The war on cars could also be cast as a war on moving things by car, with the war being launched by those who like to drive around in their cars by themselves. 
• One of the victims of the Aurora Shooting was a cross-country cyclist taking a break to catch a movie. 
• A new crowdsourcing website seeks to tap into the wisdom of Chinese pedestrians and cyclists to identify areas in need of repair or improvement in Beijing.

Maryland announces 28 Bikeways Program Grants winners

From the press release

As part of the O’Malley Administration’s Cycle Maryland Initiative, Governor Martin O’Malley today announces 28 winners of the Bikeways Program Grants.  The Maryland Bikeways Program, administered by the Maryland Department of Transportation, was established in November 2011 as a program to support planning, design and construction of projects that create and improve bicycle connections in Maryland to key destinations, like work, school and shopping.

Local projects getting funding include

• The 0.4 mile connection of Anacostia Tributary Trail to the Washington D.C. River Trail ($1,000,000 Bikeways funding in 2012, $500,000 Bikeways funding in 2013)  
• Feasibility assessment and preliminary design of WB&A Trail bridge over Patuxent River ($560,000)
• Three Notch Trail Phase VI construction,  through Mechanicsville ($470,000 Bikeways funding)
• Clopper Road sidepath closing gaps in Germantown ($100,000)
• Sidepath to close gap on River Road. Grant funding contingent on ROW acquisition by Montgomery County ($100,000)
• Woodglen Road bike lanes and sidepath in White Flint ($100,000)
• College Park Shared Lane markings near metro station and University ($58,000)
• Anacostia Tributary Trail wayfinding system design ($50,000)
• Path connection between Indian Head Rail Trail and town green and local businesses ($40,000)
• BWI trail signing and wayfinding enhancements ($30,000)
• Bike route connecting C&O trail, Brunswick MARC station through the town ($25,000)
• Signing bike routes connecting schools, shopping in Takoma Park. ($5,000)
• Lafayette Ave bike route to Laurel MARC ($4,000)