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. 

Comments

[dynaryder]

I get what DCist is saying,depending on your lock strategy,the cross bars might get in the way. Of course,those treebox fences and lamp posts are also going to get used.

Now if only they had bollards to prevent drunken brahs from stumbling into the bikes on the racks.

[SJE]

The traffic (of all sorts) in Adams Morgan can be heavy. Why do they still have on-street parking? Perhaps a parking garage would be in order.

[Jack Cochrane]

Good lesson in how NOT to do sharrows.

[herbert]

what a fucking disaster. WHO is in charge of this? WHERE is Jim Sebastien? will he LEAD for once?!!

it has been calculated that 77 percent of the landmass on the 18th street parcel from florida to colmbia is asphalt for CARS. PATHETIC. what damn century is this?...

just so disappointing on so many social levels...

[Jack Cochrane]

I'm curious how far the sharrows are from the curb. Does anyone care to measure it (and also measure the distance from curb to center of the street) and report back? Some guidelines (MDOT) call for 11' from curb to center of the sharrow -- these don't even seem that far. 13' should be the absolute minimum where there are parked cars. On a road like this that's getting into the wheel track of the moving cars, so then why put them to the right at all? Put them down the middle of the lane where cyclists are safest anyway.

[alice]

jack:

do you realize how many people worked on this project? for how long? how many contractors were met with; how many managers went out and approved and then paid the contractors? how many hours taking *input* from *stakeholders*...like bicyclists, quality of life advocates, and those wanting and inspiring, beautiful and practical, multimodal and sustainable design for adams morgan?

...and then come up with this utter piece of shit, that glorifies everything that is wrong in this culture.

do you understand what beauracracy is?...read a little max weber...

where is jim sebastian? where is waba? how did this happen? where are the cycletracks on L and M? why isnt adams morgan and 14th street and m street in georgetown closed to cars on weekend nights to celebrate OUR democratic COMMUNITY?...

because americans are morons. we have no such democracy or community and no moral or practical imagination. yes we can says, obama. wow. only a fool is motivated by that empty pabum.

the bike community seems more clueless than the car drivers, led as they are by reactionaries like AAA and the ever pathetic lon anderson.

but changing where the sharrows are drawn will fix things?...

how can you get up in he morning with such low expectations for your culture? some of us have children. stand and fight and if you lose at least youll have some respect from those who didnt ask to be born into this cultural disaster...

[just another rider]

Jack, you might have a point that the "letter" was followed in marking out the sharrows. But I think someone making decisions got "sharrows" and "bike lane" confused and so used the one marking for the other. That is to say, the media aren't the only ones getting confused.

Whichever they were trying to put in, lanes or sharrows, yikes! Those things are practically squawking "Door me!"

[Dave]

Alice -

There's a bike lane missing a couple of bike symbols on Capitol Hill. Just wanted you to know.

[washcycle]

why isnt adams morgan and 14th street and m street in georgetown closed to cars on weekend nights to celebrate OUR democratic COMMUNITY?

I think the majority of residents would vote to NOT close these streets. So, you're probably on the losing side. Don't mistake "not everyone agrees with me" with "we don't have democracy". I've lived in a dictatorship and a lack of closed streets in bar districts is definitely a first world problem. So chill out.

[d-man]

washcycle:

i meant close those streets to cars -- not close the streets.

noncognitive indoctrination runs blindingly deep, doesnt it?...

or are streets only for cars?...

and why does voting, this "mania for counting noses," count as democracy? “A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience.”
– John Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)

do you think those people who are "against" closing the street for social life IN the street have lived in barcelona? the uk? berlin? caritibo, brazil? even been to times square? etc etc??

taking votes among oppressed populations (like georgetown) is hardly progressive, healthy or democratic on any account...

and as was pointed out: ddot's jim sebastian needs to be called to account to the bike community...he doesnt seem to be effective...he needs to start pressuring nps on the behalf of washington's sustainable, EFFECTIVE and DEFENSIBLE transportation future -- and only part of this has ANYTHING to do with bicycles...

dave: making light of creative proposals only indicates the usual level of cowardice, cynicism, utter lack of creative imagination...blah blah....it's just the usual big YAWN.
youre boring.
life's too short...

[washcycle]

i meant close those streets to cars -- not close the streets.

So did I.

[Jack]

Alice, I appreciate your passion. It fuels a lot of advocacy. But improving cyclists' lot takes all kinds of efforts. When it comes to the safety and rights of cyclists, some of us contribute to fixing the big picture and some keep an eye out for engineering mistakes and some try to do both. Either way it takes a lot of time, and when I get up in the morning I usually don't feel guilty, just sleepy.

[neb]

I agree, the sharrows should be moved. This whole thing just reminds of how bad this project was done. Why do you have a striped yellow center median that is used for absolutely nothing except a few turn lanes when you could've added even more sidewalk space that is now being commandeered by businesses wanting larger patios. This project shows a complete lack of leadership by the city. I'm not talking about democracy or whatever, I think it is just a squandered opportunity. I just try to have some appreciation, I suppose, that it could've been worse.

[Eric]

WABA fought and lost the battle over 18th probably 4-5 years ago. It was a struggle to even get sharrows. Business owners said they needed the middle buffer for truck delivering to restaurants. To get the additional space for formal bike lanes the sidewalks would have had to have been narrowed.

[neb]

you could have removed parking to provide loading zones. Also, many pedestrian streets have rules for delivering goods at certain hours. This isn't rocket science. They could have done this for 18th. I think WABA did a good job trying for something better, but the fact is that this was a lost opportunity to do something a lot better.

The construction period was itself was enough to show that the whole street could've been shut down or turned into a transit/bike/ped only street and traffic/parking would all work itself out.

[alice]

neb should make more comments here on this blog...how refreshing.

jack: thank you for your tireless efforts...you have my gratitude...