Monday Afternoon Commute - Slackwater

Good afternoon

• This is your usual Level 1, "cyclists are a menace" editorial. I like how current behavior is labelled a "recipe for disaster" followed by a sentence pointing out that it isn't actually a disaster. Perhaps people modified the recipe. Anyway, Ockershausen calls for cyclists to be licensed, required to wear helmets and follow the same laws as automobile drivers, as appropriate. She'll be happy to know that 1/3 of her wishlist is done. This is all followed with a lot of erroneous helmet data. She adds "It's time for cyclists to be held accountable in the same way motorists are." Done. Cyclists are basically not held accountable, just like drivers.
• This presentation about Arlington's Capitol Improvement Program has a lot of information about transit projects, at least one cool photo of the excavations done to build the new elevators at Rosslyn Metro and the first look at the new, stylish Clarendon metro plaza that I've seen. In addition there are some updates on cycling projects. Highlights:
  • The Boundary Channel Drive Interchange, which should create a new connection across the GW Parkway, will begin federally-required Interchange Modification Study in FY 2013
  • Construction of the Columbia Pike parallel bike boulevards will begin at the western end in 2013
  • Army-Navy Drive Two-Way Cycletrack funding 
  • Potomac Yard/FMR Trail Connection funding
  • CaBi expansion to Shirlington and Columbia Pike in FY 2013/14
  • Colored bike lanes in Pentagon City
  • Bicycle parking at Clarendon Metro
  • Bicycle parking at Ballston Metro
  • The removal of the last 2500 parking meters by 2016
• Alexandria begins installing CaBi stations. Photos here. Discussion here.
• Repairs to the Big Slackwater section of the C&O Canal National Historical Park will be completed soon and the park might reopen next month 

Comments

[oboe]

Bonus points for "Now I'm an avid cyclist myself but..." and "...biking is great...except when the rider is not doing their best to 'share the road'."

Go fuck yourself, avid cyclist.

Cyclists have a *right* to public space, just as pedestrians have a *right* to public space. Operating a motor vehicle on the public roads is a *privilege*, not a right.

[MM]

"I’m shocked there aren’t more accidents. I propose that current laws be modified to require that cyclists be licensed, wear helmets and obey the same laws as automobile drivers, as appropriate."

If points 1 and 2 are instituted (3 is already the law, dummy) then you bet your ass I'm going to start using 395 and the GWMP for my bike commute (which would be enjoyable for the 5 minutes of it that I'd live through). Also, I expect that new building developments will include minimum bike parking requirements, bike manufacturers will get billions in taxpayer subsidies, and the 85% rule used to determine speed limits must take cyclist speeds into account as well. Fair is fair...

[Crikey7]

"The majority of people killed in bicycle accidents are male."

I'm not sure I know how that fits into a licensing system, but I'm suddenly very afraid.

[Joe]

"It's time for cyclists to be held accountable in the same way motorists are."

We then that means that cyclists really don't need to be acountable. The laws on drivers are lax and the enforcement of them are even more lax. Many laws are never enforced on drivers.

[Kolohe]

I could've sworn they finished the 'study' part of Boundary Channel interchange. I seem to remember Froggie (or maybe it was you) illustrating which ramps were closing.