Good afternoon. I successfully sold my folding bike (but my Schwinn) is still on the market. It's only the third bike I've willingly parted with since I became an adult. One I sold before leaving for Peace Corps and the other - the "Bike of Love" - I donated to Goodwill when I got a better road bike. They'll be some emotional adjustments needed.
Bad Headline: "Biking to Work: Healthy Trend leads to more collisions." Proably not true. Sure, more cyclists will likely lead to more bike-related collisions. But they aren't (and probably can't) accounting for the fact that less driving should result in fewer car collisions. Also, it's hard to call one year to year comparison a solid trend. Still, next week's headline "Vegetables: Healthy eating leads to more chokings" This video, and others, below the jump.
The last of those videos is for the Penn Ave bike lanes story, in which the on-the-scene reporter says that things had "gotten so dangerous that something had to be done" which is probably a bit of hyperbole. One crash per season isn't really Thunderdome. Another takes time to emphasize that cyclists "also need to follow the rules" pointing to red light running. Following the rules is good, but if 11 out of 14 crashes are the result of illegal U-turns, it's not really a "we're all equally responsible" situation.
Text of the bill moving through the DC Council is here.
Baltimore County approved the bike and pedestrian plan that Richard Layman worked on. It now becomes part of the Master Plan. "The plan offers a long-term look at the infrastructure and steps necessary to make roadways safer for children walking to school, commuters pedaling to work and recreational cyclists on a weekend ride."
Work continues on turning the eastern spur of the Southeast Freeway into a Boulevard - which will include a bike facility.
After a year when it seemed like it might not get anywhere, the WABA supported Anti-Harassment Law - now labelled the Access to Justice for Bicyclists Act of 2012 - was approved by a DC Council committee today. "It now goes to the full DC Council for consideration with the unanimous support of the Judiciary Committee."..."The goal of the legislation is to incentivize attorneys to take on the cases of bicyclists in these lower-damages situations, by making provision for attorney’s fees and costs and creating a floor for actual damages of $1,000," says the report.
I disagree with this article in general, but I liked this caption "The addition of the New York Avenue Metro stop and walking/bike path was largely responsible for the boom in the District’s NoMa neighborhood."
"Held Nov. 8 at historic Christ Church, the kick-off event called Bows, Baskets and Bikes gathered DC-area event and meeting planners to help build bicycles for needy families through Christ Church's holiday initiative, the Christ Child Project."
Yeah, a guy did have a truck roll over his head, and he did survive and he was wearing a helmet. "According to police, the cyclist was stopped at a temporary red light next to a construction site on Quincy Street near Wilson Boulevard, when an unoccupied dump truck started rolling south on Quincy and struck him." I'm sure some people will still find a way to blame the cyclist.
0.4 miles of the 2nd Street Sidepath, part of the Metropolitan Branch Trail, is now designated as part of the East Coast Greenway.
One guy appreciates the new L Street cyclet-track, but another walked along L Street before installation was complete and didn't notice many cyclists, so he's pretty sure the whole thing is a waste. "I counted the vehicles that passed me: 91 cars and three bicycles.
Sorta makes you wonder about the wisdom of the District’s allocation of
transportation space." Not really. The lane is unfinished, or at best new. It takes time for people to change (see the ICC or the HOT lanes). And while this is one lane on a 4 lane road, it is also one lane out of probably 50 through downtown. So 3 to 91 is actually a pretty good ratio.
Examiner has a story on Arlington's ongoing CaBi expansion, while it doesn't represent anything that hasn't been announced before, they do mention that planners aspire to add "between 57 and 115 additional stations, based on demand and available funding." That's instead of the 39 already announced. "after those 39 are installed, county planners
expect to add bike stations in East Falls Church and Lee Highway, plus
areas that already have some, such as Crystal City and Rosslyn." The only barrier is money.
It's funny what a dead harddrive, work travel, holidays, 15-hour work days and a 33% drop in childcare will do to your blogging. On the upside, I did get to (have to) bike all the way to work and back for the first time in months. Did you know they're putting a traffic circle in on River Road near UMD? I approve.
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray announced emergency rulemaking to prohibit drivers from making illegal U-turns acorss the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes at all times. Thank you WABA. "In 2010 and 2011, 11 of the 14 bike crashes on Pennsylvania Avenue involved vehicles making those U-turns,"
More about the street smart campaign kick off. "As Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman spoke to the crowd, he raised his voice to be heard over the noise of passing cement trucks. Behind the podium, a biker paused and waited for two oncoming vehicles to slow before he attempted to cross the road."
You can bike all winter. Lake bicycle boots is my top recommendation. And those snap to activate heat pads for when you have to change a tire or something.
The Draft Report of the M Street SE/SW Transportation Study was recently released for comment, and the mixed feelings that most commenters had about it appear to have been widespread
Surprisingly, the input provided was broadly split amongst the three multimodal alternatives, with no clear “winner” rising to the top as the preferred choice by the public. A number of respondents indicated a preference for certain elements of two or more alternatives that would be considered more favorable if combined together to form a “hybrid” option. For instance, one comment might recommend moving forward with Alternative 1 but consider a revised concept to include a cycle track along M Street west of South Capitol Street or preservation of the bike lanes on I (Eye) Street. At the same time, other feedback included different combinations, such providing on‐street parking as an additional element to Alternative 3 within the specific segments of M Street and Maine Avenue. There were also concerns about M Street/South Capitol Street being brought to grade because of the impact on vehicular congestion and the challenges of the pedestrian crossing distance.
Ideas that might happen in the short term - beyond those that are happening already - include the conversion of on-street car parking to bike parking, road diets that allow for bike facilities,
Other long term ideas include making L and K Streets into bicycle boulevards; reconnecting N and O streets SW just for bicyclists,
WABA's take on the Broad Branch Road alternatives. "Alt 4 is the only candidate that really achieves their first goal of creating a safe facility for all modes. Given that widening the road requires numerous retaining walls and that they want to minimize using parkland, however, it looks like the 4th alternative would be very expensive. Jim Sebastian mentioned that if the full bike lane were not possible, it may be possible to widen the northbound lane by a few feet to give cyclists some space. This was merely an offhand suggestion, though, so certainly not part of any existing plans." Participants at the meeting had other ideas for meeting goal 1. "Steve Dryden, a member of the Rock Creek Conservancy, brought up the possibility of making that stretch one way during rush hour and allow cyclists and pedestrians use the other lane. I talked to Bob about lowering the speed limit to 15 miles an hour, enforced by speed cameras, so bikes and cars could more safely share the road." But, unfortunately some local ANC representatives don't think that creating a safe mode for cyclists and pedestrians is important. ANC 3G-04 Commissioner Allen Beach wrote "I prefer #1 [No Build] . Both my ANC (ANC 3/4G) and ANC 3F fought against making this a highway!" and ANC 4A08 Commissioner Gale Black added "instead of effectively maintaining this road, [DDOT] is wasting time and money studying alternative uses....the other "alternative" options are likely not feasible, because the city only has 30 feet within which to work. There is not enough room for adding on-road amenities."
These lanes need to be designed for bikers. They can’t be one-way. They can’t take over a lane once dedicated to drivers. They can’t give bikers a false sense of security while complicating traffic patterns.
I still think it's too early to really criticize the cycle-track, since it will take time for everyone to adjust to it, but what are Schneider criticisms?
In the first few blocks, the path runs between parked vehicles and a narrow driving lane. At some points, cars can park right in the lane itself on weekends.
It's true that the bike lane is a bit narrow at first, but the location between parked cars and all-traffic (not driving) lanes is pretty normal for bike lanes. Schneider doesn't seem bothered by bike lanes in the door zone - just this bike lane in the door zone.
These rods are not marked with orange reflecting material and are easy for unsuspecting drivers to miss at night.
This bike lane makes access more difficult. Along the stretch separated by these rods, 150 parking spots have been displaced, according to the Washington Examiner. Garbage collection and delivery to businesses is complicated, as the bike path separates the road from the curb.
He's all over the map here. He doesn't like the lane next to parking, but he also doesn't like the cycletrack with parking removed. I'm honestly not sure what would make him happy.
To make matters worse, drivers turning left must actually enter the bike path. But that defeats the purpose. Cars cross the bikers' lane, and then drive in it until they turn left. Mere white lines drawn in the ground – not physical barriers – keep these cars only inches from bikers.
As long as drivers are going to turn left, at some point they have to enter the bike path. That's physics, so the question is where do you want that to happen. If he were arguing for the intersection, that would at least make sense, but he seems to be arguing never - and that doesn't. Also, the cars are not in the bike lane once they cross it, they are to the left of it. And as for only have paint to separate - that is the norm in the city. It would be great to have more separation, but it's hardly malpractice to not have it.
He also accuses the bollards (actually safe-hit flex posts. Personally, I think bollards should refer to more solid structures - like the security bollards around the Capitol - in keeping with the maritime bollards the word refers to, but it appears that I'm losing that battle) of "protruding awkwardly" from te road's surface, whatever that means. How would their protruding be less awkward?
He also seems to be bothered by it's one-wayness
After a bike trip downtown, returning to campus is made difficult by the one-way path....These lanes need to be designed for bikers. They can’t be one-way
But if he thinks the current facility is too complex, what does he think will happen with a two-way path. Besides, the addition of the L Street cycle-trakc really has had no impact on going west, which is just as easy or difficult as was before the cycle-track was installed. He later complains that they can't go in just one direction, seemingly unaware that an M Street cycletrack will soon go in the other direction.
And his argument gets more confused when he describes what they should be,
Instead, they need to be physically offset from the road and given their own traffic lights.
They can’t take over a lane once dedicated to drivers.
Ok, so where does the space come from then?
Finally, Schneider appears to be upset about the lack of facilities on GW campus.
This city needs to make biking easier, and bike paths ought to service the many college campuses around the area, particularly GW. It is unconscionable that 23rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue do not have bike paths. These central arteries service a campus of nearly 20,000 students. Students certainly bike to school – try finding a Capital Bikeshare bike on campus in the evening.
They need to be built throughout the city, especially on GW's campus.
But he also thinks that a path across Washington Circle is going to be a good bike facility (I don't. Just ride the circle and leave the path to pedestrians).
I don't want to make it sound like the cycle-track is above criticism. But this article came off as particularly harsh and ill-informed (always a bad combination). There were many difficult decisions to make in creating (or not) this facility and certainly reasonable people will disagree with the choices DDOT made, but I think on balance this is a good one and will likely find many more people praising it than criticizing it.
How much you want to bet they had a "This bike is a pipe bomb" sticker on their bike.
Arlington County's Board will likely vote to connect the Four Mile Run Trail's north side to Potomac Avenue, where now a rough, steep, dirt path exists.
"The VBF has worked with the East Coast Greenway and VA Department of Conservation and Recreation to publish the East Coast Greenway Virginia: A Guide to Bicycling and Walking." The ECG goes right through the DC area.
Last week, Maryland announced 42 projects statewide that will receive funding from the Maryland State Highway Administration’s (SHA) Recreational Trails Program (RTP). These are small grants ($5000 to $64000) so don't expect any big projects, but still, there are a couple local winners - though I'm not sure what they'll do with the money.
The WB&A Trail's Lemons Bridge Spur got $64,640
MNCPPC Montgomery County got $32,800 for boardwalks on the upper Rock Creek Trail
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