Monday Afternoon Commute - Beatty for Council?

Good afternoon

• There are quite a few stories about how drivers are parking or driving in the not-yet-completed L Street Bike lane. I kind of think this is much ado about nothing at this point. And look, I'm no defender of drivers in bike lanes, but (1) they aren't finished yet, (2) in some cases the signs haven't been changed yet (3) even when finished, there will be some lag time between that point and when drivers are fully informed about them. I think we all knew that there would be drivers in the bike lane for some time after the construction starts. But once the safe-hit flex posts are installed, I suspect you'll see less of this, until then it feels a little like fishing for a story. Once it's finished there should be a period of light enforcement (warnings and such) and then some ticket writing, but until then, some patience is probably needed. Here's more about the cycletrack that recognizes the temporaryness of this problem. 
• Challengers for District Council At-Large seats were asked for several positions on issues - including mandatory helmet laws. "Cooper, Swain and Wilcox support a law. Beatty opposes, calling it a “freedom issue.” Grosso would “have to think about it more” before deciding."
• Broadneck Pennisula Trail moves forward.
• The Pucher/Buehler book on City Cycling is now out. 
• Banning texting while driving might actually cause accidents as drivers contort themselves to hide their texting. "The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 3 of every 4 states that have enacted a ban on texting while driving have seen crashes actually go up rather than down."

Comments

[charlie]

The parking signs have been removed. Flex posts are up, and there are painted bike lane symbols on the ground.

Traffic from 26th to NH is way to heavy b/c of the new lane there. From NH onwards clean-flowing and a real improvement. We did lose a lot of night/weekend parking; it took me over 25 minutes to find parking on sunday there.

[washcycle]

charlie, did you look at parking garages, or only for on-street parking?

[oboe]

I'm more concerned about the road surface on the cycletrack when things are finally completed. The pavement on the 15th street cycletracks was hellish--don't know if it still is. But I almost knocked out a filling riding on it.

Have they done any resurfacing?

[ken]

@oboe

Indeed! My commute does not use 15th street, but weekend errands do: I used the cycletrack exactly once last year and it was so terrible (even on my very steel 1971 Schwinn Racer) that I never used it again..... I hope it has / will be refinished.

[xmal]

@washcycle: Unfortunately, most of the parking garages are closed on Sunday. I've had the same problem as charlie but don't think it can be be blamed on the cycletrack as it's happened many times over the past five years. Made me wish I'd biked downtown instead of driving!

@oboe: Just rode the cycletrack from Conn to 12th and it was smooth sailing!

[washcycle]

Well then, there's your culprit. Perhaps businesses in the area could pitch in to keep a parking garage open. I'm not sure why the city should have to create redundant, subsidized parking.

[charlie]

@Washcycle, as xmal said the garages are not open weekends. There is a lot of construction (new hampshire, on on M st as well) which isn't helping. That said, L from NH down to about 18th could easily be weekend parking even with the new bike lane.

XMAL, ever since they moved to night/wekeend hour on the meters parking is awful on saturday, but open on sunday. Now it is problem on sunday as well.

L is very well paved, all new. The green paint is already wearing out however.

I rode the section I don't like (26th to NH), and I still don't like it. Was better with traffic better moving and no bike lane.

[ken]

I figured indeed the garages were closed on Sunday (I haven't driven downtown on the weekend in a long time and when I do we have a parking space in my wife's office building). But if this is really the problem then surely demand will create supply?

[washcycle]

ken made might point. If there is a large enough demand for parking, then surely someone will fill the void. Since the marginal cost of selling parking on the weekends is very low (And since parking taxes are pretty high, that would help make the city some more money).

[charlie]

@washcycle, actually I suspect the parking taxes (and labor costs) are what are keeping the garages shut on weekends. It wouldn't be much cheaper than early bid, which tops out at 10 in that area.

And again, L from NH to down about 18th is light enough on weekends to allow for a parking lane+bike lane. that would be basically one lane for traffic.

Ironically, that is what we have during rush hour on L from 26th to NH now, which is why it is bad. That segment is a lot more used.

[Steven H]

@Charlie... I just rode down L from 26th to NH. I could have sworn that it was always two traffic lanes and a parking lane, and it's still two traffic lanes lanes and a parking lane now; they just squeezed in a bike lane. What's changed?

[Steven H]

Oh, I should add that I wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on in the traffic lanes... I was distracted by a Florida driver that was driving half in her lane, and half in the bikelane... so apologies if I missed some huge change in the car lanes.

[charlie]

@steven; looks like the removed the rush hour parking on the right side. I haven't driven it myself yet -- just been riding the post and noticing how much longer it is taking.

[david]

Seems to me traffic in general is not as bad now as it was in 1974 i.e. before the completion of metro. I recall many evenings of true gridlock . If it rained you could count on gridlock. The greatest relief to traffic has been the Metro. Some people do not want to pay for public transport and they do not want to pay enough for parking to cause lots to open. Further commuters tend to forget that people live in D.C. it is not just a parking lot. One of the main reasons for the decline of living standards in DC was the destruction of neighborhoods to build freeways and the widening of streets. Rhode island Ave used to have beautiful tresses . I have had enough of this everybody and everything has got to get out of the way so some commuter can get to work in a hurry. Best way to get rid of traffic is to get rid of cars.
http://youtu.be/CDJJ-O-rUh4