Thursday Morning Commute - Sorta

Good morning

• 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.

Comments

[darren]

L St will be incomplete til there's an M St

[SJE]

Its funny how people just don't get it. If took away the bike lane would car traffic be measurably improved? A few lines of paint on a few streets are not going to immediately reverse 60 years and trillions on infrastructure specifically for cars.

[Crikey7]

My informal eyeball survey suggests bike ridership has exploded downtown in the last 3 years, although the annual November-March drop-off hit big this week on the casual commuters. Y'all that are still out there, you guys are freaking heroes.

[Steve Davis]

DDOT will have to hear these arguments of "no one rides it" and really low counts for the next four months because they didn't open it in the summer as planned. There are, of course, lots of folks still riding it, but those numbers PALE in comparison to what we'll see next spring, and what we could have had upon opening it.

I don't think they should have waited until Spring or anything, but they should have done everything possible to get it open while the weather was nice so they could more clearly and instantly demonstrate the demand for it and how much bikers downtown would take to it.

Instead, they're going to have to listen to critiques like the one above all winter long.

[washcycle]

Steve, I don't think it's fair to say they waited. This is when it was ready. And part of the reason for the delay was to expand the project. This was really a resurfacing project with painting being only a natural byproduct. They decided to expand this length of the repaving and that caused the delay, but in the end it saved money. I'm OK with that.

[BlooEyedDevil]

Ha, Crikey7, I was just thinking the opposite this ayem when I got piled up behind about 6 cyclists in Rosslyn on my way into work. Guess it was just a busy morning.

I know it's selfish, but I *like* winter, in large part because it cuts down on the number of people on that segment of my commute that is on a trail. But really, either way (busy or crowded), I'm happy.

[Kolohe]

"The only barrier is money."

Since the frequent CaBi talking point is that it's making money, I'm surprised that money is a barrier.

[darren]

@kolohe ...and what other bike stuff could that marginal money pay for?

[washcycle]

Kolohe, it makes money on operations, but it doesn't cover the capital costs.

[SJE]

The money argument would go away if we looked at the big picture. Bike spending is a pittance compared to the billions we spend on cars. Over at the Portland biking blog, they explained how Portland has increased population by 15% but has not had to build new bridges etc because there has been a shift to more bikes, which take less room and are easier on infrastructure.

[Michael H.]

A recent article noted that only about 30% of Virginia state funding on transportation infrastructure is paid for by gas taxes. Add that to the massive (multi-billion dollar) federal subsidy for highways, bridges and other transportation infrastructure and it becomes very hard to take criticism of bike subsidies too seriously.

Most people are still under the impression that the "highway trust fund" is fully paid for with gas taxes. Not even close. So if someone objects to bikeshare, bike lanes and bike trails being subsidized, then they should be equally willing to forego subsidies for additional roads and bridges, and maintenance of existing roads. Cars and trucks destroy those roads, not bikes or pedestrians.

Of course, most people understand the importance of car and truck transportation (goods, commutes). But spending on bike infrastructure can be very useful too, especially in densely populated areas like the D.C. region.

Too bad no nearby bike enthusiasts won the Powerball jackpot. If I had won, I would have gladly sponsored an even more rapid expansion of CaBi.

[JimT]

I ride L-street from 23rd to 13th every third thursday at some point betwen 4PM and 5:30PM. At that hour, the cycle track is essentially an express lane for cyclists as traffic is jammed.

The frequency of cars parked or standing in the cycle track at that hour seems to be about the same as before it was a cycle track. I guess it is better that they do so in the cycle track rather than in the remaining travel lanes, since they are an obstacle for cyclists but not a bottleneck. Drivers seem happy to let me into the general travel lane rather than expect me to squeeze by, as if to say "yes I agree he is a jerk".

One benefit for (some) drivers is that the cycle track has also become an express lane for drivers planning to make a left turn, when traffic is jammed. That's be design for the last few hundred feet--but I am seeing drivers cheat by enterring mid block. This won't help them when the cycle track is jammed, and I guess it does not really harm anybody when the cycle track is empty--but it is something to watch. Both cyclists and drivers learn by what they see others do.

[SJE]

Michael H: if I won powerball, I would sponsor some advocacy to make people realize how much money they are spending on roads, and that bikes and peds are saving them money.