Thursday Morning Commute - Stand-outs

Happy November

• Police have identified the cyclist injured in last week's crash with a school bus as 54-year-old Michael Wilhelm Breithaupt of Chevy Chase. “We are doing some examinations of the school bus’ internal system as part of the ongoing investigation to see if anything there may have led to the collision,” said Lt. Robert McCullough, the deputy commander of the department’s Traffic Division.
• "VDOT and [Fairfax] county are also working together on a maintenance plan for the Fairfax County Parkway trail, a paved bike and pedestrian trail that runs the length of the parkway and is currently in poor condition."
• "The Maryland State Highway Administration has announced the availability of $4M in new Safe Routes to School grant funding." Meanwhile "The Takoma Park Safe Routes to School program, which serves Piney Branch and four other area schools, was one of three programs in the country that, though they did not receive the top award, were recognized as stand-outs in their roles encouraging students to walk and bike to school safely."
• Above right: a rendering of the proposed Purple Line/Capital Crescent Trail bridge over Connecticut Avenue. That from this article about the planned 5-7 foot wide walkway in the Bethesda tunnel. 
• Also, my latest post at the Green Lane blog.

Comments

[SJE]

How does a "green lane" stop people parking?

[SJE]

Also, re the crash in Darnestown. From the description of the intersection, the cyclist was entering a T junction and the bus had ROW. Of course, we do not know if the bus was speeding.

[T]

"Instead, cyclists who prefer to avoid crossing Wisconsin Avenue will have to walk their bicycles along the underground pathway."

I'm confused how they think it's narrow enough not to be ridden but wide enough to walk your bike through? Sort of an amusing contradiction.

[antibozo]

T, the same thought occurred to me. I think the concern, however, is about speed, not geometry.

[BlooEyedDevil]

Good to see that the Fairfax Co. Parkway trail is scheduled for maintenance. This is looong overdue. That trail seems like more of an afterthought scramble or grudgingly designed as part of a concession plan. The traffic crossings (automobile on- and off-ramps) are particularly execrable. Of course, Fairfax is renowned for it's distaste for any mode of transporation that is unmotorized, so it's sort of a miracle the trail ever made it into the production stage.

[Jack Cochrane]

The cyclist is still in critical condition, according to Lt. Robert McCullagh of the MCPD yesterday.