Friday Morning Commute - New, but Old

Good morning. I was down at Canal Park for the first time in a few weeks. They recently added bike parking and I'm not kidding when I say that there is probably parking for 120 bikes at bike racks there. It sounds crazy to say this, but it actually might be too much bike parking. I can't imagine when it would all be used. Still, a nice problem to have.

• New bike parking in Adams Morgan.
• Once again, Metro will be banning bikes on Metrorail all of Inauguration weekend. 
• State and local efforts to improve cycling in Maryland are paying off. "At the state level, transportation and parks officials have recruited volunteer and community groups to enhance off-road trails and create new ones. Maps and online services are being upgraded to supply more real-time information to mobile devices. 'We're getting close to producing a map of every single trail in Maryland,' said Steve Carr, a planner for the Department of Natural Resources." But communities remain underserved. And "the 20-mile Western Maryland Rail Trail will be extended another 4.7 miles from Pearre in Washington County to Little Orleans."
• The 16^th Annual Bicycle Symposium, hosted by Bike Maryland, has been scheduled for Feb. 27 in Annapolis.
• Virginia Bill would make it illegal to open a door on the traffic side of a car unless it is safe to do so. If Del. Barbara Comstock is your delegate, ask her to not stand in the way of crucial bike safety legislation. 
• Ask VDOT to to ensure that safe bicycling accommodations are included in the widening of Route 1 through Fort Belvoir. We won't get a second bite at this apple in our lifetimes.
• The Old Bike Shop in Arlington has opened. So it's actually new.
• South African Olympic cyclist Burry Stander was killed while training Thursday when his bike collided with a taxi.
• "They'll drive their car home, and they'll wash the blood off, cover the car up and act like nothing happened," says Laurino. "It's incredible the lack of conscience some people have."
• "Mayor A. C. Wharton Jr., elected in 2009, assumed office a year after Bicycling magazine named Memphis one of the worst cities in America for cyclists, not the first time the city had received such a biking dishonor. But Mr. Wharton spied an opportunity."

Comments

[Bilsko]

Re: Inauguration. I asked WABA on Twitter what their plans for Bike Valet at Inauguration were...no response yet. Anyone know if they'll be out again?

[washcycle]

Last I heard, it wasn't looking good. I think DDOT paid for it last time and WABA did all the legwork. There is some feeling that the Inauguration Committee should pay for it and DDOT should do the legwork - since they're the transportation department and all. They could have UFA employees staff it. But I'm far out of the loop, so take that with a grain of salt.

[Bilsko]

@washcycle.... maybe that's why they haven't replied yet. Its too bad, because I suspect this time it would get a *lot* of use (although I imagine CaBi will offset some of that). I wonder what CaBi will do to rebalance stations on the Mall without van access. I wonder if the staff while just ride bikes from the full stations on the Mall off to nearby stations that they can access with the Van.

If the weather is OK (read: not as cold as 2009), then I plan on throwing the little one in the trailer and riding down.

[Ron Alford]

From goDCgo:
DDOT and goDCgo will setup a bike parking area at 16th and I Streets, NW with racks to hold hundreds of bikes. Bike owners are responsible for parking and locking their own bikes, and availability is on a first-come, first-served basis.

[Bilsko]

@Ron Alford - thanks for that link. It also describes just what is planned for CaBi:
http://godcgo.com/inauguration-2013.aspx