Tuesday Afternoon Commute - You say hypocritical, I say prioritizing

Good afternoon

• Demolition of the old 11th Street Bridge ramps will result in the narrowing of 11th Street SE between K and L Streets, and the closing of the bike lanes. 
• Herbert Hoover building security plan includes two CaBi stations - one at 15th and Pennsylvania.
• I missed this quote from Lon Anderson of AAA about the Penn Ave cycle-track enforcement. "I hope they will also be enforcing red lights and stop signs for bicyclists and that this will be equal-opportunity enforcement," spokesman Lon Anderson said. "To target cars for crossing bike lanes and not targeting bicyclists for crossing intersections at red lights seems to me to be hypocritical." Unless of course you think that enforcement should relate to safety benefit rather than some notion of 'fairness'. 
• MSNBC"s Chris Hayes had his bike stolen.
• My latest Green Lane Blog post. This one on the first Green Lane - the Captain America of green lanes if you will.
• The take-away from the growing body of science about ski helmets is in fact unequivocal, Dr. Haider said. “Helmets are safe. They don’t seem to increase risk taking. And they protect against serious, even fatal head injuries.” Does that mean Maryland will introduce a mandatory ski helmet law?
• Rather than a complete point by point reply to this letter asking that bikeshare be kicked out of Old Town, let me do a quick one. 
  • CaBi wasn't "suddenly dropped" into Old Town. It was studied, discussed, voted on and approved. 
  • Bikeshare is not part of a privately owned company. It is owned by the local governments in which it operates. 
  • If CaBi has resulted in a rapid influx of bicycles into Old Town, then it is a massive success. That is part of the goal. 
  • I'm pretty sure CaBi was always intended for Old Town. 
  • I don't have a problem moving the MVT off of Union (though I'd go with a Bike Boulevard on Royal before a cycle-track on Washington) but the businesses on Union probably do.
  • Sigh, registration and fees again.
  • Bikes are already a legitimate transit and recreational vehicle.
  • Old Town Alexadria really doesn't need much more to be bike friendly. It's already kind of there. That's why there are so many cyclists there.

Comments

[oboe]

Does that mean Maryland will introduce a mandatory ski helmet law?

Don't be ridiculous. Skiers are normal people like you and me. Bicyclists are irritating fringe characters.

[Jonathan Krall]

Nice post, though I have to disagree on that last bullet point. I find the east-west streets, King, Prince and Cameron, to be very challenging for beginners--much more so than the north-south routes like Royal. I spent two hours counting people walking and biking on Prince St once and was surprised at the low numbers of cyclists--and that many cyclists were riding on the sidewalk.

Ralph Buehler and his graduate students at VA Tech put together a nice proposal to fix it: http://ralphbu.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/transportationplanning_alexandriabikeinfrastructure_final_small.pdf

[scott]

Kathryn Papp was the one the proposed bike registration to the Alexandria city council to begin with. http://legistar.granicus.com/alexandria/meetings/2013/1/954_M_City_Council_Public_Hearing_13-01-12_Action_Docket.pdf
She is also on the Friends of Alexandria Waterfront committee. I think there is just one vocal person that wants bike registration in Alexandria but that one person has allot of time on her hands.

[dynaryder]

If only Aftertime Comics would move into DC,I'd never have to go to Old Town again.

[7]

Ski helmets are warm and give you a place to put all those ski area stickers they hand out at the mountain so you can advertise where you've skied.. Can't say the same for bike helmets. Then again, I do have stickers on my bike helmet. They are just reflective dots. Boring.

[contrarian]

I wear a ski helmet when I bike in the winter, it keeps my head warm. It does seem more sturdy than a bike helmet.

[ACyclistInTheSuburbs]

King street is not bikeable, but Cameron? Isnt that the one with the bike lane on it? I rode that from near the waterfront to the metro station, and it wasnt that bad. Sheesh, come try cycling in Fairfax county some time.

[Jonathan Krall]

@Scott Sadly, Ms Papp is not alone. There are several bicycle haters among the Old Town crowd. Generally these are the same people who are upset to find Old Town crowded with tourists, though their anti-tourism stance is less direct. Instead they say that "hotels are destroying the historical character of the waterfront." Lucky for them that George Washington didn't make a habit of visiting Alexandria and staying in a hotel. Oh, wait, he did.

@Suburbs You are correct that Cameron is pretty OK for an experienced cyclist. However, it is beginners and other less experienced folk who we need to accommodate. I lead a lot of beginner-level rides in Alexandria and it is tricky to cook up routes for them.

[Ross Patterson]

Sure, Lon Anderson is a shill for the car lobby, but how is it not a safety problem for cyclists to run red lights? We SHOULD be stopping at them things.

[washcycle]

Ross. see this http://vimeo.com/4140910

[ACyclistInTheSuburbs]

"@Suburbs You are correct that Cameron is pretty OK for an experienced cyclist. However, it is beginners and other less experienced folk who we need to accommodate. I lead a lot of beginner-level rides in Alexandria and it is tricky to cook up routes for them."

experienced? I'm one of those folks who refuses to read on most FFX county arterials, and will sometimes take a sidewalk instead. Im not that skilled, confident, or fast (and I do not yet own any lycra). yet I found cameron to be well within my ability. Beginners who are not comfortable with that might be better off sticking to the trails, or to places with quieter grids, like Del Ray, I guess.

[ACyclistInTheSuburbs]

"refuses to ride"

[Alex B.]

I ski, and I always wear a helmet.

I seldom do when cycling around the city, especially when on CaBi.

The big reasons why: Skiing requires a hat of some kind anyway, and I've found my helmet to be more comfortable than a hat. It's warmer, but also breathes better and doesn't fog my goggles up as much.

Skiing and a CaBi ride, for me, are also not equivalent trips. Wearing a ski helment is like wearing a helmet for some aggressive, downhill mountain biking. Wearing a bike helmet for a short city is more like wearing a helment to do a little cross-country skiing.

Finally, when I ski, I am devoting a day to athletic activities. I'm not going to downhill ski to work, or to dinner. If I'm out doing specific athletic things, I don't mind carrying some extra gear.

[Ross Patterson]

@washcycle I know the Idaho Stop. And most of the arguments in that promotional video apply to cars as well. But it isn't legal in VA, DC, or MD. Until that changes, Anderson's right - it's illegal AND a safety problem for us to sail through STOP signs.

[washcycle]

So it's illegal and unsafe, until it's made legal and then it becomes safe as well? How does changing it's legal status also change it's risk?

[ACyclistInTheSuburbs]

hmm - if its legal, it becomes easier to educate drivers about it, so they are aware it takes place, and how they should deal with it. And to educate cyclists about how to do it correctly (IE that treating a stop as a yield STILL imposes signficant due care responsibility)