Monday Afternoon Commute - Mid City East

Good afternoon. Hope your morning went better than mine. My rear derailleur got caught in my spokes and ripped right off the frame. Whole thing is mangled and I had to ride on my bike like it was a scooter the rest of the way. Taking the bus home. 

• DDOT and the Office of Planning will be kicking off the Mid-City East Small Area Plan and Liveability Study with an open house later this month. Mid City East consists of the communities of LeDroit Park, Bloomingdale, Eckington, Truxton Circle, Bates-Hanover and Sursum Corda. Good opportunity to start the push for bike facilities and planning. 
• Eisenhower Avenue Widening. 
• Bowie Heritage Trail:

A major milestone has been reached, as Governor O'Malley has announced the City 
was awarded a State matching grant of $574,747 for construction of Phase 1 of The 
Bowie Heritage Trail in Old Town Bowie. The grant will help the City construct the 
main corridor of the planned Heritage Trail system; the project includes approximately 
1,900 linear feet of 10-foot wide hiker-biker trail between Zug Road and 10th Street. 
The trail segment abuts the Railroad Museum, and construction will include a train 
watching platform, a pedestrian underpass of the MD 564 bridge, and development of a 
new park on the vacant land and cul-de-sac of 10th Street located near the bridge. The 
design plans for Phase 1 are already 30% engineered. We are hopeful that the work on 
this anchor segment will invigorate the design and completion of many other related 
improvements in the planned Bowie Heritage Trail system. The grant application was 
approved under the State's Transportation Enhancement Program, which was recently 
renamed the Transportation Alternatives Program. City matching funds are included in 
the proposed FY 2014-2019 Capital Improvements Program.

• The city of Frederick has begun installing 25 bike racks along its Market Street corridor. Members of the nonprofit Downtown Frederick Partnership and others donated the racks. The organization's executive director Kara Norman says in the past most riders used trees to secure their bicycles, but that's not good for the trees.
• If you work for a city (either as staff or as a consultant) on innovative bike designs, please answer this 16 question survey about the state of current design guidance. Responses are confidential and should be received by April 20.

Comments

[antibozo]

Sorry to hear about your derailleur.

[wd]

single speeds ftw!