Wednesday Afternoon Commute - eye-opening

Good afternoon

• AME Zion Church has asked DDOT and the ANC to move the 14th Street bike lane so that members can double park during funerals. There has to be an easier way to accommodate what can only be a temporary use. 
• WABA: "Next Monday, ANC 6A and ANC 6C will host a joint public meeting to address the issue of bicycling access in the H Street NE corridor. DDOT has proposed four alternatives to improve bicycling there, specifically by making improvements on the two adjacent streets, G and I streets NE. ANC Commission Tony Goodman has explained the alternatives in detail on Greater Greater Washington."
• AAA supports an end to hands-free phone use. “This landmark study is eye-opening and sobering. It proves that hands-free is not a safety ‘silver bullet’ and that talking on a cell phone while driving is dangerous, no matter whether hand-held or hands-free,” said Lon Anderson, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Managing Director of Public and Government Affairs. But I think the article is wrong. Using hands-free is legal in DC. 
• White Flint could get bike lanes. "Plans for the street network include bike lanes in some areas, such as along Old Georgetown Road...Some meeting attendees expressed concerns about the safety of inexperienced bike riders, especially if new bikeshare stations go up in the area, and suggested bringing down some of the proposed 40-mph speed limits"
• And, from the same link, "Patricia Shepherd, the county’s new bikeways coordinator, presented plans for improvements to a 0.29 mile section of Woodglen Drive south of Nicholson Lane. The project site is on the northern end of the six-mile Bethesda Trolley Trail, which connects White Flint to Bethesda. The plan calls for a bike lane on one side of the road, two traffic lanes and a turn lane. The side of the road without a dedicated bike lane would also have space for on-street parking, but the traffic lane would be extra wide to accommodate cyclists and would have “sharrows”  to indicate that both cyclists and cars may use the lane. The proposed project also includes a shared-use sidewalk along one side of the road to accommodate both bikes and pedestrians."
• "Starost, a 16-year-old Derwood resident and student at Col. Zadok Magruder High School, worked with the Agricultural History Farm Park to establish a new hiker/mountain bike trail. Once complete, it will connect a half a mile gap in between one of the park’s Upper Rock Creek hiking trails with a bike training/obstacle course.
• Del Joe T. May lost his primary to return to the Virginia House. My only reference to him was here "NoVa Delegates Barbara Comstock, Timothy Hugo and Joe May all voted against the [3 foot passing] law in committee"
• Chicago bike sharing to be delayed by two weeks. Asked whether Alta bears responsibility for the setback, Klein said the company "is still meeting the letter of the contract." The move to "take a little extra time was a collaborative decision with the Divvy team," he said.

Comments

[T]

AAA is a little late to the game with distracted driving. Honestly, that's the biggest reason I think the current no texting/phone calls law is stupid. It's always been the act of being distracted that's the problem and less so the device. So the solution should be to really crack down on distracted driving by tripling or more the penalties associated with it. Today some idiot almost hit me on E Street because he was pulling out of a parking spot...while reading the newspaper of all things!

To the church, their double parking should be ticketed. Anyone whom has ever driven 16th St on Sunday knows full well the sleiu of churches there backs up traffic. So this church on another major road complaining that their members can't double park is ridiculous. You have a church in a city--park two blocks away like the rest of us or seek no parking for a special event permits on Corcoran like everyone else.

[Brendan]

Jesus H. Christ says don't move the bike lane, just coordinate with police to use it once in a while.