Monday Morning Commute - we get letters

With the new section of the MBT open, that means that the entirety of the planned trail from Union Station to Bates Road, with the exception of the ramp at L Street, is open. There is a cycletrack being installed on 1st Street NE, but that is more of an upgrade than an initial section. Still, I really wish we'd gotten the tunnel under Monroe Street as orignally proposed. 

• Maryland has a new Secretary of Transportation, James T. Smith Jr.. The Post interviews several transportation advocates about him starting with AAA's Lon Anderson, only one mentions biking "Michele Whelley, head of the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, said business leaders in her group want more commuter train service, as well as road improvements around Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Meade. They also want to see new sidewalks and bike lanes to better link Fort Meade with two commuter rail stations." I'm guessing they didn't interview Shane Farthing of WABA or Carol Silldorff of Bike Maryland.
  • On this subject, there is a post I missed a couple of months ago by Jim Titus on the lack of substantive plans by PG County for future bike connections. 
• Several years ago, Fairfax County cancelled a program by which citizens could report bad drivers who then got letters asking them to be good drivers. It was cancelled due to cost but the chief of police thinks that part of the reason was "people didn’t like getting these letters."  Still, Hunter McCleary of FABB has a suggestion for where the money to continue the program could be found. "This month Fairfax County launched a program to rid many roadsides of illegally placed advertising."
• Thief on a bicycle stabs Anne Arundel County man in the neck and steals his laptop bag.

Comments

[Randall M.]

Regarding the tunnel under Monroe, the problem was that the bridge needed to be replaced over the CSX tracks.

As I understand, tunneling under the bridge now would potentially create structural problems. If you notice, there is space behind the meeting center to accommodate access to a a future tunnel under the rebuild bridge.

[T]

Was there a collision on Georgetown Pike last night with a cyclist? Heard some murmings about it, but don't see anything anywhere online.

[RyanB]

Rockville has a program similar to what is described re: Fairfax. I can't imagine it costs more than $1000 a year to run. You fill out a complaint online and they send a form letter with the observed bad behavior filled in and tell you to be safe, etc. I used it once, it didn't have a positive effect so I called the cops the second time. That did.

Disclaimer: I'm very pro-Rockville PD right now since they were awesome handling me getting hit by a car while riding last week.

[Nancy]

@Ryan--I live in Rockville and am eager to know where your incident happened. Hope you (and your bike) are okay.

[duffmanrb]

Nancy- N. Washington St. A car turned left in front of me into that Asian grocery store. All's well. She had to buy me some new shoes lol