Pennsylvania Ave SE Path - part of a great street

I don't believe I've ever included a photo of the multi-use path along Pennsylvania Avenue SE east of the river, even though it's been open for a couple of years now. The project represents one of the road diets that the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board approved this week (even though it's already complete). 

This was built as part of the Pennsylvania Avenue Great Streets project. The original plan in 2007 included bike lanes, and when it was changed in 2009 I was a little critical of it. The 2009 design included a diagonal crosswalk at 28th with an exclusive bike/pedestrian crossing phase, but that didn't make it. Nor did the trail NW of 28th, which is too bad. Nonetheless, the MUP here is a pretty good feature and it makes Pennsylvania bikeable in this direction - which I would not say it was before.

The trail is really only needed going SE, which is almost entirely uphill. Then the trail becomes a climbing lane. At 10 feet it's about the same width as the CCT, and there's much less traffic. There aren't too many crossstreets, so it doesn't have the safety issues associated with sidewalks - and going uphill slows one down to a little over a walking pace. Downhill, it's easy to ride in the street.

But heaven help anyone who decides to go downhill on this path. I can get easily up to the 30 mph speed limit going down Penn (not that anyone else is) and that kind of speed is not safe on this path. DDOT should put sharrows on the downhill part of Pennsylvania to encourage its use -  and even consider marking the trail for uphill bike use only. 

I still wish they'd gone with a sidewalk, and put in a buffered bike lane on the uphill side instead of the path (with sharrows going downhill of course), but this is still a great improvement over the old road. 

Comments

[read Scott martin]

I avoid pa. Ave. Lik for the reasons you cite when headed across Sousa bridge, opt instead for the incredible ma. Ave. SE.Great climbs or descents for safety and views, and scarcely a whisper of traffic. Good connections to Sousa bridge or Anacostia park once at the bottom, and terrific bike lane on Alabama avenue at top. Penn ave never feels as safe.

[J]

Good analysis. I'm typically critical of Shared-Use Paths, where they're basically designed as wide sidewalks, but in the slow, uphill direction they make sense, and downhill they're extra dangerous, as you wisely point out. Hopefully, a more nuanced approach can be taken on future street designs.

[Mike]

It'll be interesting to see if they maintain it, or (more typical for sidepaths) let it rot in place.

[JeffB]

Agree 100% - Widened sidewalks (MUPs) are great for young kids on bikes but are not serious bike infrastructure.

@Mike,
It seems that the black tar surface is never laid over a prepared subsurface with drainage. Instead it seems they just lay the strip of scraped dirt.

Consequently, within a few short years the surface sags and ripples and eventually breaks apart.

Now maybe its cheap enough that you can go back over every so often to keep the surface smooth but usually once it is laid it is not touched again for years & years.

Also - Washcycle didn't bring this up in this article - but another fundamental problem with MUPs is who shovels the snow?

Given how close this one is to the road in a large storm all the snow from the road will be pushed onto the MUP rendering it impassable for many days/weeks while drivers enjoy bare pavement.

[weatherman]

I think they should allow cyclist to speed if they want as long as there is good visibility in front while no trail users in front of the cyclist. I would feel much safer riding 40 mph downhill on Pennsylvania ave and if I was going slower, let say 30 mph for example,then I would feel much safer on the side path as long as there are no driveways crossing the trail and no bumps or potholes on the trail.