King Street bike lanes losing critical support, action needed

First, I think this may be the finest bicycle article out of the Washington Times ever. I have responses to some of the quotes from bike lane opponents below, but you should definitely read the article.

But this, from the Alexandria BAC, is the more important part.

Despite our efforts, the original fully-connected bike-lane design will not be proposed by city staff. They are instead proposing a modified plan that replaces some bike lanes with "sharrows." We are concerned that, in the face of aggressive traffic, cyclists will choose to ride on the sidewalk.

BPAC supports the originally-proposed design with full bike lanes extending to Janneys Lane, with the compromise of a 5 foot bike lane on the north side of King St to assist residents with access to their driveways.

The north-side bike lane will replace the current 7 foot “parking lane.” Comments at public meetings have clearly indicated that this reliably-empty lane provides both space and clear sight lines for driveway access. The bike lane on the south side of King Street would be reduced to 4 feet in this compromise proposal.

1. Background on the project.  (scroll down to the "public meeting" links to see the original proposal, September 18, and the latest proposal, October 30).

2. Public Meeting of the Traffic and Parking Board

Monday November 25, 7:30 pm
Council Chambers, City Hall (Market Square, King St at Royal St).
This is the big meeting where we need a huge turnout by those that support making our streets useable and safe for all.

3. Action.

- Please attend the public meeting on November 25. Please arrive early and sign up to speak. Even a brief statement helps. If possible, bring your friends.

- Please send an RSVP to alexandriabpac@gmail.com to let us know you will be attending the meeting.

- If you have a personal story about walking or bicycling on that section of King Street, please either share it at a public meeting, send it to City Council[1] and the TPB via bob.garbacz@alexandriava.gov, or send it to us at alexandriabpac@gmail.com. We will gather these stories and forward them to the TPB.

This is an important "test case" for Alexandria. This project can and should demonstrate our City’s commitment to implement policies and plans developed through extensive public dialog and debate. We are asking the Traffic and Parking Board to support the aims of Transportation Master Plan, the Complete Streets Policy, and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility Plan.

King St is the only through street between residents to the west and the King St Metro Station to the east. These improvements are needed for pedestrian and cyclist safety. They will address traffic congestion by adding bicycle capacity to King St and by increasing the utilization of high-capcity transit. This project improves access to T C Williams High School and is a step forward for our Safe Routes to School program.

Some of the more choice quotes from the Times article (emphasis mine)

“We have always shared the road. Cars, bicycles, parked cars,” says Goldberg, who has lived in her house on King Street for over 23 years. “There is simply no need to take away our parking spots for dedicated bike lanes.”

“It’s the same thing,” Goldberg told Communities. “Why is it necessary to take away parking spaces from people who have purchased homes on the basis of those parking spots?”

The thing is the parking spaces aren't theirs.

“The neighborhood is experiencing a revitalization that would be totally destroyed if you turned King Street from a small town residential street into a highway where there are just ‘drive-throughs,”” she said in an interview with Communities. “Because even if there were a sufficient number of bicycle riders on King Street—which there is not—they would just be driving through. It’s nobody who lives here.”

Yeah, roads should only serve the people who live on that street. No one should be able to use a street they don't live on, then there would be less traffic. But this part takes the cake:

According to Goldberg, during the two weeks that VDOT was taking data on how many cyclists use King Street, she observed more cyclists on the road than she had ever seen in her 23 of living on the street.

Goldberg thinks cyclists conspired to inflate the count. That's rich. Or insane and paranoid.

“I resent people telling me how I should live my life more morally…They say biking is more healthy for you,” says Goldberg. “Well, please, you’re not my doctor, how do you know if it will be more healthy for me?”

Being healthy is not the same as being moral. There are all kinds of things one can do that are bad for your health but moral - like having kids. I'm not sure who is telling Goldberg how to live though. I don't. If you don't want to bike then don't, but there are plenty of people who do and we should make it as safe as reasonable for them.

As to how we know that exercise is more healthy for people? Science. Not willing to concede that biking is healthier is really deciding to give up no ground at all.

“One of the arguments for taking our parking away is that the spaces are empty a lot,” says Goldberg. “Well when the parking spaces are empty, they have a seven foot bike lane… I just fail to see the logic of it."

The parking lane is a fantastic place to ride if you are trying to get hit by a car, but if not, it's really dangerous.

Also, it's noted that most people can park their cars in their driveways. "Buckley’s driveway fits two vehicles." And that the parking is wanted for "almost exclusively for guest or service vehicles."

These arguments are so incredibly weak. It saddens me to see them winning. It's like finding out that a friend thinks that global warming is a fraud. If Alexandria decides not to go with the bike lanes, I might even write LAB about why Alexandria doesn't deserve a higher bike friendly city ranking.

Comments

[Jack]

Your responses are excellent. Thank you. About bike counts, one was taken on a road in Potomac a few years back on a Saturday in January to determine demand for bike lanes. They counted lots and lots of cyclists, so many that the engineers asked if there was some kind of bike event going on. Note that they never question it when counts are too low. (The answer: It was 70 degrees in January. Everyone was out. But why would they even do bike counts in January?).

["@vabike"]

“Because even if there were a sufficient number of bicycle riders on King Street—which there is not—they would just be driving through. It’s nobody who lives here.”

I live there -- at the top of King St., across from TC Williams High School. I ride up and down King St. almost every day, often several trips per day.

"Our" section of King St. has two lanes each way, and NO street parking. Our driveways accommodate two cars max. Several households, including ours, have more cars than driveway space, so they park on quiet neighboring streets like Quincy. What's so special about the people down the hill that they should deserve street parking?

[Mike]

I see this "don't tell me how to live" argument a lot. People need to get over themselves. I bike for me, and I want my government to provide infrastructure that doesn't kill me, and I really don't care how she lives her life insofar as she doesn't kill me.

[DE]

@Mike

That type of comment is usually made out of an inferiority complex, it seems to me, and often will be accompanied by the person telling you how to live.

[Smedley Burkhart]

“We have always shared the road. Cars, bicycles, parked cars,” says Goldberg, who has lived in her house on King Street for over 23 years. “There is simply no need to take away our parking spots for dedicated bike lanes.”

Professor Buckley also argues that over 15,000 vehicles use the road daily at high rates of speed, which is too dangerous for cyclists. “Cars speed by, and city buses plow through our red lights at 40 miles per hour,”

If these bozos are married to each other, why can't they get their story straight?

[Joe]

I bet these people would be upset if you rode on the sidewalk (endangering pedestrians) or rode in the center of the lane(delaying motorists)....they should just have the guts to say they don't like bicyclists and want them banned!

[Tufty Club]

We went through exactly this in Falls Church. The result was that the city canned its proposed bike/ped safety plan and instead committed never to do anything that would reduce on-street parking. So overall we took a step backward (and Falls Church is still a crappy place to get around on foot or by bike).

Don’t underestimate these people like we did. They’re a minority, wrong and fighting only from a position of narrow self-interest, but if they’re anything like my neighbors in Falls Church - and they certainly have the same talking points - they are also loud and angry and very effective at intimidating city government officials.

[Catherine]

“The neighborhood is experiencing a revitalization that would be totally destroyed if you turned King Street from a small town residential street into a highway where there are just ‘drive-throughs,”

That's what it is now and is the status quo they're fighting for. Bike lanes are not going to make it less of a residential feel--only more. I don't even get where she's coming from on this.

[JimT]

Are they going to get rid of the double yellow line? The painted center line strikes me as a bigger problem than the bike lane/sharrow issue, because there really is not much room.

[John]

Isn't this a terrible design anyway? My understanding is that this is a huge hill and the proposals was for 4.5 ft bike lanes on both sides. Does this street have a gutter pan?

Why not uphill bike lane and sharrow in the middle of the downhill lane?

[Jonathan Krall]

John, The 4.5 foot bike lanes have no parking next to them. Thus, they are an improvement over the typical door-zone bike lane. And, no, there is no gutter pan.

As for the steepness of the road, right now many bicyclists access King St by first riding up Walnut St, which is steeper than King.

The cycling community, as represented by BPAC, by local bike shops, and by numerous individual cyclists who spoke up at both of the public hearings, wants these bike lanes. That a bunch of NIMBY homeowners keep saying it is unsafe proves nothing.

This is the real world, not Fox News. You can't prove something here by simply repeating it over and over again.