No bike lanes in Ward 8, but it's not as bad as it sounds

Aaron Weiner has a post about the complete lack of bike lanes in Ward 8. 

I should add two caveats. First, these numbers don't include off-road bike trails, like Ward 8's Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, which offers some of the most pleasant biking in town. And second, DDOT doesn't list bike lanes on streets that form the border between two wards as belonging to either ward, and there are 0.59 miles of bike lanes listed separately as being shared by wards 7 and 8—presumably the lane on 25th Street SE and Naylor Road SE. Still, a caveat to that caveat: I've been listing the "grand totals" of bike lanes, which include not only dedicated lanes, but also shared lanes and bus/bike lanes. Looking only at proper bike lanes, the mileage shared by wards 7 and 8 is just 0.32 miles.

There may be some sharrowed lanes, but there is another caveat he leaves out. 

The area EOTR was mostly developed after the car came along. This means that the roads were all designed to be the ideal width for car traffic.

Older streets in DC - like on Capitol Hill - were not and thus are not some multiple of 11 feet wide. This means that on Capitol Hill, once they put in auto lanes the road often has a little extra space left over. DDOT has been turning that extra space into bike lanes. On Capitol Hill, they turned a lot of wide one-way, one lane streets into normal one-way, one lane streets with a bike lane. They can't do that EOTR. EOTR, putting in bike lanes means taking out parking or taking out a traffic lane.

So that's the main reason why Ward 8 doesn't have bike lanes. Putting in bike lanes would be a massive fight.

But additionally, CM Barry is probably the least interested in biking. He's not opposed to it or anything, he just doesn't show a lot of interest. I've never seen him at Bike to Work day. He rarely fills his seat on the Bicycle Advisory Council. He doesn't go to oversight hearings or get involved. Every other CM does. So, they're hasn't been a lot of pressure on DDOT. Squeaky wheel gets the bike lanes. 

Update: Also, the bike plan didn't include many bike lanes in Ward 8, so DDOT's doing what they planned to do. 

Comments

[This Isn't That Hard]

You do realize that Ward 8, or "East of the River" is NOT the same as Anacostia, don't you? Anacostia, as a 19th century community, most certainly was established before the automobile. Anacostia is not short-hand for all of Ward 8, any more than Georgetown is short-hand for all of Ward 2. Your point might be valid for other parts of Ward 8 (Hillcrest, Fairfax Village) but they are not Anacostia, and you seriously undercut your credibility when you demonstrate that you don't know the difference.

[washcycle]

Thanks, I do realize that. In fact, if you were a regular reader of this blog you'd probably know that. Usually I'm more careful.

But, I suspect YOU realize that for many people Anacostia IS shorthand for EOTR. It is not correct, but it is popular speech, just like calling the holiday that celebrates George Washington's birthday President's Day. I've seen the Washington Post and other news outlets make the same mistake.

So, in trying to write quickly, I accidentally fell back on to this lazy catch-all term. I apologize and I'll correct it.

Having said that, I do feel your comment was unnecessarily harsh. I think if you reread it, you'll agree.

The point here is to communicate, and I think that - despite this error - you knew exactly what I was saying. As to whether this error undercuts my credibility or not, I would hope the logic of what I wrote would stand on it's own and would not rely on a perfectly edited prose. But we all have to make our own calls on what is credible or not based on our own criteria.

[Dizzyluv25]

@ This isn't that hard

Hillcrest & Fairfax Village are in Ward 7, not Ward 8. Fairfax Village has sharrows on 38th Street. Most of the other streets in Hillcrest don't need bike lanes or sharrows because the traffic volumes are low.

[This Isn't That Hard]

You're right - I apologize. I didn't mean to be harsh.
As you say, it's a common mistake, but badgering you about it isn't going to help educate others. Although it's frustrating to those of us who grew up in Ward 8, I would do well to heed my own warning about undercutting credibility. Sorry.

[Loving my Ward since 2005]

Please, can we get rid of Marion Barry. I've live in Anacostia for 8 years now, and the only thing I'm truly ashamed of, is Marion Barry representing "our interest."

Kudos to "This isn't that hard" - you response was civility at its best.

Finally, I won't pretend as if I know the intricacies regarding bike lanes, but I imagine there is space to add bike lanes in River East (what happned to this term?).