The Mid City East small area plan was recently completed and it includes a few specific bicycle facility improvements.
The Mid City East Small Area Plan providesa framework for conservation, development, sustainability and connectivity in Mid City East, a mosaic of neighborhoods including Bates/TruxtonCircle, Bloomingdale, Eckington, Hanover, LeDroitPark, and Sursum Corda as well as sections of Edgewood and Stronghold.
The Metropolitan Branch Trail runs along the eastern edge of the study area, and residents would like to see it improved.
Connection points at T Street, S Street and Randolph Place NE need better signage to identify the trail, enhanced vegetation and maintenance. In addition, residents have expressed major concerns about safety on the trail. Some residents have ceased using the trail because of recent incidents.
And so the recommendation is to "work with DDOT to improve wayfinding to the Metropolitan Branch Trail and add vegetation, lighting, and public art to improve the trail’s aesthetics, enhance safety, and encourage increased use."
Other recommendations were pulled from DDOT’s Mid City East Livability Study which was completed last October.
At Truxton Circle, the Livability Study recommends:
- A high visibility crosswalk and bike box across Q Street NW.
- A painted bicycle crossing adjacent to the Florida Avenue crosswalk.
- A protected contra flow bike connector from Q Street crossing to North Capitol Street along Florida Avenue and through Truxton Circle Park and behind bus stop.
- A protected cycle track from the North Capitol Street crossing to and onto a new Q Street bike lane
At 5th and Rhode Island the recommendation is to extend the existing 5th Street bike lanes from Rhode Island Avenue to Florida Avenue. These lanes would serve as a substitute to the 6th Street bike lanes recommended in the 2005 Bicycle Master Plan.
The plan recommends changing the lane widths on New Jersey Avenue between N Street NW and Florida Avenue NW to allow for a 13.5 foot wide right-hand lane. Thw lane would be a shared travel lane (sharrows) for cyclists and drivers, and it would connect to planned bike lanes on New Jersey Avenue between H Street NW and N Street NW.
Why is the lane with sharrows wider than normal? Doesn't this encourage motorists to pass cyclists without changing lanes?
In the discussion yesterday I learned that sharrows grant the cyclist the full use of the lane. And, under DC regulations, motorists are then required to switch to another lane when passing cyclists.
So isn't making a sharrowed lane wider than normal sending a contradictory message to both motorists and cyclists?
Posted by: jeffb | July 30, 2014 at 09:16 AM
I worked on this plan, so I think I can answer JeffB's question. New Jersey has off-peak parking, somewhat like the section of Massachusetts Ave between Union Station and Stanton Park, or between Dupont and Scott Circles. So if it's a normal sized 10 foot lane, when there are cars parked there during off-peak time, the cyclist is very much in the door zone. of that lane. By making the full time travel lane narrow, and the curb lane wide, the cyclist has a de facto bike lane during off-peak, and has a wide shared lane during rush hour.
Also, the guidance on sharrows says they should be used on narrow 10 - 11 foot lanes, and wider 13 - 16 foot lanes, but in between, at 11 - 13 feet, a driver might be tempted to pass but not actually have enough room to do so in the lane. We didn't change the curb to curb dimensions or the parking restrictions, so this solution makes the most out of the roadway given its features and limitations.
Posted by: Will | July 31, 2014 at 04:11 PM
Is DC an oddball in this respect? In neighboring jurisdictions the sharrows don't actually grant any additional rights (the cyclist could already use the full lane). And I thought the law was 3 feet to pass in DC, not necessarily changing lanes.
Posted by: Mike | August 04, 2014 at 07:55 AM