Making Ward 5 Work by making it easier to bike

Ward 5 Works is an effort that came out of Mayoral Executive Order to established a task force to create a strategy for the modernization and adaptive use of industrial land in Ward 5. The Ward 5 Industrial Land Transformation Task Force, comprising residents, business owners and District agency representatives, and they have created the Ward 5 Industrial Land Transformation Study entitled Ward 5 Works.

From that report on current condition:

Ward 5 boasts one of the most popular bike trails in the District—the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT)—which runs along the Metrorail Red Line, connecting the NoMa neighborhood to Fort Totten. There are plans to expand this off-road trail from Fort Totten to Silver Spring, Maryland, which will further enhance its connections to neighborhoods. Regionally, the MBT will connect to other important trails, such as the Capital Crescent Trail, Anacostia Trails System, and be integrated into the East Coast Greenway. Another off-street bike trail has been built along South Dakota Avenue on the east side of the study area. This trail, however, lies only between New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road, and is not connected to any designated bike lanes.

Other than the MBT, pedestrian and bicycle amenities are limited in both quality and quantity within the study area. The industrial character and reliance on vehicular transportation contribute to an environment that is generally not conducive to walking and biking other than on designated bicycle lanes. There are some bike lanes that have been built around the study area, such as 12th Street and 18th Street, but very few bike lanes penetrate. There are numerous Capital Bikeshare stations in Ward 5, but they tend to be concentrated along the MBT and in the center of adjacent neighborhoods. In general, the New York Avenue portions of the study area have few bicycle-friendly streets and few destinations to ride to.

The proposed improvements for biking are:

The District Department of Transportation and Office of Planning should plan and create new bicycle lanes and pedestrian connections from Ward 5 industrial locations to public transit and local business districts. New pedestrian connections should include South Dakota Avenue, Bladensburg Road and Rhode Island Avenue. Public realm improvements, including
sidewalks as shown in the map on page 107, should be provided along Queens Chapel Road, West Virginia Avenue, Montana Avenue, Adams Place and streets in the Ivy City neighborhood.

Additional Capital Bike stations should be considered at Union Market, Ivy City, Fort Totten Metrorail station and Rhode Island Avenue Metrorail station. Bike lanes and other enhancements should be encouraged where their inclusion would not negatively impact truck turning movements.

And to reduce reliance on automobiles

Some areas of Ward 5 are disconnected from convenient, non-automobile modes of transportation. Decreased car and bus use will, in turn, lessen emissions. Expanded neighborhood bicycling routes in areas such as Ivy City, Trinidad, Woodridge and Brookland, in combination with additional bicycle parking facilities, will encourage transit between isolated residential areas and retail, restaurant and grocery store sites.

They also call for a linear park (the "New York Strip") along the north side of New York Avenue with a bike/ped path. You can see it on the image below.

the bottom orange line coming in from the right is pointing at it. 

Bike lanes on West Virginia all the way to South Dakota Ave and then along South Dakota Avenue to the PG County Connector Trail, along with bike lanes running the length of Rhode Island Avenue and a new bike trail along the north side of New York Avenue would go a very long way toward making Ward 5 as bikeable as any other ward in the city, and would be useful to bike commuters coming in from PG County as well. 

Comments

[Greenbelt]

Very helpful work that hopefully spurs more action in this area. NYAve could be a showpiece entrance boulevard for DC with a little love and smart redevelopment. I'd like to see Bladensburg Road re-worked from NY Ave northbound also.

[bm]

for those of us on CaBis (or with little kids, etc), the RIA hill is too much. a well-planned route through eckington that circumvents the hill would be great.

[levin]

And a CaBi at the national arboretuem - probably the biggest biking destination in Ward 5, and one of the biggest in the district.

[xmal]

A connection to the Arboretum is a must. Will the NY Strip stretch all the way there?

[washcycle]

I don't think it goes that far.

[Ivy!]

We need better bus service for ward 5!

[Jwetz]

The current best way around the RIA hill is 4th street and R. It's a mostly flat route with bike lanes until you reach Eckington Place on R, when it becomes sharrows until you cross Florida. It's out of the way, unless you are heading that far down RIA, but you have to go that far to avoid the hill.

[DE]

moveDC proposes all of these bike improvements and more, including:
- bike lanes on W. Virginia and Rhode Island
- cycle tracks on Bladensburg, South Dakota, and part of Rhode Island
- a trail along New York Ave
- a trail from Ft. Totten along Gallatin Street that would connect to the Prince George's Connector

(Note: "bike lanes on West Virginia all the way to South Dakota Ave and then along South Dakota Avenue to the PG County Connector Trail" are not possible, since W.Va. doesn't go to S.Dakota and S.Dakota doesn't directly link to the Connector, but the above-listed improvements--along with bike lanes on 18th St. NE to connect W.Va and S.Dakota--get you what you're looking for.)

[DE]

We have two different DEs on here now, I see. I didn't know this was possible.