TheWashCycle

MBT's Rhode Island Avenue Metro Bridge now open

So DCist is reporting. I would not have expected this to open in 2014, and the streetcar to not. 

Capital Bikeshare as a complement to transit

Paul DeMaio has a presentation available about first mile and last mile usage of Capital Bikeshare, or times when people use CaBi to expand the reach of transit. The slideshow without a presentation is a little bit sparse, but it does include the below graphic and makes the point that many people are using CaBi to get to or from Metro stations:

I'll point out that the milage data is probably understating the distances, as I think those are straight line distances and not actual distances travelled.

Happy New Year.

Beaches to Bluegrass Trail

This is a long way from DC, but the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation recently completed the draft master plan of the Beaches to Bluegrass Trail, a bike trail all the way across southern Virginia from Virginia Beach to Cumberland Gap (It looks like it stops short of Kentucky, but comes close. It connects to Tennessee at Bristol and North Carolina near the Dan River.) From the draft plan

One of the earliest references to the Beaches to Bluegrass Trail is in the 1979 Virginia Outdoors Plan, where it is referred to as the Southside Virginia Trail. The Southside Virginia Trail was referred to as the Trans Virginia Southern Trail in subsequent updates of the Virginia Outdoors Plan. The Beaches to Bluegrass name was conceived in 2008 when tourism officials involved with the trail heard of a book, Beach to Bluegrass: Places to Brake on Virginia’s Longest Road, by Joe Tennis, and thought that name better captured the concept of a statewide trail. With the author’s permission, the Beaches to Bluegrass Trail is the official title in the 2013 update of the Virginia Outdoors Plan.

More on Cook's earlier arrest and the Palermo crash

From WBOC

Court records show that a sheriff's deputy stopped Cook on Sept. 10, 2010, in Caroline County on the Eastern Shore. The officer wrote in a report that Cook was driving on the shoulder at 29 mph in a 50 mph-zone with a shredded front tire. The deputy noted that a strong alcohol odor emanated from the vehicle and that Cook had vomit down the front of her shirt.

The officer wrote that Cook was so intoxicated that she couldn't finish a field sobriety test because she might fall and hurt herself.

According to the report, Cook registered .27 percent blood alcohol content. The legal limit in Maryland is .08 percent.

The officer found two small bags of marijuana in the vehicle, along with paraphernalia, and a bottle of wine and a bottle of liquor.

Cook pleaded guilty to drunken driving, and the prosecution of marijuana possession charges was dropped. A judge sentenced her to a fine and probation before judgment on the DUI charge, meaning her record could be cleared if she stayed out of trouble.

Tillman said Cook disclosed the earlier charges when she was vetted and ultimately elected as the diocese's first female bishop.

I think based on police statements (or lack thereof) on this, that serious charges are being considered. And on the follow-up to the crash.

Moncure Lyon, 65, of Baltimore, said he was just finishing up a bike ride when he came upon Palermo lying in the street in a semi-fetal position, his head on the curb.

"Several times I tried to take his pulse, but I couldn't find any response. . He was hit hard. Both wheels on his bike were knocked off and severely out of round," Lyon said.

As other passers-by called 911, Lyon said he went looking for the car based on other witness descriptions. He found it about 100 yards away at a stop light, he said.

"The windshield was completely smashed in, with a hole on the passenger side, and from the damage of the car, there was no doubt in my mind that was the car," he said. "I asked the lady who was driving, 'Are you all right?' Then the light turned green, she said 'Yes,' and she left."

When he returned to the scene, he saw the woman talking to a police officer.

Baltimore hit-and-run driver had DUI, drug and reckless driving charges in 2010

The Daily Mail is connecting Bishop Heather Cook of Saturday's fatal hit-an-run crash with a cyclist to the Heather Cook arrested in 2010.

In September 2010, nearly four years to the day before she'd become Maryland's first female Episcopal bishop, Cook was pulled over in Caroline County.

Police at the time said she blew a BAC of .27, or over three times the legal limit, when given a breathalyzer.

In her car, police said they found a bottle of whiskey, a bottle of wine, and a marijuana pipe reported MyEasternShoreMD.com.

Officers also said one of Cook's tires had somehow become shredded.

However, records show that by January 2012 the drug charges were dropped.

Cook received 'probation without judgement' for the DUI charge.

There's also a photo of the SUV following the Palermo crash at their website. If this is a case of a repeat offender, then the state bears some responsible for this tragedy. 

Baltimore hit-and-run driver is Episcopal Bishop

Heather Cook, the driver who hit and killed cyclist Thomas Palermo in Baltimore yesterday is the #2 official in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. On the one hand, she did return to the site on her own volition, which is not as bad as other hit-and-run cases. On the other hand, it was 20 minutes later and she ignored her duty to render aid to Palermo. It probably would not have matter if she had, but that's a crime for a reason. Also, it may be that she only returned because she was chased down by other cyclists. 

[Bishop Sutton also said that he has placed Cook on administrative leave, effective immediately, “because the nature of the accident could result in criminal charges.”

Cook is the first woman to be ordained a bishop in the Maryland diocese.

Update: A Heather Cook was arrested on drinking and driving and drug charges in Preston, MD in 2010, but it's unclear if this is the same Heather Cook. The ages match up. 53 in September 2010 could be 58 by December 2014, if her birthday is between September and December. 

More here

The stretch of Roland Avenue where the incident occurred, near the Bellemore Road intersection, is wide – with two traffic lanes and a bike lane in each direction and a grassy median between them. The road surface is relatively smooth and there is no road reconstruction taking place here, as there is further south on Roland.

The motorist, meanwhile, had fled the scene and returned only after she was reportedly chased down by other cyclists. Police described the driver as a 58-year-old woman who had been heading south on Roland Avenue. They said the decision about whether to charge her would be made after consulting with the city state’s attorney’s office.

With police still investigating Saturday’s crash, many who came to pay their respects yesterday noted that Palermo had a business, building bike frames and was an experienced cyclist.

Decoration on the 10th St. overpass of Route 50

You may not be able to see it in the photo but there are colored LED lights there too. And both the Courthouse Road and 10th St. underpasses are well lit as well.

All of these photos are of the recent reconstruction of the route 50/Courthouse Rd./10th St. interchange, which included an upgraded MUP.

Route 50 10th St. underpass

Arlington interchange bike path

Baltimore cyclist killed in hit-and-run

But the driver returned to the scene some time after the crash. 

41-year-old bicyclist was struck by a vehicle and killed Saturday afternoon in North Roland Park, police said.

The driver of the vehicle — a 58-year-old woman — initially left but returned while investigators were still on the scene, said Det. Jeremy Silbert, a department spokesman. She was being interviewed by police, said Silbert.

A group of cyclists went looking for the vehicle and reported back to police that they had seen a car with a smashed windshield, La Canfora said. A short time later, the Subaru pulled up. [Jason La Canfora, the CBS reporter who covers the NFL and who witnessed the crash] said its windshield was "three-quarters shattered."

"It was a massive impact," he said.

 It will be interesting to see how the justice system handles this.