TheWashCycle

Bump out bike parking

They pushed the sidewalk out midblock and put bike parking in. On Valencia street in San Francisco.

Biking the Golden Gate

Nice day for biking

Riverdale Park Station section of Trolley Trail hits a milestone

According to a construction update from earlier this month. 

Installation of the Hiker/Biker trail sub-base is complete. The installation of the retaining wall along the Northern property line will be completed by the end of April.

Bike trough at entrance

In station bike parking

Bicycle priority area

On BART

Montgomery County kicks off Bicycle Master Plan update

I'm getting this out a few days late, but on Monday the MoCo Planning Department held a kick-off meeting for the update to the Bicycle Master Plan. 

Planners will work from April 2015 until July 1, 2015 on developing a high-quality bicycle network that facilitates access to the planned Corridor Cities Transitway stations from the surrounding communities and ensures coordination and compatibility with the Life Science Center Loop, an off-road trail currently under design by the Planning Department. The goal is to develop a regional bicycle network plan for the Greater Seneca Science Corridor area to maximize the effectiveness of transportation systems currently being planned, and to coordinate these efforts with the City of Rockville and City of Gaithersburg.

Review a map of the Montgomery County Bicycle Master Plan CCT Phase 1 Corridor special focus area.

Starting July 1, 2015, the comprehensive update to the Bikeways Master Plan will be launched to consider the County’s complete bicycle networks and recommendations for access and mobility. The planning process will provide ample opportunities for the community to get involved and offer feedback. Check out the Bicycle Planning web page to learn more.

Greater Olney Civic Association passes resolution recommending bike lanes

From the Gazette

The Greater Olney Civic Association passed a resolution at its April 14 meeting recommending the inclusion of the Bowie Mill Road bike lanes in the county’s Capital Improvement Plan.

The construction of a bidirectional bikeway on either side of Bowie Mill Road from Md. 108 to Muncaster Mill Road is part of the regional Bikeways Master Plan, but is unfunded in the recently published Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission 2015 Capital Improvement Plan.

The civic group’s Transportation Committee reviewed several alternatives for improvements to the bicycle-pedestrian trail network in and around the Olney Master Plan Area and determined that building the Bowie Mill Road Bikeway is its highest trail network priority.

Montgomery County appeals Georgetown Branch ROW Fence case

In 2013, Montgomery County issues Ajay Bhatt, a vocal critic of the Purple Line, a citation for replacing a fence that was 14 feet beyond his property line. Bhatt fought the citation and in January a lower court judge sided with Bhatt on the basis that the county did not prove that the land was a ROW,  and that even if it was Bhatt might own it due to adverse possession.

Bhatt is president of Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail, a citizens group that has filed a federal lawsuit against the state plan to run trains along the trail as part of a 16-mile Purple Line connecting Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

The Circuit Court’s decision in Bhatt’s case overruled that of a District Court judge, who in January 2014 found Bhatt guilty of installing a fence beyond private property and gave him 30 days to remove it.

County lawyers are now appealing that decision. 

A final court decision in Bhatt’s favor could further complicate plans to build the light-rail line because the state or county could be forced to legally condemn and buy private land that government officials have long considered to be county-owned.

This would also complicate plans to extend the Capitol Crescent Trail from Bethesda to Silver Spring. 

The appeals court is expected to decide in the next couple of months whether it will consider the case or let the Circuit Court ruling in Bhatt’s favor stand.

The county has asked the appeals court to use Bhatt’s case to clarify state law regarding property rights for land previously owned by railroads.... state trial courts “will need direction” when considering the property rights of adjacent landowners who have encroached on the rail alignments.

It would impact more than just this one property

There are about 25 “encroachments” on the trail land intended for a Purple Line, including sheds, garages, retaining walls and decks, according to the Maryland Transit Administration. MTA officials have said that figure does not include fences.