Back in January, DDOT submitted an addition to the 2015 Financially Constrained Long-Range Transportation Plan (CLRP) in the form of 10 new protected or normal bike lanes that it would like to build.
DDOT recently submitted Description Forms about these bike lanes that give a little more information about what is planned. In every case DDOT is talking about a road diet. You can read all of the forms here (Attachment A, starting on page A-1)
4th Street SW from M Street to P Street This project will reduce roadway capacity through converting the existing roadway configuration from four general purpose travel lanes to two lanes with a center turn lane and bicycle lanes.
Length: 0.3 mile
Cost $10,000
6th Street NE from Florida Avenue to K Street This project will implement recommendations from the recent Florida Ave study. It will reduce roadway capacity through the conversion of the existing roadway from two-way to one-way operation with one general purpose travel lane and two-way protected bicycle lanes on the east side of the road.
Length: 0.26 mile
Cost: $30,000
7th Street NW from New York Avenue to N Street This project will reduce roadway capacity through converting the existing roadway configuration from four general purpose travel lanes to two lanes with a center turn lane and bicycle lanes.
Length: 0.3 mile
Cost: $20,000
12th Street NW from Pennsylvania Avenue to Massachusetts Avenue 12th St is a four lane, one-way northbound road with two rush-hour restricted parking lanes. This project will reduce rush-hour roadway capacity by one lane by changing the east side rush-hour restricted parking lane to full-time parking and adding a bicycle lane.
Length: 0.64 mile
Cost $20,000
14th Street NW from Florida Avenue to Columbia Road This project will reduce roadway capacity through converting the existing roadway configuration from four general purpose travel lanes to two lanes with a center turn lane and bicycle lanes. It will connect existing bike lanes, making it the longest continuous bike lane corridor in the city.
Length: 0.52 mile
Cost: $20,000
Adams Mill Road NW from Kenyon Street to Klingle Road Adams Mill Road has two southbound lanes and one northbound lane. This project will reduce roadway capacity through the elimination of one of the southbound lanes to provide room for the addition of 5’ bicycle lanes on either side of the roadway. It will provide a bicycle connection between the National Zoo and Mount Pleasant to Klingle Road/Porter Street and neighborhoods to the west of Rock Creek Park.
Length: 0.24 mile
Cost: $10,000
Brentwood Parkway NE from 6th Street/Penn Street to 9th Street This project will reduce roadway capacity through converting the existing roadway configuration from four general purpose travel lanes to three lanes. Traffic analysis is still required to determine which lane would be eliminated. The extra space will be used for bicycle lanes on either side of the road, or a two-way protected bicycle lane on one side of the street. This will connect the 6th St NE bike lanes to the 9th St Bridge.
Length: 0.22
Cost: $10,000
New Jersey Avenue NW from H Street to Louisiana Avenue This project will reduce roadway capacity through converting the existing roadway configuration from four general purpose travel lanes to two lanes with a center turn lane and bicycle lanes.
Length: 0.45 mile
Cost: $25,000
Pennsylvania Avenue NW Protected Bicycle Lanes Pennsylvania Avenue is a four to six lane corridor with two additional parking lanes. This project will reduce roadway capacity by reducing the existing travel lanes by one to two lanes and installing protected bicycle lanes.
o 17th to 18th Streets will be reduced from 6 to 4 lanes
o 18th to 20th Streets will be reduced from 5 to 4 lanes
o 20th to 26th Streets will be reduced from 6 to 4 lanes
o 26th to 28th Streets will be reduced from 5 to 4 lanes
o 28th to 29th Streets will be reduced from 4 to 2 lanes
Length: 1.03 mile
Cost: $250,000
Wheeler Road SE from Alabama Avenue to Southern Avenue This project will reduce roadway capacity through converting the existing roadway configuration from four general purpose travel lanes to two lanes with a center turn lane and bicycle lanes.
Length: 0.94 mile
Cost: $35,000
The TPB meeting materials include several other bike-relevant items.
- About the I-66 Multimodal improvement project "The Multimodal Study identified approximately 60 capital and operating projects inside the Beltway. The Supplemental Report examined projects deemed to be the most regionally significant of the 60, based on (1) projects that can impact bicycling and walking for relatively large numbers of people and (2) projects that enhance the connectivity and functionality of the regional network. Sample projects include:
o Custis trail/W&OD trail improvements
o Fairfax Drive connector
o Arlington Boulevard trail- Glebe Rd. to City of Fairfax
o West Falls Church connector trail
o VA 7 – Tysons to Falls Church
- A slidshow with this chart showing that the use of biking and walking are expected to grow faster than population while VMT is forecast to grow slower.
- And this slide of current and forecast mode share by region
- In 2010, the Transportation Planning Board received a TIGER grant to pay for the Regional Priority Bus Project. There are several things this project aims to do, one of which is to add a bike cage to the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station.
For improvements at the Franconia-Springfield transit station, the construction contract was awarded in June. The intention is for construction to start this month (September) with concrete work completed by November. Installation of the bike cage and bus canopies will take place through the winter, with work completed by March 2016.
Looking forward to that Pennsylvania Bike Lane.
Posted by: Brett Young | September 21, 2015 at 01:57 PM
When are they actually going to start work on these projects? A protected lane filling in the gap on 14th St would be great.
Posted by: J | September 21, 2015 at 03:52 PM
I don't know, but it's not called the Long Range Plan for nothing.
Posted by: washcycle | September 21, 2015 at 03:54 PM
... And Financially Constrained.
Posted by: Jeffb | September 21, 2015 at 07:02 PM
Do we have a breakdown of $ spent by government per mode? How much is spent on walking paths and bike paths versus roads? How much less than 26% is it in DC?
Posted by: SJE | September 22, 2015 at 09:53 AM
I'm afraid that DDOT is getting too comfortable with the "4 to 3" road diet. This configuration isn't helpful in urban areas where there is a lot of on-street parking demand. Drivers can't seem to make their cars fit in the 7' parking lanes without extending into the bike lanes and double-parking/loading becomes rampant in the bike lanes. This type of road diet is often a downgrade from a situation where a critical mass of cyclists can make the outside lane of a 4-lane configuration into a default bike lane. #BikeDC should demand better.
Posted by: Kyle G. | September 22, 2015 at 10:25 AM
Some kind of protection on Pennsylvania Avenue NW from Georgetown at least to the entrance to the L Street protected bikeway is long overdue.
I ride that eastbound stretch every day and have nearly bought the farm half a dozen times thanks to eastbound drivers turning improperly across the westernmost entrance to the cycle track.
That whole stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue is ridiculously oversized for cars.
Posted by: Blaine Collison | September 22, 2015 at 10:36 AM
Gotta give a +1 to Kyle. I am not familiar with 14th street in Columbia Heights before the current lane configuration, but the stretch between Harvard and Monroe is hell. On my way home through there, I always play a game called "how many people are blocking the bike lane today". Between oblivious pedestrians and don't-give-a-spit drivers/parkers, that section is terrible.
Posted by: Dougie | September 23, 2015 at 08:34 PM
While Kyle and Dougie have decent points, 4 to 3 is a fantastic strategy and should be used (correctly with separated cycle facilities) on almost every 4 lane in DC. Almost any bike lane is better than 4 lanes. The vast hill of research supports this in a dozen cities across the US. How often does a critical mass of cyclists trump lane changing and speeding cars? 4 lanes are built for this.
Yes 14th street is a terrible configuration. DDOT should have taken parking from one side of the street and made separated cycle tracks. But now look at the speed of cars on 14th. Where south of Columbia speed is 35, near Harvard, pedestrians can actually cross. This is a huge safety difference. Don't blame street diets for DDOT's flawed designs. 4 to 3 works almost every time.
Posted by: eawrist | September 25, 2015 at 06:59 AM