Back in May of 1995, in response to the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings, the federal government first closed the part of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to automobile traffic. In addition to making the movie 2010 less prophetic (where's my pet dolphin?), it also bumped DC's bike lanes up from 3 miles to 3.25 - if you count that as a bike lane, which I don't. Actually the title calls it a trail - the #1 trail in America - but the text calls it a bike lane.
I already linked to this story this week for the UHOP letter post, but for a secondary element in it.
Author, cyclist and all-around awesome pacifist Colman McCarthy couldn't have been happier about the closure.
I've pedaled this stretch of wide, newly liberated Pennsylvania Avenue a half-dozen times already, becoming giddy in both the joys of urban carlessness and the companionship of fellow bicyclists also savoring the rare zing of it all.
He pushed back on the notion that the new rule banned traffic or vehicles in front of the White House - as the media was reporting, pointing out that cyclists and pedestrians were still using it. He also celebrated one of George H. W. Bush's finest accomplishments, the Clean Air Act of 1990.
About the closest Congress has come to voicing a bother or pother about cars was passing an obscure amendment to the Clean Air Act of 1990 called the Employee Trip Reduction bill. It is intended to reduce air pollution, decongest streets during crawl hour and lower energy use by limiting the number of single-driver commuters. Employers are required to report to the federal Environmental Protection Agency how workers commute and the company's plans to increase car-pooling or travel by public transportation.
Unfortunately, that would be watered down later that year and signed by President Clinton, but the road closure on Pennsylvania became permanent after 9/11 even after Republicans made reopening the street part of their 2000 platform. The current road configuration opened in 2004.
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