TheWashCycle

Transform I-66 EA comes with new renderings of the W&OD Trail bridge, Custis Trail

This week, VDOT held design public hearings on the Eastbound Widening portion of the Transform I-66 project. Not much has changed since I last reported on it in October, but they have completed the Environmental Assessment (EA) and more. The two major bike components are still the proposed W&OD Trail bridge over Lee Highway and the Custis Trail underpass at Bon Air Park, but now that have better conceptual drawings and diagrams.

Conceptual rendering of new W&OD Bridge

And there is also a better top view of the area.

And a similarly improved drawing of the Custis Trail redesign at Bon Air Park.

 And then just because I can't help myself, here are two more images of the W&OD Trail Bridge

Though the meetings are over, you can still submit comments.

WABA Member Holiday Party!

I totally saw this coming.

December 14, 6:00 PM
Boundary Stone DC, 116 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington DC.
Join us for our annual Member Holiday Party for an evening of bicycle cheer. Come eat, drink, and be merry with the WABA Staff and Board in celebration of 2016 and mingle with fellow WABA Members (not a member? That's OK! Join at the party!). The party is free to attend and there will be food and drink specials available at the bar for purchase. RSVP here.

Want to help out at the Holiday Party? We could use a few volunteers! Sign up here.

That is apparently a real bar, but I haven't been out in a while so I'm going to need some help. Where is that in relation Pharmacy Bar or Polyesther's or Tapatini's or Dr. Dreamos?

MPD Ticketing counterpoint

Last week I wrote about some questionable ticketing decisions by MPD (and frankly there are a couple of other stories I could share along those lines) but in the spirit of fairness here's a case where MPD making better choices.

Carol Calhoun reports that after the crash seen in the video below (crash is at 10:50:59 camera time, or 3:07 on the video): 

She reported it to MPD, with the videos, and she thinks they're going to cite the driver. 

It's not quite as satisfying as "the police showed up, and after interviewing people, DEFINITELY cited the driver, which was Lou Dobbs, who then soiled himself" but you take what you can get some times. Still, we shouldn't all have to have cameras on our bikes to get justice.

It's, of course, highly likely that I only hear the stories of bad interactions (because people are angry) but not the ones about good interactions. Does anyone have any "MPD done me right" stories to share?

From the Archives: Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway

Here's an August 1897 ad for the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway that once ran from Georgetown to Cabin John. The ROW has been eyed for a trail since the 1970's and the trestle over Foundry Branch was the subject of a post earlier this week. The structural condition report states that the trolley along this line started running in 1897, but actually it was running as early as November 1895, though only to the District line at first.

Mayor proposes modifying the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Act's reporting requirements (and more)

Mayor Bowser has submitted a bill, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Technical Amendment Act of 2016*, for council consideration which amends the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Amendment Act of 2016. Most of the changes are trivial or semantic, such as replacing the word "accident" with "crash" or "rate" with "frequency". Others seem to be clearing up an oversight such as changing a requirement about reporting on pedestrian crashes to also include bicyclists. But there are some other, more substantive changes as well. 

Perhaps most relevant to cyclists is a change in the frequency and type of moving infraction data that the DC government must report. The new act will reduce the reporting from once a month to once a quarter, and it will remove the requirements that the District report the date and time of the infraction, the Police Service Area where it happened, the age of the driver and the jurisdiction in which the driver was licensed. The justification for this seems to be that the District is incapable of providing this other data. 

The loss of PSA data is not a big deal, but the loss of the information about ticketed drivers is unfortunate. 

It also changes a requirement related to the issuing of permits for the occupation of public space. The original law required that all permits be published with either a description of the safe accommodations provided for pedestrians and cyclists as required by law, OR an explanation for why accommodations can't be made. The new bill would only require that permits be published with a description of any safe accommodations provided for pedestrians and cyclists as required by law; but if none are provided than nothing needs to be reported. 

In addition to this, the new law would make it illegal to park, stop, place or stand an all-terrain vehicle or dirt bike on DC public property (except when transferring it between vehicles for lawful transport elsewhere); increase the fines and penalties for moving infractions in a work zone - even when workers are not present; and add to the list of infractions for which a driver may be required to participate in an ignition interlock program, any offense for which a driver's license has been revoked for driving while impaired or intoxicated.

A public hearing is scheduled for this bill on December 12th. 

*Yes, I'm aware that the Mayor inverted Pedestrian and Bicycle in the name of this bill

The State of the Foundry Branch Trestle is Poor

For some time now (and even longer really) biking and hiking advocates have supported transforming the disjointed Glen Echo trolley right-of-way into a trail. One part of that vision involves taking the trail over Foundry Branch Valley Park on the old streetcar trestle, the only remaining trolley trestle in DC. The trestle and the short length of right-of-way east of Foxhall Road is owned by WMATA, while the rest of the right-of-way, running for a few miles, west of Foxhall is owned by DC. WMATA is required by law to sell the land it owns, which it got from taking over the old transit companies it replaced, to support the bus program, but before they can sell the trestle and land it sits on they needed to assess how much its worth, sot they hired a contractor to give an estimate of what repair and restoration would cost. 

This study seeks to assess and determine the soundness of the existing structure through a visual examination of the framing and selective testing of structural components. In addition, it is also intended to determine the level of effort that may be necessary to stabilize and restore the framing to adaptively reuse the structure as a potential pedestrian trail.

No one should be surprised to find out that the trestle, which was last used more than 50 years ago, is in bad shape. 

Based on our review of the existing trestle, it is our opinion that the structure is in poor condition. The level of deterioration of many of the members present significantly affects the structural stability of the assembly.

I always figured the trestle and land together had negative value and if you believe that WMATA will be responsible for maintaining the trestle, the study seems to support that. Just stabilizing the bridge was estimated to cost ~$350,000 and restoring it would be more than $2 million. No estimate is given for demolition. 

If DDOT is willing to take on this project, or WMATA is willing to unload this property at a workable price, they're both being pretty tight-lipped about it. In addition to the trail and it's benefits to cyclists and pedestrians, there's a historic preservation element to this project as well. In addition NPS surely wants to see this structure, at the very least, made safe.