New York Avenue Project envisions a bike network around Gallaudet University

At last week's kickoff meeting for the New York Avenue Streetscape and Trail Project, DDOT presented a vision of a bicycle and pedestrian network that would tie the Gallaudet, Ivy City, Langdon and Arboretum neighborhoods together. 

The potential bicycle route options, include a bicycle trail along the north side of New York Avenue; cycle tracks on Florida and West Virginia Avenues; and bike routes throughout the area from the Metropolitan Branch Trail to the Arboretum.

This is the first public meeting since the project was kicked off last October. Three more meetings are planned between now and the completion of preliminary plans in October of this year. Until then they're looking for a lot of input from the public. Specifically, they want to know which streetscape elements are important, a list that includes bike racks; which facility the public would prefer on NY Ave - a north side multi-use trail or a south side cycle track; what other kinds of facilities - sharrows, bike lanes or cycle tracks; preferred locations for crossing NY Avenue - options include the old train tunnel at 4th and a series of crosswalks; and what destinations are important.

Comments

[Ben]

I think trail even if on North side of NY Ave us superior to cycle track on South side. As long as safe low stress way tof go from south side of NY to North side to access trail

[Becky]

Depends on how it's implemented and how many pedestrians are present, but I think I'd prefer a cycle track. I'm not a fan of riding on "trails" along streets that look (and end up functioning) like wide sidewalks. Like 2nd street south of M where it's supposedly the MBT. Or Silver Spring's "Green Trail" near the library, or the northern portion of the MBT by Montgomery College. These trails end up being more of a mix with pedestrians than a through bike route. If there aren't many pedestrians expected to be present, it could work. Like the 11th street bridge over Anacostia is a really wide sidewalk/bike route and it works fine for biking as there are barely any people walking there.

[washcycle]

Becky, because there won't be much on the north side of New York, I suspect there will be few peds, but the trail will be a lot less appealing if the tunnel isn't used.

[Shalom]

A much better plan than I was expecting, sorry I couldn't go the meeting.

I'd so much prefer a trail, as long as it's really separated from the highway and as long as there are protected crossovers like the 4th St tunnel. The traffic is so heavy (heavy as in volume and heavy as in weight of the trucks) that a cycle track would be awfully unpleasant.

And it's great that Gallaudet is now opening up the campus and integrating with the neighborhood, physically and socially. It's a wonderful part of the community, and the area will be much the better for it.