At the second New York Avenue Streetscape and Trail project meeting this week, DDOT presented several concepts for the bicycle route and results of a survey from the first meeting.
From the survey results, participants were pretty evenly divided on whether to put the bike route on New York Avenue or off it, but it was clear that bike accommodations were there top desire.It was also clear that participants strongly preferred a protected bike lane on the south side of the Avenue to one on the north. And finally, of 8 potential destinations the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) was the 2nd most important, according to participants.
Despite the preference for route on the south side, DDOT presented concepts with off-street and on-street routes on either side, and another option for a route off of New York Ave entirely. The 2006 New York Avenue Corridor study had an off street route on the north side, which would connect better with the tunnel under NYA.
On Segment 1, from Florida Avenue to 4th, there would be no trail and only one concept is presented. Cyclists would be encouraged to use the north side, where they would find a series of sidewalks varying from 5' to 10' in width. Pedestrians would be encouraged to use the south side. In addition, they note the potential for more direct connections from the New York Avenue Bridge to the MBT.
The trail or cycletrack would start in Segment 2, from 4th to 16th Street. (Note: for brevity, I'm only showing one concept for each segment)
I kind of prefer the north side, raised cycletrack, which is the most separated from traffic and would be more interesting to ride on, but the problem with it is getting across NYA, which wouldn't be an issue for a south side route.
Segment 3 is the area around the Montana Avenue traffic "circle". One thing I liked about this is that they showed a potential trail on the old railroad spur and bridge from 16th Street and then a rail-with-trail to Bladensburg Road. The bike route ends at 16th and the bike facilities identified in the segment will mostly work to keep you away from the uncharacteristically unnamed circle.
DDOT also presented off-NYA routes that included sidepaths, sharrowed lanes and cycletracks. These would connect the trail, and the MBT, to Gallaudet, the Arboretum, Union Market and Ivy City.
Yes. This looks like a good plan (but too bad the NYA Bridge rebuild didn't include a bike facility).
There is a chance to give input via a survey.
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