TheWashCycle

WABA's Alexandria Bike Campus project, slowed not stopped

 

Despite some difficulties, the Alexandria Bike Campus project, located along the Mt. Vernon Trail beneath the Wilson Bridge, continues to move forward.

Jones Point Park remains an incredible local resource; a great recreation facility that has become even more of a bike education destination in 2017 than ever before. In addition to WABA’s regular adult classes at the park, we’re pleased to share that both REI and the National Park Service themselves have held numerous bike education events for youth on-site this year. The Alexandria Bike Campus will help cement the park’s status as the premier bike education location in the region. 
Here’s the nitty gritty as to where the project stands:

• In 2015, WABA received approval from NPS to proceed with the AlexandriaBike Campus project in one of the unusable parking bays under the Wilson Bridge. We began garnering support and brainstorming our strategy.
• In December 2016, WABA, NPS, and many amazing volunteers removed 70+ concrete parking stops, patched holes in the parking surface, and cleared debris.
• The next step is to black out the existing parking lot stripes with pavement sealer. This phase is weather-dependent, and we will work through the winter to make sure it happens in spring 2018.
• After that, new pavement markings will be placed, signage posted, and online learning tools shared. WABA plans to commemorate this with a launch event, hopefully in summer 2018.

March 2018 Arlington BAC agenda

The Arlington BAC will meet at the Walter Reed Community Center Conference Room A on March 5^th from 7-9p 

Agenda

7pm: Introductions, Approval of minutes

7:05pm: New business 

7:15pm: ACPD ( review of 2017 crash data,  safety on the Pike and what ACPD has been doing about it).

8:00pm: Bike on the Pike (deep dive into safety issues on Columbia Pike and discuss suggestions for the County to address them).

9:00pm: Adjorn

Wharf Phase 2 will extend the cycle track and add parking and bikeshare

By now most of the DC region has been to, or at least seen, the new Wharf development along the SW Waterfront. It's amazing. It's huge. It's impossible to get food before a sold out Anthem show. But it's also not finished. Phase 2 of the Wharf will extend the project further south and that requires a transportation plan, which means some new bike stuff. 

The area itself is pretty easy to reach by bike

There are existing bicycle facilities that connect the site to areas within the District, most notably the I Street, 6th Street, and 4th Street bike lanes which provide connections to the Downtown and other bicycle facilities. South of the site the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail is primarily off-street, but other areas require users to travel along signed routes throughout the roadway network. Other facilities include bicycle-friendly roads along Water Street and P Street.

And the new development will encourage people to NOT drive there. 

As part of the development, the internal roadway network will be reconfigured. The existing site was auto-focused and included a parallel roadway to Maine Avenue, Water Street, which lead to a heavily-automobile designed transportation network and limited development. In contrast, The Wharf includes many modern transportation planning principles in its design, including multimodal shared internal streets, a cycletrack along Maine Avenue, a shuttle bus connection to metro, water taxi service, DDOT/WMATA bus service, Capital Bikeshare Stations, car sharing/ride sharing accommodations, shared parking in underground garages, curb extensions and pedestrian improvements along Maine Avenue, and a robust Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plan. 

This will mean more bike parking and more CaBi docks.

As part of Phase 2 of the Wharf, the Applicant will fund the relocation or installation of two (2) Capital Bikeshare stations. This is in addition to the three (3) Capital Bikeshare stations that the Applicant funded to be installed/relocated as part of Phase 1 of the Wharf. A total of four (4) Capital Bikeshare stations will be conveniently placed along Maine Avenue, with an additional Capital Bikeshare station near Waterfront Park. As the plan currently stands, the Capital Bikeshare stations are planned at the following locations:

1. Maine Avenue and Market Square
2. Maine Avenue and 9th Street
3. Maine Avenue and 7th Street
4. Maine Avenue and M Street Landing
5. Water Street and M Place

The cycle track will be extended and sharrows will be added to nearby streets.

The Maine Avenue cycle track will extend from the Fish Market to Water Street, with the section from the Fish Market to 7th Street coinciding with Phase 1 and the section from 7th Street to Water Street planned as part of Phase 2. The cycle track will be 10-foot wide, bi-directional, and grade-separated. In addition, the Applicant has proposed adding Shared Lane (“Sharrow”) markings on Water Street, 6th Street, and M Place, which will connect the Maine Avenue cycle track to the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail via Waterfront Park.

And there will be a lot of new parking

The Wharf will include 129 short-term bicycle spaces, 65 at street level along the perimeter of the site and within the site, and 64 within the first level of the below-grade parking garages, Garage 2 and Garage 3. These short-term spaces will include inverted U-racks and other bike racks placed in high-visibility areas. The Applicant is coordinating with DDOT to select locations for these racks in public space.

The project will also include secure long-term bicycle parking.The plans identify a total of 610 long-term spaces located in the first and second levels of the below-grade parking garages, Garage 2 and Garage 3. The first garage level will house 402 long-term bicycle spaces in seven (7) different storage spaces, and the second garage level house 208 long-term bicycle spaces in two (2) separate storage spaces. These long-term storage spaces are provided for residents and employees of office/retail so that they may store their bicycles securely.

The 610 secure long-term bicycle parking spaces and 129 short-term bicycle parking spaces will exceed the amount of bicycle parking that is required by Zoning Regulations.

After Phase 2 is complete there will be monitoring of transportation to and around the site, and one thing to be monitored is "Peak bicycle parking occupancy on site during a weekday and Saturday, both with and without events."

What would you do for a klondike bar?

Let's say you were going to testify before the DC Committee that oversees DDOT and bicycling in general. And there was an outside chance someone would listen to you, but you only had 2-3 minutes. What kinds of things would you want to highlight? Remember, it needs to be within the control of the DC Council or DDOT (If it's MPD, you're wasting your time). And it's got to reasonable (sorry velodrome around the Capitol Dome fans). And it needs to be compelling. Asking for a friend. [I have my ideas, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something].

Riverdale Park Bridge nearly finished

The Hyattsville Wire reports

A bridge connecting Riverdale Park Station to the Discovery District is slated to open in early 2018.

The bridge will run from Van Buren Street — which goes past Whole Foods through the center of the development — over the CSX railroad to Lafayette Avenue in the southern end of the University of Maryland research park.

The bridge is designed to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists as well as cars, although it remains to be seen how bike-friendly it will ultimately be.

The bridge will also be a short bike or walk from the Purple Line stopon River Road in the Discovery District, which means some residents of the townhomes at Riverdale Park Station may use it to connect as well.

It seems the opening is dependent on negotiations between CSX, which owns the air rights over the tracks, and the city. Why this was not handled before construction I do not know. Here's an older post on it. 

Surprise: Cyclists don't break the law more than drivers do

I know everyone is going to be shocked to learn this, but according to a recent study, cyclists are in compliance with the law most of the time and slightly more often than drivers are. [I'm actually surprised by how often drivers are in compliance]

I love this study because it compares compliance the way it should be compared, not by the number of laws broken but by how much time they're breaking the law. A driver who cranks it at 75mph in a 55mph zone for 2 minutes might only break 1 law, but they're spending a considerable amount of time breaking it. 

According to the study, bicyclists were in compliance with traffic laws 88.1 percent of the time during the day and 87.5 percent of the time at night. The observed compliance rate for drivers who interacted with participants was slightly lower, at 85 percent during the day. (There weren’t enough nighttime driver observations to report a compliance rate.)

Now that that's settled, we don't have to hear about scofflaw cyclists ever again.

This, however, was surprising "Male bicyclists showed a higher proportion of compliance than female bicyclists."

The study, commissioned by the Florida Department of Transportation, also found that 

motorists and dangerous street design — not cyclist behavior — are the primary factors that put cyclists at risk.

Which is not too surprising either. 

There was one recorded collision. In that case, a motorist hit the bicyclist from behind as she waited to turn left. The crash occurred on a road with no bike lane or sidewalk, forcing the bicyclist to use the general travel lane. The study authors determined the cause of the crash was lack of bike infrastructure and driver error.

Other findings

• bicyclists favored bike lanes or the sidewalk to riding in the general travel lane. 
• When there was a bike lane, bicyclists chose to ride in it 87 percent of the time, while 8.7 percent rode on sidewalk and 4.3 percent rode in the motor vehicle lane.
• The data seemed to show that the presence of bike lanes was a key factor [in close calls]: Five incidents happened when a bike lane was present and 14 occurred when there was no bike lane.
• Based on self-evaluation, more female than male bicyclists were classified into the groups of “High Risk” (26.7% vs.
  20.0%) and “High Distraction” (33.3% vs. 15.0%).
• Younger bicyclists (age 18–25) took significantly more risks than those in age groups 26–45 and 45+; younger bicyclists (age
  18–25) were also significantly more likely to be distracted than mid-age bicyclists (age 26–45) and older bicyclists (age 45+). No older bicyclists (age 45+) were identified as “High Risk” or “High Distraction,” making them the safest group among all age groups.
• In general, bicyclists were more likely to choose less familiar routes for recreation purposes than for commuting and shopping purposes.
• The proportion of non-compliant behavior was 7.5% for bicyclists with professional training and 12.3% for those without professional training
• Young bicyclists were more likely to get involved in close calls or conduct non-compliant behavior when interacting with turning vehicles

Arlington County wants to talk Transportation - Feb 26th

The event will feature a panel discussion, presentation, audience Q&A and time for networking.

For decades Arlington’s investments in its transportation network have allowed the County to accommodate new homes, jobs and services while decreasing traffic on its main roads. Can Arlington continue to serve as a model for managing growth? Will the future bring new transportation challenges requiring new solutions?

Join us for a conversation about transportation and planning, with local experts providing their perspective on the Arlington experience. Our keynote speaker will be Christopher Leinberger, a land use strategist and author and chair of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at the George Washington University School of Business.

Following the presentations, there will be a panel discussion with audience Q&A and time for networking.

This event is presented by Arlington County's Transportation and Planning Commissions, County Board, and Transportation Division.

It is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are encouraged!

DDOT and DOES hosting Commuter Benefits Information Sessions

I'm a little late to this, and I didn't go (this blog post is starting out swimmingly) but DDOT and DOES have hosted another Commuter Benefits Information Sessions  to help employers understand the 2016 Commuter Benefits Law. That law requires organizations with 20 or more employees to offer pre-tax or subsidized commuter benefits.

That would have included pre-tax bicycle commuter benefits, but - well - Congress killed that.  

Businesses that provide their employees with $20 per month to cover the expense of commuting by bicycle would also no longer be able to write off the benefit under the tax bill. Without that incentive, the relatively few employers offering the benefit may discontinue it, said Ken McLeod, policy director for the League of American Bicyclists.

Bicyclists can use the benefit to offset the cost of a new bicycle or pay for helmets, locks, lights or maintenance like new tires, McLeod said. The money doesn't count toward employee earnings, he said.

Getting rid of the bicycle benefit, which was adopted in 2009, would save the government a relatively low $5 million a year, McLeod said. By comparison, the parking benefit costs the government about $7.3 billion a year in foregone taxes, according to a report by TransitCenter, a transit advocacy group.

$5 million a year surprises me. I think when the bill went into effect they thought it would cost $1 million. I guess it's either a roaring success or a failure (depending on your perspective). I really wish they would have studied the program to see if it was cost-effective, but....that ship has maybe sailed. 

The House version of the tax bill retained the benefit, but the Senate version eliminated it even though more than 1,500 bicyclists contacted members of the Senate Finance Committee to try to persuade them to keep the write-off, he said.

"Growth in commuting by bicycle contributes to reducing congestion, promoting good health and supporting a low-cost mode of transportation for all Americans," 20 bicycle, community, and sports and outdoor industry groups said in a letter to the committee's chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and senior Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.

What bothers bicyclists the most, McLeod said, isn't so much the money, but "just that it feels like the federal government doesn't support biking.

"I don't know if that is something the legislators meant to express," he said, "but that's something we're definitely hearing."

Still, employers can still comply with the DC law by offering a bicycle commuter a reimbursement of bicycling costs

I don't know if they'll do another one, but I do know that the link to the goDCgo page on the Commuter Benefits Law is broken.

2018 Maryland Bike legislation

I'm tired, so here's a big cut and paste

Below is a list of our agenda items followed by one action that you can take to be involved in the process.

Vulnerable Road User Law

As stated by the League of American Bicyclists, Vulnerable Road User (VRU) Laws provide important legal protection to bicyclists and other persons who are not protected by steel cages. VRU laws operate on the principle of general deterrence – by providing an increased penalty for certain road behaviors that lead to the serious injury or death of certain road users people will be deterred from doing those behaviors around those users. The proposal would increase the potential penalties under existing traffic laws for killing or seriously injuring a vulnerable road user and require an appearance in court.

Vulnerable road users are all of us — walkers, cyclists, wheelchair users, children on training wheels, a parent pushing a stroller, or someone with a disability. These users don’t have the safety protections that a vehicle affords and are therefore especially vulnerable to death or serious injury when struck by a car. Nine States (CT, DE, FL, HI, OR, UT, VT, WA) have VRU laws and since we fully expect Maryland to be the bike friendliest state in the country, this law is necessary moving forward.

The Maryland Vulnerable Road User Law is currently being drafted and will be introduced in both the House and the Senate.

Safe Passing

On October 5th, the Governor of Delaware signed the Bicycle Friendly Delaware Act into law. This act is essentially a comprehensive safe passing law and is a model for our efforts here in Maryland. Most notably is a provision to require motorists to change lanes (including when there is a double yellow line) when passing bicycles when travel lanes are too narrow for side-by-side sharing. We are also working to eliminate the requirement that cyclists ride “As close as practicable to the right-hand edge of the roadway” and replace it with the Delaware language which says “far enough to the right as judged safe by the operator to facilitate the movement of such overtaking vehicles unless the bicycle operator determines that other conditions make it unsafe to do so.“

A Safe Passing Law is currently being drafted and will be introduced in both the House and the Senate.

Complete Streets

As explained by Smart Growth America, A Complete Streets approach integrates people and place in the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of our transportation networks. This helps to ensure streets are safe for people of all ages and abilities, balance the needs of different modes, and support local land uses, economies, cultures, and natural environments.

Currently, the State Highway Administration has a complete streets policy it is required to comply with but other transportation agencies do not. So we are proposing that two additional agencies be required to draft and comply with a Complete Streets Policy.  MdTA which will be crucial for the ultimate design and construction of the Nice Bridge and MDOT which of course is the overall Transportation agency in the state and has a long history of protecting and promoting car dominance at the expense of all other means of transportation.

Additionally, we are supporting an initiative to create support and assistance for local governments to draft and enact their own complete streets policies.

Increasing Funding for the Maryland Bikeways Program

The Maryland Bikeways program provides state funding to expand bicycle facilities in communities across Maryland.  Funds can be used for a variety of projects including connecting existing bikeways to shopping, employment, and transit, and bike-sharing programs.  This year’s grants, totaling $20 million is comprised of approximately $2M of state funding and $18M of federal funds. 2017 Projects included key regional trail connections funding for bike racks, installing bike routes using shared arrows, and designing future projects.

The Bikeways Program is the only program that is funded through the State’s budget. Bike Maryland is seeking an additional 20 percent in state funding per year ($4 million total increase) over the next 5 years.

We will be posting regular updates and calls to action on the webpage and through emails. Keep informed and be ready to call or write your elected officials when their votes are needed.

And here's the first update.

Bike commuting in DC, demographics

A recent people for bikes blog post (and the better bike share blog post it's based on) try to tease out how bike share has increased bike commuting in the District. They make a noble effort, but there are just too many data limitations - in my opinion - to make any conclusions. But, my gut and my own observations tend to agree with the conclusions. Those being that bike share increased bike commuting across all races, but not equally. 

There's a lot of problems with the data though. First it relies on American Community Survey data and as they note

When measuring commuting habits for all demographics except gender, the ACS uses the category “taxi, motorcycle, bicycle, or other means.” Lumping in “taxi,” “motorcycle,” and “other” along with bicycles makes it harder to draw specific conclusions, especially given the rise of ridesharing during the same time period. 

Then, there's the problem that it doesn't really tell us anything about bike sharing. Bike commuting could be up because of better streets, a younger demographic, changes tastes, rising oil prices, etc...Of course, we know from Capital Bikeshare survey data that many people did start commuting by bikeshare or bikeshare and transit once they got a membership, but that's not mentioned in the articles. One thing that should help with this is that MWCOG plans to ask about bikesharing in their next "State of the Commute" Survey.

But we're not sure from ACS data how much the increase in TiMBO data is due to biking and we aren't sure how much any change in bike commuting is due to bikeshare. Still, it's good news to find out that a wide variety of people might be biking more.

(Note that the better bike share blog post claims that "DC is home to North America’s oldest bike share program." It isn't.)

Also, as my Valentine gift to you I present the video below. If someone doesn't make a CaBi version soon I will cry. Where are the Tune Ups when you need them?