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."

Comments

[Ren]

Took the cycletrack for the first time yesterday after avoiding this area through construction. I would say that it took me almost twice as long as riding on Maine did (which I did through the first 2 years of construction). This was because of all of the people moseying through or on it and the fact that I could not turn left at the light onto 7th so ended up having to wait another light cycle. Also, it's a pet peeve that they won't put simple ramps in at the Banneker curbs. I know that they're spending millions and that it will be fabulous like 10 years from now when development at the Wharf is stale, but simple fixes in the meantime would be much appreciated.

[ACyclistInThePortCIty]

The PBL should get better A When the actual sidewalk is no longer blocked by retail build out B. There are no longer construction workers moseying across it C. When Phase 2 is complete, because the current sidewalk south of the PBL is aligned to the PBL, not the sidewalk, so peds naturally proceed straight onto the PBL.

That said, faster confident through cyclists will likely always be better off taking the lane on Maine. I don't suppose a sharrows on Maine is in the cards.

[darren]

"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."

This is the stretch adjacent to 'parcel 10' in the drawing. Riders connecting from the Maine Ave PBL to the new waterfront park driveway to the Titanic Memorial would have to ride down into the street where the PBL ends, and then back up the driveway.

It would be a lot cleaner, intuitive, and perhaps safer if the Wharf found space at sidewalk-grade so that riders could just remain out of street for that stretch.

Someday, when the soccer stadium streets, Wharf Phase II, and S Cap Street Bridge and Trail are built out, this small segment would be the only in-street shared-lane riding between the 14th Street Bridge and the DC/MD line.

[Uptowner]

So the cycle track will continue to link to a sidewalk on both ends? Awesome stuff DC. More disjointed bike infrastructure is exactly what we need. I'm already prepping for the "why are there people walking in the bike lanes" tweets.

Also, can you please please stop reporting the addition of sharrows as "bicycle infrastructure"?

[washcycle]

On the south side it would connect to a sidewalk - you can see the signage saying that the bicycle route is "on Sidewalk" right now. But that 1 block sidewalk is asphalt, not concrete, so I would think of it as more a sidepath.

Going north I would say the same thing. That sidewalk is not asphalt, but it is VERY wide. This is largely a matter of semantics. If it makes you feel better you can call it a raised, curb-protected shared use trail.

My point being, not all sidewalks are bad - or even sidewalks really.

"can you please please stop reporting the addition of sharrows as "bicycle infrastructure"?"

I don't think I did. I think I called them "bike stuff". Is that not accurate?

[DE]

Hey, DC just ranked Gold in Bicycle Friendly Community status. That means all this infrastructure must be perfect as it is.