At their December Meeting the NCPC adopted the Parks & Open Space Element, with the updated policies going into effect on February 15, 2019. The element’s policies encourage protection, enhancements, and stronger connections for federally managed land in the region’s parks and open space system.
As noted in March, the Element has a whole section on trails. The NCPC received 108 pages of comments on the draft, several of which dealt with biking and trails. For example, the GSA wrote that "The federal government should also start to think about making green connections between their built facilities, spurring healthy and active transitions from building to building. Would suggest adding that the federal government should rethink how public space is used by and interacts with the public on or near federal property. Many facility managers may not even be aware that the property extending out toward the street from a facility is in fact public space. For decades, the federal government has not done much to engage with the public in this space, but we must work with NCR localities to ensure that we do so moving forward."
Other comments resulted in changes as well. For example:
- At NPS request
- NCPC added bikeways and multi-modal transportation to mentions of a pedestrian friendly network.
- Added Capital Trails Coalition to the list of Stakeholders.
- Noted that primary commuter routes are not safe for bikes and pedestrians because visiting drivers may not be aware of crossings as the roads meander. (??)
- Modified the park categories to be based on primary function, resulting in a category "Trails, Parkways, and Greenways: Designated linear routes used by motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians or linear habitat corridors that follow natural or constructed features.
- Address language about the Potomac Heritage Trail.
- Noted that NPS can provide more information on the Arboretum and how "Gates and fences could restrict after hours access to the Arboretum while allowing bicyclists and joggers continued access."
- Added language about the historic use of bridle trails that are now used for multi-use; and that they need to be sufficiently sized for today’s types of uses. Educate about past horse use.
- Add a policy to Identify opportunities to connect multi-use trails and users and another to Incorporate convenient, safe, separated multi-use trails systems within parkways.
- In response to requests to include language supporting bikesharing on park land, NCPC responded "The Capital Space Plan was completed in 2010. The Transportation Element is in the process of being updated and will address different modes of transportation, such as bikeshare." So not in this, but in something to be done later.
For more there is an article about the project
Adapting Designed Landscapes, written by NCPC’s Sarah Ridgely, was published in the American Planning Association’s Urban Design and Preservation Division’s fall newsletter. The article examines research conducted by NCPC staff and the resulting findings that were incorporated into the Parks & Open Space Element.
From that article there a bit on Banneker Park.
Another recent example of an adapted landscape reviewed by NCPC is Banneker Park, an 8-acre National Park Service site designed by Dan Kiley, and originally constructed between 1967 and 1969.
The site serves as a terminus for 10th Street, SW—and despite its location between L’Enfant Plaza and the National Mall to the north–and the waterfront and the then-planned waterfront development known as the District Wharf to the south–offered limited pedestrian and bicycle access between these areas. With Phase I of The Wharf under construction there was a strong interest to provide a safe, accessible connection through Banneker Park.
The project includes a stairway constructed on the west side of Banneker Park, which terminates at Maine Avenue, SW near the waterfront Fish Market. In addition, ramps traverse the park’s east side to provide access for pedestrians, including people with disabilities, down to the waterfront and The Wharf. Landscape enhancements reintroduced a portion of the grid pattern of trees original to the Kiley design, and installed wayfinding signage to direct pedestrians and bicycles to and from the overlook.
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