Arlington County is making plans to renovate the Education Center, located next to Washington-Lee High School and the Custis Trail. The project consists of renovating the existing Education Center building, adding 500 to 600 high school seats, and converting it from its current use as an office facility to a high school instructional facility. As part of the project they performed a Multi-Modal Transportation Analysis (MMTA) that determined that the conversion will have an impact on the bicycle lanes on N. Quincy Street because some of the curb side parking will be replaced with a curbside pick-up drop-off location for part of the day.
The addition of curbside pick-up/drop-off activity, replacing on-street parking at certain times of the day, will lead to more vehicles crossing over the bike lanes. This increase in activity will be limited in time to around 20-30 minutes in the morning and afternoon on school days, and limited in total conflicts, as traffic counts show a relatively low amount of cyclist use of the southbound bike lane along N Quincy Street (4 bicycles during main morning drop-off time of 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM, and 2 bicycles during the main afternoon pick-up time between 3:00 PM and 3:30 PM.)
The analysis recommends mitigating this by painting the bike lane green in the area. Interestingly, they considered and dismissed moving the bike lane to the other side of the street or moving it inside of parking. The first would create other problems and there wasn't enough space for the second - shown above - which would also require modifying the existing curb bump outs. They also state that
The increase in student drop-off and pick-up activity on N Quincy Street will lead to more conflicts, primarily with cyclists using the bicycle lane. This is a common occurrence in multimodal urban areas; there are several locations like this in the District of Columbia, such as Amidon Elementary and the Eye Street SW bike lanes, Capitol Hill Montessori school on G Street NE, and Ludlow Taylor on G Street NE. The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) does not have any special treatments for these or other locations, conflicts between curbside use and bike lanes are commonplace in the District, and cyclists and drivers are used to encountering these conditions.
The school is in a bikeable neighborhood, with a CaBi station on campus, and as a result about 20% of students and 8% of staff bike to school.
The MMTA recommended more parking near the front door and that there be covered parking, and so the design was modified to add ~30 spaces near the Quincy Street entrance and maybe 40 covered spaces inside an existing garage.
In addition it recommends they
provide enhanced parking options for school staff (e.g. secured indoor parking), and (3) provide shower/locker access for staff, possibly by utilizing existing facilities within the W-L High School.
Because this project is not building any new structures as part of its design this report recognizes that it may be difficult to incorporate covered or secure bicycle parking or other upgraded facilities, and as such does not consider this recommendation to be a requirement.
Additionally, the arrival/dismissal procedures provided to parents and students should contain a review of potential conflicts and instructions on looking for cyclists before and after maneuvering into the curbside lane.
I hate painted bike lanes or lanes marked off by plastic pylons. They are worse than useless. The "sharrows" alerting drivers to the fact that you're allowed to use the whole lane are more useful.
Posted by: bobbybobbob | March 29, 2019 at 10:08 AM
Bobbybob, I don't always love separated bike lanes since I tend to cycle vehicularly, but this is next to a school, so it's not just about you and me. 20% of kids biking to school here is pretty cool.
I really can't see a way to find a problem with a bit of green paint other than maybe needing to use a bit more care when it's wet.
Posted by: huskerdont | March 29, 2019 at 10:28 AM