TPB approves new projects in DC and Maryland

Last week, the Transportation Planning Board (TPB) voted to approve Transportation Alternatives (TA) Set Aside funding for several small bicycle and pedestrian projects in the area. The Transportation Alternatives Set Aside (TA Set Aside) Program was established by federal law to fund a variety of smaller-scale transportation projects such as pedestrian and bicycle facilities, trails, safe routes to school (SRTS) projects, community improvements, and environmental mitigation.

In Maryland the four projects included bike lanes near two Metro Transit stations, one in Rockville and the other at Capital Heights and others fund sidewalks. 

The Chamber Avenue Green Street/Complete Street Project in Capitol Heights will create a road diet on along the Chambers Avenue-Capitol Heights Boulevard-Davey Street corridor, to add sidewalks and bike lanes. It will also build new street lighting, improved pedestrian crossings, and new pedestrian lighting. (This parallels a Watts Branch Tributary and I'd like to see them daylight some of that stream and move some of it out of it's concrete channel. Then put a trail and some tree cover in the corridor for a little linear park/Metrorail connection, but that's all out of scope.)

The University Park Elementary School Safe Routes to School Plan in the Town of University Park entails the design of infrastructure work including sidewalk improvements, traffic calming and speed reduction improvements and pedestrian and bicycle crossing improvements to provide safe access to the University Park Elementary School. 

The Takoma Park Safe Routes to School Improvements in the City of Takoma Park will fund educational programs including a Crosswalk Simulation Activity and Bike Rodeo. A new feature of the Takoma Park programming is the iCan Shine Camp, which will teach biking skills for students with disabilities. 

The North Stonestreet Avenue: Street and Sidewalk Improvements in the City of Rockville will design street and sidewalk improvements along Park Road (between North Stonestreet Avenue and South Stonestreet Avenue) and N. Stonestreet Ave (between Park Road and Lincoln Avenue). Improvements will include wider sidewalks, a new intersection alignment, and bike lanes. 

DC is a little different. The TAP money is not supposed to be available to states - only local governments - and so for years they didn't know if they could award money to DDOT, but a recent ruling decided that in this case they could act as a local government. Nonetheless, DDOT still only acts as the sponsor and let's local groups apply. Unfortunately, this year only three did and their total request ($695,000) was less than the full amount DC gets allocated ($1.15 M), so they had to roll money over to next year. And one of the three projects approved is primarily related to historic preservation of Union Station. We need other groups to get involved in competing for this money, so if you work with a BID or some other possible applicant (?) start thinking about what you could do.

The two other projects this year were:

Prather’s Alley Safety Improvements in Mount Vernon Triangle. This project will design and construct a series of traffic calming measures in the alleyway. 

The Protected Mobility Lanes on M Street, SE project would fund design for bi-directional protected mobility lanes on M Street, SE, giving bicyclists and scooters much-needed streamlined and protected east-west access from the 11th Street Bridge to Half Street, SE, the heart of the Capitol Riverfront. The project would be approximately one mile in length and would remove a vehicular travel lane, narrowing the M Street crossing for pedestrians. Creating safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians will be essential for the accomplishment of Vision Zero goal of eliminating pedestrian deaths in the District.

 

The TPB also discussed the Nice-Middleton Bridge over the Potomac south of DC. As has been discussed here, the original plan for the replacement of this bridge include a bike/ped lane, but it was deemed too expensive and so MTA wants to remove it. The bridge will cost $769 million and the state has cut tolls twice in the last 5 years, but the bike/ped path is something they can't afford (?). 

The TPB was asked to update the regional plan so that they can pursue a low-interest loan, but also to allow the bidding to go forward without the bike/ped lane. That lane would be included if the price was low enough, but not if it was too high. 

The approval on an unusually contentious 17-7 vote allows Maryland to move forward with an application for a large low-interest federal loan crucial to the project’s financing plan. It came over concerns that the state has worked to cut a promised bike and pedestrian path from the project.

The Maryland Department of Transportation and Maryland Transportation Authority said the path is still possible when a final contract is awarded this fall, but only if bids from contractors are low enough.

Maryland is now only promising though that bikes will be able to use the bridge in some way — even if it means riding with highway traffic.

Charles County Commissioners’ President Reuben Collins pleaded with the state to include the path to help tourism, provide another connection between Maryland and Virginia, and effectively plan for the 100-year life span of the bridge

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendeslon said it was an abdication of responsibility for the region’s Transportation Planning Board to allow the bridge project to move forward for federal support without the bike path, since the majority wanted the path but many members felt they could not let it get in the way of the bridge project.

The whole affair was so disappointing that Eric Brenner, the chair of the Maryland Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee, resigned in protest. He accused the Hogan Administration of unilaterally breaking their previous commitment of a barrier-separated path on the bridge without cause, and compared it to the dropping of the trail along the Inter-County Connector.  He accused them of threatening Charles County with no bridge if they don't support the revised language dropping the path. 

Many speakers at the meeting spoke out against the removal of the path. Some said we should not let procurement drive policy. Charles Allen pushed back on the notion that people wouldn't use the path, and noted that even if they don't in the short time, things will look very differently as the bridge ages.  

Comments

[drumz]

The M street news is welcome. I never felt okay biking there until I could do it with a pedal-assist Jump Bike.

[David]

Any more info on the University Park Safe Routes Plan? The town itself is pretty safe for pedestrians (except for missing sidewalks in some sections).

[ACyclistInThePortCIty]

re M Street:

A. Of course the main thing it does is traffic calm M which is too wide, people on bikes already have Eye Street lanes
B. But Eye Street Lanes are not protected. Does this mean they won't be?
C. It makes it possible to around the terrible intersection at Eye and NJ.
D. To get across S Cap comfortably, your best bet is still Eye though. The left onto Eye at either Half or First is not great
E. This provide a protected route east all the way to 11th (eventually Va Ave is supposed to do that too?) Means less temptation to ride through Yards Park, or on the Navy Yard promenade. Solves an issue of long standing, as you will recall ;)
E.