Everyone is talking about Pennsylvania

The idea of building a bikeway on Pennsylvania Avenue SE goes back to the District's original 1970's bike plan when they proposed building one on the old streetcar median, but it looks like after decades of thinking about it, DDOT is actually going to do it. 

In July, DDOT presented three alternatives for Pennsylvania Ave SE that would transform the corridor by creating a separated bike lanes and bus only lanes on the Ave between Barney Circle and the Capitol. Once an alternative is selected, the project would be completed in two phases, the portion west of 13th in 2022-23 and one to the east of it, following completion of the Potomac Avenue intersection project, in 2023-24. 

Two of the concepts (A and B) put bike lanes on the right hand side, with either full-time parking or a peak-restricted parking/dedicated bus lane. The third option puts the bike lanes next to the median and the peak parking/bus lane. In option A and C, the bikes lane would be 5 feet wide, but in option B it would be 6 feet wide. They would all have a pylon delineated, one foot buffer between them and traffic.  

WABA found all to be an improvement, but preferred Alternative A.

In our view, Alternative A, which includes curbside protected bike lanes, bus-only lanes, and easy to navigate intersections, is by far the best option for people who bike, for bus riders, and overall safety on Pennsylvania Ave.

DDOT also appears to prefer Alternative A. While one neighbor was concerned about diverted traffic and congestion, 

[Project Manager Greg Matlesky] noted that the pandemic has reduced total daily vehicular daily trips by 30 – 60%, and suggested that after the pandemics asides subsides, “we likely won’t see traffic return to pre-Covid levels for quite some time.”

ANC6B supports the planning and so we now await completion of the preliminary design phase and a second public meeting.

Meanwhile, DDOT also held a public meeting in September on Pennsylvania Avenue's west side, where they presented block plans, perspective renderings, 360 degree street views of each block, and an overview of some of the specific design considerations. The project includes protected bike lanes from the White House to 22nd Street. 

This road could use a diet and the protected bike lanes would be gold standard facilities.

In some parts the bike lanes would be at street level, as they're shown above and others at sidewalk level - to allow access to pick-up / drop-off and loading areas, but always protected. It's hard not to get excited. They plan to keep refining the design through 2021.

In between the two, of course, is the downtown section which already has the center running bike lanes. They just repaved it and are repainting it, but with the same design as before. They still haven't reverted to the original design that Fenty forced DDOT to remove after he was pressured by AAA. Oh well, maybe in 2024.

Comments

[drumz]

West of the White House is a no-brainer. It's really not that busy of a road even during the worst of rush hour. The closure of E Street/and the block in front of the White House ensured that.

I never felt uncomfortable riding in the rush hour lane on a bike because there was always plenty of room for people to change lanes and pass me.

Now just formalize it so that other people don't have to feel iffy about biking on that 6 lane road.