Broad Branch deemed too narrow for bike lane, but will get a sidewalk

Not gonna happen

DDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have been working on the rehabilitation of Broad Branch Road between Linnean Avenue and Beach Drive since 2011. The project has been slowed by the narrow right-of-way of the road, desires to widen it to accommodate a sidewalk and/or a bike lane and limitations on the ability to do that caused by potential encroachments by the project on Rock Creek Park and Embassy lands owned and occupied by Sovereign Nations. In October they released a Revised Draft Environmental Assessment that includes a preferred alternative that's a modified version of one of the candidates presented in the original EA. This one avoids all encroachments on Embassy properties and further minimizes encroachments on Rock Creek Park.

In the end, the right-of-way was found to be too narrow to include two traffic lanes, a climbing lane for bikes and a sidewalk. It doesn't seem they were able to get access to any of the embassy lands and that RCP was reluctant to give up more than a few feet in a few tight areas. 

With the road connecting to the Rock Creek Trail on on end and climbing up to the west for more than a mile, bike facilities on this road would create many new connections. 

Alternative 4 had a bike lane on the uphill/east side of the road to serve as a climbing lane, while cyclists heading downhill would take the lane. This was the widest and most expensive option (though only a small amount more expensive than the preferred alternative. 

The alternative they chose is basically the same, but with the bike lane gone. The 10' rain garden is only found on the northern section between Linean and 27th, where the ROW is wider.  The preferred alternative is identical to the original Candidate Build Alternative 3 with the exception of the width of sidewalks in front of the sovereign nation lands. To minimize encroachments onto NPS lands on the east side of the roadway at these locations, the sidewalks along the embassy properties were reduced to a 5-foot width.

There's no doubt that the preferred alternative would be better than the status quo. It has a sidewalk - which cyclists are legally allowed to use - and storm water runoff facilities; but it's really unfortunate that adjacent landowners couldn't be convinced to allow for a safer street. Unfortunately none of the relevant countries are Vision Zero leaders, but you'd think Italy might support a climbing lane. 

Land use permission aside, the true missed opportunity here comes from the assumed operational needs - that the road needs two traffic lanes. I'm no expert, but even on the busiest section of Broad Branch, the section closest to Rock Creek, the traffic is less than half of what it is on Beach Drive (6500 vehicles a day vs 13100). And on the north end traffic is less than half of what it is on the south. Beach Drive is a two-lane road, so why not make Broad Branch a one lane, one-way road to free up space for active transportation? There aren't that many destinations along the road - and many of them are the embassies who clearly don't think extra capacity is needed anyway - so there aren't that many people being inconvenienced. 

A one way, one-lane road going in the south/downhill direction would allow

1. downhill cyclists to merge with automobile traffic, just as was planned in the bike lane option
2. 6-8 feet for a protected climbing lane in the uphill direction,
3. a 6 foot wide sidewalk the whole way, without taking land from NPS
4. a slightly reduced footprint, moving the trail away from Broad Branch. 

Unfortunately, the comment period on the Draft EA came and went in the fall. The final EA will come out in the Spring. I'm gonna be disappointed. 

(Aside: I love the way this changes over time) 

On a similar note, Bingham Drive in RCP has been closed for several years now for a sewer rehabilitation project that was supposed to be finished last year. During that time it was significantly damaged during an August 2018 rain storm (remind you of anything). Since then DDOE and NPS have become more worried about storm water management. What if roads, but less? DC Water and NPS could reduce the impervious area and make biking better by replacing the road and adjacent trail with a one-lane road (uphill this time) and an adjacent 10 foot bi-directional bikeway. Together the one lane roads could act like a pair of lanes - one bringing people into the park, and the other bringing them out - though they are pretty far apart along Beach Drive. 

There was a time when NPS was very concerned about all the car traffic in the Park. This is one way to reduce it - with many added benefits. 

Comments

[William]

The could at least close the non-peak side during morning and evening rush hour for bikes to use.

[washcyle]

That's another good idea. A lot of things become possible if we decide that two-lanes aren't the minimum necessary.

[James]

Thanks for the write-up. I totally lost track of this project.
On the idea of making Broad Branch one way - are you thinking just for auto traffic? When the bridge was under construction making the whole road one-way it was a huge impediment as I use Broad Branch to ride across town at different hours. Forcing rush-hour concerns on the road just seemed to be a worse-case scenario for cycling and park users.

[washcyle]

Yes. The idea would be a one-way, one-lane general traffic lane and either a two-way cycletrack or maybe a one-way cycletrack uphill (meaning the general traffic lane has to be downhill).