Legislative Committee report - there is no change in status on the Contributory to Comparative Negligence law.
The committee is working on a draft version of the Complete Streets legislation for review by the BAC. Tommy Wells is interested in pushing the bill, and Jim Graham is likely to support it.
They have a Bikes in Building law draft ready to go. It largely mimics New York City's law. DC parking is reviewing the draft. It may be better to amend the zoning code than to pass new legislation.
The Bicycle Commuter and Parking Expansion Act of 2007 called for the Mayor to
report on bike parking at
District-owned buildings such as government office buildings,
recreation centers, public schools and libraries. The report will
include information on: 1) the number of existing bicycle and car
spaces currently provided at all District buildings; 2) a strategic
plan to bring the ratio of bike to car parking up to at least 10% and
to provide additional bicycle parking above the minimum at those
buildings where demand is higher; 3) an evaluation of bicycle travel
lanes leading riders to and from District facilities and parks; 4) a
detailed report on the bicycle parking plan for the new baseball park
in Southeast DC.
That report was to be done within 90 days, but it was just finished last month. WABA was, I think, paid to do the report (maybe after asking about it for the 100th time?). The legislative committee was also concerned about another part of the law that requires residential buildings to add bike parking (1 for every 10 auto spaces - double the current zoning requirement set in the 80s) and the fact that it isn't being enforced. There is ongoing discussions between DDOT and DCOZ as to who should enforce this law.
Finally, they're working on a letter to DDOT Director Klein to ask about DDOT's decision to rescind more CMAQ, TE and Recreational Trails money than was required. They also plan to ask about underfunding in both the Highway Safety Improvement Program (10%) and the State and Community Highway Safety Grant Program, both of which can be used for bicycle programs (infrastructure, education, enforcement, research etc...)
Facilities Committee - There was a discussion about the loss of parking meters and the impact this has had on bike parking. It was reported that 3800 parking meters have been removed so far as part of the transition to multi-space meters. DDOT does not necessarily put racks in as they remove meters - as the two are under separate contracts. They do try to follow a meter removal with a rack installation. There will be no multi-space meters going in this year, and so that should give DDOT a chance to catch up. DDOT admits there is a backlog, but they're working hard to fill it. Part of the problem is getting racks from their supplier, though they just received 300 racks which they started installing yesterday. The Downtown and Golden Triangle BIDs have done a good job installing hundreds of racks and that helps.
The system for rack installation is request driven. Someone requests a rack online or by calling 311 and DDOT's bike parking team eventually inspects the location and if they decide it is suitable for bike parking then a rack is installed. There is not some larger plan (as it would be too expensive/time consuming).
DDOT update
Metropolitan Branch Trail - Good news. As someone said in the comments, WMATA has issued DDOT the necessary permit for the New York Avenue to R Street section. Work should begin as soon as next week. the entire New York Avenue to Franklin section will be done by April, which will really mean everything from Union Station to Franklin will be done (the stairs at L are temporary, but let's not quibble). In addition, DDOT has created a list of places where they expect to need access to WMATA land in the future. This will be given to WMATA so that when the time comes to build on that section the permit(s) will be ready and work can continue without delay.
South Capitol Street Trail - DDOT is still working on this plan, but an interim route to the Wilson Bridge may be signed.
Bike Lanes - DC paved 6.2 miles of bike lane in 2009 (not including sharrows). They're also aggressively working to build bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave NE NW between 3rd and 15th.
Bike Sharing - No change. They're still waiting on Arlington County to finalize their contract, which DDOT will then review to see if they can get in under similar terms. They may know something by the end of this month with bikes up and running by summer. If they switch providers, there will be no gap in service.
Cycletracks - The K Street NW FONSI did not include bike facilities. But as a result of the stack of comments asking for them, DDOT is working to add cycletracks in the greater downtown area soon. I Street and/or L Street NW are being investigated as replacements for K. Ironically, K Street is dependent on winning the TIGER grant, but a cycletrack on I or L is a pretty good bet whether DC wins the grant or not. Also being looked at is extending 15th Street's cycletrack south and adding cycletracks to 7th and 9th around Mt. Vernon Square (and sotuth).
Bike Station - At last count they had 111 members (out of a maximum ~250). Though not planning a second bike station, they are talking with Metro about adding bike parking at Metro stations using a smaller facility available from BikeStation.
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