This year, DDOT has held two meetings - in February and May - on their Rock Creek Far West Livability Study. Studies like these can form one of the first steps to changes on the ground and so their important stepping stones to protected bike lanes, road diets and other projects that make streets safer, greener and more conducive to walking and biking. Officially:
The Rock Creek Far West Livability Study will identify opportunities for safer travel for residents and visitors to the neighborhoods in the study area. The purpose of the study is to enhance the quality of life of the community through improvements to transportation safety and connections to destinations. This study will also align with Mayor Bowser’s Vision Zero Initiative, which has an objective to reach zero fatalities and serious injuries to travelers of the District’s transportation system by 2024.
The study area covers DC's Western corner, including the Palisades, from the C&O Canal to Massachusetts Avenue.
After the first meeting, ANC 3D sent a letter supporting a bicycle trail along Nebraska Ave, bicycle lanes along Rockwood Parkway and Loughboro Road, and a PBL along Nebraska, Loughboro and Arizona all the way to Canal Road.
At the 2nd meeting they presented draft recommendations. These included
- A road diet on Dalecarlia Parkway that then allows for more space for pedestrians and cyclists
- Make 48th between MacArthur and V into a "shared street"
- Provide new connections to the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) at Arizona and Norton
- Improve Tunlaw Road for cyclists
- Add a PBL to Loughboro/Nebraska; bike boulevards to 49th, Glenbrook and and Rockwood Parkway, a bike facility on 37th and a sidepath on Massachusetts Avenue
I pretty much only bike through the area the way most people do - on the CCT, canal towpath or MacArthur. Occasionally I ride Massachusetts and I'd probably use a sidepath in the uphill direction. I'm surprised the Palisades trolley trail isn't one of the recommendations and that there isn't more in the southern part of the study area.
It's a shame that trails aren't included in the Glover-Archibald corridor, Battery Kemble corridor or the green corridor south of Fulton that connects them. Or the Whitehaven Parkway for that matter.
A third meeting should happen in August or September, but the best way to make comments before then would be to use the interactive map.
And more time critical, DDOT is doing a study on the east side of Rock Creek Park and holding a meeting on it this week (June 12). You can see the map of existing and proposed bike facilities for that area here.
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