TheWashCycle

Virginia Six Year Plan provides funding for trails, bikeshare and multi-modal connections (in the rest of the state)

Last week I reported on all the bike projects in Virginia's newest six-year plan that are planned for Northern Virginia, but I thought I touch on the main ones I noticed for the rest of the state as well. Also, I missed some in Northern Virginia. Those are

• $750,000 to expand bikeshare in Fairfax County's Providence District
• $2M for bikeshare connections to Metrorail in Falls Church.
• $166k for a bridge from the W&OD Trail to the Historic Freeman Store in Vienna
• $460k for multi-use trail paving and rehabilitation in the City of Fairfax
• $500k for bicycle facilities/trails from the Worldgate Drive/Van Buren Intersection to the Herndon Metro
• $395k for the George Snyder Trail in Fairfax

Elsewhere

• Construct a bicycle path along the abandoned railroad right-of-way in the Atlantic City section of Norfolk
• Bike lanes on Granby Street in Norfolk
• New bicycle facilities along South Street in Portsmouth
• Various road diets in Richmond as well as bike facilities on Elkhardt Road
• Sperryville Road Diet in Culpepper
• Grady Avenue bike improvements in Charlottesville
• Trail connector on Lafayette Blvd in Fredericksburg
• A new bicycle bridge and improved access to Brooke VRE Station in Stafford County
• Bicycle facilities on Leeland Road in Stafford County
• The Chesapeake bike trail from I664/Gum Court to Portsmouth Boundary near Western Branch Blvd in Cheseapeake
• Bike lanes on Arnett Blvd in Danville
• Bike parking in Blacksburg
• Bicycle improvements along Route 221 in Bedford County
• Bicycle improvements along Plantation Road, Route 11 and Route 117 in Roanoke County
• Bike lanes along 10th Street in Roanoke
• Bike lanes along Main Street in Salem
• Trail and bike lane from the Happy Creek Trail and Criser Road bridge to the Intersection of S. Royal and E. Criser Roads in Front Royal
• Signage for the Virginia Creeper Trail
• New bridge over Hazel Run; and reconstructed ones over Route 3 and U.S. 1 on the Virginia Central Railway Trail
• Pocahontas Trail restoration in James City County
• Extension of the Tobacco Heritage Trail in Halifax County
• Construction of the Danville Regional Airport Trail
• Construction of the Appomattox River Trail in Colonial Heights
• Construction of the Route 155 Trail in Charles City County
• Construction of the Dick and Willie Trail in Henry County
• Extension of the Depot Park Trail in Christiansburg
• Extension of the Timber Creek Trail in Roanoke
• Improvement of the Mason Creek Greenway in Salem
• Construction of the Green Circle Trail in Winchester
• Construction of the South River Greenway Trail in Waynesboro
• Extension of the Chessie Trail in Buena Vista
• Construction of a bridge connection the east and west sections of the Smith Creek Trail in Clifton Forge
• Trail and bike lanes on Criser Road in Front Royal

Yours is a very bad bus

A local cyclist sent me this video of a recent incident in Mt. Ranier involving a WMATA bus. This is at Rhode Island Ave and 34th St, and it occurred yesterday morning.

You can see that the bus driver moves from the inside lane to the outside lane in short order, which by itself is bad driving, but when there is a cyclist there in the middle lane - and you're giving them very little clearance, well...it's not Vision Zero driving.

I think most cyclists have had the experience of a bus driver pulling in front of them and then slowing or stopping, when they could have just as easily waited behind the cyclist. At best its frustrating, at worst it is dangerous.

Adding to the incident, the bus passes so closely that the cyclist can't see a pedestrian crossing the street until about 2 seconds before he reaches him. 

The cyclist had reported this to WMATA.

From the Archives: A Brief history of WMATA's "Bike-on-rail" program

Washington's Metro was one of the first transit systems in the US to allow bicycles on board, but not the first. Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) in New Jersey, started its bike-on-rail program in 1962 and BART started its in 1975. 

BART's program enjoyed strong public support; by 1980, BART had issued more than 9,000 bike-on-rail permits. Community support and the excellent safety record of the program prompted BART to relax restrictions on the bike-on-rail service and permits were made available through the mail. By 1984, the number of permits had more than tripled to 28,000; this had grown to 71,000 permits by 1992. BART's success prompted other rail systems to institute bike-on-rail programs.

A 1988 Washington Post article claimed that 1980 is when Metro started it's Bikes-on-Rail program, which would make them the 3rd system to have a "Bike-on-rail" program. 

Since 1980, Metro has allowed bicycles on the subway system, under numerous restrictions that favor local adult residents, discourage tourists and keep out children.

Metro decided "for safety reasons to limit participation" in its "Bike-on-Rail" program, said bicycle coordinator Randy Howes.

But according to a contemporaneous article in the DC Gazette it actually started in mid-1981 (on June 6), as a six month pilot. Still, Metrorail was the third rail system to allow bikes on. This was after 5 years of lobbying by a group called the Citizens Coalition for Bikes on Metrorail according to an article in the Evening Star at that time. As part of their lobbying effort, they invited local TV news to follow them around as they carried a life size cardboard cut out of a bike onto trains (photo below from "Bikers Seek Change in Metro Rules To Allow Cycles Aboard the Last Car", Washington Post, 7 September, 1980). 

According to the Star, Metro was reluctant because they feared that in an emergency, a bike could get wedged into the end door and slow an evacuation. There was also concern about the competition for space on elevators; damage to escalators; interference with passengers and the extra work that attendants would have to do to check permits. After a failed vote in 1980, the WMATA board voted on March 11, 1981 to start a pilot later that summer. Those who voted in favor were Alexandria Mayor Charles Beatley, DC Councilmember Jerry A. Moore and PG County Councilman David Hartlove. ["Metro Planning to let Bikers Ferry Wheels on the Subway", Washington Evening Star, Mar 12, 1981, A1]

Rides started on June 6, 1981 when about 10 riders rode, with about 100 permits having been issued. ["Metro has difficult time peddling bicycle experiment," Evening Star, June 7, 1981, B1]

It was made permanent in January of 1982. At that time, cyclists needed a $10 permit that was good for 2 years, and that would allow them to use the system on weekends and some holidays. Getting a permit required a 30 minute training (including watching a video) and passing a test. Cyclists had to use the last car of the train. I'm not sure if that was still early enough to make Metro the 3rd system or not. 

In May of 1983[1], Bikes were allowed on the trains on weekends and holidays (except July Fourth), and after 7 p.m. on weekdays. Back then, you had to have a permit, which required learning the rules and taking a simple 17-question test (By 1992, only 3 people had ever failed it, one because he didn't speak English and one because he couldn't read). And only one person had ever had their permit revoked (for riding on the platform). Permits cost $15 and were valid for 5 years (initially 2 years). Kids under 12 couldn't bring their bikes on and you had to use the last car in the train.

In 1994, the hours were expanded, which is something Jack Evans takes credit for. 

Metro board members voted to allow bicycles on trains between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. weekdays for a six-month trial beginning Aug. 1.

The more liberal policy reflects the influence of General Manager Lawrence G. Reuter. Previous Metro general managers have been cool to the idea of extending subway access to bicyclists. Reuter came to Metro from the San Jose transit agency, which allows bicycles on trolleys and some buses for most of the day.

[Sidenote: From this article, I learned that MARTA allows bikes on its trains all day, every day, and it still does 22 years later. In case that's ever relevant].

In 1998, after another six-month trial, they got rid of the permit system.

In 2001, the hours were extended again. This time allowing bike on before 7am, and until as late as 4pm. This is the system we have today. 

[In 2003, they added bike racks to their buses]

 [1] "Bikers Welcome", The Washington Post, 27 May 1983, Page WK3

Union Station to Georgetown Streetcar meeting this Thursday

Streetcar expansion is only tangentially a bicycling issue, dealing with questions of tracks, parking and bikes-on-board; and most of the precedents for that have already been set, but there could be some good to come out of bike advocates showing up at this week's streetcar meeting and asking questions about these issues while DDOT works on the Environmental Assessment for the expanded line.

WHEN:
Thursday, November 17, 2016
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM; presentation at 6:30

WHERE:
Pinstripes Georgetown
1064 Wisconsin Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20007

This meeting will be focused on the west end of the study area, specifically the West End, Foggy Bottom, and Georgetown neighborhoods, from K Street NW at 20th Street to Lower K Street at Wisconsin Avenue.

Metro still doesn't need to ban bikes today, but it will

Updated from this 2010 post.

As usual, bikes will be banned on Metrorail all day on the Fourth of July. As usual, it will be a totally unnecessary, and even counterproductive, precaution. Metro's policy is that

Bicycles are not permitted on Metrorail on July 4th or other special events or holidays when large crowds use the system.

Large crowds, huh?

In 2009 631,206 people used Metrorail on the Fourth of July, making it the 5th busiest Saturday in Metro history at the time. I'm not sure how many rode last year, but it was fewer than 782,000 (last year's top day).  630,000 sounds like a lot, but on an average weekday in 2008, Metrorail had 727,684 trips. That number is down to 712,843 in 2009, but it still shows what baseline capacity looks like.

So, the Fourth isn't actually that busy. Not busy enough to ban bikes ALL day. Of the thirty-one busiest days* in Metrorail history, not a one is a Fourth of July. Of those 31 days, bikes were only banned for #1, #8 and #29. Busiest Day #2 was on April 2, 2010 when Metro recorded 891,240 rides. Metro banned bikes only during the morning and afternoon rush (like any other normal workday) and yet no one seemed to have a problem with it. How come we can allow bikes on Metro when we have nearly 900,000 trips, but not on a day with 650,000 trips?

And 5 days after that 2nd busiest day, Metro performed 867,674 trips - on a Saturday, making this the busiest day without any bike ban at all, in Metro history. There were no bike related safety incidents that day. 

It might be reasonable to ban bikes for some time around the fireworks, when Metro is crazy, but why at 9 am? Considering how much financial trouble Metro is having, it doesn't really make sense to turn away paying customers. 

Alexandria presents options for new Potomac Yard park, ramp and bridge over Metro tracks

Alexandria has been working hard on the design of the new Potomac Yard Metro Station and the elements that surround it such as the west side Potomac Yard Park, east side Potomac Greens Park and the South Side Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge that will connect them. They're currently soliciting comments on the PY Park now, though I suspect it is not too late to comment on anything. 

The plan above is a more fleshed-out version of Build B from this post back in May. Here the west side ramp extends out along the storm water pond in Potomac Yard Park. It's not clear how a user would access this, though one image in the December presentation shows the trail continuing north. 

A lot of the slides and renderings are included to show the different architectural designs of the stations (of which they were considering three: a "split form geometric", a "split form curvilinear" and a "single form geometric", though it seems the last of those has been dumped). Mostly this seems to be about the roof so I'll leave it to others to discuss the aesthetics of that. 

The December presentation showed some of the options for the type of bridge that would be built. Options are for a truss, thru-girder or hybrid, with the latter shown below.

That presentations also show renderings of the station based on the aforementioned designs. These renderings give some greater idea of the size and placement of the bike/ped ramps and bridge. In the below rendering of the split-form geometric station, the bike facility starts on the near side of the pond at Potomac Yard Park and then goes right to left to the bridge at top, across that and then down the ramp out of the picture to Potomac Green Drive.

The park plan below, from the February meeting, shows the ramp coming down to Potomac Green Drive, going past the park.

And there's also a rendering of the ramp, which will have covered bike parking underneath. 

There are also renderings of various parts of Potomac Yard Park, but the ramp in that is just a place-holding white form, since it doesn't seem to be something they're working on yet. 

They're still working on the final EIS and the Development Special Use Permit submission. One other thing worth noting is that it appears that one of the benefits being offered NPS by the city to mitigate impacts on the GW Parkway is Mt. Vernon Trail improvements. I'm not sure what those improvements are, but the mitigation commitments are to be formalized this spring.

 

NACTO Transit Street Design Guide aims to create more bike-friendly transit

NACTO, which released the influential Urban Bikeway Design Guide a few years ago, has now completed a Transit Street Design Guide. It's not out yet, but you can pre-order them.

Developed over the past year through the work of a new peer network of city and transit agency experts, and with the generous support of TransitCenterand the Summit Foundation, the Transit Street Design Guide empowers practitioners to design transit streets as linear public spaces. Sections highlight transit as the centerpiece of transformative street projects, integrating transit-walk-and-bike-friendly design elements like boarding islands with best-practice strategies - like multi-door boarding and transit-friendly signals - that can speed up an entire system. 

That would make a nice K Street or Connecticut Avenue.

For more, the Green Lanes Blog has a sneak peak. 

Parking at Metro to get a little bit better (bikes only)

WMATA announced last week that the secure bike facility at the College Park Metro will now be free of charge with a registered SmarTrip® card. 

That's good news and should help WMATA to better utilize the facility. When it opened in May 2012, the price was 2-5 cents per hour (depending on the time of day) and a one-time $5 sign-up fee, so it's not as though this was prohibitively expensive or a cash cow for WMATA.

I don't know how much it was being used recently, but a review the following August showed it to have one of the highest rates of empty spaces. Most of the PG County stations had high rates of unused racks. Perhaps the drop in price - and increase in convenience - will result in more use. 

More secure bike parking is on the way

Bike storage rooms similar to the one in College Park are under construction at the East Falls Church and Vienna Metro stations and scheduled to open next month, the transit agency said. All Bike and Ride facilities are planned to be accessed with a SmarTrip card.

And doing a little math, it looks like WMATA has added 800 bike parking spaces to their system since 2012 (they also added the Silver Line). They probably need to add more racks. At least they got rid of those old jaws-of-death racks. 

TIGER grant awards announced, DC area shut out

I'm not sure if any of the DC area agencies applied for a federal DOT TIGER grant this year, but if they did, they weren't awarded one. The only winner in the extended area is the Southeast Baltimore Port Industry Freight Corridor Plan.

This TIGER grant will provide funding to restore functionality to and enhance a freight network of roads and bridges that connects the Port of Baltimore to regional and national highway systems. The project includes the replacement of the structurally deficient and functionally obsolete Colgate Creek Bridge, roadway improvements connecting freight directly to I-95 to enhance truck movement, and complete streets improvements.

Which does seem to have a tiny bike component via "Complete Streets improvements."

Update: Here are local applications that weren't selected:

• MD 355 Ride On Plus Transit Improvements - Montgomery County Maryland - $17,000,000
• Ager Road/West Hyattsville Transit Access Project Creating a path to safer, healthier and more sustainable living - Prince George's County, Maryland - $10,000,000
• Potomac Yard Metrorail Station - City of Alexandria, Virginia - $50,000,000

So nothing directly bike related, but with some definite overlap. 

 

 

Amtrak ready to allow roll-on bike service to Pittsburgh

Hooray!

After years of promising it, Amtrak is about to offer roll-on bicycle service on the Capitol Limited route that passes through Pittsburgh.

With two premier bike trails parallel to the route, enthusiasts and bicycle organizations have long pressed the railroad to add the service. Currently, bikes must be dismantled and packed in boxes and can only be loaded on and off trains at staffed stations, of which there are none between here and Washington, D.C.

“The expansion of bike service will take place as early as next week,” 

But...

Reservations will be required and the railroad will charge a $25 fee for the service, even though passengers will be responsible for rolling their bikes onto the trains, securing them, and rolling them off. Only standard-sized bikes will be permitted. The service will be available at all stations on the route, which extends from Chicago to Washington.