TheWashCycle

Funds provided to study improvements to the W&OD, Dave Thomas Circle and elsewhere

The MWCOG's Transportation Planning Board recently approved $680,000 in funding for 13 Transportation Land-Use Connections (TLC) projects. The TLC Program provides short-term consultant services to local jurisdictions for small planning projects that promote mixed-use walkable communities and support a variety of transportation alternatives. These projects could lead to improved biking in DC, College Park, Gaithersburg, Greenbelt and elsewhere. The K Street/Water Street protected bike lane started out as a TLC project back in 2016. Here's the post on last year's approved projects, which are underway right now.

Here's a rundown of the bike projects:

District of Columbia - Public Life Study at Florida and New York Avenues ($60,000)
The District is committed to addressing the chronic mobility and safety issues at the New York and Florida intersection (Virtual Circle) but lacks existing conditions data for how pedestrians and cyclists use the space, including their use patterns and preferences. Through this project, the D.C. Office of Planning will lead a public life study of the Virtual Circle to gather observational data to better understand how people currently use and would like to use the study area both for mobility purposes and as a public space.

Greenbelt - Cherrywood Lane Complete and Green Street Retrofit Project ($80,000)
The project will provide technical assistance to develop 30% design for a complete and green street retrofit project to reconstruct a 3,500 ft segment of Cherrywood Lane. This 1.5-mile-long collector street provides direct access to the Greenbelt Metro and MARC Stations. This project will serve to provide safe and convenient access for multiple modes of transportation for pedestrians, bicycles, buses and motorists.

Arlington County - W&OD Trail East Falls Church Connection ($55,000)
The W&OD Trail is a regional pedestrian and bicycle trail with 3,000 plus daily users that is used for walking and bicycling to the East Falls Church Metrorail Station and for longer-distance bicycle commuting across the area. The only gap in the 45-mile long W&OD Trail is in East Falls Church. The trail gap leads to on-street conflicts involving trail users and area motorized traffic. This project will use technical assistance to identify conceptual alternatives for constructing an off-street connection of the trail sections in the East Falls Church area. The results of the study would contribute to the work needed to initiate the design and construction of a trail construction project.

City of Gaithersburg - Concept and Feasibility Study: Industrial Drive to West Deer Park Road – Filling in a Bicycle Gap ($45,000)
Bicycle connections in the City of Gaithersburg’s bicycle network are needed to address bicycling on heavily travelled MD 355 Frederick Road. This project will conduct a concept and feasibility study to connect Industrial Drive to West Deer Park Road. This connection would provide a low‐stress alternative route for many bicyclists.

Outside my coverage area:

Fairfax County -- Bike/Ped Spot Improvement Projects - Trail to the Van Dorn Metrorail Station
($70,000)
Fairfax County will receive technical assistance to complete 30% designs and create cost estimates for a series of projects to improve the trail connections to the Van Dorn Metrorail Station. The work will include several spot projects (i.e. path widening and neighborhood connections), as identified in the County Wide Bicycle Master Plan. These improvements will ease access to high capacity transit, creating a more continuous and viable network of bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and support multimodal travel

Frederick County - New Design Road Side Path Phase 1 ($80,000)
This project is the first of three phases for a side path along New Design Road. Phase 1 seeks design work in order to achieve thirty percent design. This side path will eventually tie the City of Frederick with the C & O Canal National Park which in turns connects to the National Capitol Trails Network on a protected path. The project is part of Frederick County’s larger goal to develop a coordinated multimodal transportation system by integrating transit, pedestrian, bicycling and ADA accessible facilities into the county’s existing roadways and communities.

City of Manassas - Wellington Road Shared-Use Path Gap Conceptual Plan Development ($60,000)
The Wellington Shared Use Path is a major connection to regional and national bike connections within Prince William County. This project will address safety, connectivity and access by providing a safe connection over the railroad tracks, improving connectivity of the overall bike network, and providing greater access throughout the City of Manassas. The project will develop a conceptual design for a 0.35-mile section of the Wellington shared-used path between Nokesville Road and Prince William Street. The City of Manassas has identified safe pedestrian and bicycle connections as a priority.

Prince William County - Safe Routes to School Planning for Regional Activity Centers ($40,000)
This project will address the pedestrian and bicycle facility gaps in three Regional Activity Centers, and identify priority routes, and potential infrastructure improvements within a one-mile radius of the schools. The project will be coordinated with Prince William’s ongoing development of Small Area Plans. As new housing and jobs are focused into Regional Activity Centers, Prince William County must plan for safe and convenient walking and biking routes to schools. Local and regional congestion, exacerbated by commuter trip-chaining that includes a school pick-up or drop-off, can be improved by shifting school trips to walking and biking on safe and protected facilities.

While I'm on the subject of MWCOG funding, there's this item from last year that I missed. The TPB approved more than $1.2 million in funding for four bicycle and pedestrian projects in Maryland through the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP).

• Expand Capital Bikeshare in Prince George’s County – $222,841
• Develop a sidewalk along Forest Glen Road to connect to the Forest Glen Metro station in Montgomery County – $248,000
• Design a trail to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists along US 40 (Golden Mile) in the City of Frederick – $686,309
• Study the feasibility of developing a path along Scott Drive and Veirs Drive in the City of Rockville – $60,000

And here's the bike projects for Virginia. 

• Arlington County: Four Mile Run Trail Connection – $241,000 - Construct a paved bicycle and pedestrian trail connection between Arlington County's Four Mile Run Trail at stream level and the street level network of Crystal City at Potomac Yards.
• City of Fairfax: Judicial Trail Connection – $174,800 - Construction of 500 linear feet of missing link of trail
• Fairfax County: Vienna Metro Bike Connection Improvement – $800,000 - Enhance bike access to the Vienna Metrorail and Metro West Town Center along Virginia Center Boulevard and Country Creek Road.
• City of Falls Church (Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority): W&OD Trail Mode Separation – $274,250 - Project will replace 0.5 mile of 10 foot wide shared use trail with 11 foot wide bicycling trail and 8 foot wide pedestrian trail separated by a 2 foot wide median. Project improves failing levels of service, mitigating trail congestion.

Visualize 2045 includes planned projects and aspirational ones

The transportation planning officially approved Visualize 2045, the federally mandated, long-range transportation plan for the National Capital Region, on Oct 17th.  

For the first time, in addition to projects that the region’s transportation agencies expect to be able to afford between now and 2045, the plan includes aspirational projects, programs, and policies that go beyond financial constraints. Though the focus of the financially constrained element (those items they expect to be able to afford) is on regionally significant road and transit projects, Visualize 2045 also highlights bicycle and pedestrian projects, freight planning, and other transportation programs aimed at reducing congestion and improving air quality.

The aspirational initiatives are:

1. Bring jobs and housing closer together
2. Expand bus rapid transit regionwide
3. Move more people on Metrorail
4. Increase telecommuting and other options for commuting
5. Expand the express highway network
6. Improve walk and bike access to transit
7. Complete the National Capital Trail -  a circumferential route around the core of the region

With the glaring exception of 5, this is the framework of a partial Vision Zero plan. Because as I've mentioned getting people to drive less is the best way to reduce road deaths. 

Here are some highlights from the report. 

They talk about CaBi.

Capital Bikeshare has grown from 1,100 bikes at 114 stations in the District of Columbia and Arlington County, to over 4,300 bikes at 500 stations in five jurisdictions today. Over this time, the number of annual trips taken on the system has more than doubled
from 1.5 million per year to over 3.7 million.

Listed under the CLRP for highway projects in DC

Lane Reductions/Reconfigurations for Bicycle Lanes, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2024

And under transit projects is this:

DC Dedicated Bicycle Lane Network, 2019, 2024 ($800k)

DDOT is proposing adding six new segments to its existing bicycle path network. The following projects will remove one or more traffic lanes to allow for separated bicycle lanes.

• Pennsylvania Ave. SE from 2nd St./Independence Ave. to Barney Circle (1.3 miles) - This project will connect the Anacostia River Trail with bicycle lanes through Capitol Hill to the downtown core. In addition, it will provide cyclist access to bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave west of the Capitol, and to the Metropolitan Branch Trail. It will reduce off-peak lane capacity from 6 to 4 lanes between 2nd and 14th Streets. During peak hours the existing 6 lanes will be utilized. Between 14th Street and Barney Circle, rush hour lane capacity will be reduced from 8 lanes to 6 lanes; the 6 lane off-peak capacity would be unchanged. 
• 17th St. NW from New Hampshire Ave. to K St. (<1 mile) -  Install two-way protected bike lane on 17th Street NW. This would replace the existing southbound-only conventional bike lane currently in place between New Hampshire Avenue NW and Massachusetts Avenue NW, and continue south to K Street NW. This project is intended to increase bicycle accessibility on a busy corridor for bicycling, and to provide an alternative facility to the congested 15th Street NW protected bike lane.
• K St. from 7th St. NW to 1st St. NE (<1 mile) - Install bike lanes (protected in places) along K Street NW/NE. This bikeway would connect Downtown, NoMa, and the Mt Vernon Triangle. 
• K St. from 1st St. NE to Florida Ave. NE (<1 mile) - Road diet to remove peak hour parking restrictions and provide full time parking along project limits. Peak hour restrictions are directional, 3 to 2 lane. Bicycle lanes will be provided between 1st St NE and 6th St NE. Reduction of one eastbound portal under rail (between 1st and 2nd Sts) to a provide two-way cycle track is currently under consideration with some opposition. 
• Irving St. from Warder St. NW to Michigan Ave. NE (1 mile) - Install protected bike lanes on Irving Street NE/NW. This bikeway would connect through McMillan-Old Soldier’s Home to Brookland. 
• New York Ave. NE from Florida Ave. to Bladensburg Rd. (2.3 miles) -The New York Avenue Streetscape and Trail Project is a 30% design plan to install streetscape improvements including lighting, new sidewalk connections, landscaping, traffic signals and signage and a raised cycletrack along New York Avenue NE from Florida Avenue NE to Bladensburg Road NE. 

Elsewhere

Walking and biking are forecast to increase at much higher rates than any other mode of travel

Also mentioned:

Backlick Run Multi-use trail Phase 1, From Booth Park Base Ball field to Van Dorn St. 

Addendum: This has been covered in both the Washington Post and the Times.

Another idea: creating a “beltway” for bicycles by adding more than 20 miles to a network of trails dubbed the National Capital Trail. As a bonus, the trail would connect bike commuters to dozens of rail stations.

The plan has seven main goals, five of which aim to reduce car trips and increase people’s access to buses, bike trails and pedestrian paths. A key provision calls for completing the so-called “bicycle beltway” — the National Capital Trail — 60 miles of interconnected biking and walking pathways that will encircle the central portion of the greater Washington area.

“Currently, 21 miles of the trail have not yet been constructed and three miles need to be upgraded,” the Visualize 2045 plan states.

National Capital Trail, bike/ped Metro access could become regional priorities

At it's January 17th meeting, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' (MWCOG) Transportation Planning Board (TPB) will vote on whether or not to include two bicycle and pedestrian  initiatives into the Visualize 2045 plan, the long-range transportation plan for the Washington Region. One is completion of the National Capital Trail and the other is bike and pedestrian improvements to high-capacity transit stations. These would join 10 existing initiatives. The recommendation from the Bicycle and Pedestrian subcommittee and the Long Range Plan task force is to make these "unfunded aspirational elements". (See item 7 on the agenda)

Consistent with the Task Force’s discussions related to the ten initiatives currently being analyzed, the TPB’s endorsement of two additional initiatives which focus on pedestrian and bicycle improvements would mean that these concepts have the potential to improve the performance of the region's transportation system beyond what is anticipated by its current long-range transportation plan and deserve to be comprehensively examined for implementation. The TPB’s endorsement would make it possible to include the concepts represented by these initiatives in the aspirational element of the 2018 update of the TPB’s long-range plan, Visualize 2045. The meaning of such an endorsement would not be a mandate from the TPB for its member jurisdictions to alter their own plans, programs, or policies or to design, fund, and implement these initiatives without further study.

The National Capital Trail – Originally called the “Bicycle Beltway,”  is a proposed network of circumferential trail connections circling the core of the Washington region. The full perimeter of the NCT is 45 miles, but it is also divisible into shorter loops. The NCT was originally defined by the National Park Service and the name, concept, and route for the NCT has been adopted by the TPB.

The above image of the National Capitol Trail is of what was once considered the inner loop. 

In addition to the inner loop route, VDOT and MDOT representatives requested an outer loop that would cross the Potomac at the American Legion Bridge and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. However, work on an Outer Loop has not advanced, due in large part to the lack of a clear right of way or planned trails.

As finalized in the Paved Trails Plan, the National Capital Trail comprises four connected loops: a 30- mile northern loop, a 10-mile central loop around the monuments and the stadium, an 18-mile southern loop connecting to National Harbor and Old Town Alexandria, and a 45-mile perimeter loop.

There's a list of the projects needed, mostly in DC, to complete the NCT in the Subcommittee report appendix, some like the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail Kenilworth section, have already been completed. Others, like the South Capital Street Trail are still in the planning stage. 

The Metrorail Station Access Project comes started with WMATA. WMATA staff in 2016 completed a study called the Metrorail Station Investment Strategy (MSIS), which highlighted priority projects that would improve non-motorized access to rail stations. Starting with 4,217 unbuilt pedestrian and bicycle projects that have been planned in proximity to the region’s 91 Metrorail stations (!!!), WMATA identified 394 projects, which are around 31 Metrorail stations, that represents the types of station access improvements that can have the greatest impact on walk and bike access to transit. The list was further trimmed to 200 projects that are unfunded and remain unbuilt and are still considered “active” by local jurisdictions. 

These projects solve a litany of familiar problems. Sidewalks do not exist or they are in bad condition. Bike lanes are disconnected. Intersections are inhospitable and crossings do not exist. Signage and lighting are poor.

WMATA staff looked at the pedestrian projects, which were 62 in total, that were included in the priority list. These pedestrian projects were estimated to cost nearly $13 million and the monetized benefit of these projects (in increased ridership and reduced MetroAccess trips) was estimated at approximately $24 million. 

There is a list of the 200 items they identified in the Subcommittee report, but the authors note that these items aren't being approved (as by now some have been completed or overcome by events) but rather the the concept of prioritizing and implementing station access improvements is being endorsed

Including these items in Visualize 2045 is not meant to be a mandate to regional members to change their plans.

The TPB’s endorsement would be a call for future concerted action by TPB members. Staff believe that at a minimum, it would involve a commitment by all TPB member jurisdictions and agencies to collaborate and undertake further examination of the concepts represented by the endorsed initiatives. Such next steps could include a study of the constructability of projects associated with the initiatives. Following such study could be efforts to secure funding to implement them. Funding sources could include future federal TIGER grants, the TPB’s TLC and TAP program, and other funding opportunities in the region.

Visualize 2045 is scheduled for approval in October 2018.