TheWashCycle

Connecticut Avenue Deckover will create 1 block of shared street - but not for a few years

Last summer DDOT completed the 30% designs for the Connecticut Avenue (CTA) deckover and streetscape project. That project will redesign CTA from Dupont Circle to California Street and build a plaza over top of the open hole above CTA right at Dupont Circle. While there are some safety improvements to CTA that will probably benefit everyone, and they call for new bike racks along the Avenue; the biggest part here for cyclists is the block immediately adjacent to the new plaza - which will become a curbless "shared" street. 

There's also talk of a "A location for a bike fix-it station". It'd be a whole lot better without parking, though it will eliminate 17 spaces. 

Design won't be completed until 2021, work would start late in the year, and it would take 2-3 years to complete. 

As for bike lanes:

bike lanes will not be installed as a part of this project. DDOT is looking at the feasibility of protected bike lanes along the whole Connecticut Avenue corridor through the Connecticut Avenue Reversible Lane Study. The current project does not preclude future accommodations of bike lanes once a feasibility determination has been made.

Speaking of that study....DDOT has known since 2003 that the reversible lanes on Connecticut Avenue in the Woodley Park area are dangerous, but only recently did they commit to studying them, with the possibility - however remote - that it would result in new bike infrastructure. That study is going slow and, despite the headline, I can't even confirm that it has started yet. 

In a 2003 transportation study of Connecticut Avenue, DDOT's consultants determined that "the reversible lane operation is a safety issue" and that "The high number of accidents on Connecticut Avenue can be attributed in part to the reversible lane operation, high volume of traffic and the relatively high speed at which vehicles travel on this roadway" which means the road is ripe for a redesign and road diet. But it also suggested fixing them with better signs and operations, not removing them

In 2018, local residents effectively advocated for DDOT to study the reversible lanes with an eye on removal. 

Now, the District Department of Transportation is studying the feasibility of removing the reversing lanes, as part of the city’s Vision Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2024.

At the time they said we were about 15 months away from study results, which would be around the end of March. I don't expect that to happen, since in June they were saying the 9 month study wouldn't start until Fall 2019, and I can't determine if even that has started yet.

In the meantime, they've also announced short-term safety improvements at R and S Streets at CTA, which I suspect are complete(?)

Union Station's expansion could be good for cyclists too

Union Station and the surrounding area is in line for a huge renovation. Some of the changes could mean an extended Metropolitan Branch Trail, and the area could be more bike and pedestrian-friendly with a redesigned Columbus Circle.

This could one day be what the MBT looks like where it connects to Union Station. Renderings from Akridge.

At Union Station itself, Amtrak is looking to add new entrances, lower-level concourses, and retail, along with make existing platforms wider. There's also a plan for a project called Burnham Place, which would bring new office space, residential units, hotels, and retail overtop the tracks directly north of Union Station. Burnham Place would include "a green linear park connecting pedestrians and bikers north to Montgomery County in Maryland" — otherwise known as the Metropolitan Branch Trail. The trail would be built above the metro tracks, as a separated alternative to the existing protected bikeway that runs along First Street NE.

Blue arrow points to the trail, train circled in blue, existing bikeway circled in red. The new metro entrance is below the train.

In the renderings below, the elevated park runs north behind the Union Station Bike Station on the building's west side, continuing as a tree-lined, elevated strip to the current trail just north of L Street.

Burnham Place with the MBT highlighted in red, looking from the south

View of Burnham Place with the MBT highlighted in red, looking from the north.

The project, as rendered, would also create new connections to the trail. A pedestrian connection between the trail and 2nd Street NE would be added at K Street NE. A new segment of I Street built through Burnham Place would connect the trail to the new north-south roads in the developments (and thus to H Street) as well as the new road built between Union Station and the buildings that front 2nd Street NE such as the SEC building.

Trail is in red, pedestrian connection in yellow, new street grid, which connects to the trail is in pink

The DC Bicycle Advisory Council (BAC) has submitted comments asking for more bike parking and greater security for bike parking, including lighting. There's currently bike parking in the Bike Station at Union Station's southwest corner and at some outside racks in the same area. But sometimes there isn't enough, and what's there is notoriously theft-prone. Also, it's all in one place even though Union Station has multiple entrances— there doesn't even appear to be any bike parking in the existing parking garage.

One particular area the BAC recommended was on the north side of Columbus Circle near the existing flag poles across from Union Station.

In addition to these changes, the BAC has also discussed a complimentary idea to redesign Columbus Circle for better use, in light of Delaware Avenue and First Street NE south of D Street being closed for security reasons after September 11th.

If Delaware and First's connections to Columbus Circle were closed to automobile traffic, the roads could be narrowed, parking could move off of Massachusetts Avenue, and there'd be more space for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

Image from Google Maps. Closures in red, area for parking to be removed in Yellow.

Delaware Avenue could become a woonerf, used by cyclists going to or from the Circle and by drivers, accessing it only from D Street, for parking. First Street could be narrowed to two lanes with angled parking on one or both sides, while leaving a space for protected bikeways.

The addition of parking to First Street would allow for the removal of curbside parking on Massachusetts Avenue between First and Second Streets NE. This block is confusing, as it features two lanes wide enough for side-by-side traffic and curbside parking. Removing the parking would allow this block to feature three or four traffic lanes and a continuation of the bike lanes from Columbus Circle. For pedestrians, the south side of the circle would feature shorter bike facility crossings at New Jersey and First, instead of the current road crossings.

The Federal Railroad Administration will host a meeting on Wednesday, March 30th to give the public a chance to review the drafted project elements for Union Station's expansion.

FRA invites the public to review the draft project elements for the Union Station Expansion Project. These elements include rail infrastructure; public concourses; parking, bus, and taxi facilities; retail space; and public open spaces. They will be assembled to form concepts being developed by the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation (USRC) and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) for the station expansion. FRA is seeking public input on developing the concepts that  will form the alternatives, which will be evaluated in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

Today's meeting might be more about the plans to expand the concourse, released yesterday, than anything else.

Cross-posted at GreaterGreaterWashington

Wednesday Morning Commute - Vone-erf

Good morning

• ANC6B asks questions about the Barney Circle redesign which includes a bike path along "Southeast Blvd".
• The Post has a story on CaBi coming to Montgomery County, but there isn't really much new in it.
  • About 20 bike stations with 200 bikes total will be installed in the Rockville and Shady Grove areas. Those locations will include the Rockville and Shady Grove Metrorail stations, Rockville Town Center, King Farm, Montgomery College’s Rockville campus and the universities area of Shady Grove.
  • Another 30 stations with 250 bikes total will be located at Red Line Metrorail stations inside the Capital Beltway, including Takoma Park, Silver Spring, Friendship Heights, Bethesda and Medical Center.
  • The equipment costs are expected to average about $60,000 per station, county officials said. Those station installation costs will be covered primarily by federal and state grants, officials said. The bikes will be paid for by the county, the city of Rockville and private companies.
  • The annual costs to operate all 50 stations is expected to be $675,000 after revenues have been deducted. The county will cover those costs, officials said.
• Speaking of bikeshare expansion - a new station at watch installation of a station at Wisconsin Avenue and O Street 
• "In other words, as the mayor told me afterward, the future of city travel is about sharing routes safely. Look for more bus routes, streetcars, bike lanes and devices like HAWK signals that make walking safer and more popular without infringing on people’s ability to drive autos."
• I missed this before, but last year,  the D.C. Council approved the “Pre-Litigation Discovery of Insurance Coverage Amendment Act of 2012″ and this past January the Mayor signed it. "The legislation provides for pre-litigation disclosure of insurance coverage in vehicle accident cases, including but not limited to vehicle accident cases involving bicyclists. Specifically, the legislation would require insurers to disclose the coverage limits applicable to an insured’s policy within 30 days after a claimant (1) makes a written claim to the insurer for compensation concerning a vehicle accident for which the insured may be liable, and (2) provides certain documentation in support of the claim."  
• "In the United States, more than 400 cities either currently have, or soon will develop, “complete streets,” which are much more broadly defined than woonerfs, even allowing for the likes of sidewalks and the authoritarian stop sign. Yet, according to the Chicago-based National Complete Streets Coalition, the spirit of the woonerf inspired even the American movement."
• DOT has it's second bike safety summit, this time in Minnesota. They're calling 2013 the year of the Bike Share.  While I like the post and the idea, I disagree with this statement "And--bucking a worrisome national trend--the number of bicyclists killed in motor vehicle crashes in Minneapolis has actually declined." That would be a worrisome trend, but it isn't the trend really. My thoughts and then some math.

Friday Evening Commute - Quirky

I was watching Superman II last night. When Supe and Lois are at the Fortress of Solitude and he gives up all of his powers, how do they get back to Metropolis? Does he really have the gear needed - or both of them the strength - for a cross-arctic hike? And even if they did, would there first stop really be at a diner? When did they go to the hospital to deal with their mal-nutrition and frostbite? I've had girlfriends before and if I stranded mine in the Arctic with me and forced her to hike across half a continent on foot (on our first date no less) I don't suspect there would be a second date, And making that second date a meal at a diner would only dig the hole deeper.

• DDOT replies to questions about the Douglass Bridge: "As preliminary design has progressed, we are also making sure that there are continuous connections for bicycle and pedestrian travel. The new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge will have shared use paths on both sides of the bridge that connect to bicycle and pedestrian facilities on either side of the Anacostia. We have also extended the joint use path on the east side of Suitland Parkway from Pomeroy Road SE to Firth Sterling Ave SE." And WABA points out it still has the same concerns and disappointments that it had after the FEIS process completed, along with some new ones and concerns with design-build: "When large transportation contractors make time- and budget-based decisions without community input, they do get the obvious tasks right. No one ever forgets to put in high-speed vehicle lanes. But contractors can make changes that impact bicyclist and pedestrian facilities by redesigning them in ways that are impractical or inefficient. Sometimes, components are eliminated entirely. Community input from cyclists is critical in elucidating why changes might not make sense, but in a design-build process, outside involvement is minimal."
• GGW also has a roundup of bike issues in Virginia that have been covered here recently, with a link to the Post article calling the dooring law "quirky" without even mentioning bicycles or dooring. Also, here's more on Route 1 widening.
• An effort to create a shared street or woonerf in Alexandria comes with skepticism, but I would be surprised if it didn't. After telling them it works in places in Europe, the only option is to treat them as though they're from Missouri. "City Council members last week gave the green light to moving forward with the concept, although a final design would need separate approval."