DDOT Bike Lane Meeting

The District Department of Transporation (DDOT) held a public meeting at the Navy Memorial Center on March 18, 2010 to display the exciting and bold cycletrack infrastructure in the Downtown, Golden Triangle district.

The new design was created based on public input and proven success stories from across the country and around the world. The streets that will receive the cycletracks will be the length of L St and I St, as well as the continuation of the counter-flow lane on 15th St to connect downtown and 9th St downtown. The cycletracks will be physically separated from traffic and will include great features such as bike boxes, bicycle traffic lights, and possible green markings.

Both the Director of Transporation and Mayor have fully supported a 'no holds bar' approach to the cycletracks downtown, and I commend them for it. The goal is to get the markings down before the summer.

This is an great success for the field of bicycle advocacy, as it grows the network here in the city. One key point to note is the accessiblity to the neighborhoods so people who do work downtown have reason to bike all the way into downtown. This is a great start and one big step to advocate for more biking in the city!

15th St. Contraflow Bike Lane - My Thoughts

I recently took the 15th St. NW Contraflow bike lane here in DC and I wanted to share my thoughts on the issue.

Put aside the fact that the word yield and turn were intially painted on the pavement incorrectly, the lane definitely has potential and added benefits to the acceptance of a more diverse bike network in the city.

The Pros:

-- Physically Seperated Bike Lane - The bike going south on 15th is physically seperated by the parked vehicles. This creates a safer riding experience, especially going against the flow of traffic.

-- The fact that it's there - Given it's a test run, I am glad that they are trying this out. It has proven effective in other cities and countries, why not do it here in the capital.

-- Another alternative route for bicyclists to take.

The Cons:

-- Issue of fluidity and connectedness to the rest of the bike network - The lane runs from U St. to Massachusetts. Unfortunately, the existing bike network of routes do not actively connect you to this contraflow lane, which deters ridership usage. The route needs to connect up to V St. in order for it to connect to the V St. bike lane going East.

-- Visibility - The lane is there, yes. It is marked with flexible yellow posts, yes. There is signage, yes. However, the lane blends in with the road too much. I believe the bike lane should be painted green in order for it to be more visible and have drivers be aware that something is going on there and to think and look twice before they turn into one of the letter streets.

All in all, we need to keep this. People will learn to adapt to the new lane and the fact that it reduced traffic flow to two lanes. Bicyclists need more options on the road and to foster a greater importance of bringing the streets back to the people and not being just car-centric.

Bicycle Ridership UP in NYC! Keep Building Those Bike Lanes!

Great Video on Bike Traffic Enforcement

Removing Freeways - Restoring Cities by Charles Siegel

I found a great article that argues the idea that removing freeways, which is currently being put in place, increasing property value, promotes smarter growth options such as boulevards, slow-moving traffic, reducing amount of cars and increasing public transportation, alternative transportation and walking.

Click here to read the article.

Copenhagen...city of cyclists

I attended a bike conference here in DC where the Bicycle City Planner for Copenhagen was there to talk about the current state of cycling in his city. The video just shows some cyclists going around the city, but what was interesting to me in his speech was the way that he talked about bicycling through the city as a non-cognitive thing.

Some of the highlights from his speech gave me the impression that if the city of DC would get to the point where almost 50% of its inner-city residents ride their bikes to work, we need to create a far more vast and intricate network of bicycle roads in order to get people to ride their bike more. The main key in his speech for me was in surveying the people of Copenhagen, the people wanted their bike trip to be fast, efficient, and convenient, which means allowing bikes on the main arteries into the city. Here in DC, the diagonals, or state streets need an infrastructure for SAFE bike roads, which means physcially separated bike lanes. The number roads have been progressing with marked bike lanes, but I think there are a lot more streets that can be striped and/or remove one car lane to accomodate a bike lane. Synchronization of traffic lights were a big issue for the attractiveness of bicycling into work as well. They made a stretch of road in Copenhagen where the lights were timed based on an average bicyclist's speed, in that they were able to keep their momentum going and making it a more enjoyable ride, hence allowing more people to continue riding their bikes to work.

A lot can be said about the ways of Copenhagen, however, here in DC, we need to make bicycling a culture that allows more change to occur here and give more people an incentive to ride their bikes into work, including those for Virginia and Maryland.

Physically Separated Bike Lanes

It's been a while since I've contributed to my blog...a lot has happened since then...I walked in the Inaugural Parade representing Peace Corps and took my first job since Peace Corps.

In any case, I watch a lot of video blogs from http://www.streetfilms.org/ They are a video blog website that documents different urban and bicycle planning projects that are happening in the country and other parts of the world. They explain how a project started and the impacts it has had on the community, as well as making it an effort for people to realize their potential for demanding change.

I would like to see more physically separated bike lanes in my new home of Washington, DC. Attached is the video from streetfilms that explains why it is such an ingenious and safe way to promote more bicycling and gas-free transport.

Click here to watch the short video describing the importance of physically separated bike lanes