Legislative Committee - The legislative committee has deemed Complete Streets legislation their top priority. There are many examples of this available, so they're going to work on pulling together a best practices proposal. There's no update on the change from contributory negligence to comparative negligence. they also want to see a Bicycles in Buildings ordinance similar to the one proposed in NYC. This would do more to guarantee an employee's right to bring a bike into their building (with exceptions).
They discussed the bicycle-mounted DDOT traffic enforcement program. While they're for more enforcement, there is concern that an unarmed, bicycle-mounted force will overly target cyclists and pedestrians (who will be easier to pull over) and under target drivers. They also feel that if traffic enforcement is to be increased, it's the MPD that should do it and that having the MPD enforce more traffic violations will help create more arrests for felonious crimes (many times they catch people with warrants out or who are breaking other laws at the time). They'd like to see the enforcement focus on: for drivers - 3ft. violations, failures to yield right of way,
u-turns and speeding; for cyclists - wrong-way riding, riding without lights at night and red-light
running.
DDOT has had their first meeting with the Traffic Control Officers (TCO) and several have expressed interest in being part of the bicycle mounted (BM) force. Some laws DDOT sees them enforcing are bike lane violations, blocking crosswalks and blocking the box. They've done 3 hour training sessions with all TCOs as part of StreetSmart. All BMTCO's would need to take the Confident City Cycling course, be issued bikes, etc... so it's still a ways off. They won't have guns.
Facilities Committee and News - The facilities committee focused on the South Capitol Street Trail. DDOT has hired Toole Design to study a lane closure along South Capitol and the installation of a bike trail in its place as well as studying the intersection changes needed. The recent opening of the Wilson Bridge has moved this to the foreground (The Post wrote about it this week), with DDOT director Klein asking about it. DDOT, NPS and PG County Parks are discussing how to create better connectivity on the MD/DC side of the bridge.
Some residents and riders who have used the newly opened Woodrow Wilson
Bridge Trail, which connects pedestrians and cyclists on both sides of
the Potomac River between Prince George's County and Alexandria, say
that despite the hype, planners still have a ways to go to fully
integrate the bridge trail into other trail networks and sites in the
county.
"People coming across from Virginia are, like, 'Where do we go?,' "
said Mark Holt of Fort Washington, coordinator of the
Southern Prince
George's Trails Coalition, a group advocating for bike and hiking trail
expansion in south county. [
WC: If you're looking for someone to talk to about this, this would be a good place to start]
Riders also say they are miffed that the 1.1-mile trail ends when
approaching the National Harbor development. The asphalt pavement gives
way to a seashell road covering that riders say is difficult to ride,
and the path dead-ends. Cyclists are not allowed to ride along the
shoreline in the development.
Rocell Viniard, a National Harbor spokeswoman, said the seashell
trail was designed for pedestrians, not bikes, because of the residents
and hotels on the site. Cyclists are allowed to ride along the streets
at National Harbor, Viniard said.
"For a lot of cyclists, it's unpleasant" to ride, said Jim Hudnall
of Fort Washington, a member of the Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club.
"I'd like to see it have better connections to other trails in the
area."
Holt said he and other cyclists hope to see better signage that
would direct riders from the bridge to historic sites and parks in Oxon
Hill and Fort Washington. The trail points only to National Harbor, he
said, leaving visitors crossing the bridge with few options.
The county plans to make a stronger connection between the bridge trail
and the Potomac Heritage Trail, the Department of Public Works and
Transportation said. The added trail section eventually would include a
dedicated bike lane on Oxon Hill Road, but funding for the project has
not materialized.
Laura Connelly, a planner for the Maryland-National Capital Park and
Planning Commission, said the newly installed 700-foot-long stone dust
path that runs adjacent to National Harbor's portion of the bridge
trail would be easier for cyclists to ride.
DDOT also mentioned that they're in talks with NPS about putting bike parking and bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave NW. The street belongs to NPS and so DDOT can't do it on their own. Also, DDOT believes there will be more artistic bike racks next year.
The Met Branch Trail section between NY Avenue and Franklin is underway and an update to the website is forthcoming. The preliminary design for the next section of the trail in the queue has been sent to the FHWA for review.
[Meanwhile in Montgomery County officials are pushing for funding for the long delayed MoCo section of the Met Branch in next year's budget. The Post article has the Georgetown Branch and Metropolitan Branch Trail confused. The Georgetown Branch is the future CCT.
After preliminary designs for the Metropolitan Branch Trail, also known
as the Georgetown Branch Trail, were completed three years ago,
transportation officials said the project came to a halt to await a
decision on the different proposed alignments for the Purple Line, a
planned rapid-transit route between New Carrollton and Bethesda.
Now, with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) set to decide soon on a Purple Line
alignment and Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) taking
suggestions through December for the county's Capital Improvements
Program for fiscal 2011-12, officials are looking to move forward.
"Now's the time to finish this while all these things are being
done," said County Council member Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring), who
sent a letter to the transportation department in April urging progress
on the trail.]
DDOT is looking at 13 miles of possible bike lanes with the goal to get in 5 this year. Some places where lanes are being added include 11th Street NW, Eckington Place and the cycletrack on 15th St NW. WABA submitted a list of gaps in the bike lane network that they'd like to see created. DDOT usually adds bike lanes in conjunction with road repairs, but WABA feels they now need to do more 'retrofits' - adding a bike lane in without any repair. This is more expensive. Sherman Avenue will be dieted from four lanes down to 2 with a turning lane. The outside lanes will be 14 feet wide with sharrows and the sidewalks will be widened. The sharrows wil be placed outside the door zone, but away from the center of the lane.
The Bike Station RFP closes out this week. DDOT had a few parties at the pre-bid meeting (a good sign). The goal is to finish the Station by the end of August and have it occupied by the operator sometime in September. Because the door will be keycard protected, it could open for bike parking before the operator moves in - and of course the outside parking will not need an operator. You can see progress on the station here.
DDOT is still talking to Clear Channel about smartbike expansion. They also sent some of the bike team to Montreal to look at Bixi (and are considering still other options). Bixi has the advantage of being solar powerd (so no PEPCO problems) and not permanently installed. So stations could be moved around if they aren't used enough or if seasonal changes (such as one near the baseball stadium during the baseball season) warranted it, and installation is quicker. On the downside the bikes are heavier and the stations are less streamlined. Arlington is reviewing it's RFP and DDOT could just go with what they choose - saving the time and cost of doing its own. They have some sort of regional agreement on this. Arlington is pursuing $10M in federal money for regional bike share and DC would be entitled to some of that too. DDOT has several years before they need to spend the federal stimulus money they obligated for this.
After shopping around for a summer streets location (K Street, East Capitol, Kansas Avenue) DDOT, with support from NPS, is planning to do it in Fort Dupont Park. Both Fort Dupont Drive and Fort Davis Drive would be closed for one day in August. Think of it as an East of the River Beach Drive. NPS's new lead in the area is eager to find ways to get people into the parks. They'll do more than close the streets, they'll have rental bikes and maybe free pedicabs available too, for example. DDOT is hoping to do more locations next year.
Photo by Leah L. Jones -- The Gazette
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