11/07 D.C. BAC Notes

The November D.C. Bicycle Advisory Committee Meeting was held on the 5th. The items discussed included

Bill Nesper, Director of the League of American Bicyclists' Bicycle Friendly Community Program came and talked about why D.C. didn't make it to Silver this year.

Some of LABs recommendations include

Complete the Metropolitan Branch Trail
Increase the number of on street facilities - lanes, sharrows and routes
Meet and increase the yearly bike lanes striping goals
Construct the Bike Station (more on that below)
Implement the Smart Bikes program and expand it to a sustainable level
Re-launch Bike DC
Institute a Bus driver and taxi driver education program
Set-up community rides to unveil new facilities
Adopt and implement a Complete Streets policy
Increase the number of arterial streets with bike lanes

Despite the efforts of the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA), the Bicycle Commuter and Parking Expansion Act recently passed.

it mandates 16 bicycle parking spaces at the John A. Wilson Building and requires the mayor to make a study of bike parking at all other government properties. Bike-spot requirements for commercial properties would be upped from 5 percent of the number of auto parking spaces to 10 percent. And most sweepingly, it imposes a minimum number of bike parking spaces for residential buildings with eight or more units.

By all other government properties, they mean ALL D.C. properties: parks, offices, etc...but not federal facilities. The feds are exempt and covered by the GSA. BTW the law is only advisory. For it to be a zoning requirement, it will need the zoning commission to approve it. Something tells me AOBA has even more influence on the zoning commission than they do the city council. (see below for more)
 

So far this year the city has installed 3.05 miles of bike lanes. Their hope is to get to 5 miles despite their claim that there won't be any more installations this year due to winter. Their goal is 10 miles a year - which they've never done.  They also said that it will get harder to get miles added in future years as future lanes will more often require the removal of auto lanes.

With the winter slow down they plan to switch to erecting bike route signs - especially around the baseball stadium.

Some bike lane striping is starting to need maintenance where road construction has removed sections of lanes. If you notice a bike lane in need of repair, you should report it at the same place you report potholes (the Service Request Center) and then forward your request number on to Mike Goodno (Mike.Goodno(at)dc(dot)gov) at DDOT.

The bus/bike lanes downtown are being removed (work has already begun I've been told - confirmation?)

Trails - A Metropolitan Branch contractor has been selected, and the contract could go out as soon as next week. Be on the lookout for a press release. They hope to start work in spring on the new section between New York Avenue and Franklin Street and be done by the fall. For the ART there is concern that the trail section south of the railroad tracks was built in an area popular with rowers and that there could be some bike-boat collisions.

Jeff Peel, co-writer of this blog, was named the manager of the D.C. SmartBike program. SmartBike is busy applying for public land use permits for it's 10 locations. They've designed member cards, are working on a web site and are drawing up a membership agreement. It could be ready by January, but probably won't start until March since winter is a bad time for biking. The start could be tied in with the Cherry Blossom Festival. Each kiosk will have an information area. Among the 10 locations are Foggy Bottom, Gallery Place, Shaw and U Street with the 6 other locations inside the square those four make (I'm waiting to hear where the other locations are).

Good news: the Bike Station construction bids are in. Bad news: the best one was $4 million and the city only has $2.7 million for it. Options are: scale it down again, ask the feds for more money or start over somewhere else. I support the bike station as designed where it is and if the feds will give the extra money I say go for it, but if not....I have an idea of somewhere else it could go.

WABA is working to get the Baseball Stadium bike valet parking contract - if there is one. The Nationals are refusing to pay for the program and so Tommy Wells is working to secure funding for it.

The next meeting - which is open to the public like all of the meetings - is on Jan 9th (not the 2nd).

Update: WABA's clearer statement on the bike parking law

On November 6th, the "Bicycle Commuter and Parking Expansion Act of 2007" was unanimously passed by the DC Council. This bill, which was introduced by Councilmember Tommy Wells, faced significant challenges before passing. But thanks to the widespread support of local cyclists, and negotiations between WABA and the DC Council, the final text of the bill received the approval of all Council members. While some amendments added at the last minute somewhat softened the bill, the overall intent remained unchanged and WABA is pleased with the final language that emerged.       

The bill as passed increases the parking requirement in commercial garages from 5% to 10% of car parking, mandates one bike parking space for every three units in new residential developments (up from one for every four units), makes it easier for tenants to request bike parking in their buildings and requires a detailed study of bike parking and bike access to DC government office buildings.

Aside from the bike parking study, which will be undertaken by the District Department of Transportation, the rest of the bill's provisions now must be included in DC zoning regulations which are currently being reviewed by DC's Office of Planning before taking full effect. WABA will be working closely with the Office of Planning to ensure that any changes to the zoning regulations include the provisions of bill passed by the DC Council. WABA will also be working with the DC Council on scheduling a vote on a bill that would repeal the mandatory bike registration law currently in place.

Comments

Even though they were largely ignored, I'll miss the bike/bus lanes -- they seemed to lessen driver anger a bit. I hope they put in a regular bike lane at least. I ride those lanes everyday. The section in front of the Verizon Center is gone (they just repaved it).

Drive between 11 pm and 5 am for the first twelve months