TheWashCycle

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - Duryea Motor Wagon

Good afternoon. Tulsa is going to make a bid for the Olympics. I don't know if it's winter or summer, but I give either bid about an equal possibility of being successful. 

• At a meeting last night, DDOT formally presented plans for the 1st Street NE cycletrack. "The cycletrack will be 8 feet wide and separated from automobile traffic. Plastic bollards will handle that duty from the circle to K Street. From K to M, a 2-foot-wide precast concrete barrier will keep automobile and bicycle traffic separate. This barrier will be the same height as a standard curb."
• The Hunt opinion piece on CaBi isn't just stupid, it's sexist too.
• The SuperNoVa Survey for northern Virginia transportation is still taking comments. 
• How times change "The first recorded automobile accident involving two vehicles occurred on this date in 1896 in New York City.  Henry Wells of Springfield, Massachusetts, was driving a new Duryea Motor Wagon, the first automobile to be made and sold in the U.S.  Unfortunately, he collided with Evelyn Thomas of New York, riding a bicycle.  Thomas went to the hospital with a broken leg, and Wells spent the night in jail."
• The father of Beto O'Rourke, the new Democratic nominee for Texas' 16th Congressional District, was killed in a bicycle crash and now has a hike and bike trail named for him. Police seemed to blame the sun instead of the driver for driving too fast under dangerous conditions. 
• Ray LaHood "And we’ve put our actions behind those words with grants for complete streets initiatives, better sidewalks, and more bike infrastructure like bike-sharing programs, bike lanes, and off-road paths. The Federal Transit Administration has made it easier for commuters to access transit service by bicycle."

Thursday Morning Commute - New Bridge

Good morning. The new 11th Street local bridge opens today. It should be a better ride than the old bridge.

• The Montgomery County fiscal 2013-18 capital improvement program is scheduled for formal adoption Thursday after receiving tentative approval from the nine-member county council this past week. The budget includes $49.5 million for the Capital Crescent Trail and funding for the Metropolitan Branch Trail. There's more at the County website. It lists the following: "Funded the design and construction of the Capital Crescent Trail, costing $49.5 million. Retained construction funding for the Metropolitan Branch Trail and the Silver Spring Green Trail.  Funded construction of new bike trails along Frederick Road in Clarksburg, Needwood Road in Derwood, and Gold Mine Road east of Brookeville."
• Streetsblog has a story about how bicycle registration is used for profiling, which is part of the reason registration was ended in DC. I'll say that I used to get results from leagle.com in my automatic searches ( but not anymore) and that 95% of them were drug or weapon busts that started with a cyclist [almost always male and black or hispanic] being stopped for not having a light or a bell or a helmet or some trivial law that you didn't even realize the police enforced.
• "a man on a Bikeshare cycle punched a pedestrian and snatched her iPhone during daylight hours on a busy Capitol Hill street." You'd think they could narrow down who it was to a pretty small number of people. Everyone who had a bike checked out at that time and could reasonably have gotten to the place of the crime.
• Olney's Ride of Silence took on special meaning after a recent bicycle fatality in the community. Diane Whitman's crash is still under investigation. Also, it appears that DC had a Ride of Silence and I apologize for not advertising it here, but I didn't know about it.
• A junior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School wants to make sure that every kid at Rachel Carson Elementary School in Gaithersburg has a bike. And so he's repairing donated bikes for those who don't.
• TE is an issue for Tea Party members in the House working on the new transportation bill. Though the Senate bill is a step backwards for the program, some members just want it killed.

Future section of the Met Branch Trail takes shape

Photo by Bill Schultheiss of Toole Design

This is just north of Mass Avenue at Union Station and this will be the southern trailhead of the Metropolitan Branch Trail.

Monday Morning Commute - Overhead

Good morning

• CM Tommy Wells rides the new Anacostia Riverwalk Bridge that opens this week. 
• This is really late in coming, but Rogers Marvel Architect won the President's Park South Design contest last summer. On this design David Alpert wrote "the proposal from Rogers Marvel Architects has an attractively laid out set of pedestrian pathways but absolutely no mention of bikes....The Rogers Marvel Architects...include no images of cyclists (except one on the RMA rendering..., with a man in a suit on something the size of a kid's bike a folding bike gazing at the White House)." So...drat.
• NoMa BID plans for more greenspace along the Met Branch Trail. And the Silver Spring Transit Center, which includes some of the Met Branch Trail, is still not opening soon. 
• Minutes from the DC BAC facility meeting. 

Thursday Afternoon Commute - crash map

Good afternoon

• Work begins soon on the Art Place at Ft. Totten, a sprawling development that half encircles the Ft. Totten Metro Station. As such, both the future Met Branch Trail and future connector to the Anacostia Trails will pass through or along it's boundaries. Hopefully DDOT has already worked with them to accommodate these sections. 
• What Katie Rogers didn't include in yesterday's Washington Post bike article - including a map of every reported CaBi crash location (below).
• A story about bike theft and registration at Virginia Tech, where registration is mandatory, claims that registration helps alleviate theft, but frustratingly they never back that up. Is bike theft down? How many bikes are recovered? No idea. And then there is this "Tech Police purposely plant unchained bikes to racks. There are signs near certain racks, letting passerby know that a particular unlocked bike is being watched." It's like telling someone you're about to Rickroll them. 
• What will encourage more women to bike? 

View Bikeshare accidents in a larger map

Tuesday Afternoon Commute - 3 Foot in action

Good afternoon

• Regardless of how thick the concrete at the Silver Spring Transit Center, which includes a section of the Met Branch Trail, is, it doesn't sound like it will opening on time. 
• A new Triathlon themed store, Tri-360, is opening in Falls Church. I don't know if it will include bikes or accesories. 
• A Florida cyclist riding early in the morning without lights, reflective clothing or a helmet and using headphones was snagged by a protrusion on a passing garbage truck. He settled before trial, but a lawsuit followed between various parties associated with the garbage truck in which one party argued that the driver was at fault for violating the 3 foot passing law. 
• The Student Conservation Corps is hiring staff to work on the Met Branch Trail. DC Crew Leader and DC Conservation Crew Member: 
• DCist's Martin Austermuhle asks about the petition to remove the Metro rush-hour restriction. He's pretty strongly in favor of the ban, but I think this post still accurately represents my opinion. 

Saturday Night Ride - Big brother to the rescue (not the TV show)

Good Morning

• A possible solution to violations in Downtown DC's bike/bus only lanes. "San Francisco, with its long-running (if imperfect) "transit-first" policy, has come up with a way to address all these problems at once. By early next year the city's entire fleet of 819 buses will be equipped with forward-facing cameras that take pictures of cars traveling or parked in the bus and transit-only lanes. A city employee then reviews the video to determine whether or not a violation has occurred — there are, of course, legitimate reasons a car might have to occupy a bus lane for a moment — and if so the fines range from $60 for moving vehicles to more than $100 for parked cars."
• Montgomery County's Met Branch Trail funding could be saved by the county council, a meeting of stakeholders or both. Of course, there would be plenty of funding if the county just deferred some highway expansion not needed until 2025. 
• Route 450 in Bladensburg could be more bike friendly in the future (which is a low bar to cross). 
• Gail Tait-Nouri, the bicycle coordinator for the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, has retired. Except that now, she's working for WMATA, which is an odd retirement, but good for cyclists. 
• Local business delivers healthy snacks by bike.
• Gas is Expensive $3.50 edition part III (parts I and II). But this one has a lot of local shots and cyclists. 
• US DOT on why transportation enhancements matter, and Bikeleague on stopping the mandatory sidepath rule.
• Indy Bike Hub lockers look sweet. 
• Mountain bikers in Milwaukee are soft.

Washington Gateway to maximize value of Metropolitan Branch Trail

Preliminary work has started on the Washington Gateway project, the three building development on the triangle between Florida Avenue NE, New York Avenue NE and the Metropolitan Branch Trail. The project will take several positive steps to embrace its position as a neighbor to the trail and to maximize the opportunity that the trail will present.

Washington Gateway Site Plan

The highlight of the project is the Metropolitan Branch Trail Atrium (circled in red above). This three story space will create a bike-friendly entrance to the project unlike anything in the DC area. It will include a paved and signed entrance to the atrium which includes LED lighting and automatic doors that will allow cyclist to ride into the atrium. There will be an automatic bike pump for maintenance; a water fountain; a refreshment area with vending machines, tables and chairs; indoor bike parking and a natural ventilation system to supplement the HVAC system in appropriate seasons.  WABA has been invited to provide programming for the space and will be allowed to use the site for staging rides. It will not be open 24 hours a day but will be open at most times of the day.

In addition, the project will improve the trail along the building line. They'll replace the trail surface, landscape the area along it and replace the solar trail lighting with lights on the side of the building. A portion of the trail will be enhanced for pedestrian use with different paving patterns and treatment to encourage trail use for commuters walking from the Metro station and to separate users.

The atrium will be at the elevation of the trail, so users will have to go down stairs or an elevator to access the plaza in the center of the site and from there access Florida Avenue. The stairs will have a bike trough as will stairs from the plaza to the sidewalk along the New York Avenue Bridge.

The first building to go up will likely be the western building, which is residential. They will build a temporary 6-8 foot-wide paved connection from the trail to this building while they wait to build the two office buildings on the east that will include the atrium. The residential building will have indoor bike storage as well as outdoor visitor bike parking. One of the office buildings will have a fitness facility that will give commuters access to a shower.

DDOT worked with the developers on the PUD to make sure that the project would be permeable for cyclists and pedestrians, and from all appearances this has the potential to be a flagship example of how development should work with adjacent trails. I predict future Bicycle Summit tours of DC to include this as a must-see stop.

Friday Morning Commute - You can't have bike share without infrastructure

Saw a neighbor taking his Christmas Tree to the curb today. He wouldn't make eye contact.

• PG County cities continue to line up commitments for College Park's yet-to-be established bikeshare system. "[College Park and Riverdale Park] will also require the developer [of a proposed office building development in the University of Maryland Research Park] to participate in a bike share program that College Park is planning, in which bikes can be rented on a short-term basis and moved between stations around the city as an alternative to driving."
• A Gazette article this week covers Montgomery County's budget with respect to cycling. "Despite a proposed $23.8 million increase, to $82 million, for bicycle and pedestrian projects in County Executive Isiah Leggett's $4.2 billion fiscal 2013-2018 capital plan, and a commitment by the county to develop a bike-share program, some who commute on two wheels feel relegated to the back seat of transportation priorities."
  • A $10 million, 0.62-mile piece of the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which would connect Washington, D.C., to Silver Spring, was delayed. The approximately $3 million Needwood Road bikepath, a 0.8 mile connection between Equestrian Lane and Muncaster Mill Road that would create a safe and continuous path to the Shady Grove Metro Station and the Intercounty Connector shared use path, will only be in a design phase between now and fiscal 2018.
  • Members of WABA and other bicycle commuters have asked the county council to consider funding construction of the Metropolitan Branch Trail. Others have pushed for progress on the Purple Line, which also would advance the Capital Crescent Trail, Madden said.
  • This line, I have to push back on a bit: "The only thing I see while I am commuting is a lack of concern by motorists," he said. "They figure it's the road; bicyclists aren't supposed to be there." I don't think that's a fair characterization. The vast majority of drivers show at least the requisite amount of concern and treat cyclists with respect. The problem is a minority of drivers. And since I often push back when angry drivers imbue cyclists with some self-righteous or arrogant motive for taking the lane by pointing out that they don't know why that cyclists is doing what they're doing, I feel the need to do the same thing here. Unless the driver says something to you, you don't know why they buzzed you. They might just be a bad driver.
• Mark Blacknell advocates for a both/and approach to bike infrastructure.
• CaBi's January data is out. They had 96939 trips, up 11% since December and up 154% from last year. They also clocked 2.67 tpbpd, which is also up from December and up by about one trip per bike per day from last year. And just to pile on, there were more trips this January than last April.
• More about the River Road 5-foot wide (sigh) bike path in Montgomery County. "The county will need to acquire the land, finalize engineering and begin construction. The target completion date of the $400,000 project is Spring 2013."
  
  • "Some testified that a bikeway could increase the number of bikers and hikers using the area and increase the risk of them being hit." Increasing the number of bikers and hikers is kind of the point.
• Annandale and Falls Church area bike plan meeting.
• Police bias in favor of drivers in fatal bike crashes is soooooo much better in New York. "The blurry video did not show a cyclist failing to stop at a red light. In fact, it did not show much of anything....If, for example, a bicyclist is maimed or paralyzed by a vehicle but not in danger of dying, the investigation squad would probably never investigate the accident."

Second Annual Metropolitan Branch Trail 5K Run/Walk: May 5, 2012

Organizers of the Second Annual Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) 5K Run/Walk have announced this year’s event date:  Saturday, May 5, 2012.  In 2011, the inaugural year for the race, over 160 runners and walkers participated.  Since then the trail has been graced with a series of public art installations, community service days and new businesses at each end of the track.  The event will be held on the off-road, paved portion of the MBT bike trail in Northeast DC, starting at the intersection of S Street NE and 4th Street NE and the trail entrance.  Organizers expect increased participation this year and encourage early registration. 

The Run/Walk's mission is to promote exercise and healthy activity for all ages and building a sense of community ownership and involvement with the Metropolitan Branch Trail in neighborhoods to which it is adjacent, including Capitol Hill North, NoMa/Union Station, Eckington, Edgewood, Bloomingdale, Brookland, North Michigan Park, and continuing to Ft. Totten, Takoma Park and Silver Spring. 

Several sponsors have committed their support to this mission, notably Platinum Sponsor EYA, a residential developer which is building a new townhome community adjacent to the trail route. “It’s great to see the race in its second year and we are honored to sponsor this worthy event. Fitness, smart transit and neighborhood camaraderie are such important assets for urban neighborhoods. The Metropolitan Branch Trail is truly one of the City’s jewels,” said Preston Innerst, EYA Vice President. Other Platinum Sponsors (contributing $1,000 in cash or goods) include Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in conjunction with Kaiser Permanente, and retail grocer, Harris Teeter, located in the NoMa Business Improvement District.  This annual community event celebrates the versatility of the vibrant urban pathway and the neighborhoods through which it passes.  

Race co-sponsor DC Road Runners Club, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization which organizes more than 30 races annually in the DC area, will provide online registration, official timing and logistical support.  The 5K course is USATF-certified.   As a charitable event, proceeds will go to subsidize youth runners and fund other MBT trail/community linkages, such as trail beautification, safety and social recreation. 

To register, and for business sponsorship information, visit: www.gometbranch.com.  You can also “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MBT5K.  The first 150 students under the age of 18 who register online will be able to participate without charge.