The District has a goal of getting 50 miles of bike lanes by 2009. They were up to 17 miles in September, 2005. So they'll need to add about 11 miles a year to make it. Rather than running around putting in bike lanes where they're most needed, they wait for a street to be resurfaced or reconstructed and then add the bike lanes in with that construction. It's cheaper and has less impact on traffic. It's a policy of patience and considering the limited funds I'm OK with taking the low hanging fruit.
There are about 13 miles of bike-lane-ready-street scheduled for work in 2006. The whole list in rather long, but here are some of the longer sections:
21st NW between Virginia and Florida
22nd NW between Virginia and Massachusetts
11th NW between Penn and Rhode Island; and between Clifton and Park
East Capitol between Burns and Southern
Warder/7th NW between Columbia and Upshur
E NW between 2nd and 13th
6th NE between C and Florida
14th NW between Thomas Circle and U
Tilden NW between Connecticut and Shoemaker
Q NW between 14th and New Jersey
Of course some places where bike lanes were to be added have been sacrificed. One result of the Logan Circle church parking issue is that some area streets are getting back-in parking to increase the number of available spaces. Where is that extra parking space coming from? That's right - bike lanes. So for a few hours of parking on Sunday, bike lanes will be removed 24-7. It's going to be tough to get to 50 miles if bike lanes are seen as expendable.
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