Ten for Tuesday - Thor is 83rd

1. I went on a ride around the Anacostia recently, to see where the Riverwalk would go in. One part of the Riverwalk will go along the Navy Yard Promenade.  I took this photo of one end of the promenade (under the 11th Street Bridge). It'll be a real miracle if this opens to bike/ped uses. Since 9/11 everything has been closing (I used to run around the portico at the Capitol), and this will be first thing I can think of to really buck the trend.

2. DC is continuing its Street Smart campaign. This article (Taking Steps to a Pedestrian-Friendly D.C.) focused mostly on pedestrian issues, but it also discusses cycling safety.

Two years ago, the city launched Street Smart for Kids, which uses volunteers from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association to train schoolchildren in pedestrian and bicycle safety. Part of the training is done at intersections and sidewalks near schools, Branyan said.

3. This article (Rock Creek's Scenic Drive Battered) about how the July 3rd flooding impacted Rock Creek Park, features a quote from frequent Wash Cycle commenter - and fellow bike blogger - Joel Gwadz.

"Euphoric" is how Joel Gwadz described his Beach Drive bike commute this week. Gwadz, 39, lives in Mount Pleasant and works in the computer department at CBS News at 20th and M streets NW. The prospect of Beach Drive being closed to traffic was so alluring that he went north -- in the opposition direction of his downtown job -- to spend additional time on the road.

"Everyone was smiling and grinning," Gwadz recalled. "People were waving to each other. Everyone was really enjoying it."

The closure of the road offered a glimpse of what would happen if the National Park Service shut down segments of Beach Drive during off-peak weekday travel periods, as the Washington Area Bicyclist Association has been lobbying for it to do for years.

"I know the people who drive that road have been really ticked off, but I've loved it," said Samantha Smith, 38, who rode her bike this week between her Adams Morgan home and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, where she works as a psychologist.

"It's like a dream come true," she said, describing the joy of rolling down an empty exit ramp onto a vacant Beach Drive. "It is really like my fantasy world. No cars, no noise."

I was surprised to find that Gwadz could talk in normal sentences instead of his signature, stream-of-conciousness writing style.

4. Did you know that a bike trail caused Howard Dean to change religions?

In 1980, Dean, then a practicing doctor in Burlington, caught wind that a local real estate developer was planning to build a pair of high-rise condominiums on the shore of the lake. Along with a Burlington lawyer named Rick Sharp, Dean began to campaign against the project, proposing in its place a scenic nine-mile bike trail. "He became a crusader," says Sharp. Dean went door to door with leaflets; he stood in the street with petitions; he cleared brush and laid bricks. Then, the hard part began: getting the land for the bike trail--a fight that ultimately wound its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Part of the struggle involved convincing the local Episcopal diocese to cede ownership of a stretch of old railroad tracks that ran across their property. When the church first resisted, threatening to join a lawsuit, "Howard went to talk to them into it," says Sharp. Thanks to Dean's persistence, the Episcopalians eventually succumbed. But their initial resistance left a bad taste in Dean's mouth.

As Dean has described it in recent months, the dispute over the bike path caused him to break with the Episcopal Church and become a Congregationalist. It's hard to imagine this story will resonate with religious voters, because very few people would untether themselves from their spiritual home over a bike path. Indeed, when Dean first explained his denominational switch on ABC's "This Week," George Stephanopoulos was incredulous: "Over the bike path?"

5. For it's road trip feature, the post has been branching out from driving (maybe they saw An Inconvienent Truth) promoting bike rides, scooter trips, hikes and the like. Two weeks ago they did one entitled Bike the Mount Vernon Trail. It's a great ride, and once you get south of the Wilson Bridge the crowds thin out.

6. Everyone is crazy about pedicabs, from DCist to the Times.

7. Richard Layman makes the point that "bikes are better."

People would send me stuff about scooters, Segways, etc. and I would always respond, "a bike is better." Sure, a bike is better than a scooter or a Segway for most settings, but that isn't the point.

In a city, for a lot of things, a bike is better than a car. And, now that you can take a bike on buses, and on the subway except for certain times of the day, you get further enhanced mobility that is relatively time-efficient.

There is some discussion about the Smart Car, and the response from some is "a bike is better." But the Smart Car isn't about bicyclists. It's about people who already have cars.

Then he lists transportation options from best to worst (?) - if so, I'd move some things around.

walking
bicycling
Segways?
scooters/Vespas
transit
- bus
- rapid bus
- light rail/streetcar
- subway
driving
- car (usually big)
- cars (usually many in a household)
- shared cars
- Motorcycles
railroad

I've always recognized that not everyone is going to bike - just like not everyone is going to watch "Lost" - even though most should. A city full of smart cars would probably be good for cyclists. I mean, would they even knock you over if they hit you?

8. I went for a ride out the W&OD trail on June 9th, and was pleasantly surprised to see that in less than a week they had built a temporary bridge to serve as a bypass for the bridge damaged in the flood.

9. Maryland has free bike maps of the state. You can order them here.

10. The Tour de France is going on and my favorite, Thor Hushovd, is in a disappointing 83rd. (I have to root for someone named Thor). Lance Armstrong's old team is still sponsored by Discovery Channel, HQed in Maryland. In an article, Cycling Magnate, in the Post, they profile Discovery Networks president Billy Campbell.

What's it like riding with a cycling icon?

Well, it's humbling. . . . It is almost like I'm riding a tricycle and he's riding a bike. About a year ago in Austin, he took me out riding and we were coming down a hill, and I realized this might be my only time to ever pass Lance Armstrong. So he was kind of relaxing and I kind of zoomed by him. And within two cycle spins, he came up behind me, grabbed me by the jersey and said, "What do you think you're doing?" He showed me how quickly he could go right by me.

Also, I was curious as to why there was no "Women's Tour de France." The race does so much for tourism why not expand it? I found this.

New Section of Bethesda Trolley Trail Complete

No, the title doesn't refer to the new Wilson bridge, but rather the latest piece of the North Bethesda Trail (NBT). While I was gone last week (yes, work dropped some serious coin to send me all the way to northern Bethesda - I'll never get used to the accent) I wound up riding past a new piece of the NBT.  It runs along the old trolley line ROW just east of Fleming Avenue, from Grosvenor Blvd to the Beltway. I didn't have a camera with me, but here's a photo of the same area last fall when it was flagged for construction.
 
Another bit of construction began recently on the Mount Vernon Trail just south of Dangerfield Island. Here the trail is being moved away from a wetland portion and raised up, ostensibly to avoid an area that is often wet. No word on whether or not the new trail portion will be graded so that the center is higher than the edges for good drainage. This (I forget the technical term for it [crowning]) is almost never done on trails (though always on roads) so probably not.

The point of all of this is that I couldn't find anything about either project anywhere. No reporting in the media. No news on the NPS website for the GW Parkway. When I started this blog I asked the bike coordinators of DC, MoCo, PG County, Alexandria and Arlington to put me on their regular mailing lists. I get occasional emails from Jim Sebastian at DDOT. That's it. I get regular, unsolicited letters from Eleanor Holmes Norton where her office tells me all about the things she's doing to make my life awesome.  Sometimes bureaucrats need to behave more like politicians.  How hard is it to get a small periodic update together and send it out? Certainly easier than updating a website (which is also rarely done). What I'm talking about is open government and asking bureaucrats to promote themselves and the work they've done.

I do get emails (again unsolicited but welcome) from Alexa Viets with NPS's National Capitol Region Office for example one that told me that starting today NPS will begin to add a cofferdam at Outlet Bridge.

Pedestrian and bicycle access will be detoured to the northbound sidewalk of East Basin Drive during this brief closure. The planned completion date for all work is November 2007

How hard is that?

GW Parkway Bridge Widening

I guess I haven't been on the GW Parkway or the Mt. Vernon trail for a while, because I haven't noticed the construction going on there just north of the airport. Officially the project includes

Bridge widening and deck replacement for GWMP bridge over North Access Ramp to Reagan National Airport. The bridge widening is to provide trail access over the bridge, separated from traffic. Currently, the trail crosses the bridge along the shoulder. Only 4-inch high mountable curb separate pedestrians and traffic. Work will also include painting of steel members and repair to bridge lighting underneath.

Work began Sept. 22 and should be completed by the end of this year.

Neither the trail through the airport nor the connection to Crystal City is supposed to be affected. Perhaps the separated bridge and trail will mean that cyclists won't feel they have to bike on the Parkway.

This past weekend I nearly ran into a bycyclist[sic] who was riding his bike on the GW Parkway. I know the Mt. Vernon trail gets a bit crowded on weekends, but riding your bike on the parkway can't possibly be legal can it?

Dr. Gridlock flubbed the answer, but someone corrected him

From byways.org, website of the National Scenic Byways Program (part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration) re the GW Parkway: "Non-motorized vehicles such as bicycles are prohibited from the roadway."

Addendum: Based on comments on this post, I'm no longer sure that bikes are prohibited from the GW Parkway, and suspect they're allowed. Use your own judgement.

Bike are also prohibited from the interstates, in case you were confused.

Then there's this letter and response from the Examiner.

A few friends and I regularly make weekday exercise runs between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the multiuse Mount Vernon Trail along the Potomac between Rosslyn and National Airport. With the arrival of warmer weather, we are experiencing the return of a recurring problem: unsafe bike riders. I’m not talking about the occasional individual out for a fun riding excursion, but rather the serious, well-equipped riders who use the trails as if they were the only ones there. Many cruise along at excessive or unsafe speeds, fail to announce their passing, and refuse to obey signs that require they dismount and walk through narrow underpasses or across roadways. On more than a few occasions, we have been nearly run over when moving through the narrow pathway under the Memorial Bridge.

Steve Elkridge:

Look, I know that a crash with a 3,000-pound vehicle is more likely to be fatal than one involving a jogger and a bike, but the point is the same: Show some respect for those with whom you share the road (or the trail) and obey the posted rules.

My main issue with this article was the inane title "Do unsafe bike riders pose a danger on the roads?" Of course. As 'unsafe' bike riders, they're dangerous by definition. And the article doesn't deal with bikes on the road, but on a trail. As for the letter itself, people should announce their passing (though on a busy trail it really stinks) and bike safely around pedestrians, but I repeatedly ignore "dismount and walk" signs. Some trail designers are overzealous in their use of these. If a narrow area is crowded, I'll do it. But if no one else is coming the other way, I just bike through slowly. And I almost never do it to cross a street. A better question is "Can you disobey "dismount and walk" signs and still be a safe bike rider?"