Alternative Fuels

Unfortunately, this ad never ran. Now that's winter biking.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety

The district is "confounded" by the increase in pedestrian deaths in 2005. 16 deaths as opposed to the average of 12. Personally I think one is dealing with too small a sample size to determine that something is "wrong" - though even 12 deaths seem high. Several possible causes for the accidents are given. Some blame a failure to enforce the laws against cell phone users, jaywalkers, red-light runners and the sort. Some point to a need for better education efforts - namely through the Street Smart initiative. And still others mention better traffic engineering. The things that surprised me most from all of this reporting is that they didn't break out pedestrian accidents from cyclists and that they seemed to not keep any metrics. Who was involved in the accidents (bike/pedestrian, bike/car, two cars that collided and one hit a pedestrian etc...)? Who was deemed at fault in the accidents? What were the contributing factors (speeding, cell phone, failure to signal etc...)? It seems that with proper recording this wouldn't be so confounding.

There was a great article in Wired about sign-less intersections that leads me to think these problems are mostly the result of engineering flaws. If you have to spend millions of dollars to teach adults how to cross the street - maybe there's something wrong with your intersection. Sure, no amount of design is going to protect you from a drunk driver, and it seems that every time I've had a close call on my bike, the driver was on a cell phone - but I think better design can go a long way. Even if that better design is for your bike.

Trees and Trains on the W&OD Trail

The fight with Dominion Power over power lines and trees continues. On the one hand DP has instituted a "right tree in the right place" program

whereby trees that could threaten the lines in the future were removed and replaced with trees that would not grow tall enough to be a threat...six hundred such trees were replaced, and an additional 1,000 trees were planted

This sounds like a good common sense approach.

But the fight over new power lines is where things really get messy. Del. Joe May has led the fight to force DP to install underground lines which until recently has included the Save the Trail Alliance and the Save Scenic Loudoun Legal Defense Fund. But the two groups have recently begun to fight one another.

The Save Scenic Loudoun Legal Defense Fund, comprised of homeowners living along a proposed alternate route west of Leesburg, has always insisted that the W&OD Trail must be considered because the SCC  [State Corporation Commission] must require the power company to consider  any route on which it owns an existing easement. The SCC agreed, and several months ago ruled that Dominion must re-include the trail as a possible route. Recent finger-pointing includes accusations by Save the Trail representatives that the Save Scenic Loudoun Legal Defense Fund will claim in its testimony before the SCC that trail users are happy to use the trail without trees, thereby refuting the organization’s claims that the loss of 26,000 trees will be irreparable. That accusation is absurd, according to SSLDF representative Bob McKew, who called the suggestion “absolutely false.”

The original position of the May-led coalition was that the lines should be buried under Route 7, but recent inspections of that road have forced them to change their preferred route to run underneath Harmony Church Road and Route 704.

In only slightly related news, you can now buy a video about the W&OD railroad upon whose right-of-way the trail is built. Profits go to the Friends of W&OD.

CWL #12 - A Real Bicycle Beltway

This is the twelfth and final project on my 12-item Christmas wish list for DC biking projects.

#12 A Real Bicycle Beltway 

Cost: Are you kidding?
Status: Not even on the radar
Probability: Unlikely

When people in the area talk about the Bicycle Beltway, they're talking about the loop made by the Capital Crescent, Metropolitan Branch and the National Mall. (Except in Rockville, where they mean the Rockville Millennium Trail). But that 22 mile Beltway is significantly smaller than the 64 mile Capital Beltway. It doesn't even cross into Virginia.

No a real Bicycle Beltway would cross on the new Wilson Bridge's Pedestrian lane, pass by Andrews AFB, through New Carrollton, Greenbelt, and Kensington before crossing the American Legion Bridge on its way to Falls Church, Springfield and then back to the Wilson Bridge.

It's not as though I feel that a new trail should be built in around the entire Beltway - though Atlanta is doing this -, but when new interchanges are built or widening is done, a bicycle component should always be included. The $676 million Springfield interchange has room for a rail line and Backlick Stream, but there isn't a single place for a cyclist to get through (along Backlick Stream would have made sense). If area planners want to fix transportation problems, they need to make room for cyclists.

Winter Biking

Last year my rule was not to bike on days when the high was below 45 degrees, but due to some recent purchases I'm going to drop that temperature down a bit. Apparently I'm not alone

Washington, D.C.,-area cycling organizations say that greater numbers of commuters take up cycling to work each year, and many continue, regardless of the cold.

My favorite new product - the Bell Metro Bike helmet with winter gear. The winter gear is the key. No more stuffing the vents with newspaper and raw panda meat, no more wearing a stocking cap underneath and pulling it down to cover the ears. The winter gear fills the vent holes and attaches nice ear muffs. You can also get a rain shield, but I don't have that. I also think a good pair of booties are key.

‘‘Drivers should give cyclists plenty of space — as much as they would give to an actual car,” said Elizabeth Preston, director of communications for the League of American Bicyclists in Washington, D.C. ‘‘Cold weather and snow and ice only means they should give even more space than normal.”

CWL #11 - Improve Rock Creek Trail

This is the eleventh project on my 12-item Christmas wish list for DC biking projects.

#11 Rebuilding the Rock Creek Trail 

Cost: Depends on what is done
Status: Some projects could start this spring
Probability: That everything that needs to be done will be done - low. That something will be done - high.
 

Rock Creek Park is one of the nicest parts of DC to bike in...except for the traffic and bumpy trail. There are few areas in DC where biking and transportation policies are more contentious. It would be nice if the Park Service actually ran the area like a... well, park and gave preference to cyclists on the roads outside of rush hour times. But that probably isn't going to happen. Hopefully they can take some effective steps toward improving the safety of bike commuters using Beach Drive. But one thing they can do is redesign and rebuild the Rock Creek Trail.

For starters they need to bring it up to AASHTO standards where possible and repair all of the areas that are buckled or washed out. They need to build a dedicated or cantilevered trail bridge at the south end of Zoo Tunnel. They need to rebuild the trail bridges to eliminate the sharp turns that force cyclists to stop. They need to separate the trail from the road where possible and put in boundaries where not. Where the right of way allows it they should have several trails - one for experienced cyclist, one for novices (like Montgomery County's dual bike plan) and an area for runners.  If a trail is made that works, only the most experienced of cyclists will find the road advantageous, and then everyone wins. 

CWL #10 - Connecting the 14th Street Bridge

This is the tenth project on my 12-item Christmas wish list for DC biking projects.

#10 Connecting the 14th St. Bridge to the Pentagon and Crystal City 

Cost: $15-20 million for the 'humpback bridge" reconstruction allowing for a connection to the Pentagon, less for the Crystal City bridge (part of the $100 million North Tract project)
Status: Humpback bridge project is in the presolicitation phase, North Tract is in final design phase
Probability: Both are pretty high, but in either project the bike portion could get eliminated

The 14th Street Bridge, or more correctly the George Mason Bridge, has a well designed pedestrian lane on the upstream side. It's safely separated from both the roadway and the water, has a wall that  prevents debris from gathering on it and is wide enough for passing. On the Virginia side it connects directly to the Mt. Vernon Trail. It's an example of what other pedestrian lanes should be like.

Except that if you actually want to go into Virginia you have to either ride south to the Crystal City Connector Tunnel, North to the Arlington Memorial Bridge or cross at the dangerous pedestrian crossing to the Lady Bird Johnson Park.

Being able to cross the GW Parkway on either side of I-395 would be an improvement for those heading to or from the Pentagon, Crystal City or the Columbia Pike. Luckily plans are under way to provide both crossings.

There are plans in the works to rebuild the so-called humpback bridge just north of 395 on the GW parkway. The new bridge (at right) will include a wider path for the Mt. Vernon trail and trail underpasses on both sides of the Boundary Channel. In addition the bridge will include a 3rd acceleration lane to allow for better merging from 395 South.

On the other side of 395, the North Tract Project is in it's final design phase and includes a bridge over the GW Parkway, a trail along Roaches Run and other bike pathways. There are numerous pictures of the three concepts here and even animations that are best described as cool.