Metropolitan Branch Fail

Despite the good news out of Montgomery County there is still much about the future of the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) to worry about. Not that it won't be built, I believe it will; but that it will be less than what it could be, should be or was promised to be. I'm talking specifically about the New York Avenue to Franklin Street section - arguable the signature section of the trail.

As originally designed this section - built on old railroad right of way that consisted of sidelings and the Eckington rail yard - was to be a park-like facility with a trail running down the middle. A picture of what it would look like even graced the cover of the concept plan (at right). It shows a trail passing directly through a green space with waysides and an open air cafe opening up to the trail and park. This is not what will be built.

Despite the stated objective of "providing a visually attractive setting for the trail in the open space between CSX tracks and current development," what is instead planned is a trail shoehorned in between office buildings and sprawling parking lots. Due to a Z-shaped turn, it won't even provide a direct route as originally designed.

Let's move south to north starting from the NY Ave metro station trail. A building is to be built on the triangle between NY Ave, Florida Ave and the trail. When I talked with DDOT they had no idea what this building would look like. Will it open up to the trail? Will there be a green buffer? Will it just be a big brick wall? They didn't know. Why isn't building a structure that integrates the trail a requirement?

Next the trail will pass between the PEPCO facility and the tracks, through the "Capital Commerce Center." As originally planned there would be a connection here between Harry Thomas Way and the trail (see below, right hand side), but not any more. Then the trail was to bend to the west with a connection to R St. But now the trail instead follows the connection to R St and then turns more than 90 degrees to continue north on the west side of the property (see this for a map of what it will look like). This requires a user to make two greater than 90 degree turns (the Z-turn I mentioned). Besides being dangerous it's slow. This was to be a "bicycle beltway." I've never seen a 95 degree turn on the beltway. And what will go where the trail was supposed to? A parking lot (not sure how cars will get to it, but I suspect they would cross the trail).

The plan calls for waysides, green space, art gardens and performance space. It talks about place making. But I fear this project will become a 12 foot wide strip of asphalt surrounded by whatever developers decide will make the most money. I'm not anti-growth, but it's too bad that an opportunity to create a green space in the center of the city is being squandered for the growth machine.

Someday on MARC, Amtrak, VRE and Metro

Here's something interesting

MBTA officials unveiled yesterday a commuter rail coach equipped with 39 bike racks that will make two round trips from Boston to Rockport on Saturdays, Sundays, and some holidays.

Half of the coach's seats were removed to make way for the racks, leaving 42 seats.

The new coach will begin running Sunday during the 47th Annual Fitchburg Longsjo Classic race, hosted by the Fitchburg Cycling Club.

``We wanted something to serve the bike community," said Will Shannon , deputy chief mechanical officer for the T.

T General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas said that while bikes are allowed on the commuter rail, riders often have trouble getting them on and off.

So they already allow bikes on board, they're just trying to accommodate cyclists. What a crazy idea.

It's never too early to learn safe biking

The Gazette ran a story a while ago about bicycle safety training at Berwyn Heights Elementary School.

The Berwyn Heights Police Department and the Washington Area Bike Association helped to organize the event.

‘‘It’s a good idea because some people crash their bikes,” Joshua Hamilton said. ‘‘My brother crashed his bike once and he got a concussion so this will make sure I am safe.”

Kids were taught the basics of bicycle maintenance, hand signals and aware cycling. These types of programs, in conjunction to Safe Routes to School, have the potential to really turn back the clock on kids biking to school (as in they used to a lot and now they do it rarely). And it has real benefits. According to the League of American Cyclists

 

There are more than three times as many overweight kids today as there were 25 years ago.

More than 1 in 3 young people in grades 9–12 do not regularly engage in vigorous physical activity.

As much as 20% of morning rush hour traffic can be parents driving kids to school

School bus transportation is frequently the second largest budget item for school districts after salaries

Option 1 Chosen for Met Branch

From the Silver Springs Trails website:

The Montgomery County Council Transportation and Environment (T&E) Committee finished its review of the DPWT Phase I Metropolitan Branch Trail conceptual design. The Committee voted 2-0 (Floreen and Leventhal for, Perez absent) to direct DPWT to carry the MetBranch Trail Option 1 into Phase II facility design. The Option 1 alignment will follow closely along the CSX right-of-way from the Silver Spring Transit Center to the Takoma Campus of Montgomery College and will have a trail bridge over Georgia Avenue and a trail underpass under East-West Highway.

This is good news. This is the trail (in Maryland - more about DC next week) that cyclists wanted.  Phase II takes about 18 months. Funding could begin in the FY09 budget.

Also, when I was out on the MBT last week, I saw the construction of a fence going on along Fenton Street (see photo). I'm not sure what the purpose of it is. Is it a safety feature? Even if it is, I don't like it. Why block the view from the trail and of the trail. One goal of trail development is place-making. Fences do not make places. They divide people. This is unfortunate.

Bicycle Thefts

If you want to read local articles about bikes in the Post (and I do) the thing you'll most likely read will go something like this

MANOR HOUSE LANE, 5900 block, 10 p.m. June 13 to 11 a.m. June 15. A bicycle was stolen from a residence entered through an unlocked front door.

because the place where the Post most often mentions bikes is in their crime reports. This is not an indictment of the Post but merely a means of pointing out how common bike theft is. Of course anyone who rides a bike in DC already knows that theft is a problem.

The FBI keeps national crime records, but bicycle theft has always been just one part of the larceny category. They only count it as a bicycle theft (I've been told) if the bicycle was the most expensive thing stolen and they only report on bicycles that were reported stolen. Still in 2004 - the only year I could find bicycle thefts broken out of the larceny category - over 250,000 bicycles were stolen in the US. They count a stolen bicycle's value as $240, so that's $60 million a year.

I wrote about a guy who wanted to put a lo-jack device in a bike and use it to catch thieves, but he had trouble getting the police to cooperate. Here's an article about a guy in Sacramento who did get help.

Back in mid-January, Jason Cecchettini’s girlfriend’s truck was broken into near her Curtis Park home. Unfortunately for the crooks, they picked on the wrong person. Cecchettini was sure that a thief was targeting the neighborhood and that, if tempted, the villain would strike again. With the help of the Sacramento Police Department, he laid a trap.

The next evening, Cecchettini placed a fancy bike, unlocked, on the back of his pickup truck in front of his girlfriend’s house at midnight. By 1:30 a.m., the bike was gone, stolen from the back of the truck.

What the thief didn’t know was that the bike was a special “bait bike” of Cecchettini’s own design. Using radio receivers tuned to the special frequency, the cops were able to pinpoint the exact location of the thief.

a Sacramento Police Department helicopter, equipped with a tracking receiver, was dispatched to hover over the house until patrol cars arrived.

“He was just freaking out. He was probably only home five minutes when the police helicopters moved in,” he said.

“I noticed the bed was pretty lumpy. I pulled back the covers, and there she was.” Apparently, it was the best the thief could do on such short notice. “I guess he didn’t have time to stuff it in the attic,” Cecchettini observed.

Rock Creek Flood of 2006

  Rock Creek Flood of 2006 
  Originally uploaded by maxedaperture.

From the comments "yes there was some serious damage to the creek and the trails of rock creek park total bummer an already hurting natural resourse is now hurting some more but there has already been some tree removal and some bridge repair the Park Service has been on it! credit to those that are out there doing their job rode the whole Capitol Crescent trail this am with only two obstacles and most of the sand, mud, and standing water had been cleared from the trail as well good work and thanks there are as well to any and all that are doing their job! oh ran into some Pedicabs the other day took some shots http://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/cab4-733455.jpg here is another http://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/cab-744922.jpg they were in town from NYC "

VA Congressmember Weds on Bike Trail

U.S. Representative Rich Boucher from Southwestern Virginia and his long time girlfriend Amy Hauslohner, an editor of the Galax Gazette in Galax, Virginia tied the knot on an old railroad bridge that now makes up part of the Virginia Creeper Trail.

"We have decided since I will be 60 in August and she just turned 50 last week, we probably are mature enough to handle marriage."

Before the ceremony, the couple bicycled from Abingdon to Damascus on the trail. While biking the 10 miles back to Abingdon, they stopped at the Alvarado Train Station restaurant and shared a slice from a coconut cake at the counter.

Another advantage of rail trails, the money you save on renting a wedding chapel.