14th street study=bikes, bikes, bikes!
i stopped in to see the public presentation of the 14th street study at the studio theatre after work this evening.
i'm sure bloggers who are more logan/u street focused will have more to say about this meeting at their sites, but i just wanted to comment on the feature of the plan that i was most excited about.
bike infrastructure!
i had a lot of questions about bike lanes and bike parking, and the ddot people answered everything. looks like the bike lanes are going to be made even more prominent than they are now, with bulb-outs at all intersections and alignments that will keep bike/bus interaction to a minimum. the big news, though, is the bike parking. i was told that there were initially 20 bike parking racks ordered up for the project, but that has been pushed up to 80! that's awesome, as i had to lock my bike to a sign in a treebox this evening. the city needs more bike parking EVERYWHERE, and this is a good start.
this was a pretty cool presentation, especially for a nerd like me. ddot is a kick-ass organization, in my mind. one of the best in the city. they always have tons of people at their public meetings who are more than happy to answer all of your questions. i feel inadequately prepared to talk to them, like i'm slacking by not having more questions ready.
looks good, ddot!
10 comments:
what is a "bulb-out"
DDOT may have tons of people who attend the meetings but actually getting them to live up to their agreements (much less respond to them) is a whole different story. We (MVSNA) had a meeting with DDOT in the spring, submitted a public safety report to them in October, heard nothing from them for months, I inquired about it to Director Moneme at a Ward 3 public safety meeting in January where he promised me a response within two weeks ... and as of today, I have heard SQUAT from DDOT.
Are the bike racks going to be centrally located or spread out along 14th?
Ditto rob's on DDOT's response time. They're great about big-plan-style meetings, sloppy on execution, non-existent on followup. Lost track of all the ANC and neighborhood association meetings I've been to where they promised all sorts of crap and never delivered. Or it takes them half a decade to put up a stop sign.
the bike racks are going to spread all through the study area, from thomas circle to florida ave.
i hear what you're saying about DDOT follow-through. i guess i get dazzled by the glitz and fancy stuff in these presentations. i do have to give them credit for the job they did on florida ave from north cap up to u street. now, the q street project (from 14th to 11th) is a disaster...
DDOT is really good at studying. over & over.
I really don't like "bulb-out"s, it squeezed into the cycling lane leaving no room for a bike. They have them in Arlington, they always seem to get in the way and I find myself having to stop to let the cars pass me.
megalopolis: the bulb outs on the design they have don't take up any room from the bike lanes. there will still be the standard-width bike lanes running continuously the entire stretch from thomas circle to florida avenue.
hurray for more bike lanes!
thanks for going to the meeting and writing about it.
Check out the bizarre new road layout in Columbia Heights. The problem is in the east/west roads.
There are no new bike lanes on Irving or Columbia Road or Park Road. In fact, traffic lanes are being reduced. So more cars in fewer lanes, with no room for bikes.
anon - could you be a little more specific. are you sure they're really getting rid of lanes? last time i was driving through on either columbia or irving, there were reduced lanes because of the construction. i'm sure that's not a permanent change. bike lanes there would be nice, no doubt, but i highly doubt the city will be turning those into one-lane thoroughfares...
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