WABA Quick Release

Archive for October 5th, 2010

Together with WABA’s bicycle parking program coordinator, District Dept. of Transportation crews installed new on-street bike parking corrals in five locations in northwest Washington, DC. On-street bicycle parking is new to the DC region–the first corral was placed in front of the WABA office last Spring. We worked closely with Georgetown BID to install three of the five in that neighborhood, where relatively narrow sidewalks combine with lots of pedestrians to make parking a bike on the sidewalk difficult at best. Now, at M St and Thomas Jefferson, Prospect St and Potomac St, and on K St right in front of the movie theater, cyclists can park safely out of the way on the street. For local business owners, on-street bike parking makes sense too. They can fit 8 potential customers into the space previously reserved for one car, while their business becomes known as one that supports bicycles as effective transportation.

Two more on street bike parking corrals were installed at the bike-friendly corner of 11th St. and Park Rd NW, one in front of Redrocks Pizzeria, and the other in front of Meridian Pint. Given the number of bikes we used to see locked to the fences nearby, we’re sure these two new racks will be filled up in no time!

Tomorrow, October 6th, is International Walk and Bike to School Day. Thousands of schoolchildren in Maryland, DC and Virginia will be gathering in parks, school yards and cul-de-sacs and then walking or biking to school. In the District of Columbia, 13 schools are hosting events. They include: Payne Elementary, Tyler Elementary, Watkins Elementary, Whittier Elementary, Peabody Early Learning Center, Maury Elementary, EL Haynes PCS, Brent Elementary, Janney Elementary, Eaton Elementary, Kimball Elementary, Leckie Elementary, Stuart Hobson Middle School and the Lowell School. WABA has supported all of these schools with Safe Walking and Biking classes and bike rodeos to encourage more children to walk or bike to school.

In an era where childhood obesity has become a national epidemic, WABA has embraced and promoted the Safe Routes to School Program as a very effective tool in what should be an arsenal to combat this troubling trend.  DDOT has won federal funds to repair or install sidewalks, install traffic calming measures, paint crosswalks, and make many other hardscape improvements to make the roads and sidewalks around schools much safer for children to walk. WABA’s role includes the encouragement and education portion of Safe Routes and we’ve been a proud partner with DDOT since the inception of the Safe Routes to School program. With Safe Routes to School in place, WABA hopes that children and adults will view walking and biking as a lifelong healthy habit.