WABA Quick Release

Archive for January, 2011

This is just a quick reminder that the sentencing of Quinzy Fraser, the man who struck and killed Stan Miller in Montgomery County earlier this year, is tomorrow at 1:30pm at the Montgomery County Courthouse (50 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD). We hope you have already submitted your Community Impact Statement if you intend to do so.  And we encourage all who can to attend the sentencing tomorrow to show the support of the cycling community.

We look for ways to find silver linings in these tragedies, to help provide some sort of legacy for the men and women who have lost their lives on our roads.  And as bike advocates, we hope that our strong showing of support here will be noticed by the judge, who will offer an appropriate sentence, and perhaps by our state legislators in Annapolis, currently considering improvements to the criminal code, including a provision for criminally negligent manslaughter.*

*For the sake of clarity: A criminally negligent manslaughter type of charge would not apply in this particular case, as the driver was intoxicated.  But that does not negate the potential impact that a showing of cyclist support may have on the debate.

Megan posing with DDOT crew

As the weather turned colder and windier, some cyclists put their bikes away for the winter, but the intrepid WABA staff (and our friends at DDOT) decided that winter is the perfect season for increasing bike parking!  For all of you hardy winter bikers, we have a little new years present for you: 50 new bike parking spaces in 5 on-street bike corrals now available downtown!

Together with a DDOT crew, WABA’s new Bike Parking Associate, Megan Van de Mark, installed the bike racks throughout Chinatown and Penn Quarter in the weeks before Christmas.  Now, when you are headed downtown, you can spend less time hunting for a place to lock up in the cold and more time impressing your friends with your winter biking stories.

Biking to the Verizon Center to catch a Capitals game or to the National Portrait Gallery for a leisurely afternoon?   Use the new on-street parking nearby at the intersection of 7^th & G Streets NW to lock up.

Catching a movie at the E Street Cinema?  Lock up to the new bike corral just south of there at the intersection of E & 11^th Streets NW.

Trying to find the perfect wine and cheese for a winter dinner party?  Bike on over to Cowgirl Creamery and use the gleaming new on-street rack located outside on F Street between 9^th and 10^th Streets NW.

Doing some post-holiday shopping at Macy’s? Ten new bike parking spaces are now available in the bike corral at the corner of G & 13^th Streets NW.

Checking out the Navy Memorial?  Now you can park at the new bike rack just north of there at the intersection of 8^th and D Streets NW.

In the upcoming weeks and months, WABA will be installing additional U-racks by bike throughout DC.  Do you know of other places around town lacking bike parking or of a specific location you would like to see a rack? Tell us about it! And check out our website for more information about WABA’s bike installation services.  Specific requests for racks can be made on-line using this request form.  Requests will be considered as soon as possible.  Wanting racks installed outside of the District? Contact Megan at bikeparking@waba.org for more information.

See more photos of the on-street bike corral installations on flickr.

In December, GSA released its draft environmental impact statement (EIS) examining the impacts of alternative land use and transportation facility changes accompanying the development of the St. Elizabeth’s campus in Southeast DC into a consolidated DHS headquarters.

While we question numerous assumptions regarding mode share (they assumed zero bikes) and are concerned by the nearly exclusive focus on roadway widening as a transportation response to the demands of this massive development, we are especially concerned by the federal GSA’s failure to consider the impacts on the District’s proposed South Capitol Street Trail.

In fact, the South Capitol Street Trail was simply ignored.

The Alternative 1 alignment described in Section 3.4.2 includes changes to South Capitol Street.  Those changes have not taken into account the planned trail and may preclude the possibility of its being built. Where the document is required to discuss the “environmental consequences” to transportation infrastructure (Section 5.7) it only discusses vehicles and does not disclose its potential impacts on the South Capitol Street Trail.  And while the document mentions other transportation plans in the cumulative analysis, the South Capitol Street Trail Plan is not included.   Most glaringly in the Transportation Study itself (Appendix C), the required analysis of “Future Transportation Facilities” (Section C-5.3.8) states only that a signed bike route is planned along the South Capitol Street and makes no mention of the Trail Plan.

The South Capitol Street Trail is a fundamental part of completing the network of trails east of the Anacostia River, and will provide a key transportation and recreation pathway for residents in southeast DC, as well as a key connection from Prince George’s County and the Wilson Bridge crossing into downtown DC.

GSA will be holding a public hearing on the Draft EIS on January 13, 2011, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Matthews Memorial Baptist Church, located at 2616 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, SE, Washington, DC. The hearing is being held to present the findings of the Draft EIS and to provide the public an opportunity to submit oral and/or written comments on the proposed action.

Please consider attending this important public hearing to demonstrate to the drafters of the EIS and the St. Elizabeth’s planning and development team the importance of bicycle facilities in the area, and to publicly state your support for an option that allows the planned South Capitol Street Trail to be completed.

If you cannot attend the meeting, you can still submit written comments until February 2 through the WABA Action Center.

Despite a light dusting of snow and temperatures just slightly above freezing, Saturday’s New Year’s Resolution Ride drew nearly fifty dedicated riders.

We had a great time using some of the new bicycle facilities in DC, including the Pennsylvania Ave. bike lanes and the full length of the 15th Street Cycletrack.

Thanks to all who came out, and especially to our volunteers.

For those keeping count, our Resolution to Ride Responsibly has now been signed by over 700 cyclists, and it remains open for signatures through January.