WABA Quick Release

Archive for December, 2011

Thanks to DDOT Director Bellamy for responding to WABA’s highlighting of the slowed progress in bike lane installations in 2011. We appreciate his direct response to our concerns.  We stand by those concerns that the year’s progress on bike infrastructure was somewhat subpar, yet we agree with Director Bellamy that the District has taken major steps to make the District more bike-friendly for both experienced and novice cyclists.

Director Bellamy’s response does, however, point out the possible need for a new set of metrics for the District.  Advocates and constituents need to know what DDOT is working to deliver.  In his response, Director Bellamy cites expansion of bikesharing as a 2011 success.  We agree.  But we were counting other things, including bike lanes, because that is what DDOT committed, through the Bicycle Master Plan, to providing on a year-to-year basis.

Regardless, we need to catch up on the lost bike lane progress of 2011, and Director Bellamy’s response states a clear commitment to begin striping on several projects as soon as the weather allows.  We appreciate that response and look forward to the results.  But it is also time for cyclists, advocates, and officials to think about the next five to ten years and the projects and deliverables we want to see.  Much has changed since 2005, and it is likely time for an update to the Bicycle Master Plan to reflect the growth and development of bicycling.

The existing Master Plan’s remaining goals and DDOT’s Action Agenda provide a strong starting point for infrastructure changes, but a new Master Plan also presents the opportunity to bring together other agencies with significant roles to play in providing a safer and more bike-friendly District, including the Office of Planning, Department of Motor Vehicles, Metropolitan Police Department, DC Public Schools, and others.

So again, thank you to Director Bellamy and DDOT for the straightforward response.  We appreciate the work you have done and continue to do, and we look forward to continuing to work with DDOT to bring about improvements.  Those who interpret our efforts to ensure accountability on these metrics as political misinterpret our motivations and goals.  We highlight deficiencies to spur action, not to complain about the actors.  We look forward to a 2012 of fast progress on the metrics of the existing Bicycle Master Plan and to working with Director Bellamy, under Mayor Gray’s leadership, to stay on track to meet its goals while developing the next Master Plan and setting goals for an even better bicycling future.

Here’s to early Spring and early progress on those ready-to-install bike lanes in 2012.

On Monday, WABA advocates spent the morning touring (read: cold-weather bicycle ride) the many bicycle connections between Virginia and DC through National Park Service lands. The goal of the outing was to continue, and hopefully energize, the conversation about  improving access for bicyclists through the various parks. With the National Mall bringing Capital Bikeshare to the park in 2012, there is a greater need for the long-awaited upgrades to the connections between DC and Virginia.

The ride included representatives from the National Park Service’s George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP), National Mall, and the National Capital Regional Offices.

While there are a multitude of details to be addressed, we are focusing attention on improving major safety and connectivity  issues that cyclists in the Washington region face daily.

WABA would like to express our thanks to Representative Connolly’s (D-VA) office for its leadership in organizing this meeting with NPS. We would also like to thank the staff of Representatives Moran (D-VA) and Blumenauer (D-OR) for joining us early on a cold Monday bike ride.

The following is a response from DDOT Director Terry Bellamy to WABA’s posting, “Where Did All the Bike Lanes Go?”:

WABA has been a great partner with DDOT as we work to increase bicycling in the District and expand our bicycle infrastructure. However, that doesn’t mean we always see eye-to-eye and that’s why I felt it was important to respond to WABA’s blog posting “Where Did All the Bike Lanes Go?” posted on Tuesday, December 20.

As the article notes, there are more than 50 miles of bike lanes in the District now, all added since the 2005 Bicycle Master Plan was adopted. Under the steady leadership of Jim Sebastian, our Bicycle Team has made tremendous strides to make the District one of the most bicycle-friendly cities on the East Coast, earning a Silver Award from the League of American Bicyclists. We now have bike lanes down the center of America’s Main Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, and a popular cycletrack on 15^th Street, NW. Bikestation DC at Union Station is an architectural landmark and one of the most impressive bicycle facilities in the nation.

We have not been resting on our laurels though. This year we have expanded the Capital Bikeshare system and are already planning to add 50 more stations and 500 more bikes next year in the District. That will include the first bikeshare stations on the National Mall. We have expanded our trail network along the Anacostia River and in addition to the new bike lanes installed on 11^th Street, SE, Edgewood Street, NE and East Capitol Street, we’ve also installed several miles of sharrows across the city.

Also, I can tell you that we have more than 4 miles of planned bike lanes that are now ready for installation and will be put in as soon as the weather breaks in early spring. That includes:

• Columbia Road, NW between Connecticut Avenue and 16^th Street
• 4^th Street, SW between Virginia Avenue and I Street
• New York Avenue, NW between 15^th Street and 9^th Street
• Upshur Street, NW between 8^th Street and Rock Creek Church Road
• I Street, SW/SE between 7^th Street and New Jersey Avenue
• Tilden Street, NW between Reno Road and Connecticut Avenue
• R Street, NW between Florida Avenue and the Met Branch Trail

That list does not include additional bike lanes planned for 2012 or the crosstown cycletracks that are awaiting the completion of a study of the 15^th Street and Pennsylvania lanes.

It is true that in the out years of the Bicycle Master Plan – now that the low hanging fruit has been picked – we are dealing with more complex environments and more constrained scenarios, which can extend the planning and development horizon for adding new lanes. With competing priorities, getting community buy-in for these projects can also be more complicated. That’s not an excuse; it’s the reality we face.

However, I can assure you, my commitment – and Mayor Gray’s commitment – to bicycling and bike lanes has not changed. We might not always move as fast as some would like, but if our progress slows from time to time that is not an indication of shifting priorities, but rather a reflection of the environment we’re working in, and our desire to do it right.

As Mayor Gray announced today, Census Bureau figures show the District is leading the nation in population growth. More and more people are moving here to enjoy the quality of life the city offers. We feel confident our joint effort to make the city more bicycle-friendly is one of the attractions, and we look forward to continuing to work with WABA and the community to gain more ground and make the District an even more desirable place to live, work, play and cycle.

Terry Bellamy
Director
DDOT

Hi, Mark Blacknell here. I’m a cyclist. And a driver. And a pedestrian. And WABA’s newest Board President.

Yesterday, my fellow WABA board members placed their confidence in me, electing me President along with re-electing Martin Moulton as Vice President, Paul d’Eustachio as Treasurer, and Randall Myers as Secretary. The board – and WABA as a whole – owe Barbara Klieforth a debt of gratitude for her years of dedicated service as President. Thankfully, she will be remaining on the board, and will continue to help guide WABA.

I feel very lucky to be taking this on right now. We’ve got a membership who actively support our mission. We maintain good relationships with most area governments. We certainly have a fantastic and effective staff.  In short, we’re in good shape.

So what’s left to do? Plenty. Here’s my personal agenda:

• First and foremost – we need to keep pressing on the basics: infrastructure, enforcement, and education. The area has definitely seen some successes in recent years: infrastructure expansion in DC and Arlington, an explosion of interest in Capital Bikeshare beyond its original limits, and the introduction of an anti-assault bill for cyclists in DC. We can’t rest, though, as we’ve still got  long way to go on infrastructure, uptake of cycling by new bikeshare users will require greatly expanded education efforts, and that anti-harassment bill? Is still sitting in committee. We can’t rest, even when it comes to the basics.
• I also look forward to supporting and expanding WABA’s efforts to reach out to communities that haven’t traditionally been a focus of bike advocacy. The development of our East of the Anacostia project has been thrilling to see, and I hope we can build the capacity for similar efforts with the “Invisible Cyclists” of our immigrant communities. The gender gap is something that should concern all cyclists, and I eagerly anticipate the next step in the process started at the Women’s Bicycling Forum. Shorter version: cycling is for everyone, and our advocacy should reflect that.
• Finally, I’ll be working to improve region-wide cooperation and communication among cycling advocates. WABA can’t – and doesn’t need – to be at the table for every cycling issue that comes up in the greater Washington area. We can, however, help connect and support local advocates in addressing their local issues.  On the other side of that coin, I hope to engage my fast friends in MABRAland and my dirty friends at MORE to ensure that when big cycling issues are on the line, we can bring our full and joint voice to the discussion.

So that’s my hope for WABA in the future. But I can’t – WABA can’t – do any of this alone. We need your help and ideas. So I’d very much like to hear about yours. You can always reach me at Mark (at) waba.org, share your thoughts in the comments below, or say hello at the next WABA event.

P.S. That rumor that Shane Farthing started on Twitter, about me wanting a Katy Perry-led bike ride in DC?  Totally a joke.  (Unless you’re reading and interested, Katy.  Then you should call me.)

2011 was not the year for bike lanes in the District.  Since 2006, DDOT has  installed on-street bike lanes at a rate of four to eight additional miles per year. Less than one mile of new bike lanes was installed in 2011.

As DDOT nears the end of the timeframe laid out in 2005′s Bicycle Master Plan, the target for miles of bike lanes installed per year gets fuzzy. On average, the Master Plan calls for 10 miles of new bike lanes per year. The more recently adopted 2010 DDOT Action Agenda sets a goal of 80 miles, total, of bike lanes and protected cycle tracks by 2012.  As of today, the District has about 50.

DDOT had planned to install about 6.5 miles in 2011.  Of that 6.5 miles, approximately 4.25 miles are studied, designed and ready for installation.  But these have not been installed due to internal delays at DDOT.  The bike planners seemingly have done their part, but 2011 will end without these lanes installed, as it is now too cold for road striping.

The other 2.25 miles of that 6.5 that were slated for installation but have been put on hold for various reasons including a lack of ANC approval or a delay in necessary roadwork and signal work.

The map below shows on-street bike projects we expect in the next year.

• Red indicates projects slated for 2011 that are planned, designed, and ready–but not installed.
• Orange indicates projects slated for 2011 but pending additional work (ANC approval / additional roadwork) before they are ready for installation.
• Purple highlights projects slated for 2012.

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After installing less than a mile of bike lanes in 2011, DDOT needs to dramatically improve its performance just to meet the 10 mile per year average of the Bike Master Plan, much less the 80 mile goal of the Action Agenda.  This year’s performance is unacceptable, and signifies broken promises to the District’s cycling community.

Director Bellamy and, ultimately, Mayor Gray need to recognize that this year’s performance is unacceptable, and that major improvements are needed in 2012.

It’s that time again!

The New Year is all about introspection–the idea of examining yourself and committing to do good in the year to come.

For 2012, we’re Resolving to Ride Responsibly again! Click here to make the resolution with us.

We ride every day, and every day we’re amazed at the number of bicyclists out there. More and more people in the region are taking to two wheels, whether it’s to save money, save time, or just for fun!

The New Year is the perfect time to be thankful that the bicycling movement is picking up speed, and also to reflect on our own bicycling.

We’re resolving to ride responsibly again in 2012! We hope you will too.

Here is this year’s Resolution to Ride Responsibly. Give it a read, sign the pledge, get introspective over a steaming cup of something in front of a cozy fireplace, and come join us for the Ride for Responsibility on January 28th!

WABA is excited for 2012 and the opportunities it will present!

Bicycling is fun. It’s freedom. It’s a million different things to a million different people. We’re a community of bicyclists, and we want every member of that community to be safe and enjoy the ride all year long.

For 2012, we are again asking bicyclists to Resolve to Ride Responsibly. Be safe. Set a good example. Exercise your right to the region’s roadways responsibly.

Join us in making the Resolution:

…I Resolve to be a responsible bicyclist.
…I Resolve to respect the rights of all road users.
…I Resolve to yield to pedestrians.
…I Resolve to do my part to make our roadways safe places.

Please click here and Resolve to Ride Responsibly in 2012

On Tuesday night, the Safety Committee of the DC Bicycle Advisory Council met with Lt. Nick Breul of MPD to discuss updates on various initiatives concerning bicycle safety and law enforcement regarding bicycles, motor vehicles and pedestrians.  Following concerns raised in several enforcement oversight hearings (February, November) this year, MPD has appointed Lt. Breul to act as MPD’s primary liaison to the bicycling community.  Some of the topics covered included:

• An update on the November/December Street Smart campaign
  • Four days of enforcement against pedestrians endangering themselves at four different intersections led to complaints to MPD about police priorities. There is “a lot of work to be done” when it comes to preventing dangerous pedestrian behavior.
    • Pedestrian enforcement locations: 7th & H St. NW, 14th & U St. NW, East Capitol & Benning Rd., New York Ave. & North Capitol
  • Two days of enforcement against motorists endangering pedestrians at Minnesota Ave. & Blaine St. NE led to 56 citations and 2 arrests.
  • Four hours of enforcement against motorists endangering pedestrians along Georgia Ave. NW led to 223 contacts (written/verbal warnings and educational conversations) with motorists–that’s almost a contact per minute!
  • November 29th was the 1 year anniversary of the tragic death of a pedestrian who was struck by a bicycle in Chinatown. MPD officers spent the day stopping and warning bicyclists in the area of the crash (6th & Massachusetts Ave. NW), making 68 contacts with bicyclists. Additionally, MPD officers spent time at the 15th St. cycle track. In both locations, officers focused on education to bicyclists about wrong-way riding, sidewalk riding south of Massachusetts Ave. and obeying red lights.
  • Lt. Breul hopes to replicate the success of these operations in January after the Street Smart program ends for the year.
• A Sergeant in the 3rd District is pushing for more outreach and education for officers regarding bicycles, specifically with how bicyclists are treated by the police during and after crashes.
• Lt. Breul clarified that crashes where a bicycle is damaged minorly and the rider is unharmed would be very unlikely to generate a crash report, however even when damage is minor, insisting on police involvement can help a bicyclist not get taken advantage of by a driver or a driver’s insurance company later.
• The PD-10 crash report form used by police officers was revised in 2010 and is unlikely to see another major revision soon.
• There is no existing “violation code” that refers to a driver violating the District’s 3-foot passing law (DCMR Title 18-2202.10).
• The MPD Academy will be adding additional traffic safety courses focusing on enforcement against motorists that endanger bicyclists, as well as enforcement against bicyclist violations.

Thanks to BAC Safety Committee Chair Jameel Alsalam for leading a productive and informative meeting, and to Lt. Breul for his engagement and insight on the concerns of cyclists.

Thanks once again to Big Bear Cafe for inviting the entire WABA family into their warm and cozy space for an evening of holiday celebrations. Good food, GREAT spiked cider, good friends, and good conversations made for an enjoyable evening for all!

We’d like to give a big special thanks to all who made the party a success, including all of our guests, WABA’s loyal volunteers and the amicable and professional Big Bear staff. And we are certainly thankful for DC Brau’s exquisite beer contributions and for  New Belgium Brewery’s donation of bike bells for holiday gifts!

The jingling and mingling of the evening continued well past closing, a sure sign of success. So for those that joined us, thank you for stopping by. And for those who couldn’t, WABA wishes you the happiest of holidays!

This post is part of the WABA Women Bicycling Project, an ongoing campaign to create a community, share resources and develop strategies for getting more women on bikes.  To read about the project so far, check out Quick Release, the WABA blog. To learn more and sign up to receive emails about this project, click here.

On December 12th, WABA hosted its first Women’s Bicycling Forum at the West End Library, bringing together nine women with varying professional and personal histories to talk about the gender gap in bicycling. More than 75 people RSVPed for the event and we had a packed house. The attendees were primarily women, but there were several men in the crowd as well.

The panelists included prominent women in the local and national bicycling community, among them Katie Sihler of goDCgo, Elizabeth Sherwood from BicycleSPACE, Tracy Hadden-Loh of Rails-To-Trails, Heather Deutsch from DDOT, Ellen Jones from the DC Bicycle Advisory Council, Veronica Davis of Black Women Bike DC, Kate Ryan of WTOP news, Katie Knight from Revolution Cycles, and Finnuola Quinn of Alta Planning and Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling. WABA’s Women’s Bicycling Outreach and Advocacy Intern Jesse Cohn moderated the panel and kept everything moving.

The conversation began with a focus on perception and the need to portray the bicycling community as more inclusive–by including diverse ages, ethnicities and genders in outreach and promotional materials and by complementing images of athletes and racers with those of more casual users, a wider variety of people can better identify with bicycling and bicyclists.  From there, we discussed bicycle shops and the roles they play in encouraging and discouraging women to ride. Overall, the evening’s discussion indicated that more women (and people, for that matter) will ride if bicycling is depicted as easy, affordable and fun. Providing basic information about what kind of bikes are best for different types of riders as well as how to securely lock a bike are important steps in achieving this “easy, affordable and fun” goal.

Throughout the evening it became clear that the personal backgrounds and anecdotal experience of these women–growing up in DC, being a mother, having been a bike shop customer and bicycle rider–factored heavily into the conversation. The sharing of these experiences was invaluable to the discussion, as they allowed other panelists and audience members to find commonalities in the barriers they’ve faced and let to the sharing of effective ways they have individually overcome these obstacles.

The WABA Women’s Bicycling Forum was a big success, but it is just the beginning of the conversation. The event raised awareness of the gender gap in bicycling and generated several constructive ideas as to how organizations like WABA and individuals like you can work to erase this discrepancy. We are brainstorming what the next steps should be, and we definitely want your input. If you haven’t already, please take a moment to complete the online Women’s Forum Worksheet. Or, if you have other ideas for what WABA can do, send us an email.

Ultimately, the event was a reminder to women who bicycle (or are thinking about bicycling) that we have a local network of peers–women who have experienced the same issues and faced the same challenges–who are ready and willing to help out.

Our sincere thanks to all of the women who participated on the panel on Monday night as well as all of the attendees. We hope you enjoyed yourselves and we look forward to speaking with you all as the conversation moves forward. In the coming months and years, more women will ride in DC because of you.

Lastly, big thank you to our sound system providers for the evening, ESP sound:
http://www.espsound.com

Twitter coverage of WABA’s Women’s Forum:

You can read our live tweets from Monday night and contribute to the conversation on twitter by searching for the hashtag #womenbikedc

Press and blog coverage of WABA’s Women’s Forum:

Zanna Worzella of Bike Arlington writing for the Commuter Page Blog:
http://www.commuterpageblog.com/2011/12/women-on-bikesare-they-out-there.html

Anne Factor on the goDCgo blog:
http://blog.godcgo.com/?p=113

Carolyn Szczepanski on the Alliance for Biking and Walking Blog:
http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/index.php/site/blog/3888/

John Hendel on the TBD On Foot Blog:
http://www.tbd.com/blogs/tbd-on-foot/2011/12/d-c-s-bicycling-gender-gap-begins-at-the-bike-shop-and-at-home-13926.html

ABC7 News:
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/12/women-address-gender-gap-in-cycling-community-70234.html

An Opportunity to Help Motorists and Cyclists: A “Change-Lanes-and-Pass” Rule

My neighborhood has many polite drivers who wait behind me as I ride on two-lane MD-953, which has double yellow (no passing) lines the whole way. I am usually in the center of the 10-ft lane, pulling a trailer with my daughter.  Even when I don’t have the trailer, 95% of the drivers wait until the oncoming lane is clear, change lanes, and pass.  And when I am riding toward the right side of the lane for some reason, the vast majority still change lanes to pass.

Countless drivers have probably done you the same favor on another road. But they are technically breaking the law.

We think Maryland should legalize changing lanes to pass a bike riding in a no-passing zone. Not only are these drivers being safe, they actually enhance safety.

Why would cycling organizations initiate a reform that increases motorists’ rights? Aside from the fact that it probably will make us safer, cyclists probably understand this issue better than motorists. Cyclists have discussed many “rules of the road” that make sense for motor vehicles, but do not enhance safety when applied to bicycles. We would love to see those laws reformed. In some cases we may lack the political power to compel the changes we hope to see. But we probably do have the power to secure the right to change lanes and pass a bike when there is a double yellow line. So I think we should.

But Let’s Not Go Too Far: The “Partly-Cross-the-Line and Pass” Rule

By coincidence, some other Maryland advocates are considering a similar reform, but they would go even farther. Their idea is to allow drivers to cross the double yellow line to pass bikes, without the requirement to fully change lanes. This “partly-cross-the-line and pass” rule seems to be motivated by the observation that some cyclists ride far enough to the right so that a car barely has enough room to squeeze between the bike and the yellow line, and some drivers do. This rule would allow motorists to move only partly into the adjacent lane to pass the cyclist by the required three feet.

We prefer the requirement that the motorist fully change lanes. Motorists frequently report difficulty in gauging the three feet of space they are required to leave when passing, so why not apply the normal requirement that motorists change lanes? It is an existing behavior with clear rules and expectations. There is no need to encourage drivers to pass while occupying parts of two lanes.

Additionally, the requirement to change lanes before passing would discourage the idea of “squeezing” around others—whether the cyclist or a potential oncoming motorist. Finally, the State of Maryland will soon start erecting signs that say “Bicycles May Use Full Lane”. We think that “change lanes and pass” better reinforces the message of those signs, than partly crossing the line and sharing the lane.

Over the next few weeks, advocates in Maryland will be deciding which approach to take. While WABA took a major role last year in the promotion and passage of the Maryland vehicular homicide law, this year WABA intends to play a supporting role to Bike Maryland, which frequently leads statewide efforts to enhance cyclists’ rights through state legislation.

(Jim Titus is a member of WABA’s Board of Directors from Prince George’s County)