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On April 9, DDOT’s Transportation Plan Advisory Committee held its second meeting on the District’s Multimodal Long Range Transportation Plan, called Move DC, following the first round of workshops held earlier this spring. The April 9 meeting built on opinions gathered from those workshops and thanks to WABA members’ particpation, bikes and pedestrians were well represented. “Bikes and Peds Everywhere” was at the top of the list as the most in-demand form of transportation, followed by Metrorail, more local transit, car capacity, and fast transit.

In this meeting, TPAC introduced a building block exercise as a tool to encourage dialogue about planning for the city’s transportation future. It works like a sliding tile puzzle of four blocks, where one block is given for day to day management and commitments, and you fill in the three remaining squares as a “choose your own transportation planning adventure.” Options included different modes of transportation as well as allocation of funds for things like “smarter systems” or “low-cost transit.”

Members of the public and TPAC split into groups to collaboratively build a vision of D.C.’s transportation future. What emerged is informative about attitudes towards transportation in the city and where bikes will fit in. There was restrained but passionate debate of cars versus bikes, agreement on the importance of low-cost public transit, and a general consensus for more local transit. No one wanted to take bikes off the chart, and the most widely supported initiative connected to cars was parking management (how to manage parking management is its own issue). Metro had few defenders; attendees were indifferent to taking it off the board when forced to make fast changes.

For both the TPAC group and the public, the top three agreed-upon priorities were “bikes and pedestrians everywhere,” “more local transit,” and “parking management and expansion.”

What wasn’t chosen is also illustrative—”accelerated good repair,” “sustainability and beauty,” and “fast transit.” Either most people feel these could be incorporated into other systems, or have given up on expecting them all together. More abstract concepts like “smarter systems” and connecting the grid didn’t win fans, either.

The final Move DC plan must address regional transit issues, like the 420,454 vehicle commuters coming into the District each day and the 100,000 people expected to move to the area in the next five years. Necessarily, the plan has to focus on how to get commuters out of their cars and onto other forms of transportation.

DDOT is still soliciting feedback during this initial phase, including the building block exercise. I encourage you to give your feedback and support bicycling if you have not already done so. The public input will help shape the alternatives that are developed going forward. DDOT will continue to accept input on this phase until Mon., April 22nd.

The next round of public Move DC workshops will be in early June. Sign up on the official moveDC list to stay in the loop. Please also sign up for the WABA Advocacy Hub email list for notifications on upcoming Move DC actions and other advocacy alerts.

This guest post is written by Christine Driscoll, an associate at Green Strategies and resident of Adams Morgan. She rides a blue Schwinn traveler and the T Street bike lane is her favorite.

Are you a D.C. resident? Do you have thoughts on how you’d like to get around the city over the next twenty years? It’s critical that you get involved with MoveDC, the District Department of Transportation’s long-range planning process for transportation in D.C. MoveDC kicked off with an “Idea Exchange” in early February. Attendees were asked to identify their priorities for transportation, map their routes, and share their desires for D.C.’s transportation future.

The MoveDC process is continuing with a series of public meetings throughout the city. Last week, the “Ideas That Build” workshops came to wards 7 and 8. This week, they’re coming to wards 6 and 1. We encourage you to attend the meetings, especially those closest to your home, to voice your interest in dedicated facilities for bicyclists.

More information can be found on our website and on MoveDC’s website. See a PDF of our suggested talking points here. Details on the workshops are listed below; if you can attend, please RSVP with us here.

Session 3 (Ward 6)
Tues., March 26
6-8 p.m.
Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School multi-purpose room
259 G St. NE

Session 4 (Ward 1)
Thurs., March 28
6-8 p.m.
Woodrow Wilson High School
3950 Chesapeake St. NW

Are you a D.C. resident? Do you have thoughts on how you’d like to get around the city over the next twenty years? It’s critical that you get involved with MoveDC, the District Department of Transportation’s long-range planning process for transportation in D.C. MoveDC kicked off with an “Idea Exchange” in early February. Attendees were asked to identify their priorities for transportation, map their routes, and share their desires for D.C.’s transportation future.

The MoveDC process will continue with a series of public meetings in wards 3, 6, 7, and 8. We encourage you to attend the meetings, especially those closest to your home, to voice your interest in dedicated facilities for bicyclists. These meetings, called “Ideas That Build” workshops, begin next Wednesday.

More information can be found on our website and on MoveDC’s website. See a PDF of our suggested talking points here. The dates of the workshops are listed below the jump; if you can attend, please RSVP with us here.

Read the rest of this entry »

During the oversight hearing for the Bicycle Advisory Committee, the Pedestrian Advisory Committee, and the District Department of Transportation on Mon., March 4, WABA Executive Director Shane Farthing testified on the importance of installing the M Street cycletrack and identifying and prioritizing a cycletrack project to follow M Street, as well as the necessity of completing trail projects like the Metropolitan Branch Trail and the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail.

Read Shane’s testimony below.

March 4 BAC Testimony by

This evening, MoveDC is hosting a transportation public advisory committee meeting in the second-floor community room at the Reeves Center (government-issued ID required), 2000 14th St. NW, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. A period for public comment is included in the agenda.

MoveDC also has four “Ideas that Build” workshops coming up across the city, all in March. We urge you to attend one or more meetings to make your interest in dedicated bike infrastructure known. Your physical presence is important in this long-range transportation planning process, and we appreciate any effort you can make to come out to MoveDC’s workshops. The dates and locations are as follows:

Session 1
Wed., March 20, 6-8 p.m.
Department of Employment Services community room
4058 Minnesota Ave. NE

Session 2
Thurs., March 21, 6-8 p.m.
Matthews Memorial Baptist Church
2616 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE

Session 3
Tues., March 26, 6-8 p.m.
Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School multi-purpose room
659 G St. NE

Session 4
Thurs., March 28, 6-8 p.m.
University of the District of Columbia (tentative)
4200 Connecticut Ave. NW

For continued updates on MoveDC and how you can get involved, keep reading our blog or check this page on our website.

Saturday’s Idea Exchange was the beginning of DDOT’s MoveDC project, a long-term planning process that will determine the future of transportation in D.C. for at least the next 25 years. The event combined public input, appearances by D.C. politicians, and a panel of local urbanist thinkers.

Mayor Vince Gray was vocal in his desires for reduced use of cars in the District, stating that he wished to see 75 percent of trips to be made by bike, mass transit, or on foot. Tommy Wells and Mary Cheh reiterated this commitment to non-car transit modes; Wells especially emphasized the need for better land-use planning in D.C. And in a panel moderated by MoveDC’s Veronica Davis, Brookings Institute’s Chris Leinberger, PolicyLink’s Anita Hairston, and Slate’s Matt Yglesias provided insight to what D.C.’s built environment might look like in the future.

The WeMove team put considerable effort into making the Idea Exchange a fun way to spend a Saturday: Attendees had the opportunity to write down their desires for transportation in D.C. and pin them up, play with street designs, map their commutes on a communal map, and take photobooth pictures to remember the whole thing. Check out the hashtag feed of “ideasmovedc” for Twitter updates from the day, and read Greater Greater Washington’s recap.

No dates for forthcoming public meetings were announced, but once they’re available, we’ll let you know. It’s critical that you stay engaged throughout MoveDC’s planning process. Your presence at public meetings is the single most important way to ensure that the voices of cyclists in D.C. are heard.

Follow MoveDC on Twitter and Facebook, and continue to check its website for updates. See more photos from the event in the MoveDC Flickr pool.

 Photo by thisisbossi from the MoveDC Flickr Pool

DDOT’s long-range transportation plan for the city, MoveDC, will formally begin this Saturday with an all-day meeting at the Martin Luther King Jr. library. The “idea exchange” will include a welcome address by Mayor Vincent Gray, Councilmember Mary Cheh, and DDOT Director Terry Bellamy; discussions on the future of transportation; and an all-day transportation fair.

The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. at MLK Library, 901 G St. NW, and will run until 3 p.m. See the MoveDC page for more information.

We hope you’ll come out to show the presence of cyclists interested in DDOT’s plans for how people will get around D.C. throughout the next decade. The best thing you can do is show up and ask for improvements for cycling infrastructure that will help not just you, your friends, and your neighbors ride bikes.

At our recent advocacy open house, we advised attendees on bike-specific talking points that will likely be relevant to what’s presented at WeMove. See a PDF of those talking points below, and consider bringing a copy on Saturday.

We’ll continue to provide updates here and on our website about how you can make your voice heard and advocate for the needs of cyclists throughout the MoveDC process, which will run for about 18 months.

A few things are coming up at our office:

Tomorrow night, Tues., Jan. 15, be trained to be a D.C. bike ambassador. Bike ambassadors reach out to and educate cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers about what it means to ride a bike in the D.C. area. To learn more about what bike ambassadors do and how the program spreads the good word of bicycling, click here. Sign up for bike ambassador orientation here. It’ll run from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

On Wed., Jan. 23, we’ll host an open house to talk about major transportation planing processes that are about to get underway in D.C. and Maryland. The District’s MoveDC is the city’s first master transportation plan, and the state of Maryland is updating its bicycle and pedestrian master plan. Come to the WABA office from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. to get an understanding of what the plans will mean for cyclists and learn how to testify or present at public meetings. You’ll get to meet fellow cyclists and discuss relevant talking points. Please sign up for the open house here.

Our Adams Morgan office is located at 2599 Ontario Road NW.

Two of the most important planning processes for the future of biking in our region will be taking place simultaneously this year. Your input, presence, opinions, and comments will be needed to ensure that bike infrastructure is acknowledged and included.

Beginning in February, the District Department of Transportation will begin work on D.C.’s first multimodal transportation plan, called MoveDC. Also, beginning this spring, the Maryland Department of Transportation will begin seeking public input as it updates the state’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan for the first time since 2002.

Both plans present significant opportunities to alter how people get around, and in subsequent posts we’ll provide more detailed information on each. What matters most right now is that both processes are being designed to maximally integrate public input into the planning of our transportation future. While WABA will be actively involved as an organization, it’s also critical that people—like you!—who value biking as a way of getting around and want to see it encouraged in the future participate.

On Wed., Jan. 23, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., we will be hosting an open house at our office in Adams Morgan. This will be a low-key opportunity for people interested in participating in these processes and testifying or presenting at public meetings to meet their fellow bicyclists, review background materials, ask questions, and get a better understanding of what’s going on in D.C. and Maryland.

Changes are coming, and your input is essential. We hope to see you on Jan. 23!