For those in the "you don't need a helmet" or "helmets set back bike advocacy" crowd, John Kelly picks a fight by stating a list of thinks he knows are wrong.
Murder is wrong.
So is speeding. Speeding is wrong. And embezzlement. Torture is wrong. Bicycling without a helmet is wrong. Walking on railroad tracks is wrong. Frying ants with a magnifying glass is wrong.
I should point out that it was a humor column.
Dr. Gridlock reports that work on the bridge that will carry the Rock Creek Park Trail over Viers Mill Road is underway. A rendering of it is above. Lanes will be closed this weekend as two cranes lift and position four 37-ton, curved steel beams over Veirs Mill Road.
The eventual result will be a 605 foot-long bridge for hikers and bikers on the 15-mile-long trail that also will provide a safe crossing of busy Veirs Mill for neighborhood residents. The project got underway in December 2008 and should be done in spring 2011.
"Spring 2011? But I want to ride that bridge now!" said the whiny bike blogger. I wish I'd known they were working on it, I would've gotten a photo when I rode the Matthew Henson trail to Rock Creek, it's not far north of there. If you get a photo - especially with the cranes lifting pieces into place, do add it to the Washcycle Flickr group, please.
Hopefully this is the end of this tempest in a teapot.
The main things are that he won't be tailed by a motorcycle anymore, and that he didn't know the Clara Barton Parkway was off limits to cyclists - he's been riding it since high school. So now we can get back to less important issues like fixing the education system and balancing the budget.
The Department of Transportation and Environmental Services (T&ES) will hold a public meeting about the King/Beauregard Intersection Improvements on Wednesday, November 18 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the Minnie Howard Ninth Grade Center located at 3801 West Braddock Road.
The King/Beauregard project is an intersection improvement project at the intersection of King Street and Beauregard Street and Walter Reed Drive. The proposed at grade improvements will add an additional left turn lane in each direction on King Street, medians and a 10’ shared use path on portions of King Street and North Beauregard Street. These improvements will increase capacity and safety through the corridor.
For more information about the King/Beauregard Intersection Improvements visit AlexandriaVa.gov/KingBeauregard or contact Lisa Jaatinen 703.746.4053.
Improvements to increase pedestrian safety include 6-foot wide ADAcompliant sidewalks, off-street shared-use paths to comply with the City’s bike plan, 6-foot wide landscaped buffers between the street and the sidewalks and shared use paths, elimination of slip lanes, and new pedestrian signals.
The path appears to run along both sides of King from 28th to Beauregard, along both sides of Beauredard west of the intersection and on the north side west of the intersection.
DCMud has some renderings of the new Catholic University Abdo development one of which includes the Metropolitan Branch Trail. It's in the bottom of this rendering, between the green space and the Arts Walk.
On Dr. Gridlock's Monday chat a commenter wrote in to complain about the 15th Street contraflow bike lane.
The 15th street contraflow bike lane is an absolute disaster. Traffic has not slowed. It's still as dangerous for cyclists. Street cleaners cannot get to the curb or they will rip off the reflective covers that indicate the bike lane. Cyclists are going the wrong way. Cars are parked in the lane. 15th street does not feel part of the neighborhood. There are misspelled words like "yield" in the bike lane. Please tell me this is not permanent.
My thoughts were how does the commenter know that traffic hasn't slowed, have they been out there with a radar gun? Dr. G got a response from John Lisle, a spokesman for DDOT, who replied that
I'm not sure what the plan is with streetcleaners and snow plows now that the no parking poles have been installed, but they do have smaller human pushed versions of both of these that they use to clear sidewalks. And cyclists are used to riding in the snow. The misspellings are unfortunate, but hardly rise to the level of disaster, since they're easily fixed. As for the last point, I'll quote IMGoph:
Did the road "feel like part of the neighborhood" before? this odd turn of phrase is being used by a couple anti-commenters at all of the above sites, and it just sounds really weird and practiced, like a creepy talking point.
In other words, this is a rather hysterical reaction to a project that is too new to completely judge, with problems that resulted from the mid-implementation aspect of it and some small problems during installation.
There was a presentation by the State Highway Administration (SHA) Bicycle and Pedestrain Planning team. The group is creating a database of SHA’s bicycle and pedestrian facilities and a plan to keep the database up-to-date. They're reviewing the SHA’s 2007 Bicycle and Pedestrian Design Guidelines with the intent of changing the language from suggestive to proscriptive in order to better ensure the provision of non-motorized facilities. They're looking for opportunities to create new bicycle and pedestrian facilities in system preservation projects.
The BPAC voted to support the following bills introduced in the 2009 legislative session but not enacted into law in the event these bills are reintroduced in 2010. They were HB 97, Manslaughter by Vehicle, SB 428, Three Foot Bicycle Safety, HB 152, Arrest for Leaving Accident Scene Involving Injury, and HB 1197 Removing the requirement that cyclists use shoulders/bike lanes about which the LAB wrote:
The League wishes to express our support for Maryland House Bill 1197. It is our opinion that the bill would help clarify Maryland law in addition to being a step forward to fully recognizing cyclists as authorized, legal road users. Maryland is only one of four states whose laws require cyclist to use a shoulder when one is present. This fact only serves to reinforce the second class status of cyclists on Maryland's roads. Such discriminatory laws are part of the reason the League ranked Maryland 35 out of 50 through our Bicycle Friendly State program. Passage of HB 1197 will help improve its standing, and help Maryland fulfill the promise of its Department of Transportation to "encourage walking and bicycling, and will provide a seamless, balanced and barrier-free network for all." HB 1197 would remove any ambiguity to the law, and make for more clear concise language that is easier for cyclists to follow, officers and judges to enforce, and for all to understand.
There was also interest in overturning a statuory prohibition on biking on the grounds of the Maryland Stadium Authority and in enacting the Idaho stop.
The Commuting and Transportation Committee announced the publication by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council of an employers'/employes guide to bicycle commuting. The committe also worked to remove the restriction on biking across the Hatem Bridge in Perryville.
The Education and Awarness Committe continued work on its assesment of walk/bike policies in Maryland's 24 school districts.
WTOP figures Fenty spent about $100 of taxpayer money shipping his bike to the Democratic National Conventions (out of $364,748 total). Fenty should just pay $200 and be done with it. The real scandal is that we spent over $300,000 to send Fenty to a pep rally. Really?
Mongomery County defined its new growth policy, which includes giving
developers discounts to build dense developments near transit stations as long as they also construct bike paths and walkways, put shops and other amenities nearby, and use environmentally friendly construction methods.
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