Right now, DDOT is conducting a long term study on how people move around DC, and how they will move around DC in the future. The study is appropriately named MoveDC.
Part of the study’s process is analyzing bike use and what can be done to encourage it more in the future. In preparation for some upcoming public input meetings, a draft of some options has been circulated. The DC Bicycle Advisory Council obtained a copy of the plans. Check them out here.
DDOT considers several different “scenarios”: Stay the course (i.e. just continue the current plans), Get to the Center (build more infrastructure designed around moving more people downtown), and Connect the Neighborhoods (i.e., build a stronger interneighborhood links).
The choice of the scenario has impacts on what would get built and what wouldn’t. Here’s they would possibly improve Georgetown:
Stay the Course:
Under the first scenario pretty much nothing new happens in Georgetown. The M St. cycletrack (i.e. the separated bike lane) will come right up to 28th St., but that’s already planned (and supposed to be installed this fall). That’s about it. Needless to say, this is a weak scenario from a Georgetowner’s perspective.
Get to the Center:
The second scenario would bring several improvements to or near Georgetown. First, it would build a bike lane on P St. from the bridge all the way across Wisconsin (the map seems to indicate that the bike lane would be on P St. west of Wisconsin, but given the cobblestones and lack of lane paint, that won’t happen).
Additionally, a full cycletrack will come up Pennsylvania Ave. to M St. This would be great as it would create a stronger connection to the L St. cycletrack.
Connect the Neighborhoods:
This one is an interesting one. Instead of building a Pennsylvania Ave. bicycle track, this scenario calls for a bicycle track from the Q St. bridge west to 28th St., up to R St., and west all the way to Burleith. A Second cycletrack would go down Reservoir from Wisconsin all the way to Foxhall.
If GM had his druthers, he’d select the second scenario. While he often bikes down Q St. to head over to Dupont and points east and would appreciate improvements to that route, having a stronger connection to the commuter routes is probably a more worthwhile investment.
If you’d like to weigh in, head to one of the workshops coming up next week.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
I would generally agree that the second scenario provides the most improvements best, for Georgetown in particular. Mostly because Q and R are fairly bike-friendly as is, (although the 2500-2700 blocks of Q can be hairy), and because P Street has a slightly flatter grade, which makes it ideal for bike traffic (including short connections to Rock Creek Park, and via 23rd and 22nd street, to the L and M cycletracks).
Regardless of scenario, however, it would be nice to have a cycletrack, or at least bike lanes, on Reservoir, providing a safe east-west connection where none currently exists for the Foxhall and Palisades neighborhoods–Capital Crescent Trail notwithstanding.
I agree that the second scenario might be best, though also agree with Jacques that there’s a need in some of the areas covered by the third scenario. I don’t see why the third scenario means not building a Pennsylvania Ave cycletrack, though. Those are pretty far apart and don’t address the same traffic.
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