Category Archives: Bikes

October 17, 2013 · 10:00 am

How Georgetown Could Be More Bikeable

New O and P Streets Great for Bikers

 

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: Continue reading →

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February 22, 2013 · 10:00 am

Georgetown Popular with Bikes

Photo by Thisisbossi.

M.V. Jantzen recently put together a nifty map charting the results of a survey done by DDOT measuring bicycle use at 48 different spots. And two spots in Georgetown were among the most heavily traveled.

They were Water St. and Key Bridge, which were second and fourth overall. Water St. saw an average if 198.4 bikes pass per hour. The most busy hour saw 351 bikes pass. The crowd was pretty male, with 81.3% of them men. And 91.8% were wearing a helmet. (This high helmet usage probably reflects the fact that most of the riders passing here are from the Capital Crescent Trail). Only .1% were using Capital Bikeshare. Continue reading →

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January 9, 2013 · 10:00 am

Coming and Going By Bike

Photo by Adminspotter.

This has been a great week for Capital Bikeshare! It started off with Slate naming it the best bikeshare program in the country. And now the inestimable M.V. Jantzen has created a program that allows you to click on any bikeshare station and find out where people ride to from that station and where people road from to arrival there.

The data for the Georgetown stations (taken from the 3rd quarter of 2012) is predictable, but interesting. Check them out:

Wisconsin and Canal:

  • Top Paired Station: Dupont Circle – 789 trips – 434 to here and 355 back

K and 30th:

  • Top Paired Station: Also Dupont Circle – 522 trips – 370 to here and 152 back Continue reading →

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December 18, 2012 · 10:00 am

Georgetown to Get Three(!) More Bikeshare Stations

Photo by Jason Pier.

Christmas came early for Georgetown bikers. DDOT announced yesterday that it’s adding 78 new Capital Bikeshare stations. And the expansion list includes three new stations for Georgetown (which already has five).

The new Georgetown locations are 34th & Water St., in front of the Wisconsin Ave. CVS, and in front of Hyde on O St.

These stations come as a bit of a (happy) surprise to GM. The ANC had requested as part of a past expansion that DDOT consider a station in front of Hyde, but they passed. The two stations would definitely go a long way towards addressing the gap between the stations in lower Georgetown and the one north of the Safeway. Continue reading →

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March 23, 2012 · 10:00 am

New O and P Streets Great for Bikers

Last night GM finally had a chance to ride on some of the stretches of the completed construction on P St. And he can happily report that the new cobblestones a incredibly smooth and very bikeable.

Prior to the constructions, O and P Streets west of Wisconsin were basically a no-go zone for bikes. You could ride on the cobblestone (or more accurately: the Belgian blocks) but it was really uncomfortable and, between the blocks, the patches and the tracks themselves, not terribly safe either. And it was technically illegal too since there was a sign saying not bikes. Continue reading →

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December 5, 2011 · 10:00 am

NPS Supports Keeping Rose Park Path as Multipurpose

Photo by Csuspect.

As discussed a while back in connection with the possible placement of a Capital Bikeshare station in Rose Park, there has been a long simmering fight in Rose Park over the use of a path that travels from P st. down to M st.

The National Park Service has periodically floated plans to improve the path, widen it and maintain it as a multiuse path (i.e., able to be used by walkers and bikers). The Friends of Rose Park would also like to see the path improved, but doesn’t want it widened, and wants bike riding banned from the park.

NPS has consistently refused to assent to FORP’s requests, both in the plans for the physical design of the path and the allowed uses. But recently Rock Creek Park (which includes Rose Park) came under the control of a new superintendent. With that change, some hoped that NPS would reconsider its stance on the Rose Park path.

Last week, however, NPS issued an environmental impact statement for the long-planned improvements to the path (both in Rose Park and throughout Rock Creek Park). The report comes out in favor of widening the Rose Park path to six feet (it’s currently varies in width from five to six feet). The report rejects the request to simply repave the path at its current width: “Because the existing trail is too narrow, this option was dismissed. Trail users routinely leave the paved trail surface in order to walk side by side or pass other users.” Continue reading →

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June 29, 2011 · 10:00 am

M Street Cycletracks at Risk

Photo by AJFroggie.

As reported by GGW, it appears as if the proposal to bring cycletracks to M St. (and L St.) is on hold, if not dead. This is bad for Georgetown.

A cycletrack is a special bike lane where parking spots are moved away from the curb and a two way bike path is put there instead. There is a very successful cycletrack on 15th St. from Pennsylvania Ave. all the way up past U St.

Cycltracks are a great way to give bikers a safe and comfortable ride on city streets. GM takes the 15th st. cycletrack home from work frequently, even though it is somewhat out of his way. And installation on a street like 15th St. has little effect on car traffic since the street was not congested prior to installation.

DDOT has had plans on the books to bring crosstown lanes to compliment this north-south route. The most recent plans called for installation of the lanes on L and M Streets from the Mt. Vernon Square area all the way to Georgetown (or Foggy Bottom in the case of L St.) This would hugely benefit Georgetowners as it would provide a quick and safe bike route to and from home. Plus, the ANC is strongly pushing for the installation of a bikeshare station at the south end of Rose Park, which would be right at the west end of the M St. Ultimately, GM would like to see the cycletrack brought all the way through Georgetown, but getting it to the doorstep would be a good first step. Continue reading →

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April 21, 2011 · 10:00 am

Georgetown to Get Two More Bikeshare Stations, But Locations Lacking

Photo by Jasonpier.

Yesterday, DDOT announced the proposed location of 25 more Capital Bikeshare locations. Of those, two are going to be in Georgetown. This is great news. What’s not so great is where DDOT is planning to put them.

In January, as a result of efforts mostly from Ken Archer, the ANC approved a resolution asking DDOT to consider putting Bikeshare stations at four locations: the sidewalk outside Hyde-Addison, the playground of the Jackson School (across from Montrose Park), the Georgetown Library, and the sidewalk of M St. just west of the Rock Creek bridge. Each of the first three of those locations was vetted with the stakeholders and even representatives of DDOT. So they weren’t merely idle wishes for locations. The last location was added by ANC commissioner Tom Birch because, hey, it’s probably a great location if a station could fit.

No one from DDOT promised that Georgetown would get any stations, let alone at these recommended locations. But it seemed reasonable to assume that if DDOT gave Georgetown more stations that they’d put them at locations specifically requested through a diligent process.

So it came as a surprise to see that DDOT is proposing putting two stations at locations not even previously considered. They recommend putting a station at the intersection of Reservoir and Wisconsin and a station along P St. near the Rock Creek Parkway exit.

Both these locations have significant problems. Continue reading →

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November 17, 2010 · 10:00 am

We Need More Bikeshare Stations, But Where?

Photo by DDOT.

Capital Bikeshare has been a hit since it started September 20th. There are 4,480 members and a total of 52,000 trips have been taken. In October alone, there were 36,762 trips using over a million minutes of bikeshare time (that’s an average of about 27 minutes a ride). Those are really great numbers.

They’re so great that DDOT is already announcing that it’s going ahead with its first expansion. Twenty additional stations will be added next spring. Certainly DDOT is going to be hearing from a lot of sides where to put those stations, but GM believes that at least one of them should go to east Georgetown. Right now there’s a bit of a hole in coverage for east Georgetown, and putting a station there would benefit residents and neighbors greatly.

But where exactly? GM’s got a couple of ideas:

Rose Park:

Rose Park has a bunch of strengths. It sits between M and P, which are the two primary routes that people take from central DC to Georgetown. It has nice paths which connect down to Rock Creek Park. It’s a popular destination for people visiting the neighborhood either to sunbathe or play tennis, etc. And finally, while most of it is federally owned (which makes it tough if not impossible right now to put a station there) a small section near the tennis courts is city-owned. Continue reading →

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December 8, 2009 · 9:00 am

Bicyclist Killed at 31st and M

Updated: It is not clear whether the bicyclist survived the collision or not.  More at Washcycle.

Last night a bicyclist was fatally struck by involved in a collision with a Dulles cab driver at the corner of 31st and M. The above picture was taken by Flickr user BrownPau and Twitter user Vnangia reported that the collision was fatal for the biker. There were no reports on the MPD2D listserv to verify these reports.

It appears from the photo above that the cab was heading westbound on M and turning down 31st St. It is not clear from the photo what direction the biker was heading when he or she was hit.

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