bikes belong
bikes do not belong on the sidewalk
bikes belong on the street
there is this major plan to widen all these sidewalks at a commerce district where Columbia Heights blends into Mount Pleasant around the 14th Street between Park and Columbia Road
widen the sidewalk
narrow the street
this will only increase sidewalk bike traffic
put a bike lane down
and
give the bicycles a place to ride
no brainer
had the bicycle been involved in the study
or at least the conversation
maybe they would have figured this out
I think that they were more concerned with other things
Rants on Cycling and on Life: Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera
5 comments:
unfortunately here in Rhode Island it IS legal to ride the bike on the sidewalk... which creates an interesting delima...
esp from an advocacy side... but...
i still prefer the street - cars are way more predictable than peds...
Good point. The project I was involved with at Wisconsin and Western Avenue in Chevy Chase includes a bike lane/sidewalk in the new construction, as well as other bike rack/lockers that go along with Metro requirements. This is the site of the old Hecht's store. The bike lane will run behind the curb, directly adjacent to the pedestrian walk, and extend one whole block before dumping bikes back into traffic. I'm not sure of the history/planning that went into it, but was surprised to see "bikes" actually incorporated. I'm guessing Montgomery County would not allow removal and replacement of existing old dieing trees on the north side of Western, that would have allowed widening of the road to incorporate a d 4' bike lane. Instead, the bike lane is on the developers property where all sorts of bike/ped accidents will occur. I will be interesting to see this works out over time.
I missed the meeting last night, so I'm not sure what the plans entailed, but the sidewalks along park, irving and columbia are waaaaay too narrow for the amount of usage it gets. That whole area has some of the highest pedestrian rates in the city.
Narrowing the travel lanes should calm traffic quite a bit. Besides, I believe there are proposed lanes for that stretch of 14th(to join up with those north of Monroe and south of U).
jeff
good point
yes
the sidewalks need to handle mass pedestrian traffic
which will only increase as the commerce progresses in development
maybe DC needs to get the message out on the right of a bicycle to be on the road
start marking such roads that lack room for a bicycle specific BIKE LANE to be marked as a SHARE LANE
and
enducate the public on the notion of passing a cyclist by THREE FEET
I think that somewhere in the driver's handbook there was a misprint that taught the drivers to pass within THREE INCHES
and well
some drivers are not even doing that
and brian
good meeting you
-zilla
Bikes on the sidewalk is a HUGE problem in my beach neighborhood. People are so used to riding their cruisers on the Boardwalk (which is allowed) that they automatically think it's okay to ride on sidewalk too, even though everyone finds it insanely annoying. The sidewalks are already tiny and half taken up by restaurant patios - why the heck would you try to jam your pink Hello Kitty beach cruiser through the miniscule amount of space left over that is usually occupied by a pedestrian? that's why it's called a sideWALK!
Another annoying thing the cruiser crowd loves to do is ride in the street against traffic. GRRRRR!
I guess I should be happy because they're riding bikes, but they often do more harm than good.
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