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President Obama’s Bike Lanes
By spokesman | March 11, 2010
Dedicated bicycle lanes are going to be created on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. between the White House and the Capitol Building. These new lanes, as reported in the Washington Post, will run down the center of Pennsylvania Avenue. The lanes will be separated from car lanes by removable posts and traffic signals will be modified so that bicyclists will be able to enter and exit the lanes safely. These new lanes will be part of a network of dedicated lanes in the downtown area. Additional bike lanes will be established on two one ways streets (I St and L St) by dedicating the left most lane for cyclists. An existing dedicated lane on 15th street will be extended to reach the new lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue. The 15th street lane is separated from traffic by plastic posts. The I street and L street lanes will be painted lanes but may eventually have permanent barriers. This dedicated network of bicycle lanes will significantly improve bicycle commuting. I believe that they will also be popular with tourists and weekend cyclists. These lanes are in addition to the 44 miles of painted bike lanes in the District. The bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave use lanes that were once used for street cars as can be seen in photos below.
View of Pennsylvania Ave From 9th Street with street cars - 1909
President Coolidge Inaugural Parade on Pennsylvania Ave - 1925 (Notice the street car tracks)
Street Car on Pennsylvania Ave - 1959
Obama Inaugural Parade on Pennsylvania Ave - 2009 - (Note: the street car tracks are gone)
These dedicated bicycle lanes are extremely important. While bicyclists have the right to use the road, safety concerns prevent many people from bike commuting. The addition of dedicated bike lanes; ones where cars can’t double park and cyclists don’t have to worry about car doors of parked cars opening in their path; will greatly increase the number of commuters. Washington D.C. has the potential to be a city with a large number of bicycle commuters. The population downtown has grown and many people lives within a close ride of their office. The weather is mild most of the year. Traffic is terrible, so bike commuting would save time for many people.
These lanes will be seen by visitors from all over the country. Hopefully, it will spur some of them to ask why there aren’t similar lanes in their cities and get involved as advocates for better biking facilities.
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Topics: Trails/Bike Routes, Washington DC |
March 12th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Great idea to put the cyclists in an area that doors being flung open and double parking doesn’t impede their progress, wish there were more areas like this that could be adapted!
With Giro d’Italia in May 2012 how soon can this plan become reality so as to be seen worldwide and spur others to take action!
Needed will also be a change of attitude by drivers as the more that get on the bike in “Rush Hour the more freely traffic can start to become. Those remaining in vehicles need to remember to encourage cycling with a more considerate behaviour or they will defeat themselves.
Many more ideas on my blog www.parrabuddy.blogspot.com
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