by Livia Bardin
Concept C, the officially adopted plan for bicycle lanes in the DDOT Connecticut Avenue Reversible Lane, Safety and Operations Study, is fine for bikes, tough on cars, and disrespectful of the thousands of people who live in the apartment buildings or work in the businesses that line the avenue.
As DDOT engineers design the details, they must recognize that Connecticut Avenue is much more than a commuter corridor. Planners seem focused on the five morning and afternoon weekday hours that we’re inundated with commuters. But the rest of the time – 19 hours every day, and 24 on weekends and holidays – Connecticut is our urban “Main Street,” combining commercial and residential areas that bring people out in the neighborhoods all day, every day.
Thousands use local bus and Metro stops daily, according to WMATA statistics. Public transit users walk to and from their stops and destinations. Add the many pedestrians who do errands on foot every day. City planners agree on the importance of pedestrian movement and access. Yet Concept C does nothing to encourage people to walk or use public transportation – and by adding bike lanes, the concept in some ways makes it harder to walk as well as to live here.
Residents of the large apartment buildings that line the Avenue are short-changed under Concept C. We will lose parking places, delivery access, and drop-off/pick-up spaces for infirm people who must use taxis or ride shares. And we will lose additional parking spaces because Concept C’s design requires loading/unloading space on the side streets.
As DDOT works on the details, the residents and businesses can demand an outcome that better meets our needs. Here are elements that would make the plan tolerable:
1. Bus stops at the curb. Concept C shows them there. Let’s keep them there. Curbside stops relieve anxiety about crossing bike lanes or stepping off a bus onto a strip of raised pavement between two streams of oncoming traffic. Buses run infrequently. Bike riders can wait behind them for the minute or two they are stopped. If you want us to use fewer cars, DDOT, don’t make it harder to reach buses.
2. Prompt and easy access for emergency vehicles. The protective barriers between bike lanes and car lanes must be easily crossable for fire, ambulance, and police vehicles at all times and in all areas.
3. Drop-off, pick-up areas for stores and residential buildings that lack driveways. Some apartment buildings have driveways that allow for drop-off, pick-up, and delivery stops. For those that don’t, provide for brief curbside parking at their entrances. Similarly, provide curbside drop-off and pick-up spaces for businesses. Bike riders can manage an occasional bypass around a passenger car or Metro Access van, just as they can live with curbside buses.
4. Handicapped access and parking. Under DC law, handicapped persons may apply for a reserved parking place on the street near their homes (see page 3 of the linked document). Concept C should provide the spaces needed at every apartment building, plus handicapped parking spaces on both sides of every commercial block, to enable handicapped drivers and passengers to patronize nearby restaurants or get a haircut.
5. Adequate side street space for loading and unloading. US Mail, FedEx, UPS, and contractors like plumbers and carpenters unloading equipment for work need 15 minutes or more and a convenient space.
6. Longer-term side street parking spaces (four hours or more) for contractors and other workers like cleaners and healthcare personnel who work in the buildings. These spaces could be made available after business hours for resident parking.
7. Adequate width on side streets for vehicles to pass loading/unloading vans and trucks, many of which are wider than passenger cars, when there is oncoming traffic. This may necessitate eliminating parking spaces on both sides of the street. Congestion on side streets is likely as more cars seek parking space off Connecticut Avenue. It’s only reasonable to allow space for vehicles to move in both directions past parked trucks.
8. More stop lights are essential. “Yield” and “Slow” signs impress neither drivers nor bicycle riders. Again, if you want us out of cars, DDOT, stop lights at every through intersection will make it safer to get across the street.
9. Enforce the speed limits for cars and bicycles alike. In general, speed limits are not enforced. If MPD patrolled for speeders the way they do for rush-hour parking violations, Connecticut Avenue would be safer for all of us: bike riders, pedestrians, and drivers.
These are all practical measures that can and should be part of the final design. I call upon our ANC commissioners and our newly elected Ward 3 Council member to see that these (or better) measures are included.
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