D.C. Bicycle Advisory Council

Highlights of BAC accomplishments in March: The BAC held its bimonthly meeting on March 6. The guest speakers were representatives of the Department of Public Works, who briefed the BAC on bike lane parking enforcement and other issues of concern to bicyclists. On a related note, the BAC voted to support DDOT “Proper Behavior in Bike Lanes” rulemaking and submitted its official position favoring “rules that remove ambiguity around driver behavior in bike lanes, especially if such rules result in regular enforcement.” BAC Chair Pro-Tem and Ward 5 representative Tom Bridge was reappointed on March 19. This evening I swore in Tom Bridge to his 2nd term on the @DCBAC . I’m excited for you to continue your work making the District safer for cyclists! pic.twitter.com/8fJLm1ZcNQ — Phil Mendelson (@ChmnMendelson) March 19, 2019 BAC Chair and Ward 4 representative Rachel Maisler and member Anders Pedersen joined a March 31 community ride supporting bicycle facilities on K St...

Photo: @Ranpuba The next District of Columbia Bicycle Advisory Committee is tomorrow evening Wednesday, May 4, 2016 , 6pm at 441 4th Street, NW on the 11th Floor (Room 1112). There are several projects accepting comments right now for the next few weeks. Below are links to each:

Photo: @ranpuba James Sebastian, District Department of Transportation (DDOT) bicycle program manager, issued an email this morning regarding the impact of this weekend's blizzard and the clearing of snow from the District's bicycle infrastructure. Key points: Much of the Metropolitan Branch Trail and Pennsylvania Avenue Protected bike lanes are clear. It could be several days before other trails and protected lanes are clear of snow Bike lanes on many streets will remain snow covered for several days as parked cars inhibit clearing DPW and DDOT crews are working to clear bridge sidewalks Capital Bikeshare is closed until further notice as crew work to clear snow from stations Use the 311 app to report uncleared facilities or email jim.sebastian@dc.gov Please see the full email below:

Come join the Facilities Committee for the last sitdown meeting of the season at Brookland Pint February 9th from 6 - 8pm. We will discuss the bike lanes planned by DDOT for installation this year, a proposed signed bike route, the updated summary of BAC FAC rides and follow up on our conversation last meeting about general facilities maintenance trends and options for improvement. As always, members of the public are encouraged to come, look for the group with a pile of helmets and outer layers! Brookland Pint is at 716 Monroe St NW, right next to the Brookland Metro stop, on the Metropolitan Branch Trail and there is Capital Bikeshare station nearby at 10th and Monroe St NE.  If you cannot attend the meeting, please leave use our comments section below or  @DCBAC  on Twitter.

New year, new resolutions and a revamped DCBAC website! We had an excellent General BAC meeting last Wednesday with updates from DDOT, Office of Planning, Arlington BAC and our committees. In the spirit of resolution for more frequent communication, I thought I'd post an update on our latest meeting for folks who don't want to read the 5 pages of meeting minutes. Snow removal - Bike lanes were done as a second round pass by the main line snow removal crew while the protected bike lanes were cleared by the bike planner staff of DDOT with a specialized plow. Detailed post to come. DDOT does not currently have a list of specific bike lanes they plan to build in 2015 but it should be coming soon. The Eastside Bikeway (east side of downtown) is not on contract currently but is in the plans for this year. The final 30% plan of the Fort Totten section of the MBT should be done by the end of 2015 while the Rhode Island Pedestrian Bridge has had its "soft" opening. The fin...

As the WeMoveDC process begins its transition from the information gathering to the planning stage, the ideas that they've gathered from thousands of District residents are now coming together - on maps. In anticipation of WeMoveDC's third round of  Workshops – Ideas to moveDC - beginning October 21, BAC has obtained a draft version of the WeMoveDC maps that list ideas and approached for the District's bicycle facilities (displayed below). There are a lot of moving parts in this process, but thanks to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), we now have maps that break them into component as well as composite maps. BAC would like #BikeDC to look at these maps and either tell us what you think or tell WeMoveDC at its upcoming meetings. We'd also like you to note if anything should be included, for example, with all these new routes, what about safe, secure bicycle parking? WeMoveDC has three approaches or alternatives loosely based on themes of 1) Stay ...

Pennsylvania Avenue by @Ranpuba The Wednesday, May 29 Pennsylvania Avenue Plan meeting was well-attended by those concerned about the safety transportation corridor, in particular, bicyclists who use the street's center-aligned bike lanes to travel east and west within the District's downtown core. However, according to the meeting’s National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) presenter, the meeting wasn’t about bike lanes.   Instead, the meeting discussed the alternatives to the current management structure of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site plan . Under section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Park Service must also hold this consultation meeting to discuss if proposed changes will have an impact on the historic resources of the site.  While this issue appears less than what bicyclists hoped, it actually provided an opportunity to discuss the corridor and provide suggestions as to how the street could be more inviting to ...

Although the Pennsylvania Avenue is a major street in the District, most people do not know that the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has limited control over how it is maintained, its designed or what amenities are situated along it.  While Congress may exercise its control, Pennsylvania Avenue has several entities that have some authority over the street. Many of them will be at the Pennsylvania Avenue Plan public meeting, Wednesday, May 29 to discuss the future of the street and who will be responsible for its long-term planning. The government participants will include the National Park Service (NPS), the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), General Services Administration (GSA), and the District of Columbia. The meeting will be from 5:00p to 7:00p at NCPC’s offices, 401 9th Street, NW.

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) held its public meeting to discuss the proposed M Street NW cycle track, also called a protected bike lane, Wednesday, May 15 at the West End Public Library.  Most of the discussion involved how the proposed cycle track would impact those who attend the 175 year-old Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal church ( @MetropolitanAME ) in the1500 block of M Street. M Street Cycle track Meeting (Photo: @ranpuba) DDOT Presentation The second floor meeting room of the West End Library appeared to be near capacity with almost every seat taken and several standing when DDOT staff comprise of Associate Director Sam Zimbabwe, Bicycle Program Coordinator James Sebastian and  Bike Program Planner Mike Goodno began their presentation of the project. The presentation initially discussed certain functional highlights of the bike lane including the integration of automobile turning lanes and protected green sections for the safety ...

This Wednesday, May 15, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will hold a public meeting to discuss the planned installation of protected bicycle lanes along M Street, from Thomas Circle to 28th. The public meeting will also discuss some of the observations of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association walking tour of M Street held Monday, May 6. The meeting will be held at the West End Library , 1101 24th St. NW, beginning at 6:30 pm. BAC encourages you to attend this meeting so that DDOT can include your concerns or suggestions in its design for this new infrastructure. The one-way westbound M Street lanes will provide needed crosstown access for bicyclists and complements the L Street lanes, which were constructed last year.  DDOT and WABA staff noted that it was important for the bicycling community to attend the meeting so that certain concerns addressed during the M Street walk and lessens learned from the installation of the L Street lanes are discussed. For e...

Tuesday, April 9, 2-13, WeMoveDC held a web-based chat regarding transportation challenges both in the District and regionally. Below is a log containing questions asked and answers provided by WeMoveDC / District Department of Transportation staff. Audience Question: Q: Will the slides from this presentation be made available to us after the workshop (emailed or at a website?) A: Yes, on the website under the resources tab on the website. www.wemoveDC.org Audience Question: Q: how about taxi drivers? A: DDOT works on this with the taxi cab commission, both specifically and generally. Special outreach has been done with this group. Audience Question: Q: How can create a better funding and governance mechanism for regional transportation (From Baltimore to Richmond, from Annapolis to Dulles)? A: We are working with regional, state, and local partners to start to identify solutions. MWCOG has an important role in the finance and funding discussion. Recently, Virg...

Monday, October 15, 2012, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will hold a workshop to discuss the Georgia Avenue corridor study.  The meeting is at the DC Housing Finance Agency , 815 Florida Avenue NW from 5p to 7p. Specifically, the meeting seeks input from the public regarding the lower Georgia Avenue corridor between Barry Place and Florida Avenue NW. The DDOT study proposes multi-modal improvements along the corridor, which include shared transit-bike lanes that are similar to the those used on 7th and 9th Streets NW roughly between E Street and Mt. Vernon Square.  In addition, DDOT has previously posted plans to operate streetcars along Georgia Avenue . This offers an opportunity to include future bicycle consideration for the this corridor. As always, we appreciate your comments in the comments section. Below is a copy of the meeting announcement: Georgia Streetscape Project Meeting