Pointless Prize: DC Safe Accommodations Extravaganza
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Some of you may know that trying to get DDOT to enforce the Safe Accommodations Act of 2013 is one of my pet projects. In short, the Safe Accommodations Act says that, should a sidewalk or roadway need to be closed for construction, safe accommodations must be made for pedestrians and cyclists. It seems like a small thing, but it turns out it’s a mess of bureaucracy, indifference, and unfeathered metal plates. WABA is working hard on this, but what they really need is documentation of the problem.
So here’s the contest. I want documentation. If you see construction in a bike lane, on a sidewalk, wherever, and there isn’t a safe passage for cyclists and pedestrians, take a picture. Either post it to this thread or email it to me [my forum name]@gmail.com. If the bike lane is blocked, construction crews must make every attempt to make a temporary lane. That means, for example, temporarily removing parking from the opposite side of the street so that lanes can shift rather than closing a lane. If you’re not sure it’s a violation, take a picture anyway. Good faith pictures that seem bad but aren’t actually violations of the law will be counted. If possible, the picture or picture should show the whole street. Be safe – get to a safe spot before taking the picture.
This is only for DC. If someone from VA or MD wants to partner with me to include those jurisdiction, hit me up.
Most violations documented wins. The prize will be some sort of baked good and likely some homemade hot sauce (it is Freezing Saddles, after all). An additional prize is that I’ll share these violations with DDOT Public Space, who know me well, and WABA, who also know me well. There is a real chance for this to make a difference for safe cycling in DC
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Here we see Fort Myer Construction parked in the temporary bike lane they put in after I begged DDOT for literally six months. Thanks Fort Myer! Giving tons of money to the DC Council sure pays off!
IMG_20170223_082715697_HDR by Jon, on FlickrAll these violations were from one single bike ride. I went 3 blocks out of my way to document the final one. All four are pure laziness – there’s plenty of room to shift all travel lanes. You just have to close off the opposite side of the street for parking, which is what the law requires, but almost no one does.
11th and R NW: despite plenty of room to shift lanes and keep all four clear, they’ve chosen to just block the bike lane
IMG_20170227_114257346_HDR by Jon, on Flickr11th and Rhode Island NW: Again, plenty of room to shift, but that’s apparently too much work
IMG_20170227_114354010_HDR by Jon, on Flickr11th and O NW: Same old, same old.
IMG_20170227_114634625_HDR by Jon, on Flickr15th and R NW: This has been illegal since 2/3 – an unfeathered pavement cut. Apparently in the middle of the night they repaved without any sort of permit, and decided not to repaint the pavement markings. This is the 15th St Cycletrack, one of the crown jewels of DC bike infrastructure, where you have 5 north and south bound lanes and two west bound and somehow they thought this was an appropriate way to leave it.
IMG_20170227_120948090 by Jon, on FlickrWho knew there was a limit of 4 embedded images to one post? Here are the other two.
11th and Otis NW: never mind that this contraflow lane is the lowest of low-hanging fruit and isn’t worth the plastic it took to paint it – it’s still a bike lane, and this is still a violation of the Safe Accommodations Act
IMG_20170227_122457806_HDR by Jon, on FlickrAnd this one, the exception to the rule – they actually marked off a temporary bike lane, proving IT CAN BE DONE IF YOU JUST CARE A LITTLE BIT.
IMG_20170227_114515608 by Jon, on Flickr@jrenaut 155949 wrote:
Who knew there was a limit of 4 embedded images to one post? Here are the other two.
11th and Otis NW: never mind that this contraflow lane is the lowest of low-hanging fruit and isn’t worth the plastic it took to paint it – it’s still a bike lane, and this is still a violation of the Safe Accommodations Act
IMG_20170227_122457806_HDR by Jon, on FlickrAnd this one, the exception to the rule – they actually marked off a temporary bike lane, proving IT CAN BE DONE IF YOU JUST CARE A LITTLE BIT.
IMG_20170227_114515608 by Jon, on FlickrDo you know which company was doing the work on the last one? Maybe a bit of positive enforcement?
@jrenaut 155949 wrote:
Who knew there was a limit of 4 embedded images to one post? Here are the other two.
11th and Otis NW: never mind that this contraflow lane is the lowest of low-hanging fruit and isn’t worth the plastic it took to paint it – it’s still a bike lane, and this is still a violation of the Safe Accommodations Act
IMG_20170227_122457806_HDR by Jon, on FlickrAnd this one, the exception to the rule – they actually marked off a temporary bike lane, proving IT CAN BE DONE IF YOU JUST CARE A LITTLE BIT.
IMG_20170227_114515608 by Jon, on FlickrYou are well on the way to winning your own prize!
IMG_20170310_134407962_HDR by Jon, on Flickr1400 block of V NW. You’ll notice the little tiny stripe of white the car is about to drive over – that’s what’s left of the bike lane. This is in my Ward, so my councilmember is sort of responsive about this one, and it makes it even more frustrating. She reached out to whoever is in charge, and his response demonstrates that 1) he has no idea what the law is and 2) DDOT didn’t do their job. They could easily fix this by removing about 5 parking spaces and striping a temporary bike lane. They didn’t, probably in part because of NIMBYs freaking out over parking.
This is what really gets me about many of these fights. This is a dense, wealthy neighborhood with excellent transit. This spot is just a few blocks from U St Metro, and a block from one of the busiest bus intersections in the city (14th and U NW). And you have people living in $700K condos complaining about five government subsidized parking spots.
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