Alexandria Bike Wars

[JimK]

Check out this angry article from “The American Spectator” about bike lanes on King Street:

http://spectator.org/blog/58438/alexandria-bike-wars

The comments also drip with vitriol. For example, Jmsa describes LA cyclists as follows: “borderline suicidal, hyper-aggrieved biking fascists”. Wow! It’s a wonder any cyclists are still breathing.

Topic

[Kolohe]

“My brave little neighborhood of King Street in Alexandria, Va., has calmly met the challenges of the Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil War,”

Calmly, in the sense that in the last two, they really didn’t put up a fight at all?

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Kolohe 80317 wrote:

“My brave little neighborhood of King Street in Alexandria, Va., has calmly met the challenges of the Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil War,”

Calmly, in the sense that in the last two, they really didn’t put up a fight at all?

He sounds bitter that the Confederate-allied town was occupied by Union troops.

[PotomacCyclist]

@Kolohe 80317 wrote:

“My brave little neighborhood of King Street in Alexandria, Va., has calmly met the challenges of the Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Civil War,”

Calmly, in the sense that in the last two, they really didn’t put up a fight at all?

He’s comparing the bike lane proposal to the fight against slavery? Moreover, what side was that neighborhood on, during the Civil War? Not really a great way to promote one’s neighborhood or viewpoint.

[cvcalhoun]

No, I believe he’s actually comparing the fight against the bike lane proposal to the fight for slavery. And apparently believes this helps his cause. I’m back to the question of what he is smoking.

@PotomacCyclist 80329 wrote:

He’s comparing the bike lane proposal to the fight against slavery?

[PotomacCyclist]

@cvcalhoun 80331 wrote:

No, I believe he’s actually comparing the fight against the bike lane proposal to the fight for slavery. And apparently believes this helps his cause. I’m back to the question of what he is smoking.

Actually, that’s what I meant to type, that he seems to forget that Alexandria was fighting in favor of slavery. Or maybe he didn’t forget, but he views it solely as “The War of Northern Aggression.” In any case, it’s bizarre.

[Oldtowner]

The Alexandria Bike Wars are indeed heating up fast. I live in Old Town and have already seen many emails from neighbors who are rapidly organizing opposition to the Royal Street plan.

Here is an article they cited which is followed by the usual heavy dose of anti-cyclist vitriol.
http://wamu.org/news/14/03/18/alexandria_officials_want_to_push_cyclists_to_royal_street

[cvcalhoun]

Hmm, they say, “Alexandria Officials Want To Push Cyclists To Royal Street.” I’m thinking that after all the cycling I’ve done lately, I would see it as downright neighborly if some official wanted to give me a push–it might help with the sore legs.

@Oldtowner 80349 wrote:

The Alexandria Bike Wars are indeed heating up fast. I live in Old Town and have already seen many emails from neighbors who are rapidly organizing opposition to the Royal Street plan.

Here is an article they cited which is followed by the usual heavy dose of anti-cyclist vitriol.
http://wamu.org/news/14/03/18/alexandria_officials_want_to_push_cyclists_to_royal_street

[lordofthemark]

One more thing about King Street – I rode (as well as I could) by there the other day (wanted to see what all the fuss was about). Many of the signs said “bike lanes = congestion”. I suppose an attempt to appeal to folks driving through, since they knew the number of local residents (subtracting the “vichite collaborators”) was too few to sway the Council. But seems to contradict the claims by most bike lane opponents that they support traffic calming (how else does a bike lane lead to congestion?) and are unhappy with the fast pace of traffic. Also since the traffic calming would not likely slow traffic below the posted speed limit, it sort of puts the lie to the whole scofflaw cyclist meme.

[PotomacCyclist]

The scofflaw cyclist claims are a bit ridiculous. Sure, many are rolling through stop signs. But a study of King Street found that 85 percent of drivers were exceeding the speed limit, at an average of 8-10 mph above the speed limit. And how many of them sped up on yellow lights, ran red lights and texted while driving before and after approaching that area? Probably a lot of them (based on various surveys and personal observation over the years).

[Terpfan]

@PotomacCyclist 80386 wrote:

The scofflaw cyclist claims are a bit ridiculous. Sure, many are rolling through stop signs. But a study of King Street found that 85 percent of drivers were exceeding the speed limit, at an average of 8-10 mph above the speed limit. And how many of them sped up on yellow lights, ran red lights and texted while driving before and after approaching that area? Probably a lot of them (based on various surveys and personal observation over the years).

I fully admit to the Idaho stop in OT when no traffic is present in much of OT, but then I would say that’s better than roughly a third of the drivers I observe. And King St downhill, ha, 85% may be the low figure. The last two times I rode there, every single driver was exceeding the limit by a decent clip. It’s easy to tell on that downhill stretch given I know I’m going at least 25mph. But drivers can do no wrong!

[Author]

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