Another accident at the GW Parkway crossing

[baiskeli]

A commenter on ArlNow, for what that’s worth, said he/she saw the site of the accident and that it wasn’t near the crosswalk. Since there are fences all along the GW now, is it possible the cyclist was riding on the GW, not crossing? (It’s also possible the comment isn’t accurate, of course).

[chris_s]

@rcannon100 21447 wrote:

Every chance we get, every interaction we have, every time there is an incident, every one of us should contact Jim Moran, Elenor Holmes Norton, Arlington County Board, and the GW NPS and tell them: “this is not okay.” Every one of those has email, a twitter account, facebook, and telephone lines. Steve Offutt got some serious traction recently by showing up, I think it was, one of those monday evening talk to the ArlCo board things and talking to them about bollards. We need to be in their ears.

As someone who has been paying a lot of attention to this stuff for a while, here’s my recommendations:

GW Crossings
We need the attention of the National Park Service to actually do something and we need the attention of Congress to fund it and hold NPS’ feet to the fire. For NPS, I believe the current acting Superintendent for the GW Parkway is Jon James (Jon_James@nps.gov); for Congress you’ll want to contact your local representative and your senators. Despite her lack of voting powers, Eleanor Holmes Norton has had some success in rousing NPS to action in the past so don’t think you’re wasting your time contacting her.

Lynn St
Two prongs:
1) We gotta get VDOT to allow Arlington to hit some of the low-hanging fruit that they’re trying to implement there as part of the Esplanade project – improving visibility, etc. I’m not 100% sure the best person to contact at VDOT – I’m guessing Garrett Moore who is listed as the Norther Virginia District administrator, but I could be wrong. Open for feedback there.

2) If we think grade separation is the answer, now is the time to push Arlington to include funding for a tunnel in the Capital Improvement Plan. There’s a public hearing on Tuesday June 26th at 7pm in the County Board room. You can even sign up online to speak. It’ll take all those crazy approvals that we keep talking about to build it, but if the money isn’t budgeted nobody is going to take it seriously. It’s going to take a long time, so all the more reason to start now right?

[dbb]

I think the fact that the crosswalks on the GWMP are on Columbia Island is problemmatic in that the island is in DC. Because it is on the VA side of the river (please excuse that logical inconsistency) and is wholly managed by the NPS, I would expect that the DC government views it as a sleeping dog. The island generates minimal tax revenue (the concessions at the marina) and requires no DC government involvement (it is policed by NPS, emergency support by Arlington Fire, with roads maintained by the US Federal Highway Administration), so the apparent DC Govt position is pretty logical.

[Rootchopper]

The only way these two problem areas will get fixed is if someone from the top pushes down on the bureaucrats who are failing to act. Jim Moran should be made aware of the GWMP problem. At BTWD in Rosslyn he talked the talk about extending the MVT to Chain Bridge. I’d much rather see the crossings around the Memorial Bridge fixed properly.

As a commuter who has nearly been killed in Rosslyn this year I am personally endangered by VDOT’s inaction every day I ride to work. VDOT is unresponsive because the top of the food chain is the kooky governor who has other causes on his plate.

As for the Wilson Bridge underpass, the new bollard farm is a travesty. What the hell were these people thinking?

[Greenbelt]

Slowing down traffic is not a complex solution that requires lots of approvals and engineering. All it takes is a lower speed limit and vigorous enforcement. Some minor engineering, perhaps — such as high-speed sound bumps, lane paint, camera enforcement etc.

Seems to me this isn’t hard. Traffic is accustomed to being allowed to move way too fast for the safety conditions. That’s the issue that isn’t addressed on GW parkway crossings anyway. On Lynn street, maybe it’s a more complex I don’t know, but again it would seem like enforcing a much slower turning speed would solve the problem?

[pfunkallstar]

@Rootchopper 21455 wrote:

The only way these two problem areas will get fixed is if someone from the top pushes down on the bureaucrats who are failing to act. Jim Moran should be made aware of the GWMP problem. At BTWD in Rosslyn he talked the talk about extending the MVT to Chain Bridge. I’d much rather see the crossings around the Memorial Bridge fixed properly.

As a commuter who has nearly been killed in Rosslyn this year I am personally endangered by VDOT’s inaction every day I ride to work. VDOT is unresponsive because the top of the food chain is the kooky governor who has other causes on his plate.

As for the Wilson Bridge underpass, the new bollard farm is a travesty. What the hell were these people thinking?

+1 for invoking Kooky Governor! As with any advocacy campaign, we need a solid and current knowledge base to argue from. To that end, I would look to someplace like GMU to conduct an independent traffic analysis of the intersection – possibly for a civil engineering class (they have an excellent program). It is a fascinating confluence of circumstances and certainly an issue that would keep a small group of students occupied for a month or so. http://civil.gmu.edu/

[jabberwocky]

@Greenbelt 21459 wrote:

Slowing down traffic is not a complex solution that requires lots of approvals and engineering. All it takes is a lower speed limit and vigorous enforcement. Some minor engineering, perhaps — such as high-speed sound bumps, lane paint, camera enforcement etc.

Seems to me this isn’t hard. Traffic is accustomed to being allowed to move way too fast for the safety conditions. That’s the issue that isn’t addressed on GW parkway crossings anyway. On Lynn street, maybe it’s a more complex I don’t know, but again it would seem like enforcing a much slower turning speed would solve the problem?

Speed limits are universally ignored. You can set the speed limit there to whatever you want, but even with extra enforcement I doubt traffic is going to slow down the amount necessary to make those crossings safe.

Its functionally a highway, protestations otherwise notwithstanding. People are used to driving at least 55-60 on highways, and are not used to looking for pedestrians attempting to cross a freaking crosswalk across them. Motorists are largely creatures of habit (not even considering how distracted most drivers are these days). Even when paying attention, it just isn’t something they expect. Hell, I drove that road for the first time a few months ago and even knowing it was there, driving slower than usual (I was the slowest driver on the road) and looking carefully for the crossing I still was surprised by it. The design just sucks.

About the only thing I can see helping the existing design would be a light of some sort. Those are at least something motorists are used to paying attention to.

[Rootchopper]

@pfunkallstar 21460 wrote:

+1 for invoking Kooky Governor! As with any advocacy campaign, we need a solid and current knowledge base to argue from. To that end, I would look to someplace like GMU to conduct an independent traffic analysis of the intersection – possibly for a civil engineering class (they have an excellent program). It is a fascinating confluence of circumstances and certainly an issue that would keep a small group of students occupied for a month or so. http://civil.gmu.edu/

One thing we need is for local advocacy groups to re-focus on safety instead of expansion. The WABA.org website has an advocacy page that doesn’t mention any either the Rosslyn or GWMP problem areas. These have been problems for years. Better to add a bike lane in DC than to keep riders safe in VA? The Wilson Bridge thing popped up practically overnight. Where were the advocates that some of us have been financially supporting for years? Are they talking to the responsible authorities.

Sorry for the rant, but three obvious problem areas on my commute are getting worse and do not appear to be getting attention. How many more people have to be carted away in ambulances?

[Mark Blacknell]

First, thanks to Bob for the laugh. And it was more than just me laughing, I’m sure – you can include every member of this board who’s ever listened to me drop the F-bomb on a motorist (i.e., most people I’ve ridden with).

~

Everyone in DC area cycling advocacy has been aware of the GW problem for years. Local Arlington County staff know about it. Reps. Moran & Connolly know about it. Every cyclist that has ever tried to cross there knows about it. So why isn’t anything done? National Park Service.

Institutionally, it hasn’t cared for much beyond getting cars through a pretty environment (there are some promising cracks in that position, but we’re talking about decades of inaction to overcome). So what to do? Chris S. above has a good start. There *has* been Congressional pressure – but we need more. (And something tells me that if our Reps were in the majority (and thus had their hands on the funding levers), NPS might be a wee bit more responsive to their efforts. Anyone here want to tell me that Rep. Cantor’s going to help?).

~

Also, FWIW, WABA’s been pretty active on the GW problem, esp. recently. In the past year alone, we’ve pushed back on the (legally questionable) order banning bikes from the parkway, met with the GWMP’s top staff, ridden the area (on bikes) with other GWMP (and other NPS) staff, and tried hard to gather stats about crashes at the Memorial Circle intersections (spoiler: it’s useless). And just last night, we were working more on a plan for moving forward with the issue. WABA isn’t just about bike lanes downtown.

[KLizotte]

@rcannon100 21447 wrote:

Mark is one of those saints that walks amongst us. I mean that. We do not say thank you enough. To Mark, Tim, Shane and all the other drum majors in the cause of cycling. I want to be clear that my frustration is not at Mark or any of them.

+1

[Rootchopper]

Mark

If WABA’s stated advocacy priorities are mostly about expanding bike facilities. There is no mention in the list of priorities (that I can see) of these chronic infrastructure bad apples. That needs to be addressed.

The Wilson Bridge Bollard farm is new and it is flat out appalling. Bike commuters have tried again and again to deal with this evolving travesty (pretty much on their own) as one unsafe detour after another was installed. Now we are left with an apparently permanent, very unsafe stretch of trail. I am asking WABA to step up.

[JorgeGortex]

Liz,

In plain terms: its not going to happen. As someone who has worked on a public access project in the area, close to the GW Pkwy in Arlington, for years I know that the NPS is about one thing: control. And they do not give it up willingly. They stick to their single minded view of how they believe things are, and that is the reality they live in. If everyone else doesn’t live in their reality… well then that is their problem. It is so sad, and so true. What makes it even crazier is that each “park” in the area is governed by a different director even if they are sitting right next to each other. The C&O Canal Park and the Thompson Boat Center as an example. So that means you have to get two administrators on board.

The fact is that nothing is going to happen until they decide they want it to happen, OR you can bring congressional weight to bear on the issue (Moran…).

JG

@eminva 21423 wrote:

Okay, trying some outside-of-the-box thinking here . . .

Let’s admit what the GW Parkway is: a major commuting highway that serves an essential function in the region.

What about a campaign to move the whole GW Parkway out of NPS jurisdiction? Call it an interstate and put it under the appropriate authority (is that VDOT? Sorry, not a transportation person here). They can keep the “park,” such as it is, under NPS control (e.g., all the land to either side of the road).

This would force them to admit that you cannot have bikes and pedestrians crossing the road and that appropriate infrastructure is needed for crossings/exits/entrances of all types. Given the large number of tourist attractions in the vicinity, I think they could not ignore this and would have to put something workable in place.

Motorists might like this because it would mean projects like the Humpback Bridge could be accomplished more quickly and easily. Also, it could eventually correct a lot of the crappy engineering that makes it such a drag to drive on. Finally, they wouldn’t have to worry that one day they might hit a cyclist.

Liz

[Mark Blacknell]

It’s probably time to break this off into a new thread, but I’d say that WABA’s pretty clearly about more than expanded cycling facilities (see the advocacy page, the blog, and the news coverage we get). But WABA simply doesn’t have the resources to engage every single issue that pops up in the Washington area. Those bollards, for example, are something that should draw in Alexandria’s BPAC (or is that on the FABB side of the line?). I’m not trying to get WABA off the hook – I’m just saying that there aren’t the resources (or local expertise) there that can let anyone safely assume that WABA will pick up and handle every local issue.

At the same time, we could certainly do a better job with our website (I just saw a reference urging folks to contact GW Parkway Superintendant David Vela – who left that job in 2008). And we certainly prioritize issues involving regional connections (and yes, I’d place the MVT among them), so should do a better job of communicating that.

[Greenbelt]

@jabberwocky 21464 wrote:

Speed limits are universally ignored. You can set the speed limit there to whatever you want, but even with extra enforcement I doubt traffic is going to slow down the amount necessary to make those crossings safe.

Its functionally a highway, protestations otherwise notwithstanding. People are used to driving at least 55-60 on highways, and are not used to looking for pedestrians attempting to cross a freaking crosswalk across them. Motorists are largely creatures of habit (not even considering how distracted most drivers are these days). Even when paying attention, it just isn’t something they expect. Hell, I drove that road for the first time a few months ago and even knowing it was there, driving slower than usual (I was the slowest driver on the road) and looking carefully for the crossing I still was surprised by it. The design just sucks.

About the only thing I can see helping the existing design would be a light of some sort. Those are at least something motorists are used to paying attention to.

I disagree that design is the only speed-reduction option. Speed cameras have worked to slow down drivers to much safer average speeds on Kenilworth Ave in DC. Enforcement coupled with some bollards at crosswalks have slowed down traffic on Cherrywood Lane in Greenbelt. Speed enforcement, coupled with minor engineering changes, is not impossible or futile in my opinion.

[dbb]

Given that the local governments all participate in the Metro Washington Council of Governments, maybe it is time the COG spins up some bicycle advisory element. It makes no sense that each of the communities have to reinvent the wheel. Contrast the success with bollards in Arlington (which, for the record, took a lot of work and collaboration with the county) and the stark contrast in Alexandria. Maybe there is some room for collaboration.

[Author]

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