Another accident at the GW Parkway crossing

[dbb]

I am sure that the NPS and FHWA reached out to the logical participants for input, such as ABAC and WABA. Yeah, sure!

[rcannon100]

another way in which motorists are disadvantaged by the status quo

It is my car commute into work. Talk about a MOTIVATION to get on a bike! Yes, as a car, it sux too. SB GW merges up to the circle back west near the cemetery. The cloverleaf ramp is a major choke point. Then going east bound into the circle going to the bridge, there is an INSANE merge of east bound traffic and south bound “Washington Blvd” traffic to east bound bridge. Insane. Ten years ago I was witnessing one accident per week. Insane. I am not sure why the accident rate appeared to go down – but it is dangerous, and there are two different ways of doing the merge – the two different way conflict with each other causing accidents – and which car is doing which approach is anyones guess.

Then on SB Washington BLVD getting to the circle is that insane ramp up to Washington blvd from the GW, and the insane ramp down under the memorial bridge that leads you to 50. That ramp is a form of roulette.

And then there are those insane cyclists who think they own the road…. oh yeah. Bike forum. I am a cyclists. Have cyclists hat on. Then there are those insane cars who fail to yield to the bikes Seriously, its bad for both when there is an accident. I would never, as a car driver, want to hit anyone. Then there is the impact on your insurance costs. Then there are potential lawsuits.

The social welfare gain by making that a safe intersection is tremendous.

[rcannon100]

@dbb 21618 wrote:

I am sure that the NPS and FHWA reached out to the logical participants for input, such as ABAC and WABA. Yeah, sure!

If NPS is going to contemplate changes, I would suggest we motivate immediately and create input. At minimum, we need a chorus of voices hitting NPS saying “This is great! Consider bikes.” I am sure that WABA and BACs have been interacting – but let’s create a solid input as to the situation.

* Identify the problems
* Identify high level / functionally what is wanted (ie we want to safely cross from the MVT across the bridge into DC)
* Make specific suggestions

Bike Forum Overlords: Didnt there use to be an advocacy table to the forum? Could we create an advocacy tab?

I have been thinking about how we might crowdsource advocacy and work with WABA and BACs. My problem is I have a few hours to give, and I really really dont want to give those few hours to sitting in yet another meeting. If we could crowdsource this, each doing a bit, we could probably pump up the volume. For instance, here, we could come up with input, we can transmit the input, and we can create an echo chamber for any of the work that WABA or BACs are doing. Yes, WABA and the BACs have the lead on these things…. but maybe thru crowdsourcing, orchestrated through online media, we can get more foot soldiers.

[americancyclo]

I’m more than happy to email/twit/facebake any reps or organization leaders. I usually get intimidated though, because I only really know my personal pain points, and find that others have a better grasp of the situation at large and can better articulate our position to the decision makers in terms that resonate well. That’s why I love point and click advocacy. If any templates could be made, I’d be happy to follow through, both from my personal and .gov emails.

[pfunkallstar]

@americancyclo 21633 wrote:

I’m more than happy to email/twit/facebake any reps or organization leaders. I usually get intimidated though, because I only really know my personal pain points, and find that others have a better grasp of the situation at large and can better articulate our position to the decision makers in terms that resonate well. That’s why I love point and click advocacy. If any templates could be made, I’d be happy to follow through, both from my personal and .gov emails.

I just can’t spell that well. MORE TEMPLATES PLEASE!

[rcannon100]

Well, it looks like decisions have been made. Still, probably what would be good is if we thanked both NPS, Moran, and Norton (this is in DC) for the efforts. I will say, I have regularly contacted Moran about this – so maybe things do slowly move.

Hey WABA and BAC types: Were you consulted?

Twitter: @Jim_Moran
@NPSGWMP
@EleanorNorton

Email Moran https://moran.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Email Norton https://forms.house.gov/norton/webforms/issue_subscribe.htm

Email GW NPS http://www.nps.gov/gewa/contacts.htm

Does anyone have a personal contact for GW NPS? We should build a POC database.

Moran Announces Safety Improvements for Memorial Circle, GW Parkway, Mt. Vernon Trail
Jun 8, 2012 Issues: Transportation

Fixes include rumble strips, better roadway signage

Washington, DC –Congressman Jim Moran, Northern Virginia Democrat, today announced the National Park Service will begin to install a series of safety improvements along the GW Parkway, Memorial Circle and Mt. Vernon Trail. Moran requested the safety improvements following concerns from constituents regarding numerous accidents involving cars, pedestrians and cyclists in recent months.

“The health and safety of those commuting to work or simply exercising along the Potomac River should never be threatened due to poor infrastructure planning,” said Rep. Moran. “I am pleased the National Park Service has agreed to put needed fixes into the trails and roads surrounding Memorial Circle. With the scheduled improvements, tourists, commuters, pedestrians, and cyclists will be able to truly share the road.”

The safety improvements, set to begin installation next week and completed by fall of 2012, include:
replacing many of the directional and regulatory signs in the Circle and on Memorial Bridge;
installing rumble strips bumps to alert drivers before each of several specific crosswalk areas;
painting directional arrows, information, and symbols directly onto the pavement to help drivers select proper lanes early; and
moving one crosswalk area from where there are two lanes to where it is only one lane wide.

A runner and cyclist, Congressman Moran is a longtime advocate for running and biking trails across Northern Virginia. Moran has obtained funds to maintain, extend and improve the entire length of the Mt. Vernon Trail, which stretches 18 miles from Rosslyn to historic Mt. Vernon. Recently, Moran secured $37 million to reconstruct and widen the GW Parkway roadway over Humpback Bridge.

To view a map of dangerous trail-roadway intersections, please visit: http://moran.house.gov/sites/moran.house.gov/files/documents/MemorialCircle_MtVernonTrail.jpg

[rcannon100]

personal pain points

In my experience, getting citizens to share their direct first hand experience with how government decisions impact their lives is immeasurably valuable.

The people who get the big picture, they are called lobbiest. Mash the play button, spit out the same old mubble jumble. Yawn.

[mstone]

@americancyclo 21633 wrote:

I’m more than happy to email/twit/facebake any reps or organization leaders. I usually get intimidated though, because I only really know my personal pain points, and find that others have a better grasp of the situation at large and can better articulate our position to the decision makers in terms that resonate well. That’s why I love point and click advocacy. If any templates could be made, I’d be happy to follow through, both from my personal and .gov emails.

You’re less likely to be immediately ignored if you’re not using a form letter. Point and click advocacy is easy, but the recipients know how little effort it takes and weight it appropriately.

[Arlingtonrider]

See http://www.arlnow.com. New article posted at 11:42 am today on safety improvements coming to GW Parkway.

[RESTONTODC]

Wow, this is awesome! I will write to the Congressman Jim Moran to thank you for his work even he is not represent my area. I just found out that Frank Wolf is my area congressman.

[rcannon100]

You’re less likely to be immediately ignored if you’re not using a form letter. Point and click advocacy is easy, but the recipients know how little effort it takes and weight it appropriately.

From an agency point of view, YIP. We get 1000s of pro forma messages, created by JOE CAUSE, sent out to their 1000000 supporters, 10% of which gets bounced back to us verbatim with clarity that the person sending it unlikely understands what the issue even is. In terms of influence, the ranking is just about….

* Meeting
* Face to Face encounter
* Call
* Publicity (blogs, news articles, TV coverage, UBoob videos)
* Messages (emails, tweets, FB)
* Writing a message inside a cave in Nevada where no one will see it for 1000 years
* Form letters

[KLizotte]

@rcannon100 21646 wrote:

From an agency point of view, YIP. We get 1000s of pro forma messages, created by JOE CAUSE, sent out to their 1000000 supporters, 10% of which gets bounced back to us verbatim with clarity that the person sending it unlikely understands what the issue even is. In terms of influence, the ranking is just about….

* Meeting
* Face to Face encounter
* Call
* Publicity (blogs, news articles, TV coverage, UBoob videos)
* Messages (emails, tweets, FB)
* Writing a message inside a cave in Nevada where no one will see it for 1000 years
* Form letters

I somewhat disagree based on my experience when I worked in the corresponsence office for a state Governor many years ago, we were really only interested in recording yay or nay on an issue. We would simply skim through a letter and record the person’s contact info, click a checkbox for which issue they were writing about, and a checkbox as “for” or “against” (when the issue was simply enough to categorize that way). Given the massive influx of mail we got every day (this was before social media) we most appreciated the simple postcard.

Do individually crafted letters make more of an impact when compared to a form letter? Yes, but if only 10 people in the entire area take the time to write them, they will not collectively have that much influence esp when compared to 10,000 people submitting a form letter from WABA, the League of American Cyclists, or Rails-to-Trails. The sheer number of responses gives a head’s up to policy makers that this is an issue that many people are looking at and perhaps they should take a second look before making any permanent decisions.

A form letter succintly stating the policy points from WABA or BAC provides people a starting point for writing their own letter or gives them an opportunity to be heard with a minimum of fuss or effort by hitting the send button.

P.S. An acquaintance of mine who works at FHWA says that the safety enhancements Moran announced today were generated by an FHWA ped/bike safety audit.

[PotomacCyclist]

Glad to see that something will be done this summer to improve the safety of the trail crossings. Maybe they should add signs about 500 ft. in advance of the crossings to warn car drivers about the intersections ahead. Then the drivers might actually slow down a bit before they even approach the crossings. Not only would this make the crossings safer for cyclists and pedestrians, but it would also lower the possibility of rear-end collisions where one driver slows down but the trailing driver does not.

TheWashCycle is also reporting on the news: http://www.thewashcycle.com/2012/06/nps-to-improve-memorial-circle-gw-parkway-mt-vernon-trail.html

This is the link to the specific ARLnow page too: http://www.arlnow.com/2012/06/08/safety-improvements-coming-to-gw-parkway/

[Mark Blacknell]

@rcannon100 21646 wrote:

* Writing a message inside a cave in Nevada where no one will see it for 1000 years

Unless the cave is inside Yucca Mountain.

KLizotte wrote:

P.S. An acquaintance of mine who works at FHWA says that the safety enhancements Moran announced today were generated by an FHWA ped/bike safety audit.

Yes, it was a road safety audit requested by NPS (after much prodding (by Moran, among others)). I’m planning to stay mostly quiet on the issue until I see the actual plans/timetable, but just to manage expectations – I’m pretty confident that these are only minimal, short-term fixes. In the end, we need separated-grade crossings and/or lights.

[PotomacCyclist]

Are they planning to move the Washington Blvd. crossing to the north? If so, it sounds like something I posted last year:

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?1373-Suggestion-to-reposition-the-trail-crossing-at-Washington-Blvd.-near-Memorial-Bridge

Do I get royalties for the idea? LOL

[Author]

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