DC Gold?

[Crickey7]

It’s way better than it was. Unfortunately, the City seems intent on taking a victory lap instead of keeping the momentum going.

[accordioneur]

@huskerdont 175665 wrote:

No city with drivers like DC’s, lack of traffic enforcement, and incomplete, poor infrastructure should ever be Gold.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/03/06/d-c-is-gold-in-bike-friendliness/?utm_term=.f8e59fd93268

Note that Gold is not as high a level as you might think; it is only the middle of five levels. It is above Bronze and Silver, but below Platinum and Diamond. According to the article, no community has achieved Platinum to date.

If DC ever improved to the point of meriting Platinum, what would we have to talk about?

[lordofthemark]

@huskerdont 175665 wrote:

Washington Post article on DC ranking Gold Bicycle Friendly Community status. Frankly this is insane, but I pulled my punches a bit in my comment to (hopefully) not sound like an insane, ungrateful cyclist to the general community (huskerdont77). I really feel Arlington has done better, though they should not be Gold either. No city with drivers like DC’s, lack of traffic enforcement, and incomplete, poor infrastructure should ever be Gold.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/03/06/d-c-is-gold-in-bike-friendliness/?utm_term=.f8e59fd93268

I hear you on the enforcement (though the cameras help, I think) . I think the in-street infra is significantly better than in Arlington (which is itself better than any other suburban jurisdiction in the region) – just so many more bike lanes, PBLs, bike signals, bike boxes, etc, etc. And that is on top of a grid that is already relatively bike friendly (well, west of the Anacostia, at least). And on trails, they have caught up fast with the ART and MBT. And bike laws – the change on contributory negligence, letting bikes proceed on LPI’s. Also one metric for bike friendliness is actual numbers of people riding – using Census commute data, its over double the share Arlington has, IIRC.

As for drivers, I don’t think DC can really control that (especially as many of the worst drivers come from the suburbs) and that is not one of LAB’s metrics.

[huskerdont]

Yeah, Gold isn’t the highest, but it’s still misleading in my opinion. Who wouldn’t think that a gold medal thinks you won or a gold ranking meant you were doing a great job?

[Judd]

@accordioneur 175673 wrote:

If DC ever improved to the point of meriting Platinum, what would we have to talk about?

Too many people on bikes… they’re always in the way…. I didn’t see any of these people around 5 years ago….

[cvcalhoun]

Does anyone but me find it ironic that the photo illustrating the article is of two cars blocking the bike lane?

[Steve O]

@accordioneur 175673 wrote:

Note that Gold is not as high a level as you might think; it is only the middle of five levels. It is above Bronze and Silver, but below Platinum and Diamond. According to the article, no community has achieved Platinum to date.

Here’s the rubric they use to determine a community’s award level.
http://bikeleague.org/sites/default/files/BFC%20infographic.pdf

[trailrunner]

They gave Fairfax County a Bronze award last year. What a joke.

[jrenaut]

This Twitter thread makes it seem like this award wasn’t deserved.

[Judd]

@jrenaut 175702 wrote:

This Twitter thread makes it seem like this award wasn’t deserved.

Matthew gave me the sads all day today.

[jrenaut]

@Judd 175705 wrote:

Matthew gave me the sads all day today.

I prefer to be encouraged that more and more people are fed up with empty talk and are starting to advocate HARD for better bike infrastructure. Yes, this particular story is extremely frustrating, as it shows a complete lack of effort from DDOT and DC Water, not to mention the Mayor and the DC Council. But the more people who speak up about this stuff, the better.

[Author]

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