How to report construction that blocks bike lanes?

[Tim Kelley]

@consularrider 144948 wrote:

Someday I’m going to rent an old fashioned bulldozer just to drive through those construction sites and clear the bike lanes.

Should we call you Marvin, or Arturas?

[dasgeh]

You may also want to take to Twitter. There was a tweet-fest at the beginning of the month about the closure of the sidewalk along Wilson for construction, and it may be yielding results.

@DrP 144928 wrote:

And VDOT told me that in any case there should be no issue in crossing Fairfax twice (Wakefield and Glebe) to get around it. Cars don’t have to do that, but peds and bikes do? (I did comment back on this point to the person I contacted in the vain hope of getting the person to realize that the world isn’t about cars).

You could have pointed out to VDOT that Wakefield and Glebe are particularly dangerous crossings, and there have been numerous collisions at them.

[consularrider]

@Tim Kelley 144964 wrote:

Should we call you Marvin, or Arturas?

Probably Marvin, that APC (not tank) doesn’t have the needed pushing power.

[bentbike33]

@consularrider 145002 wrote:

Probably Marvin, that APC (not tank) doesn’t have the needed pushing power.

Yes, and after the APC goes through only fat bikes can navigate the debris.

[consularrider]

@bentbike33 145007 wrote:

Yes, and after the APC goes through only fat bikes can navigate the debris.

That’s why I bought the Pugsley.

[DrP]

@chris_s 144945 wrote:

des@arlingtonva.us

Describe the situation, ask if it is a permitted closure, ask for it to be improved and ask what their Right of Way Permit # is.

Last week, before heading out of town for the weekend, I found a complaint form on one of the Arlington building sites. I have yet to hear anything back.

Isn’t des the Department of Environmental Services? If so, I am a little confused as to why they would have an interest in this as it is clearly on a road. Is it because it connects to a trail? If they really would be able to do something, I would write to them, but, as I said, I am confused as to why they would help. Especially since the building permit people have yet to respond to me.

[chris_s]

@DrP 145207 wrote:

Last week, before heading out of town for the weekend, I found a complaint form on one of the Arlington building sites. I have yet to hear anything back.

Isn’t des the Department of Environmental Services? If so, I am a little confused as to why they would have an interest in this as it is clearly on a road. Is it because it connects to a trail? If they really would be able to do something, I would write to them, but, as I said, I am confused as to why they would help. Especially since the building permit people have yet to respond to me.

The Arlington County Department of Transportation is part of the Department of Environmental Services.

Also Right of Way Permits are handled by different people than Building Permits (transportation people vs building inspector type people)

[DrP]

@chris_s 145208 wrote:

The Arlington County Department of Transportation is part of the Department of Environmental Services.

Also Right of Way Permits are handled by different people than Building Permits (transportation people vs building inspector type people)

Aha. Now I understand. That is not obvious from the web page hierarchy. And there are no FAQs on this kind of thing either. Thank you very much.

Off to go e-mail des….

[DrP]

Just providing some status. I e-mailed just after the last post and sent a few other updates about the closures, safety, and general concerns. DES thanked me for the message. The construction folks have a permit to close the lanes (car, bike, and sidewalk) as needed. They are sending my concerns about preserving lanes to someone in the Transit Bureau.

I will update when I receive more information.

How do such permits get approved in the first place? Some construction sites have a covered walkway for peds and bikes and others have nothing. Not very consistent.

[chris_s]

@DrP 145840 wrote:

How do such permits get approved in the first place? Some construction sites have a covered walkway for peds and bikes and others have nothing. Not very consistent.

The Right of Way permit process is entirely administrative (staff handle it) there is no public hearing, no public comment, etc. and there are no written guidelines. Everything is case-by-case value judgements. Tilting at this particular windmill and trying to get some clear, objective guidelines in place about when lane closures are allowed and when other accommodations need to be made is on my advocacy todo list, but it hasn’t made it to the top yet. (it’ll be a big lift)

Every time somebody questions a bike lane closure or a sidewalk closure it helps a little bit, so thank you.

[DrP]

@chris_s 145856 wrote:

The Right of Way permit process is entirely administrative (staff handle it) there is no public hearing, no public comment, etc. and there are no written guidelines.

Really? No guidelines? How can that even be possible for a permit? Sigh.

So, would it be easier to get that staff riding bicycles (or just replace them with people who regularly cycle and walk all over) and thus, hopefully, more sensitive to bikes and peds in permits?

I’ll continue to push this rope as far as I can. Hopefully it will weaken the windmill enough that even Don Quixote could topple it. (hmmm, maybe I need a lance to ride with. That might make some of these issues a bit more fun.)

[chris_s]

@DrP 145840 wrote:

The construction folks have a permit to close the lanes (car, bike, and sidewalk) as needed.

Did you get a permit number?

[CaseyKane50]

@DrP 145900 wrote:

Really? No guidelines? How can that even be possible for a permit? Sigh.

There are guidelines and they are called out by the County. See the Arlington web page.

Contractors are supposed to follow the guidelines as published in the Virginia Work Area Protection Manual. See Chapter 6d and should provide a Method of Travel (MOT) with their permit request. The MOT should detail how they propose to protect pedestrians and other users during the construction.

I would say that Alexandria has similar requirements and I have had limited success in getting the City to hold contractors accountable for not following the guidelines.

[DrP]

@CaseyKane50 145902 wrote:

There are guidelines and they are called out by the County. See the Arlington web page.

Contractors are supposed to follow the guidelines as published in the Virginia Work Area Protection Manual. See Chapter 6d and should provide a Method of Travel (MOT) with their permit request. The MOT should detail how they propose to protect pedestrians and other users during the construction.

I would say that Alexandria has similar requirements and I have had limited success in getting the City to hold contractors accountable for not following the guidelines.

Well, with a very quick look at that 350page manual, it looks like they are not following it for pedestrians at the times I have been there. The lack of signage as well as making folks cross the street. So, I guess the question is whether the permit tells them to follow it and they are not or they have waivers of some kind.

Chris_S, I did not get a permit number. I will ask for it.

[chris_s]

@CaseyKane50 145902 wrote:

There are guidelines and they are called out by the County.

The guidelines Transportation Commission would like to see are things like “Under what circumstances are lane closures allowed?” “When a lane closure is allowed, what mitigation is required?” Because right now sometimes lane closures are allowed and sometimes contractors are required to do their work without a closure. When sidewalks are closed sometimes a covered walkway is provided to replace it and sometimes pedestrians are forced to detour across the street. How come sometimes we get a walkway and sometimes we don’t? How come sometimes lanes are allowed to be closed and sometimes they aren’t? Nobody seems to be able to say other than “each situation is unique”.

All Arlington has is “if we let you close a lane, here are where the signs go”.

[Author]

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