King Street Bike Lanes

[OneEighth]

Still think the best sort of traffic calming is a consistent police presence. Probably would pay for itself on Washington Blvd.

[DismalScientist]

JG:

Was traffic calming part of the Washington Blvd design, or was it just adding sidewalks?

(During this time, curbs were added. Later, bike lanes were striped. Now bike lanes have been temporarily unstriped.)

My impression is that auto behavior has remained relatively constant throughout all these reconfigurations. The most dangerous areas remain the 2 to 1 lane merges to the east and west of the lights at George Mason. I don’t think anything was done there.

[DismalScientist]

@OneEighth 64007 wrote:

Still think the best sort of traffic calming is a consistent police presence. Probably would pay for itself on Washington Blvd.

Controlling this sort of scofflaw behavior: http://www.strava.com/segments/4860896

[Tim Kelley]

@DismalScientist 64009 wrote:

Controlling this sort of scofflaw behavior: http://www.strava.com/segments/4860896

4mph over in a 30mph zone?

[TwoWheelsDC]

@OneEighth 64007 wrote:

Still think the best sort of traffic calming is a consistent police presence. Probably would pay for itself on Washington Blvd.

I call it the “Westover Autostrada”.

[OneEighth]

@Tim Kelley 64011 wrote:

4mph over in a 30mph zone?

You’d need another 10 or so to keep pace with traffic.

[DismalScientist]

Actually, the biggest problem may be through Westover itself. The speed limit shouldn’t be 30 there, but it is controlled by the state rather than the county as Washington Blvd is a state highway.

[Tim Kelley]

When it comes to KOMs, you always want to save a little in the tank in case someone beats you. Right, PeteD?

[mstone]

@OneEighth 64007 wrote:

Still think the best sort of traffic calming is a consistent police presence. Probably would pay for itself on Washington Blvd.

Increased enforcement would certainly be good, but the numbers indicate that better road design is more effective overall.

[scorchedearth]

For those who are interested in weighing in on the plan for the King St bike lanes, there will be a public meeting to discuss next Wednesday. Details are below. Alexandria residents and those who work here are strongly encouraged to attend.

When: Wednesday, September 18. 7:00 pm
Where: Maury Elementary Cafeteria, 600 Russell Road

[chris_s]

Just another point to make as far as downhill bike lanes vs sharrows – this area of King often backs up pretty bad in the downhill direction (sometimes over half the distance to Janney’s Ln). A downhill bike lanes would be extremely useful for filtering to the front in those situations.

@bobco85 63757 wrote:

The choice between using a wider lane with sharrows and using a separate bike lane for the downhill portion is really racking my brain right now, but i think I’m leaning more toward the use of sharrows. I would prefer sharrows with the use of “Cyclists may use full lane” signs (even though we shouldn’t have to use the signs at all, but that’s a different story) because they give drivers a clear indication that the road is a bicycle route and therefore cyclists will be present. Caveat: because there is no parking (we’re only talking downhill here) the sharrows will likely be placed close to the gutter like on Walter Reed Dr between Four Mile Run and Route 7.

The obstacle to this being used by all types of cyclists is that I think most people perceive separate bike lanes as much safer than sharrows. Because of that, I would expect more cyclists to use this route if bike lanes were there, especially since Janneys Lane has bike lanes, and I would expect them to install bike lanes for the downhill portion as a result.

[JorgeGortex]

@DismalScientist 64008 wrote:

JG:

Was traffic calming part of the Washington Blvd design, or was it just adding sidewalks?

(During this time, curbs were added. Later, bike lanes were striped. Now bike lanes have been temporarily unstriped.)

My impression is that auto behavior has remained relatively constant throughout all these reconfigurations. The most dangerous areas remain the 2 to 1 lane merges to the east and west of the lights at George Mason. I don’t think anything was done there.

No, traffic calming, at the time, was not considered as part of the project that included new sidewalks from Frederick and Jefferson streets. The bike lanes were added much later. They were there until the state stripped the pavement and resurfaced it this summer (rather poorly I might add). They only put some of the cross walk striping back recently. I’m frustrated that the bike lane lines were not replaced as it definitely made it safer for cyclists going East up Washington Blvd.

JG

[CaseyKane50]

The Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board met on Monday evening. Unfortunately, the board decided to push a decision for two months. Articles about the board’s deferral of any action can be found at:

http://oldtownalexandria.patch.com/groups/transportation/p/traffic-board-more-compromise-needed-on-king-street-bike-lane-proposal

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2013/11/king-street-bike-lanes-delayed-2-months.html

http://www.waba.org/blog/2013/11/no-decision-on-the-king-street-bike-lane-for-two-more-months/

[CaseyKane50]

It appears that an early Christmas present in on hand for King Street. The attached letter from Rich Baier to the residents of King Street indicates that

the modified plan is the best plan to achieve the common goals of improving safety and balancing the needs of multiple users of King Street.

He is directing his staff to move forward with the implementation of the plan in the new year.

[scorchedearth]

http://delray.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/letter-to-the-editor-meehan-on-king-street-trafficcalming-plan

There have been a good number of angry letters sent to city council from opponents of the plan. One such letter, addressed to Rich Baier is above. It makes some lovely unsubstantiated claims such as:

The proposal would be encouraging all cyclists, including Capital Bikeshare users/riders who are generally inexperienced riders, usually not wearing helmets and not always familiar with bike safety regulations, to use a bike lane that would just terminate. I guess the end of the bike lane would have them merge into traffic where the street becomes its narrowest, has a turn lane, a cut-in from the drive in front of the Masonic Temple and overall is a dangerous area and intersection

The VDOT regulations that are quoted are accurate from what I can tell however I highly doubt that these people will propose widening the road to adhere to those recommendations. Would it even be possible to ban certain sized vehicles from the road?

[Author]

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