@dbehrend 201938 wrote:
Thank you, Chris!
That is a gap in the network that would benefit from better infrastructure. I signed WABA’s petition and will spread the word.
Before the pandemic, that was part of my daily commute.
Even as a pretty confident cyclist, I regularly found myself pondering life’s big questions about half way through the shenanigans that occur in Sunbelt’s primary area for business operations (aka 8th St NE) – Is 8th St NE really wide enough for that flatbed taking up 80% of the northbound lane, a piece of Sunbelt’s heavy equipment idling near the flatbed, people standing in the street discussing how to load the equipment onto the flatbed, and that SUV whose driver crossed from the northbound lane into the southbound lane (aka my travel lane) to get around the flat bed?
Putting Sunbelt’s commandeering of the road aside, it would be nice to have something there to fill the gap between all of the nearby bike infrastructure.
To provide a bit more context about what the “something” will be – the likeliest outcome from last summer’s presentation and what folks have heard out of DDOT since is converting 8th NE to a one-way road for cars. That would allow for a two-way protected cycletrack on the west side of the street, opposite Sunbelt. Benefits of that approach:
1. West-side cycletrack avoids the frequent in/out driveway traffic of Collins Elevator, Sunbelt, Hope, Ace, and the larger apartment buildings (existing at Dance Place, under construction for the Hanover project just south of Dance Place)
2. Converting to one-way for general traffic preserves the existing parking/loading zones in the corridor.
3. Simplifies the traffic pattern for school drop-off/pickup.
The biggest con to the approach is that the one-way conversion will have a ripple effect on the connecting roads, and it seems that has been the holdup in finalizing a design plan (at the February DDOT open house, I was told that they were a few weeks away – we’re more than five months later and now a few months away at the last update).
The ideal would have been to reserve sufficient right of way alongside the train tracks to continue the trail off-road, but that ship sailed when the Edgewood Arts Center was built and completely undermined by not including space as part of the Monroe Street bridge reconstruction. (I’m sure some residents will still push for that to the extent possible to retain 8th NE as it is). So absent that option, and operating under a tougher budget environment, a two-way protected cycletrack is the next best viable alternative as it can be done without a larger capital project.
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