[DismalScientist]

The article complains about groups of runners at night and those that impede traffic. The only complaint about bicyclist is salmoning. Obviously, the “solution” is wrong-headed. Perhaps the solution is that bicycle advocates should come out more effectively against bone-headed behavior by cyclists.

@pfunkallstar: Your provincialism is stunning. As someone who grew up in Wisconsin, I can assure you that cycling in rural Wisconsin is generally more pleasant than in rural areas around here, mainly because of better attitudes of drivers.

[DismalScientist]

Khakis, with a rolled up cuff down to about 30 degrees. :p
I don’t do rain.

[DismalScientist]

@rcannon100 I think you just made my point. Montgomery county doesn’t have good highway connections to DC. Traffic is diverted to streets and to some extent the GW parkway and perhaps I-66. Do I want to ride my bike from Montgomery county to DC on local streets? Don’t think so–because of all the automobile commuters on these roads, which are not designed for the traffic.

So what do we smart people in Virginia do to solve this problem? We build a narrow freeway and restrict its use to HOV. In essence Arlington is doing the exact same thing that you complain Montgomery County is doing. (The GW parkway north doesn’t really affect Arlington traffic–there aren’t any inbound interchanges.) Note that 50 being jammed is NOT caused by I-66 being jammed. I-66 is not jammed at rush hours; it is restricted. So what happens to all the traffic that would go on I-66? It gets squeezed out onto local streets. Look at all the traffic on eastbound 66 turning on the Beltway to get to Arlington Blvd. Why do you think this happens?

I live near Westover. Washington Blvd is bumper-to-bumper traffic from Lee Hwy to Glebe every morning. Is this happening because I-66 was built and magically caused this traffic? Obviously not. If I-66 had more capacity and was not restricted, any sane driver would stay on the freeway rather than take side streets as the vast majority of traffic on Washington Blvd. is clearly doing. I might be able to cross Washington Blvd. on foot two blocks from my house without waiting for a gap in the traffic every five minutes.

[DismalScientist]

Driving is already miserable and expensive. This is part of the reason that I don’t do it. However, the majority of people still do it. Alternatives (besides telecommuting and perhaps express buses) haven’t materialized. (Metro was built at the same time.) If people want to get on I-66, they can arrange carpools, but they don’t seem to. I-66 is probably the only road in the world that does not operate at capacity during rush hour, but is at capacity at all other times.

On the second point, that is exactly my point. Because the road and parking network are already at capacity, that is limiting the number of cars getting into DC. The question is not where would the cars go if I-66 is widened, but rather where would they come from. The answer is that they would come from drivers that are currently driving on Arlington Blvd, Lee Highway, and Washington Blvd because they are currently forbidden on I-66 at rush hour if single occupancy. I agree that congestion causes frustration. That is why I want the frustration on i-66 rather than on the roads on which I bicycle.

I find it ironic that bicyclists often advocate for segregated facilities for bicycles (and pedestrians) in order to reduce bicycle/car interactions, but at the same time condemn expanding segregated automotive facilities that would similarly reduce these same interactions.

My comments should not be construed as pro-car, but rather that the anti-I-66 argument is, in my opinion, flawed. Further, I think that Arlington’s insistence on keeping I-66 narrow and HOV led to unintended consequences that are more problematic than just having a wider highway inside the walls.

[DismalScientist]

@dasgeh- I’ve seen these induced demand studies and I am certainly unconvinced by their methodology and conclusions. When I-66 was built, it was unusable by single driver commuters. Mass transit was available in the corridor. Separated bicycling facilities were provided. In spite of this, Fairfax County continued to grow and I would imagine that the primary means of commuting to work in Washington remains single occupancy drivers.

I think trying to induce Fairfax county folks to use transit will be difficult as residential density is not sufficient to have an efficient bus system. When commuters get to a Metro station, the lots and the trains are already full. Most people won’t even consider bicycling.

Folks in Arlington often promote Smart Growth, which means increased residential density near transit and work facilities. This often entails density that many folks don’t want. People want their lawns. At the same time, Arlington restricts growth.
East Falls Church residents are fighting against increased density where it logically should go. Arlington would never give up parkland to support more housing. This pushes people outward more than the quality of the road infrastructure. The result is higher land values for Arlington home owners (which, being one, I am all in favor :p) and miserable commutes for those that are forced to live farther out (and won’t consider bicycling).

The notion implicit in the 1970’s Arlington deal concerning I-66 is the Arlington could somehow limit Fairfax County’s growth or otherwise affect Fairfax County residents’ behavior by restricting transportation through Arlington. That has largely failed and now both Arlington and Fairfax are paying for it in increased congestion and traffic on local streets.

[DismalScientist]

There is plenty of room between the sound walls. They added a third outbound lane between Glebe and Sycamore and didn’t change the sound walls. There are grass and trees in the median and on the sides. See http://www.arlnow.com/2011/10/04/group-renews-call-for-widening-of-i-66/. I live a block from I-66. Don’t succumb to the scare tactics. No one has ever proposed tearing down houses or making changes to the Custis trail.

Arlington made a big mistake by limiting traffic on I-66. Commuters are diverted to Arlington Blvd and Lee Highway, which more effectively split Arlington than the much better designed I-66. The diverted traffic to Washington Blvd. makes my neighborhood less pleasant.

According to http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Int66_MetroViennaRte.html, I-66 could be expanded to 8 lanes west of Spout Run and 6 lanes east of Spout Run all while staying within the sound walls.

[DismalScientist]

I want to say “yes” to more lanes on I-66 and remove the HOV restrictions. This would divert cars from my commute routes (Washington Blvd, Fairfax, and Clarendon inbound). As long as I-66 remains in its walled canyon, I don’t care how many cars are on it.

[DismalScientist]

Lower your tire pressure by one half and you can drink twice as much!

[DismalScientist]

As long as the rack is not by the door, I wouldn’t worry about locking my bike in a garage. There are so many bikes on the street that I figure a thief would get them first before heading into a garage. I used to just use a coil lock, but now I keep a U-lock on the rack. (Not that anything actually happened to cause this change!) We too have wheel bender racks. I try to lock my bike(s) leaning on the end of the rack. If only middle spaces are available, I lock my bike to a railing in the garage. No one seems to mind.

[DismalScientist]

It wasn’t working the weekend before last either.

[DismalScientist]

Outbound traffic on M St. is generally stopped. Riding on the sidewalk on M is illegal, slow and probably less safe than the street. There shouldn’t be any problem making the left. Filter through the traffic at the light on the far right of the rightmost turn lane. (I actually pull in front of the first car in the right lane.) The first green is a green arrow forward. Let the folks go by you on the right. When the green left arrow appears, go straight for the west sidewalk of the Key bridge. Generally, you should be there sufficiently quickly that you do not piss off all the drivers behind you turning left onto the bridge.

[DismalScientist]

The route that Google gives you is the C&O towpath, which I think is pretty unusable by bike in Georgetown. If you like traffic as stated above, take M St and the (west) sidewalk on the Key Bridge. If you don’t, I suggest staying on the Rock Creek trail and crossing on the north sidewalk of the Roosevelt bridge, (I’m not sure of the connection, but maybe you can take Virginia Avenue a few blocks east and go south at the circle in front of the Watergate.

[DismalScientist]

I prefer my drinking at the top of the hill rather than the bottom. Oh well, count me in.

[DismalScientist]

I don’t advocate flying through a red flashing crosswalk. However, pedestrians have every right to be in a crosswalk without a solid red signal. If this means no car traffic can turn right, tough…. If this is a problem and traffic backs up, then the light needs to be redesigned to have a right arrow so that traffic can proceed.

[DismalScientist]

A flashing red means that (slow) pedestrians should not enter because they might not make it across by the time the traffic light changes. Certainly a bicyclist entering the crosswalk can make it across before the light changes. Thus, they should not be ticketed.

The basic problem here is that a bike route is routed on a sidewalk. My opinion is that riding bicycles on sidewalks is particularly dangerous. Look at the series of accidents here and right after Bike to Work day. Auto drivers just don’t seem to expect bicyclists (or pedestrians) to, from their perspective, to dart out into the street. (I am not excusing this, just saying it is a problem.)

Worse than that, Eastbound riders are going the “unexpected” direction. (This is the same problem as with counterflow bike paths like 15th St., things like the Pennsylvania Ave. lanes, and the Fairfax/Custis connection.) Is there anyway to re-route the eastbound Custis over (say, the Scott St. bridge) to the eastbound side of Lee Highway?

This is why I generally avoid this whole situation by taking Clarendon and Lynn on my eastbound commute. (Of course, my next rant will be the bad painting of the bike lanes down Clarendon that do not encourage cars to make right turns from the bike lane, but rather try to do right hooks across the bike lane. Perhaps sharrows are the answer, especially downhill.)

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