[PotomacCyclist]

NPS objections to a Long Bridge Park-MVT connector would be bizarre. I could understand the reasoning if this were some remote national park with no traces of human development anywhere for miles. But the location of the proposed connection would likely sit in between the Metrorail bridge and the freight rail bridge (today’s Long Bridge) with the 14th St road bridges just a short distance away from that.

That’s not a very natural-looking spot today. I do understand objections based on the number of trees that would have to be cleared on that spot for the connection. But other trees can be planted elsewhere, while the connector would promote cycling, running and walking, which can have a positive effect on the environment if they displace automobile trips. Even if we’re just talking about recreational trips, better access to the MVT means that perhaps some people will not drive out to the Gravelly Point parking lots. Instead, they can take Metro or a bus or CaBi or walk to Long Bridge Park.

[PotomacCyclist]

When Frederick Douglass moved to DC, he also bought the houses at 2000-2004 17th Street NW (17th & U) as a real-estate investment. His son lived in one of the houses for 31 years, until his death in 1908.

I believe the original houses are still there today. The corner building currently houses a small store, Hana Japanese Market.

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https://www.culturaltourismdc.org/portal/frederick-douglass-residence-frederick-douglass-national-historic-site-african-american-heritage-trail

[PotomacCyclist]

Today’s Google Doodle honors Frederick Douglass, whose autobiography provided a powerful boost to the cause of abolition of slavery in the 19th century. His exact birthdate is unknown but he celebrated it in February (Feb. 14).

I rode by the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site a couple weeks ago, pre-Snowzilla. It’s located in the Historic Anacostia neighborhood. (Anacostia is only one of the neighborhoods East of the River, although some mistakenly call the entire EOTR area Anacostia. That’s sort of like saying Georgetown to mean all of Northwest DC west of Rock Creek Park.)

Douglass was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where he lived in enslavement. After learning to read and write, he became an avid reader and a teacher to other slaves. His master sent him to a notorious “slave-breaker” who beat him severely in an attempt to “break” him. The teenage Douglass fought back and the beatings stopped. Eventually he escaped to NYC and then Massachusetts. He campaigned against slavery and was often attacked by slavery supporters. He traveled to Ireland and Great Britain, partly to avoid recapture and re-enslavement. He spoke in favor of women’s rights during his time in Western New York (Rochester).

After the Civil War, he campaigned against the rise of the KKK in the old Confederacy, which sought to restore white supremacy through violent means. President Grant helped to suppress the (original) KKK in the early 1870s.

After his Rochester, NY house burned down (possibly from arson), he moved to Washington DC. He purchased property at Cedar Hill in what was known as Uniontown (now Historic Anacostia). This is the house that is now known as the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.

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It’s located on W St SE, between 14th & 15th St., a few blocks from Martin Luther King Ave.

I know Anacostia is frequently associated with crime, and there is some basis for that. But most of the violent crime takes place at night. For a cyclist or pedestrian, there is about as much cause to worry about an aggressive or inattentive car driver in a “safe” neighborhood. That is, it pays to be smart and aware in any neighborhood.

[PotomacCyclist]

Looks like there will only be a modest chance of rain in Arlington today. 60F helps, but 60F plus rain would help even more.

WU still shows near-100% chance of rain on Wednesday, over an inch total, and temperatures at or above 60F. That should help with the non-snowdrift, non-snowbank areas.

Overnight temperatures in Arlington and DC could remain above freezing into next week. (Fairfax, Loudoun and Maryland temperatures could drop slightly below freezing on a couple nights.)

[PotomacCyclist]

@Steve O 133827 wrote:

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It could have been the Arlington Deer. Or the Arlington Fox.

[PotomacCyclist]

@PotomacCyclist 127035 wrote:

I doubt I’ll do any long RackSpotter runs over the winter, but you never know. I think 1800 might be a reasonable target by the end of the winter. 2000 will be tougher.

— Oct. 30, 2015

I posted that almost exactly three months ago. I thought that there weren’t too many bike racks remaining to be mapped in the DC region. I was kind of wrong about that. I was also wrong about how many more racks I would map. I think I was around 1650 back then and I thought 150 more racks would be possible, while 350 would be a stretch goal for the winter.

So much for that. I reached 1700 quickly. Then 1800. Then 1900. Then 2000. 2100. 2200. And now over 2300. Nearly 700 new pins, double my stretch goal and the winter isn’t finished.

I saw that there were very few racks mapped in Maryland. So I filled in a lot of those gaps. I also filled in a lot of the blank areas East of the River in DC. I had said that I wanted to ensure that EOTR didn’t get ignored. There aren’t as many racks in those neighborhoods, but there are some. I located most of them in advance through Google Maps, library websites and Yelp. (Many Yelp pages indicate whether there is Bike Parking at a destination, although they don’t provide any details. Just Yes or No.) There are many run-down buildings in some of those areas, but I’ve also come across a lot of interesting places like the Anacostia Arts Center, the DC neighborhood libraries (which have been renovated and rebuilt with modern designs), the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, the Frederick Douglass Historic Site, THEARC, some new bars and restaurants, and the underutilized Gateway DC Pavilion at St. Elizabeths East.

I also decided to expand the coverage of the map and tie it in with the racks that others had mapped in Anne Arundel County. Adding racks in Laurel and Bowie helps to connect the DC region with Anne Arundel and the Baltimore metro area on the map. While there are gaps in the bike infrastructure between DC and Baltimore, the current bike map shows how interconnected the two cities are, and can be. I didn’t think it was practical to bike out to Laurel and Bowie (too far from Arlington and poor bike infrastructure in some places). So I took MetroRail and Metrobus most of the way there. It’s really convenient to bring your bike on the bus, using the bike racks on the front. It lets me cover a broad area without grinding myself down with long bike trips through some bike-hostile areas.

Maybe one day, a true bike route and network will be completed, connecting DC with Anne Arundel and Baltimore on comfortable, convenient and safe bike trails or separated bike paths. From what I’ve read here and elsewhere, that route does not exist today. Biking from DC to Baltimore means riding on some high-speed roads, something I’m not interested in doing.

I think I’ll continue to make a push to map racks, at least when the temperature is above 40F. Occasionally on days below 40F but not too much below. I’d like to finish most of what I want to do by mid-spring. After that point, when the weather gets hot, the mosquitoes will start to come out again. Mapping racks means stopping and starting a lot, not steady riding or running. This made me a very easy target for mosquitoes last summer. I’d like to avoid that this year. I tried insect repellent but that stuff is terrible to breathe in. It can’t be great for the skin either. I’ll take another break from RackSpotting over the summer, except the occasional session here and there. Then I could pick it up again in the late fall.

There will always be more racks to map, partly because of all the new construction, and also because of the bike rack programs from various business improvement districts, neighborhoods, cities, towns and counties. I’ve gone back to several areas that I had covered and found new bike racks. They’re multiplying like rabbits.

[PotomacCyclist]

Maybe pouring some hot water on iced-over sections could help. The difficulty is in transporting enough hot water to a trail to make a difference.

I’m inclined to wait and see how much snow melts during Monday’s rain. Tue. may not be quite as warm as predicted before, but it will still be in the upper 40s. There will be a lot more rain on Wed. and temperatures in the low 60s. I’m hoping that will be the knockout blow that takes care of all the remaining snow except for the man-made snowbanks.

I reported the Eads Street snowbanks on the Arlington snow conditions web form, but the snowbanks are still there. They are too big to melt in 55-60F temperatures. The rest of the bike lanes are starting to clear up. A few patches look rideable until you hit the snowbanks. By Tue. or Wed., I think everything except for the snowbanks should be rideable.

[PotomacCyclist]

I saw that the RackSpotter website was updated today. The pins now have a shaded look (dark green on the bottom fading to light green and a white highlight on top).

A big change is that we can now add photos to existing pin placements. This will let me address my oversight in not adding any photos to the early racks I posted, mostly in Pentagon City and Crystal City.

Map navigation seems to be smoother. In recent months, the display would be sluggish when trying to browse around the map. There’s less of a lag now. I’m no longer accidentally selecting individual racks while scrolling now, which was becoming a major annoyance for me. (When I would select a spot on the map and scroll, I would often select a rack unintentionally. Then the info for that rack would pop-up.)

I added photos to most of the Pentagon City racks today, so that part of the map no longer has pop-ups that look like a bunch of generic U rack images. I’m holding off on one rack until construction is finished there. Then I can include the new structure in the RackSpotter photo.

– There is one display glitch, on the desktop website. For rack pins where the photos were added before today, in the pop-up box, the generic black-and-white rack drawing image appears. The only way to see the photo is to hover over the comment line at the bottom of the box. The images are still there, but you have to take an extra step to view the images. This is cumbersome.

This doesn’t happen with rack pins and photos that I added today. For the new pins — and for existing pins with new photos added today — the photo appears in the pop-up box automatically, without having to hover the cursor over the comment line.

[PotomacCyclist]

I’ve probably posted about this before. But since there don’t seem to be many non-bike celebrities participating in BTWD, I think it can help to post about it again.

[PotomacCyclist]

@Powerful Pete 133713 wrote:

@Terpfan, MVT is melting, but remains unpassable as of this afternoon.

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That appears to be about 4-5 inches of snow still on the trail. If so, I’d guess most of that will be gone by Mon. evening and almost certainly by Wed. night.

[PotomacCyclist]

The temperatures weren’t that warm today. Only in the low 40s. The serious melting on the MVT and other trails will take place on Sun. through Wed. Especially Mon. and Wed.

There was some re-freezing last night and early this morning. But temperatures will remain above freezing continuously, at least in DC and Arlington, from now through next Saturday morning. Even in the more distant suburbs, temperatures could stay above freezing from now through at least Fri. morning.

[PotomacCyclist]

One difference between bikes and luggage/strollers is that it’s far easier to travel on surface roads by bike, so there is another option. As far as the safety issue, there probably isn’t a huge difference. All of them pose problems at Gallery Place, as well as causing problems for efficiency (loading/unloading trains, moving through stations).

The option of alternate bike travel plus the stroller/children element could make this a tougher argument to win politically. This is apart from whether or not I agree with the policy.

Part of my thinking is that I’d rather see “political capital” spent on issues like more protected bike lanes, better trails, promised trails (such as the greatly reduced trails that were promised alongside the Inter-County Connector), plowing of trails and bike lanes after winter storms, and faster Capital Bikeshare expansion (although the slow pace of expansion is primarily the result of the Bixi bankruptcy and not DDOT/Arlington lack of funding). While there is a lot to like about local bike infrastructure and policies, there is also room for improvement, and progress probably won’t be made on every item simultaneously.

If WMATA decided to remove the ban, I wouldn’t protest it. But I’m not sure if I would personally celebrate it either. I have mixed feelings about it. I’d prefer to see a bigger push on some of those other issues. I know some people have brought up the topic of Metro and bikes here and elsewhere. I’m not sure about the overall interest. I know there is some interest in the issue, but nearly as much interest as plowing, protected bike lanes, etc.?

[PotomacCyclist]

BIKE & RIDE ROOMS, BIKE LOCKERS

I’m not sure if I posted on the earlier threads you mentioned. If I did, I don’t remember what I posted. But these are my current thoughts, based on my recent experiences of bringing a bike onto Metro and also from frequent regular use of Metro (without a bike). The safety and peak-hour operating efficiency issues really do need to be addressed when proposing to modify or repeal the afternoon bike ban. I say this as someone who does find the policy to be frustrating on occasion, especially in the winter when the days are much shorter. This is because I either have to get back before 4 pm, or I have to wait until after 7 pm to board with the bike, or take a long trip in evening hours through areas without ideal bike infrastructure and through areas where the risk of crime is higher at night.

Other than the modified hours and the (probably impractical) bike rack idea, I haven’t come up with a good solution for this. I’m not making regular commutes out to the farther suburbs, so I can modify my plans. I know some people that live in the suburbs who bike to a Metro station, lock up their bikes at the station, then take Metro to downtown DC. In the evening, they take Metro back out to the suburban station, and ride their bikes for the last part of the trip. Thus, they avoid the peak hour bike ban. Most or all of the suburban Metro stations have bike lockers, which are better for those who follow this approach frequently. I recognize the risk of bike theft for those who lock their bikes to the U racks at Metro stations. (Almost every single Metro station has bike racks now, except just a few in DC where the dense office/retail development doesn’t allow much space for bike racks. But at those locations, there are almost always other bike racks nearby. There’s also less of a need to lock a bike at those stations. Someone can easily bike to a nearby Metro station in those cases.)

I don’t think the comparison to guide animals is fair. Those animals are necessary and it wouldn’t be practical for the persons to walk several miles in place of the MetroRail trip. Large luggage can be an issue, but many of the people bringing the suitcases are out-of-town visitors who will have no idea about local Metro policies. Even if large luggage were to be banned, there would be so many visitors violating the policy that it would be unenforceable or there would have to be a fair amount of officers devoted to watching the airports and Union station for people with rolling suitcases. This would be silly and it would never happen.

I think the difference with bikes is that it’s much easier to travel outside of the MetroRail system on them. That’s what they are designed for. Vision-impaired individuals and those carrying heavy suitcases can’t easily walk a few miles, but it’s pretty easy for a cyclist to bike a few miles. Almost all of the cyclists will be area residents, so they are likely to be familiar with Metro policies. Or at least they will become familiar with them quickly. I see relatively few cyclists disobeying the 4-7 pm bike ban.

Most people who bring bikes intend to ride them, not bring them on Metro. For those who are making longer trips, locking the bikes at a Metro station is one alternative. In addition to the bike lockers and the bike racks, WMATA is now adding Bike & Ride rooms at certain suburban stations. There’s already a large one at College Park, MD. New ones are being added at Vienna and East Falls Church. Fairfax County built a large bike room near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. These are good options for many cyclists who don’t want to take long-distance bike commutes but who still want to ride for at least part of their trips. There is probably a need for more bike rooms, including some on the Blue and Yellow Lines in Alexandria/Fairfax, the Red Line in Montgomery County and the Green/Orange/Blue-Silver extensions in Prince George’s County.

BIKE RACKS ON BUSES

For others, the bike racks on Metrobuses are another option. I think all of the suburban bus systems also have bike racks on their buses too. Prince George’s County was the last jurisdiction to add bike racks, but they have now done so (just last year). Montgomery County, Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County have bike racks on their buses, in some cases for more than a decade. I believe the central Maryland buses have bike racks too (in the Howard County/Laurel areas). DC Circulator buses also have bike racks. This is a good way to travel longer distances with a bike without having to ride it, whatever the reason is (such as if the total trip distance is very long, or if certain sections of the trip pass through areas without good bike infrastructure).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/05/19/prince-georges-buses-are-getting-more-bike-friendly-at-last/

Of course you are free to petition WMATA to change their policy. I don’t have any problem with that. I just don’t agree that a complete removal of the policy would be wise, not when there are other options. For situations where the existing options are not ideal, there can be solutions such as more Bike & Ride rooms, instead of changing the bike-ban policy. Ideally, some sort of bike rack could be installed on trains and the central DC transfer stations could have much wider walkways. But the bike rack idea probably isn’t practical, and it will be a long time (and very expensive) before the central DC transfer stations get wider walkways.

[PotomacCyclist]

CROWDED STATIONS AND TRAINS

I wrote to them recently to suggest that they modify their peak hour policy, but not to remove it entirely. While I bike a lot, I also ride Metro a lot too. I can understand why the policy is in place. If there were a lot of bikes on crowded Metro trains, that would slow down loading and unloading of those crowded trains by a huge amount. Just one cyclist could block off much of one end of a car. Even if they try to stay out of the way, it’s very difficult to do so in crowded conditions. I’ve experienced this myself over the winter, as I’ve taken my bike on Metro during the hour before the 4 pm ban takes effect. Some of the trains are mostly empty, but many others start filling up by 3:30 or 3:45 pm. At that point, bikes do start to be an impediment to quick loading-unloading of passengers.

There can also be problems at crowded central DC stations such as Gallery Place, L’Enfant Plaza and Metro Center, plus busy and smaller stations like Farragut West. I think there actually can be safety issues, especially at Gallery Place where the walkways are relatively narrow for such a busy transfer station. Even without bikes present, many pedestrians come dangerously close to the platform edges because of the crowded conditions. I’ve personally seen some people almost get pushed off by rude or inattentive people trying to get from one platform to the other line. I’ve had to walk close to the edge on many occasions myself. There really isn’t room for people to be rolling bikes in those heavy crowds at peak times.

I know this isn’t the case at some of the stations farther out from downtown DC. But how would a mixed policy be instituted? It could be very complicated to do so. Inbound trains only? But those trains head toward the crowded transfer stations of Gallery Place, L’Enfant Plaza and Metro Center. Only at certain stations? Well, people might use those stations to head to the central transfer stations, which would cause problems.

I suggested that Metro push back the start of the afternoon ban to 4:30 pm and have it run only to 6:30 pm, thus an afternoon ban from 4:30-6:30 pm, two hours instead of the current three hours. But after I sent that note, I noticed that some stations and lines do get fairly crowded by 3:45-4:00 pm. Not every day, but often enough that if the official policy were changed, there would definitely be crowding and safety issues at busy stations.

MY IDEAS ABOUT MODIFYING THE TIME PERIOD OR ADDING BIKE RACKS (probably not practical)

I’ve been thinking about the issue this winter, but I couldn’t come up with a good solution, other than the change to 4:30-6:30 pm for the weekday evening bike ban. I really don’t think the evening ban should be removed completely. In any case, I see the occasional cyclist who still brings a bike onto Metro between 4 and 7 pm, but not too often. I’m OK with the policy not being strictly enforced, as long as there aren’t major safety or crowding issues from people not following the ban. It doesn’t happen often enough to be a real issue.

Other solutions would be cumbersome and expensive, such as adding some sort of bike rack to the front of Metro trains. (It wouldn’t work to have a bike rack at the back end because the train operator wouldn’t be able to see if someone was trying to place or remove a bike from that rear rack. This would be a huge problem if the train took off while a cyclist were trying to remove or place a bike on that rack.) The front rack would be right in front of the operator, so there’s no way he/she could overlook the use of that rack.

While the rack itself wouldn’t represent a huge capital cost for a large system, would the placement of those racks prevent Metro from swapping those cars and putting them into the middle of trains? I don’t know if all Metro cars are capable of being lead cars, but I’ve seen cars with operator controls in the middle of trains. If those cars had front bike racks, those would have to be removed before the car could be placed in the middle of a train set. Perhaps there could be machines that could quickly install or remove the bike racks at the main Metro railyards. I don’t think the racks would have to be swapped during the day, or at most, once a day for certain cars.

Metrobuses already have front bike racks. I never used those before last year. But now that I have, I’ve found them to be very convenient and useful. It’s possible to bring my bike to locations throughout the DC-area suburbs without having to bike all the way there. If I had to bike from VA to MD, I’d be tired before I even started biking in MD. Plus there aren’t always easy bike routes between the jurisdictions and suburban towns and cities. MetroRail could have similar bike racks. They aren’t difficult to use, after you try them the first time. It might be trickier to have bike racks on the front of a MetroRail train because you can’t stand in front of the train while placing/removing the bike.

Perhaps there could be a similar but modified bike rack, one that swings forward to allow placement/removal of the bike while the cyclist is standing on the platform. This could work, EXCEPT that station platforms switch from the left to the right as the trains pass through DC and into the suburbs. The bike rack would need to be able to swing out to both sides and still be stable and secure on the front of the train. Perhaps one of the mechanical engineers or mechanically-minded people here could come up with a design. I don’t think it would be too complicated. Most of the bike rack could be identical to the existing Metrobus bike racks. It would just need a hinge mechanism on both sides, along with an easy way for someone to unlock the rack from the side and pull it out toward the platform edge.

If such racks were installed at the front of trains, this could allow bikes to be brought on trains without impeding pedestrian entry/exit from crowded trains.

However, this wouldn’t solve the problem of rolling bikes through very crowded stations. Until Gallery Place in particular is redesigned or modified, this will always be an issue with allowing bikes in the system during the weekday afternoon rush. I think it’s a valid concern. And those concerns will result in strong opposition to any proposal to end the afternoon bike ban.

…

[PotomacCyclist]

I just tried Internet Explorer. Same error message. I normally try to avoid using IE, but I thought I’d test the website out in that browser too.

[Author]

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