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@Starduster 177800 wrote:

rcannon100: Were you talking about the Fish Market end near 12th St SW, or the plaza at 7th, in front of the former (& soon to be gone) Channel Inn? I believe they’ve
started work on the sea wall- 1st step in Phase II.

I meant by the Channel Inn.

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@rcannon100 177789 wrote:

There is an odd building on the north end, which has a large U driveway around it. I suspect that is exactly what that is. Remember, this project is far from done.

And they have started boring holes for Phase II. 😮

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Let me first say that I am happy that they considered cyclists and installed a PBL. They did a good job also of signing it to tell pedestrians where they should be and cyclists where they should be. It’s too bad that pedestrians can’t even understand pictures. OTOH, I twice have seen CABI users riding on the sidewalk as they window shopped. IMO there isn’t much to window shop at least now.

They also did many things wrong. I don’t think that they put up any signs to tell motorists leaving the garages and the side streets/alleys that they should stop before the sidewalk and PBL while waiting for lights, and not on top of either or just going through without paying attention at all. Whatever material they used to make the PBL seems to cause my bike to sink in, acting as an unneeded brake. It also seems to have caused the paint used for separating the two directions of bike lanes to prematurely age. It’s only six months is but is very visibly fading.

Also there should be designated areas for people waiting for buses, shuttles, and whatever. It is a worse problem when buses stop to let people out but not as bad as has historically been the case northwest of the Fish Market. It might get worse in the summer.

Some of that is easily fixable. I also agree with LotM that although there are problems it is rideable and it is not a long distance. I add that I have never been there when The Anthem is emptying.

Minor thing, why didn’t they use a two-sided bikeometer like at the IoD and placed perpendicular to its current orientation? One can’t easily see how many cyclists have gone by without stopping. it isn’t important, but I like to look at it.

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@Emm 175685 wrote:

The tweet says this is 4MRT and the MVT, not W&OD.

Hopefully this is just the high tide coming in extra high (which google told me was around 11:30 AM)… low tide should be around commute time which means it’ll hopefully be gone by then, although the sand/silt left behind is always slippery.

Oops, sorry. Not sure what I was thinking. 😮 I certainly recognized the picture.

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4 mile Run under W&OD flooded
https://twitter.com/Karnakdave/status/971054178813571074

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This may have been posted somewhere but if so I missed it due to all the freezing Saddles posts. I noticed today that the paper signs on the Maine Ave. side of the Wharf showing which is the bike lane and which is the sidewalk have been replaced by metal signs on metals poles which are much higher than the old ones..

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I wonder if this is somehow connected. It looks like the same place. 😮 https://twitter.com/Wash_cycle/status/938493647087198208

Seriously, does anyone know if there was really a murder there, or just the dockless bike?

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@lordofthemark 169269 wrote:

I very much hope to attend, as this combines three things that particularly draw me to biking events – nice people, food, and swag. If I attend I will make an effort to do at LEAST two loops. Whether I attend or not will depend on what else QOTM has planned, as well as how bad the weather is.

I think that was what I did last year — two loops, but the weather then was truly weird.

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About a month and a half after being first used, the Bikeometer at The Wharf is not functioning.

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@Judd 168252 wrote:

Advantages:
1. It locks you into the event and Women And Bikes gets some of your cash still if a blizzard comes through and you decide to not go on the day of the event.
2. The HP100 is completely volunteer organized. It’s awesome for Megan to be able to see registrations and money raised ahead of time while she’s working so hard to secure sponsors, door prizes, registrants, supplies.

If you run Strava, you can see how many laps you’ve done this year. Search for the segment Hains Point (gate to gate). Click “my results” and then filter on “This Year”.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15734[/ATTACH]

Thank.

I don’t have Strava.

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Is there an advantage to registering beforehand? I know that last year I registered there and had done a couple of laps before it started. I went home after a few more as a front came through.

I wonder how many laps I have accumulated on HP so far this year. I am sure it is some ridiculous number.

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@napes 167883 wrote:

lordofthemark, you mean something like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz7WsvDpRw8

The video doesn’t work.

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@lordofthemark 167524 wrote:

Clearly there will be some times when the PBL is unusable to even bike share riders. OTOH in conditions like that, it may be that any cycling accommodation not on the street side of parked cars would be taken over by pedestrians.

Just curious as to where most of the pedestrians head when the performance at The Anthem ends. Are they going to bars, to the Waterfront Metro or …? If it is to bars then it will cause more pedestrian traffic later.

For several years there was frequently a lot of car and pedestrian traffic on Water Street early on weekend mornings due to the former Hogate restaurant being used for performances of some kind.

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I am on my second Light and Motion light. The first died after about four years.

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@lordofthemark 167350 wrote:

I stopped for coffee at Velocafe this AM. Window only service from 8AM opening until 9AM, so took the opportunity to check out bike lane usage.

3 different questions, and one kicker fact. 1. How much is the PBL being used by riders, vs peds. 2. How many riders are using the PBL vs the general lanes on Maine. 3 How many peds are using the PBL, vs sticking to the sidewalk?

Note this was on a very nice morning, but a Friday when bike traffic is light.

1. The bad news is that peds still definitely outnumber riders in the PBL, so to some degree it is functioning as an extension to the sidewalk, as predicted. The big qualifier is that most of the folks walking in the PBLs were construction workers – not sure why they favor it – I assume because they got used to walking on it before it opened. Also perhaps they are less interested in the retail than other peds? Also its not nearly as bad in the part further southeast, near Velocafe, where there is no active construction work.

2. Hard to say with precision, as I did not have a good view of WB riders on Maine. But I would say roughly 50 – 50 using the PBL vs taking the lane. To be less precise “some of each” It seemed to me that most of the PBL riders were either going to/from the Wharf itself, or were riding CaBi bikes, or both. But I think there were at least a couple of non-CaBi through riders. But clearly the overwhelming majority of non-CaBi through riders were taking the lane (of course on a Friday AM the general lanes on Maine are particularly appealing, and also the pavement is fresh)

3. The good news – MOST pedestrians were taking the sidewalk, not the PBL. Among non construction workers, 80 to 90 percent? The sidewalk itself is rather wide (I would love a sidewalk that wide on King Street near where I live) and door opening did not make it unuseable. Its possible that as more retail opens it will grow crowded enough people will switch to the PBL, but for now the sidewalk was at almost optimal levels of use – enough people to feel “vibrant” but not enough to slow any walkers down. A couple of runners did use the PBL. Naturally.

The kicker – I did not see ONE bike rider riding on the sidewalk itself. Not even the CaBi riders. Considering what I see elsewhere, that is very good. And I think justifies the PBL right there. the separation of PBL from sidewalk may not have assured riders of a space free from peds- but it has (based on this limited observation) given peds a space free from riders. Which is a huge thing. It is good for peds, and removes one of the biggest complaints against cyclists in DC and Alexandria – a complaint that I think is a problem for bike advocates.

Did you get a feel as to what percentage of the bikes using the PBL were counted by the bikeometer, as opposed to crossing Maine just to the northwest or going behind it to get to what is left of the old Water Street??

BTW, I think the construction workers feel that they can go wherever they please and completely ignore my bell or my voice. I also managed to pass the bus stop where the new bus shuttle from L’Enfant Plaza lets people out. The passengers seemed to be just as clueless as the tour bus passengers usually are northwest of the Fish Market — milling around on the PBL

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