[Yule]

One of their questions,

4. Which option would you prefer on N Lynn St?

Does anyone notice that Option 2 has two-way car traffic but only a same-size, one-way bike lane (5′)? Not good. Option 2 also has less sidewalk space, which if used by in-bound bicyclists causes danger. And Option 2’s two-way traffic creates more danger to bicycles and pedestrians anyway. This would be a bad move all around for everyone but cars passing through.

Vote “Option 1” on Q4!

[Yule]

@cvcalhoun 181877 wrote:

there are so few ebikes in the system that if you go to a location with a lightning bolt, the ebike is pretty much sure to be gone by the time you get there.[/quote] With only eighty in the entire region during the phase-in period, and with seemingly half having dead batteries at any given time, it’s no wonder you haven’t gotten one yet.

I’d say the Dead Battery Problem has probably frustrated many by now, maybe comparable to the problem you describe (people whisking the ebikes away before you arrive). Between the time someone locates a lightning-bolt designating an available ebike, and the time he/she arrives at the station use it, the system detects a low battery, the red-light goes on, preventing use until a CaBi employee stops by and switches the battery for a fresh one. This doesn’t seem to be automatic upon docking, but can occur any time.

Which leads me to wonder why the ebikes with dead batteries but otherwise running fine are not allowed to be used as “non-e” bikes? The “electric assist” is optional, in that you have to press a button to turn it on, but once the battery is gone, the bike is locked up even if it otherwise runs fine.

[Yule]

It appears that some regular Memorial Bridge bicycle traffic may be self-diverting onto the sidewalk along Roosevelt Bridge.

Roosevelt Bridge is too narrow along most of its span and is flat-out not meant to accommodate heavy bicycle traffic. Bike-on-bike accidents waiting to happen. It has “just enough” space for two bicycles abreast, if neither one makes the slightest error. In fact, any time two bicycles pass each other going opposite directions on Roosevelt Bridge, at anything above walking speed, I’d say it meets the technical definition of “near collision;” and with cars racing by just to the other side of the low-railing…

Besdies the narrowness problem, Roosevelt Bridge is not an adequate work-around for most Arlington-DC trips because of its indirectness: It lets you off on the DC side at the Kennedy Center, out of the way for most people’s destinations and not in an particularly bicycle friendly area, and on the Virginia side onto the limited-access Mount Vernon Trail, totally unlit at night and potholed, making it dangerous at low-light times on multiple levels and a small commute time sink.

The best alternative to/from North Arlington was formerly Memorial Bridge, now looking unattractive thru circa 2021. That leaves Key Bridge. I use Key Bridge, but I believe it to be the most dangerous crossing of all (more than Roosevelt) if one goes to/from downtown via M Street, as most seem to. M Street is probably the most bicycle unfriendly street I regularly use. Add to this that Key Bridge will presumably have more car traffic through 2021 due to the Memorial Bridge project.

Disappointing, but it seems to mean that DC-to-Virginia bicycle movement is to be at its most difficult in years. Or is there a solution I am overlooking? 14th Street Bridge will be fine again for commutes or other runs to/from South Arlington and Alexandria, once its own construction project is done soon. That leaves Chain Bridge and Wilson Bridge, both of which are, I presume for most reading this, between “way out of the way” and “way, way out of the way.”

North ArlingtSolution: A nice-and-wide, pedestrian- and bicycle-only bridge from Rosslyn to Georgetown Waterfront. Stay off M Street, stay off Key Bridge, no need for use of Roosevelt Bridge, less pressure on MVT to hit the other bridges.

[Author]

Posts