Options for opposing Connecticut Avenue changes?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Whatever, the incline from Woodley Park to the Zoo is not very much. Again, the street was built to accomodate Streetcars and as such, none of it is that much to bear on a bike.

LOL. I’m sorry but this is just funny, like hilariously funny.

A fun pre-COVID past time was watching all of the families struggle walking up that hill from the Metro for a day at the zoo. It’s apparently too steep for normal people to walk easily but not too steep for regular people on bicycles because… streetcars?

It is not too steep to walk easily. What are you talking about? I am certain it's not too steep for "regular people on bicycles" because I ride my bicycle up it all the time, and I assure you, I'm no world-class athlete. Besides, I thought the anti-bike line here was that every cyclist is a fat white guy in spandex -- if fat guys can do it, can't everyone?

“Because I can do it everyone can” gives away a lot more about you than you think it does.

I am well aware that not everyone can ride a bike at all, or get around easily by any means, thanks. My point is that anyone who is biking to work is capable of riding up that hill, because it's just not that steep and doesn't require a particularly high level of fitness to climb.

Though forgive me if I misunderstood your "“Because I can do it everyone can” gives away a lot more about you than you think it does" reply -- I thought you were reminding me that lots of people have mobility issues, but if you were just saying I had lumped myself in with the fat white guys, yeah, that was my point. (Though I don't wear spandex.)

[Anonymous]

I thought everyone was switching to ebikes to get help on the uphills? I don't ride a bike but I am a pedestrian and support better bike infrastructure as it also improves pedestrian safety. People have been driving cars like maniacs since the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought everyone was switching to ebikes to get help on the uphills? I don't ride a bike but I am a pedestrian and support better bike infrastructure as it also improves pedestrian safety. People have been driving cars like maniacs since the pandemic.

Long before the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever, the incline from Woodley Park to the Zoo is not very much. Again, the street was built to accomodate Streetcars and as such, none of it is that much to bear on a bike.

LOL. I’m sorry but this is just funny, like hilariously funny.

A fun pre-COVID past time was watching all of the families struggle walking up that hill from the Metro for a day at the zoo. It’s apparently too steep for normal people to walk easily but not too steep for regular people on bicycles because… streetcars?

You are making a commentary on the sedentary nature of our society, which is another reason we should be encouraging people to ride bikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever, the incline from Woodley Park to the Zoo is not very much. Again, the street was built to accomodate Streetcars and as such, none of it is that much to bear on a bike.

Guess San Francisco street car say hold my beer biker.

A cable car is different than a street car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever, the incline from Woodley Park to the Zoo is not very much. Again, the street was built to accomodate Streetcars and as such, none of it is that much to bear on a bike.

LOL. I’m sorry but this is just funny, like hilariously funny.

A fun pre-COVID past time was watching all of the families struggle walking up that hill from the Metro for a day at the zoo. It’s apparently too steep for normal people to walk easily but not too steep for regular people on bicycles because… streetcars?

You are making a commentary on the sedentary nature of our society, which is another reason we should be encouraging people to ride bikes.

The vast majority of people at the zoo are tourists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Whatever, the incline from Woodley Park to the Zoo is not very much. Again, the street was built to accomodate Streetcars and as such, none of it is that much to bear on a bike.

LOL. I’m sorry but this is just funny, like hilariously funny.

A fun pre-COVID past time was watching all of the families struggle walking up that hill from the Metro for a day at the zoo. It’s apparently too steep for normal people to walk easily but not too steep for regular people on bicycles because… streetcars?

It is not too steep to walk easily. What are you talking about? I am certain it's not too steep for "regular people on bicycles" because I ride my bicycle up it all the time, and I assure you, I'm no world-class athlete. Besides, I thought the anti-bike line here was that every cyclist is a fat white guy in spandex -- if fat guys can do it, can't everyone?

“Because I can do it everyone can” gives away a lot more about you than you think it does.

You just can’t help yourself with the constant goal-post moving, can you.

The assertion was “nobody will use the bike lane because Ct is too steep.”
The answer was: “it is not too steep, many people can bike it fine or use an ebike.”

You’re now trying to claim that because some people can’t do it, nobody can do it.

You seem to have problems with reading comprehension and projection.

Ok what’s your point then. Specifically, state it.

[Anonymous]

We are in a dictatorship. The only way to show the mayor that the Bike Lobby is dangerous is through self-sacrifice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in a dictatorship. The only way to show the mayor that the Bike Lobby is dangerous is through self-sacrifice.

Like getting hit by a car?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I just find it hard to believe that there are 3000 people along the corridor that are going to ride their bikes downtown in all weather with a backpack full of professional shoes/clothes, shower upon arrival, and then do the reverse at the end of the day. I know DDOT has their projections, but the studies could use a scrub from someone who specializes in human behavior. Of course some young folks and older PBS devotees will do it, but not 3000. So maybe 500 people per day?

Opponents get one narrow idea in their head and just get stuck on it and lose the ability to think big picture.

No one is expecting massive numbers of people to use CT Ave to bike to work - just because that is what you use the corridor for does not mean that is all it is for or what other people use it for.

The expectation, based on other corridors, is that people biking in this corridor will use the bike lanes to:

-Bike to work downtown
-Bike to the CT Ave Metro Stations to transfer for other trips
-Bike to jobs on CT Ave
-Bike to schools on CT Ave
-Bike to retail and restaurants on CT Ave
-Bike to visit friends who live on or near CT Ave
-Bike to the zoo (which is one of the biggest tourist attractions in DC)
-Bike to Rock Creek Park for exercise or fun
-Bike to houses of worship on CT Ave

Connecticut Avenue is more than just a traffic sewer for people to get to their downtown jobs - it is also a densely populated residential street lined with retail.

The estimate of 3000 bikers per day is based on ridership on other corridors in DC, particularly 15th street which regularly exceeds that number despite not even being part of a connected bike network so bike lanes on CT Ave will almost certainly increase the number of people using 15th Street to bike downtown.

Oh what wicked webs we weave

The claimed 1,067% increase in bicycle commuting is the linchpin of the claims that there will only be 7,000+ extra vehicles on side streets and only an 8 minute increase in travel time. It is also the linchpin behind the claims that bicycling will replace driving instead of walking.

Both of the bolded items are lies that have been repeatedly debunked with citations in this thread.

No they haven't. Both of those things are directly from DDOT

The parsing of those numbers have been explained, in detail, in at least three places in this thread, yet in a Trumpian manner, continue to repeat the falsehood.

No it hasn't. You're projecting again.

By the way, DDOT's projections have threw key caveats that you're not mentioning. They don't happen until 2045. They assume 3,000 vehicles will be replaced by bicycles and only 200 by public transport. And they assume that no changes from 2019 happen. No huge development at Chevy Chase Lake and no changes to 14th, 16th, Georgia or Beach.

Wait, what doesn’t happen until 2045? The bike lanes? If that’s the case, why is anyone upset about them in 2022, a full 23 years in advance? If you mean the shift in mode from car to bike by 3,000 vehicles happens by then, sure, that seems plausible.

No, the supposed diversion in traffic to different north south roads. It basically says that north-south traffic will achieve homeostasis in 2045, assuming absolutely no changes are made to any other roads and there is no change in the underlying demographic/density mix in the region. Until then traffic will be a nightmare. It's also already out of date because of the changes made to 14th and 16th as well as the bus routes. It's a static model that assumes nothing changes or has changed since 2019.

In 20 years after the smoldering ashes of downtown DC finally cool following the upcoming recession, tax hikes, crime wave, and urban flight, someone will ask who thought it was a good idea to make it harder for high earning commuters and tourists to come to DC and spend their money. I hope all of you bike geniuses will step forward and take a bow.

You should consider writing sci fi scripts - you have quite the imagination.

We bike people wll be too busy bartering for rat meat on the open needle exchange that's accessed only by the cratered remnants of bike lanes that the Planet of the Apes has now taken over.

You bike people will be long gone by then. With no roots in the community you’ll be off to Tucson or Lincoln or whatever the cool new city is. It will be up to the homeowners and grownups to rebuild.

Because this is DC, a third of them will be off to the suburbs when their kids reach school age (and ironically blame the lack of bike infrastructure as the reason they are joining the legion of suburban drivers), another third will move back to their hometown and the last third will decamp to “the next cool place”.

Oh shoot. I missed that memo. I'm still living here and raising kids. Crap. You know so much about *everything* - what should I do?

I think you did miss the memo. It’s been the explicit economic development strategy of DC for the past several decades to cater to the childless singles, DINKs and retirees. Kids cost money in services.

So do I sell my home? Move the family even though the kids love where we live?

I should probably also tell my neighbors who are raising kids here, like to bike to work, etc. Maybe we can all leave together since it's what you're suggesting. Even though we're all doing well here.

I just counted, and families with kids are a third of the block and a lot of bicyclists within those. Seems like the memo needs to be broadcast much farther. Or, you're full of it.

You’re free to do what you want. Just know that the city will do everything in its power to make your life as a parent difficult so that you’ll leave.

I will do everything in my power to get a new mayor. Not effective yet, but...

Oh, and protected bike lanes, traffic calming, and other stuff like that HELPS my family. If you've ever booked with a kid on unprotected bike lanes you see just how useless they are. Protect them all.

But you've never experienced what it's like when part of Connecticut gets shut down for repairs. It is going to be an epic nightmare for years.

There are roads near me that are shut down and it sucks. So we need to adapt and work around it. Roads will sometimes be closed for repairs. So will metro. So what?

It's a vit different when it's the prinary north south route into the city and the clusterf* will last years.

Maybe you live south of Porter, we don't. All that extra traffic is going to go through our neighborhoods.

I live north of Porter and drive Connecticut all the time, including to things with my kids. And we already have constant cut-through traffic because we're right near Wisconsin, and people zoom through from Western or River to get there. But I still support these protected bike lanes even if they personally inconvenience me.

And despite being a bicyclist I am against permanently eliminating two lanes of Connecticut Ave and inconveniencing my neighbors.

At least we agree that it will cause a lot of traffic.

The effective number of travel lanes is the same, when you consider the addition of pocket left-turn lanes. Let's stop with the fear-mongering.

Will there be pocket turn lanes at every intersection, or just at the traffic lights?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in a dictatorship. The only way to show the mayor that the Bike Lobby is dangerous is through self-sacrifice.

What in the heck does that even mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in a dictatorship. The only way to show the mayor that the Bike Lobby is dangerous is through self-sacrifice.

What in the heck does that even mean?

Sounds like NDD is planning self-harm and needs help. Anyone know him personally able to reach out?

[Anonymous]

At the ANC 3/4G candidate forum, the commissioners describe the bike lanes as a done deal. There wasn't a lot of room for the candidates to distinguish themselves on this issue, and in fact, none of them came out abjectly against them.

Two of the candidates were painfully non-committal, retreating to the 'we need to improve engagement' argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the ANC 3/4G candidate forum, the commissioners describe the bike lanes as a done deal. There wasn't a lot of room for the candidates to distinguish themselves on this issue, and in fact, none of them came out abjectly against them.

Two of the candidates were painfully non-committal, retreating to the 'we need to improve engagement' argument.

So they were embarrassed that this was caught out before they broke ground and think it's just a pr problem.

Let us all remember the names of the people responsible for our impending traffic nightmare. DDOT came up with the plan but those ANC commissioners are the ones that own it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the ANC 3/4G candidate forum, the commissioners describe the bike lanes as a done deal. There wasn't a lot of room for the candidates to distinguish themselves on this issue, and in fact, none of them came out abjectly against them.

Two of the candidates were painfully non-committal, retreating to the 'we need to improve engagement' argument.

So they were embarrassed that this was caught out before they broke ground and think it's just a pr problem.

Let us all remember the names of the people responsible for our impending traffic nightmare. DDOT came up with the plan but those ANC commissioners are the ones that own it.

You are missing the point. The decision has been made. The bike lanes are going in. There are no options for reversing the decision.

If you want to hold anyone accountable, it is the Mayor. So if you want to vote against her, she will only get 80% of the vote instead of 81%.