Options for opposing Connecticut Avenue changes?

[Anonymous]

The most I've ever seen on the streets at one time would be under 20 people. That amount should be able accommodated by existing bike lines like Rock Creek Park. It's literally called "the bike path." If cyclists aren't using something previously built for them, why should new paths be built for them. Reno road was also adjusted to make bike lanes along the shoulders and I rarely if ever see cyclists there. I see bike lanes on 20th street and G street (in the heart of the GW campus). They removed parking and they are minimally used, so it's hard to accept the argument that many more will start using it when we already have case studies downtown where we can see with our own eyes that they are not heavily used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The most I've ever seen on the streets at one time would be under 20 people. That amount should be able accommodated by existing bike lines like Rock Creek Park. It's literally called "the bike path." If cyclists aren't using something previously built for them, why should new paths be built for them. Reno road was also adjusted to make bike lanes along the shoulders and I rarely if ever see cyclists there. I see bike lanes on 20th street and G street (in the heart of the GW campus). They removed parking and they are minimally used, so it's hard to accept the argument that many more will start using it when we already have case studies downtown where we can see with our own eyes that they are not heavily used.

You know how, when you want to get to a location on Connecticut Avenue, you use Connecticut Avenue to get to that location? Rock Creek Park is useful for when you're going to a location in Rock Creek Park. Conversely, Connecticut Avenue is useful for when you're going to a location on Connecticut Avenue.

I would have thought this went without saying, but obviously it doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Starting after Labor Day, when the kids are back in school and more people are forced to return to the office, the sh’t will hit the fan with these silly bike lanes in the downtown, like the one on L, the one 20th. The city did this under the cover of Covid. No way the citizens would have allowed this to happen if they actually saw it being down in real time. Traffic has not come close to returning to normal, and when it does and drivers r waiting in a single lanes missing light after light after light bc of shorter lights bc of invisible bikers and these ridiculous bike lanes that no one uses, they are going to take matters into their own hands. Even in modest traffic we have now, I’ve seen road rage directed at the bike lanes, people driving over the sticks, turning on red lights instead of waiting for invisible bikers to materialize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting after Labor Day, when the kids are back in school and more people are forced to return to the office, the sh’t will hit the fan with these silly bike lanes in the downtown, like the one on L, the one 20th. The city did this under the cover of Covid. No way the citizens would have allowed this to happen if they actually saw it being down in real time. Traffic has not come close to returning to normal, and when it does and drivers r waiting in a single lanes missing light after light after light bc of shorter lights bc of invisible bikers and these ridiculous bike lanes that no one uses, they are going to take matters into their own hands. Even in modest traffic we have now, I’ve seen road rage directed at the bike lanes, people driving over the sticks, turning on red lights instead of waiting for invisible bikers to materialize.

Yes, drivers are really bad. I'm glad we're building systems that discourage that behavior

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting after Labor Day, when the kids are back in school and more people are forced to return to the office, the sh’t will hit the fan with these silly bike lanes in the downtown, like the one on L, the one 20th. The city did this under the cover of Covid. No way the citizens would have allowed this to happen if they actually saw it being down in real time. Traffic has not come close to returning to normal, and when it does and drivers r waiting in a single lanes missing light after light after light bc of shorter lights bc of invisible bikers and these ridiculous bike lanes that no one uses, they are going to take matters into their own hands. Even in modest traffic we have now, I’ve seen road rage directed at the bike lanes, people driving over the sticks, turning on red lights instead of waiting for invisible bikers to materialize.

I agree. Flex posts aren't enough. We need concrete.

-a person who is sometimes a driver, sometimes a bicyclist, and always a person, a parent, and a citizen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The most I've ever seen on the streets at one time would be under 20 people. That amount should be able accommodated by existing bike lines like Rock Creek Park. It's literally called "the bike path." If cyclists aren't using something previously built for them, why should new paths be built for them. Reno road was also adjusted to make bike lanes along the shoulders and I rarely if ever see cyclists there. I see bike lanes on 20th street and G street (in the heart of the GW campus). They removed parking and they are minimally used, so it's hard to accept the argument that many more will start using it when we already have case studies downtown where we can see with our own eyes that they are not heavily used.

You don't get it.

1) not everyone is going downtown. A lot of this is interneighborhood travel to hit one business or another
2) a lot of this is kids wanting to ride to schools
3) how many people swam across the Anacostia River every day before the first Douglass Bridge was built versus how many people drive it today?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting after Labor Day, when the kids are back in school and more people are forced to return to the office, the sh’t will hit the fan with these silly bike lanes in the downtown, like the one on L, the one 20th. The city did this under the cover of Covid. No way the citizens would have allowed this to happen if they actually saw it being down in real time. Traffic has not come close to returning to normal, and when it does and drivers r waiting in a single lanes missing light after light after light bc of shorter lights bc of invisible bikers and these ridiculous bike lanes that no one uses, they are going to take matters into their own hands. Even in modest traffic we have now, I’ve seen road rage directed at the bike lanes, people driving over the sticks, turning on red lights instead of waiting for invisible bikers to materialize.

Actually, the engagement between the city and residents for all of these bike lanes projects has been off the charts in terms of touches to the public, and even more so during COVID and after because of Zoom. To suggest otherwise is a lie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting after Labor Day, when the kids are back in school and more people are forced to return to the office, the sh’t will hit the fan with these silly bike lanes in the downtown, like the one on L, the one 20th. The city did this under the cover of Covid. No way the citizens would have allowed this to happen if they actually saw it being down in real time. Traffic has not come close to returning to normal, and when it does and drivers r waiting in a single lanes missing light after light after light bc of shorter lights bc of invisible bikers and these ridiculous bike lanes that no one uses, they are going to take matters into their own hands. Even in modest traffic we have now, I’ve seen road rage directed at the bike lanes, people driving over the sticks, turning on red lights instead of waiting for invisible bikers to materialize.

The people yuou describe at the end of your post shouldn't have the right to operate a vehicle.

That said, engineers can take measures to mitigate the potential harm they can inflict. That is why PROTECTED bike lanes with CONCRETE barriers are a good idea. They make pedestrians safer too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most I've ever seen on the streets at one time would be under 20 people. That amount should be able accommodated by existing bike lines like Rock Creek Park. It's literally called "the bike path." If cyclists aren't using something previously built for them, why should new paths be built for them. Reno road was also adjusted to make bike lanes along the shoulders and I rarely if ever see cyclists there. I see bike lanes on 20th street and G street (in the heart of the GW campus). They removed parking and they are minimally used, so it's hard to accept the argument that many more will start using it when we already have case studies downtown where we can see with our own eyes that they are not heavily used.

You don't get it.

1) not everyone is going downtown. A lot of this is interneighborhood travel to hit one business or another
2) a lot of this is kids wanting to ride to schools
3) how many people swam across the Anacostia River every day before the first Douglass Bridge was built versus how many people drive it today?

It's astounding how much traffic is just cutting through town. Any given rush hour, I see 90% of the plates are Maryland and Virginia. All the people complaining about "DC traffic problems" and "DC lanes" should wake up and realize that it's all of the out-of-state commuters that are causing you so many headaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone was under any illusions about Muriel Bower's non-support of safe streets actions, including the people who decide the endorsements at GGW. Even I was well aware of it, and I'm not plugged in at all and don't even live in DC. It's highly regrettable, both because it's a huge missed opportunity for the future, and because more people will be killed. Whatever the future will be in DC, it won't be prioritizing cars and parking over transit, walking, biking, and housing. However, for endorsements, you're stuck with the candidates who are actually on the ballot, and so here we are.

How many cyclists have been killed on that stretch of Connecticut Avenue?

Happy now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone was under any illusions about Muriel Bower's non-support of safe streets actions, including the people who decide the endorsements at GGW. Even I was well aware of it, and I'm not plugged in at all and don't even live in DC. It's highly regrettable, both because it's a huge missed opportunity for the future, and because more people will be killed. Whatever the future will be in DC, it won't be prioritizing cars and parking over transit, walking, biking, and housing. However, for endorsements, you're stuck with the candidates who are actually on the ballot, and so here we are.

How many cyclists have been killed on that stretch of Connecticut Avenue?

Happy now?

Right. So still zero. You add 3000 bikes a day and then you will get actual deaths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting after Labor Day, when the kids are back in school and more people are forced to return to the office, the sh’t will hit the fan with these silly bike lanes in the downtown, like the one on L, the one 20th. The city did this under the cover of Covid. No way the citizens would have allowed this to happen if they actually saw it being down in real time. Traffic has not come close to returning to normal, and when it does and drivers r waiting in a single lanes missing light after light after light bc of shorter lights bc of invisible bikers and these ridiculous bike lanes that no one uses, they are going to take matters into their own hands. Even in modest traffic we have now, I’ve seen road rage directed at the bike lanes, people driving over the sticks, turning on red lights instead of waiting for invisible bikers to materialize.

Labor Day? Kids are already back in school now, it's not the middle of the summer. What are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting after Labor Day, when the kids are back in school and more people are forced to return to the office, the sh’t will hit the fan with these silly bike lanes in the downtown, like the one on L, the one 20th. The city did this under the cover of Covid. No way the citizens would have allowed this to happen if they actually saw it being down in real time. Traffic has not come close to returning to normal, and when it does and drivers r waiting in a single lanes missing light after light after light bc of shorter lights bc of invisible bikers and these ridiculous bike lanes that no one uses, they are going to take matters into their own hands. Even in modest traffic we have now, I’ve seen road rage directed at the bike lanes, people driving over the sticks, turning on red lights instead of waiting for invisible bikers to materialize.

The L Street bike lane opened in 2012 (here's an article from then about, sigh, drivers complaining: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/new-dc-bike-lane-on-l-street-nw-causes-confusion/2012/11/09/56b83f64-29b3-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_story.html). It was not done 'under the cover of covid."

[Anonymous]

Seems to me that like DC streets, this thread is overrun by commuters, not actual DC residents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to take my hat off to the bike mafia. I drive to downtown dc everyday. I see maybe 2-3-4 bikers a day on these lanes. And yet the driving patterns and street infrastructure has been completely transformed to make way for these unused bike lines. How was a group able to get something passed that inconveniences hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis and conveniences so relatively few people. It’s a fundamental breakdown of our government — not political like democrats versus republicans, left v right. If this came up for a popular vote in DC, it would lose 90-10.

They are young, childless, or both. Most live in apartments They have all the time in the world to badger public officials and sit through endless public meetings. They are generally the aggrieved in life and this is a religious issue for them. This gives them a huge organizing advantage over rational couples with kids and houses to tend to.

40 something mom here, homeowner, rational person, who would bike downtown to work if there were a better e-w protected lane.

There's a protected lane in Rock Creek Park.

But that doesn't get you to a destination on CT ave. You're missing the point if you think making CT avenue bikeable is just for commuters getting downtown. It's for a lot of local trips too!