Options for opposing Connecticut Avenue changes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the list of ANC commissioners behind this plan.
- https://anc3c.org/commissioners/
- http://anc3f.com/about/
- https://anc3g.org/commission-as-a-whole/
- https://anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-3e

These are the people that need to explain themselves.

It is a simple explanation. DDOT conducted a study to end reversible lanes and decide what the path is for the future. DDOT held a bunch of meetings, the ANC's and even SMD commissioners held meetings. The feedbacl was overhwelmingly in favor of "Option C," the Mayor based on the feedback from the public and the ANC's "great weight" chose option C and the Council funded it.

Again, the overwhelming majority of people who provided comments were in favor of it; with almost unanimity, the ANC Commissioners were in favor of it, and only one single Commissioner in the span of Connecticut Avenue from Woodley Park to Chevy Chase opposed it

If anything, at this point, the people who need to explain themselves are the ones who believe that cars are the future, that clogging roads with the most inefficient form of urban transportation is the path forward.

The mayor also closed the schools at the same time these meetings were occurring. Few parents had any bandwidth left to participate in this process because they were trying to juggle home school with work obligations. Most of the participants were young, childless, renters who have little if any skin in the game. This process was a complete fraud.

DC is remarkably hostile to parents and children, and I think this is a big reason why. Our elected leaders, beginning at the ANC level, almost never have school age kids. They don't even think about how their policies affect families. They see everything through the eyes of childless adults who have very different priorities than people with kids. And parents generally don't participate in the process because they don't have time.

Most of the ANC commissioners I know are recent empty nesters or older residents. Of course people with school aged kids are generally too busy to serve in that role.

“Most”? Which ANC would that be exactly? This is easily probably false.

Did you miss the part about the ones "I know"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the list of ANC commissioners behind this plan.
- https://anc3c.org/commissioners/
- http://anc3f.com/about/
- https://anc3g.org/commission-as-a-whole/
- https://anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-3e

These are the people that need to explain themselves.

It is a simple explanation. DDOT conducted a study to end reversible lanes and decide what the path is for the future. DDOT held a bunch of meetings, the ANC's and even SMD commissioners held meetings. The feedbacl was overhwelmingly in favor of "Option C," the Mayor based on the feedback from the public and the ANC's "great weight" chose option C and the Council funded it.

Again, the overwhelming majority of people who provided comments were in favor of it; with almost unanimity, the ANC Commissioners were in favor of it, and only one single Commissioner in the span of Connecticut Avenue from Woodley Park to Chevy Chase opposed it

If anything, at this point, the people who need to explain themselves are the ones who believe that cars are the future, that clogging roads with the most inefficient form of urban transportation is the path forward.

The mayor also closed the schools at the same time these meetings were occurring. Few parents had any bandwidth left to participate in this process because they were trying to juggle home school with work obligations. Most of the participants were young, childless, renters who have little if any skin in the game. This process was a complete fraud.

Oh yes, SIXTY public meetings plus the chance to submit written comments to DDOT is a "complete fraud." Designed to silence parents who spent $2 mil on their "1940s colonial" and to only hear those worthless renters.

Anyway, covid forced all public meetings to transition to virtual. This actually drastically increased the number of participants of all different opinions. Before, there would be like 3 people at ANC meetings. After, dozens or hundreds came online. Virtual made it significantly easier for parents to participate, actually.

You obviously do not have kids. Because if you did you’d still be recovering from the trauma of trying to juggle 8 simultaneously hours of Zoom calls for two working adults and two kids five days a week. The last thing parents wanted to deal with those two years was another Zoom call.

Yes, I do. And it was significantly easier to attend on Zoom than it is to have to go in person. Your claims are frankly absurd and just go to show the lengths to which people will go to complain. You're convincing nobody except yourself.

Give me a break. If you are a parent and you have time to pay attention to this stuff, you are the rare exception. People without kids have all the time in the world. People with kids, generally speaking, are just trying to keep their heads above water.

DP, hardly the rare exception. Most of the people I know who commented were parents with small children who wanted to be able to ride with their kids to school safely on a bike via Connecticut Avenue.

Yep. I'm struggling to even think of a transit safety person I know who does not have kids. Kids are a massive motivation to make streets safer for most people, especially as they get older and should be able to walk to school & around the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:This will push more commuting cars onto reno road and wisconsin who then will cut through neighborhoods to get to rock creek, you are just "calming" traffic (e.g. creating gridlock) on Conn Ave and pumping tons of cars onto peoples residential streets, which are not made for it, which is worse for the environment and the city - but you can now feel superior coasting down your bike lane on Conn Ave. There is no reason bikes can't use the side streets, they are safer - it just takes longer and the bike's want to hijack a lane on the most direct route (signed a pedestrian, not a driver)

If you’re really worried about cut through traffic (which is an issue for a lot of neighborhoods with artery roads without bike lanes), ask DDOT to install speed bumps. The risk that some streets experience cut through traffic is not a good argument against the bike lanes.

Speed humps are not meant to mitigate the volume of traffic, but rather the speed.

DC is a grid, you can't just close off public space in the form of streets.

Who is closing streets?

That's the point. Although some are trying. You can't close off side streets. Side streets filled with seniors and children walking and bicycling. The traffic from Connecticut is being diverted onto the side streets. In order to "protect" currently non-existent bicyclists on Connecticut you are endangering existent bicyclists and pedestrians that happen to predominenrly be small children and seniors. The two groups most vulnerable. The only way thr circle gets squared is if over 10,000 people magically give up cars and start bicycling into town. That is not going to happen.

So no one is closing streets. I guess that PP is wrong.

Lurker here. Maybe not yet, but it will be coming. Take a look at Connecticut Avenue up in the Chevy Chase area south of MD-410 (southbound). In that area, all or almost all of the side streets have signs that say that there is no right turn through the neighborhood from 7am-9am Mon-Fri. These are designed to discourage cut-through traffic. Once the bike lanes are created, the through-traffic lanes on Conn Ave are throttled and the traffic starts to flood the the surrounding streets like the Nile delta, then you can bet that neighborhoods will be clamoring to have the same type of cut-offs enabled to block commuters from flooding their streets. It may not be planned now, but it will logically flow that they will demand that those actions be taken, just like they were further north on the same street.

Before this type of change, e.g. throttling the major north-south commuter route, there really needs to be better planning for how to account for the same volume of traffic. Even if the volume of bikers doubles from 4% to 8% over the next 5-10 years, you are still going to significantly impact the commuter traffic giving them no viable alternatives. There is not going to be sufficient diversion from car traffic to combined metro and biking commuting that will prevent this from being a major massive commuter PITA for decades to come. Not only will this impact the car commuters, but it will also poorly affect those neighborhoods within 1-3 blocks of Conn Ave for many years. Those areas will become less safe due to increased car traffic. Without an adequate sidewalk network in the area, walkability on the side roads, plus less safety for strollers and kids on bikes will become a big problem.

That is in Maryland and has nothing to do with this discussion. But I do agree that having those roads closed to cars makes Connecticut Avenue (and to a degree the area around Friendship Heights) a traffic sewer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the list of ANC commissioners behind this plan.
- https://anc3c.org/commissioners/
- http://anc3f.com/about/
- https://anc3g.org/commission-as-a-whole/
- https://anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-3e

These are the people that need to explain themselves.

It is a simple explanation. DDOT conducted a study to end reversible lanes and decide what the path is for the future. DDOT held a bunch of meetings, the ANC's and even SMD commissioners held meetings. The feedbacl was overhwelmingly in favor of "Option C," the Mayor based on the feedback from the public and the ANC's "great weight" chose option C and the Council funded it.

Again, the overwhelming majority of people who provided comments were in favor of it; with almost unanimity, the ANC Commissioners were in favor of it, and only one single Commissioner in the span of Connecticut Avenue from Woodley Park to Chevy Chase opposed it

If anything, at this point, the people who need to explain themselves are the ones who believe that cars are the future, that clogging roads with the most inefficient form of urban transportation is the path forward.

The mayor also closed the schools at the same time these meetings were occurring. Few parents had any bandwidth left to participate in this process because they were trying to juggle home school with work obligations. Most of the participants were young, childless, renters who have little if any skin in the game. This process was a complete fraud.

Oh yes, SIXTY public meetings plus the chance to submit written comments to DDOT is a "complete fraud." Designed to silence parents who spent $2 mil on their "1940s colonial" and to only hear those worthless renters.

Anyway, covid forced all public meetings to transition to virtual. This actually drastically increased the number of participants of all different opinions. Before, there would be like 3 people at ANC meetings. After, dozens or hundreds came online. Virtual made it significantly easier for parents to participate, actually.

You obviously do not have kids. Because if you did you’d still be recovering from the trauma of trying to juggle 8 simultaneously hours of Zoom calls for two working adults and two kids five days a week. The last thing parents wanted to deal with those two years was another Zoom call.

Yes, I do. And it was significantly easier to attend on Zoom than it is to have to go in person. Your claims are frankly absurd and just go to show the lengths to which people will go to complain. You're convincing nobody except yourself.

Give me a break. If you are a parent and you have time to pay attention to this stuff, you are the rare exception. People without kids have all the time in the world. People with kids, generally speaking, are just trying to keep their heads above water.

DP, hardly the rare exception. Most of the people I know who commented were parents with small children who wanted to be able to ride with their kids to school safely on a bike via Connecticut Avenue.

ok now we know you're a troll. as a parent of small children who pretty much only socializes with parents of small children, i can tell you that parents of small children would be horrified by the idea of their kids riding bikes almost anywhere in dc, but especially connecticut avenue. there is no one who wants that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The city has had bike lanes for more than a decade, and the government has bent over backwards to promote them, and yet biking remains the least popular means of transportation.

Surveys show biking is less popular than driving, taking the subway, riding the bus, taking a cab/uber, walking, carpooling and commuter rail

It's surprising that the city has put so much effort into promoting bike lanes (they even pay teachers to bike), for so long, and still it hasn't really caught on.

I guess maybe it only appeals to a small segment of the population.

All this bandwidth dedicated to the least popular way of getting around in Washington D.C.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the list of ANC commissioners behind this plan.
- https://anc3c.org/commissioners/
- http://anc3f.com/about/
- https://anc3g.org/commission-as-a-whole/
- https://anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-3e

These are the people that need to explain themselves.

It is a simple explanation. DDOT conducted a study to end reversible lanes and decide what the path is for the future. DDOT held a bunch of meetings, the ANC's and even SMD commissioners held meetings. The feedbacl was overhwelmingly in favor of "Option C," the Mayor based on the feedback from the public and the ANC's "great weight" chose option C and the Council funded it.

Again, the overwhelming majority of people who provided comments were in favor of it; with almost unanimity, the ANC Commissioners were in favor of it, and only one single Commissioner in the span of Connecticut Avenue from Woodley Park to Chevy Chase opposed it

If anything, at this point, the people who need to explain themselves are the ones who believe that cars are the future, that clogging roads with the most inefficient form of urban transportation is the path forward.

The mayor also closed the schools at the same time these meetings were occurring. Few parents had any bandwidth left to participate in this process because they were trying to juggle home school with work obligations. Most of the participants were young, childless, renters who have little if any skin in the game. This process was a complete fraud.

Oh yes, SIXTY public meetings plus the chance to submit written comments to DDOT is a "complete fraud." Designed to silence parents who spent $2 mil on their "1940s colonial" and to only hear those worthless renters.

Anyway, covid forced all public meetings to transition to virtual. This actually drastically increased the number of participants of all different opinions. Before, there would be like 3 people at ANC meetings. After, dozens or hundreds came online. Virtual made it significantly easier for parents to participate, actually.

You obviously do not have kids. Because if you did you’d still be recovering from the trauma of trying to juggle 8 simultaneously hours of Zoom calls for two working adults and two kids five days a week. The last thing parents wanted to deal with those two years was another Zoom call.

Yes, I do. And it was significantly easier to attend on Zoom than it is to have to go in person. Your claims are frankly absurd and just go to show the lengths to which people will go to complain. You're convincing nobody except yourself.

Give me a break. If you are a parent and you have time to pay attention to this stuff, you are the rare exception. People without kids have all the time in the world. People with kids, generally speaking, are just trying to keep their heads above water.

DP, hardly the rare exception. Most of the people I know who commented were parents with small children who wanted to be able to ride with their kids to school safely on a bike via Connecticut Avenue.

ok now we know you're a troll. as a parent of small children who pretty much only socializes with parents of small children, i can tell you that parents of small children would be horrified by the idea of their kids riding bikes almost anywhere in dc, but especially connecticut avenue. there is no one who wants that.

Then you should get outside your bubble and meet other people who want their kids to be able to get around safely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the list of ANC commissioners behind this plan.
- https://anc3c.org/commissioners/
- http://anc3f.com/about/
- https://anc3g.org/commission-as-a-whole/
- https://anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-3e

These are the people that need to explain themselves.

It is a simple explanation. DDOT conducted a study to end reversible lanes and decide what the path is for the future. DDOT held a bunch of meetings, the ANC's and even SMD commissioners held meetings. The feedbacl was overhwelmingly in favor of "Option C," the Mayor based on the feedback from the public and the ANC's "great weight" chose option C and the Council funded it.

Again, the overwhelming majority of people who provided comments were in favor of it; with almost unanimity, the ANC Commissioners were in favor of it, and only one single Commissioner in the span of Connecticut Avenue from Woodley Park to Chevy Chase opposed it

If anything, at this point, the people who need to explain themselves are the ones who believe that cars are the future, that clogging roads with the most inefficient form of urban transportation is the path forward.

The mayor also closed the schools at the same time these meetings were occurring. Few parents had any bandwidth left to participate in this process because they were trying to juggle home school with work obligations. Most of the participants were young, childless, renters who have little if any skin in the game. This process was a complete fraud.

Oh yes, SIXTY public meetings plus the chance to submit written comments to DDOT is a "complete fraud." Designed to silence parents who spent $2 mil on their "1940s colonial" and to only hear those worthless renters.

Anyway, covid forced all public meetings to transition to virtual. This actually drastically increased the number of participants of all different opinions. Before, there would be like 3 people at ANC meetings. After, dozens or hundreds came online. Virtual made it significantly easier for parents to participate, actually.

You obviously do not have kids. Because if you did you’d still be recovering from the trauma of trying to juggle 8 simultaneously hours of Zoom calls for two working adults and two kids five days a week. The last thing parents wanted to deal with those two years was another Zoom call.

Yes, I do. And it was significantly easier to attend on Zoom than it is to have to go in person. Your claims are frankly absurd and just go to show the lengths to which people will go to complain. You're convincing nobody except yourself.

Give me a break. If you are a parent and you have time to pay attention to this stuff, you are the rare exception. People without kids have all the time in the world. People with kids, generally speaking, are just trying to keep their heads above water.

DP, hardly the rare exception. Most of the people I know who commented were parents with small children who wanted to be able to ride with their kids to school safely on a bike via Connecticut Avenue.

ok now we know you're a troll. as a parent of small children who pretty much only socializes with parents of small children, i can tell you that parents of small children would be horrified by the idea of their kids riding bikes almost anywhere in dc, but especially connecticut avenue. there is no one who wants that.

Then you should get outside your bubble and meet other people who want their kids to be able to get around safely.

Pretty much the only people who care about bike lanes are childless white guys between the ages of 25 and 45. But I love how they say they're *really* doing it for black and brown people and children and the poor and old people. Don't forget the blind and disabled! They really want bike lanes too, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the list of ANC commissioners behind this plan.
- https://anc3c.org/commissioners/
- http://anc3f.com/about/
- https://anc3g.org/commission-as-a-whole/
- https://anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-3e

These are the people that need to explain themselves.

It is a simple explanation. DDOT conducted a study to end reversible lanes and decide what the path is for the future. DDOT held a bunch of meetings, the ANC's and even SMD commissioners held meetings. The feedbacl was overhwelmingly in favor of "Option C," the Mayor based on the feedback from the public and the ANC's "great weight" chose option C and the Council funded it.

Again, the overwhelming majority of people who provided comments were in favor of it; with almost unanimity, the ANC Commissioners were in favor of it, and only one single Commissioner in the span of Connecticut Avenue from Woodley Park to Chevy Chase opposed it

If anything, at this point, the people who need to explain themselves are the ones who believe that cars are the future, that clogging roads with the most inefficient form of urban transportation is the path forward.

The mayor also closed the schools at the same time these meetings were occurring. Few parents had any bandwidth left to participate in this process because they were trying to juggle home school with work obligations. Most of the participants were young, childless, renters who have little if any skin in the game. This process was a complete fraud.

Oh yes, SIXTY public meetings plus the chance to submit written comments to DDOT is a "complete fraud." Designed to silence parents who spent $2 mil on their "1940s colonial" and to only hear those worthless renters.

Anyway, covid forced all public meetings to transition to virtual. This actually drastically increased the number of participants of all different opinions. Before, there would be like 3 people at ANC meetings. After, dozens or hundreds came online. Virtual made it significantly easier for parents to participate, actually.

You obviously do not have kids. Because if you did you’d still be recovering from the trauma of trying to juggle 8 simultaneously hours of Zoom calls for two working adults and two kids five days a week. The last thing parents wanted to deal with those two years was another Zoom call.

Yes, I do. And it was significantly easier to attend on Zoom than it is to have to go in person. Your claims are frankly absurd and just go to show the lengths to which people will go to complain. You're convincing nobody except yourself.

Give me a break. If you are a parent and you have time to pay attention to this stuff, you are the rare exception. People without kids have all the time in the world. People with kids, generally speaking, are just trying to keep their heads above water.

DP, hardly the rare exception. Most of the people I know who commented were parents with small children who wanted to be able to ride with their kids to school safely on a bike via Connecticut Avenue.

ok now we know you're a troll. as a parent of small children who pretty much only socializes with parents of small children, i can tell you that parents of small children would be horrified by the idea of their kids riding bikes almost anywhere in dc, but especially connecticut avenue. there is no one who wants that.

Then you should get outside your bubble and meet other people who want their kids to be able to get around safely.

Pretty much the only people who care about bike lanes are childless white guys between the ages of 25 and 45. But I love how they say they're *really* doing it for black and brown people and children and the poor and old people. Don't forget the blind and disabled! They really want bike lanes too, right?

Your comment has nothing to do with the preceding comments. Nice strawman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city has had bike lanes for more than a decade, and the government has bent over backwards to promote them, and yet biking remains the least popular means of transportation.

Surveys show biking is less popular than driving, taking the subway, riding the bus, taking a cab/uber, walking, carpooling and commuter rail

It's surprising that the city has put so much effort into promoting bike lanes (they even pay teachers to bike), for so long, and still it hasn't really caught on.

I guess maybe it only appeals to a small segment of the population.

It would appeal to more if there were a concerted and connected network. That is why Connecticut Avenue is so important. It provides the straightest and flatest path from uptown, through the several commercial areas, to downtown. It connects residents with business and schools.

This is utterly ridiculous. No one who doesnt already bike thinks to themselves, "Well, I would if only there was a concerted and connected network." Only hardcore bike geeks think like that. Normal people see bike lanes everywhere.

It seems like the bike lobby's argument is always "we know not very many people bike right now but if you give us endless amounts of money and turn the city upside down, eventually people will come." Well, we've had bike lanes for almost 15 years and it seems clear they aren't catching on.

Wrong. Avid cyclists will bike wherever. The normal person says "holy crap, there is no way I am biking on Connecticut Avenue."

Normal people say "who are these idiots who think it's safe to ride a bike in a city?" That isn't going to change regardless of what happens with Connecticut Avenue.

So you think it is unsafe to blanket ride in a city? You think that protected bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue won't prompt people to ride in the neighborhood?

Boy, am I glad you are not in charge of anything related to planning and transportation.

I guess you prefer this:

You do realize that the Red Line was not completed until the 1980s and solved all this, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will push more commuting cars onto reno road and wisconsin who then will cut through neighborhoods to get to rock creek, you are just "calming" traffic (e.g. creating gridlock) on Conn Ave and pumping tons of cars onto peoples residential streets, which are not made for it, which is worse for the environment and the city - but you can now feel superior coasting down your bike lane on Conn Ave. There is no reason bikes can't use the side streets, they are safer - it just takes longer and the bike's want to hijack a lane on the most direct route (signed a pedestrian, not a driver)

If you’re really worried about cut through traffic (which is an issue for a lot of neighborhoods with artery roads without bike lanes), ask DDOT to install speed bumps. The risk that some streets experience cut through traffic is not a good argument against the bike lanes.

Speed humps are not meant to mitigate the volume of traffic, but rather the speed.

DC is a grid, you can't just close off public space in the form of streets.

Who is closing streets?

That's the point. Although some are trying. You can't close off side streets. Side streets filled with seniors and children walking and bicycling. The traffic from Connecticut is being diverted onto the side streets. In order to "protect" currently non-existent bicyclists on Connecticut you are endangering existent bicyclists and pedestrians that happen to predominenrly be small children and seniors. The two groups most vulnerable. The only way thr circle gets squared is if over 10,000 people magically give up cars and start bicycling into town. That is not going to happen.

So no one is closing streets. I guess that PP is wrong.

Lurker here. Maybe not yet, but it will be coming. Take a look at Connecticut Avenue up in the Chevy Chase area south of MD-410 (southbound). In that area, all or almost all of the side streets have signs that say that there is no right turn through the neighborhood from 7am-9am Mon-Fri. These are designed to discourage cut-through traffic. Once the bike lanes are created, the through-traffic lanes on Conn Ave are throttled and the traffic starts to flood the the surrounding streets like the Nile delta, then you can bet that neighborhoods will be clamoring to have the same type of cut-offs enabled to block commuters from flooding their streets. It may not be planned now, but it will logically flow that they will demand that those actions be taken, just like they were further north on the same street.

Before this type of change, e.g. throttling the major north-south commuter route, there really needs to be better planning for how to account for the same volume of traffic. Even if the volume of bikers doubles from 4% to 8% over the next 5-10 years, you are still going to significantly impact the commuter traffic giving them no viable alternatives. There is not going to be sufficient diversion from car traffic to combined metro and biking commuting that will prevent this from being a major massive commuter PITA for decades to come. Not only will this impact the car commuters, but it will also poorly affect those neighborhoods within 1-3 blocks of Conn Ave for many years. Those areas will become less safe due to increased car traffic. Without an adequate sidewalk network in the area, walkability on the side roads, plus less safety for strollers and kids on bikes will become a big problem.

That is in Maryland and has nothing to do with this discussion. But I do agree that having those roads closed to cars makes Connecticut Avenue (and to a degree the area around Friendship Heights) a traffic sewer.

Resident of DC within 3 blocks of Connecticut Ave here. The Maryland examples are entirely relevant to "this discussion" because you can bank on the fact that similar actions will be proposed to DOT by residents like me.

I already live on a partially restricted / Do Not Enter block - a result of my neighbors and I effectively organizing and advocating for this change. The restriction single handedly reduced the speed of traffic on our residential block by 20 mph and the amount of cut through traffic from Wisconsin to Reno to Connecticut plummeted.

It's what a RESIDENTIAL block should be, and I encourage all residents to agitate for similar treatment once this assinine projects takes effect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will push more commuting cars onto reno road and wisconsin who then will cut through neighborhoods to get to rock creek, you are just "calming" traffic (e.g. creating gridlock) on Conn Ave and pumping tons of cars onto peoples residential streets, which are not made for it, which is worse for the environment and the city - but you can now feel superior coasting down your bike lane on Conn Ave. There is no reason bikes can't use the side streets, they are safer - it just takes longer and the bike's want to hijack a lane on the most direct route (signed a pedestrian, not a driver)

If you’re really worried about cut through traffic (which is an issue for a lot of neighborhoods with artery roads without bike lanes), ask DDOT to install speed bumps. The risk that some streets experience cut through traffic is not a good argument against the bike lanes.

Speed humps are not meant to mitigate the volume of traffic, but rather the speed.

DC is a grid, you can't just close off public space in the form of streets.

Who is closing streets?

That's the point. Although some are trying. You can't close off side streets. Side streets filled with seniors and children walking and bicycling. The traffic from Connecticut is being diverted onto the side streets. In order to "protect" currently non-existent bicyclists on Connecticut you are endangering existent bicyclists and pedestrians that happen to predominenrly be small children and seniors. The two groups most vulnerable. The only way thr circle gets squared is if over 10,000 people magically give up cars and start bicycling into town. That is not going to happen.

So no one is closing streets. I guess that PP is wrong.

Lurker here. Maybe not yet, but it will be coming. Take a look at Connecticut Avenue up in the Chevy Chase area south of MD-410 (southbound). In that area, all or almost all of the side streets have signs that say that there is no right turn through the neighborhood from 7am-9am Mon-Fri. These are designed to discourage cut-through traffic. Once the bike lanes are created, the through-traffic lanes on Conn Ave are throttled and the traffic starts to flood the the surrounding streets like the Nile delta, then you can bet that neighborhoods will be clamoring to have the same type of cut-offs enabled to block commuters from flooding their streets. It may not be planned now, but it will logically flow that they will demand that those actions be taken, just like they were further north on the same street.

Before this type of change, e.g. throttling the major north-south commuter route, there really needs to be better planning for how to account for the same volume of traffic. Even if the volume of bikers doubles from 4% to 8% over the next 5-10 years, you are still going to significantly impact the commuter traffic giving them no viable alternatives. There is not going to be sufficient diversion from car traffic to combined metro and biking commuting that will prevent this from being a major massive commuter PITA for decades to come. Not only will this impact the car commuters, but it will also poorly affect those neighborhoods within 1-3 blocks of Conn Ave for many years. Those areas will become less safe due to increased car traffic. Without an adequate sidewalk network in the area, walkability on the side roads, plus less safety for strollers and kids on bikes will become a big problem.

Yes, hopefully DC does this as well (the bolded refers to MD). If close-in MD drivers want their side streets closed to commuter traffic I presume they won't have any issues with DC residents wanting the same.

I used to occasionally commute by car along E/W and CT Ave to Bethesda. The inability to cut through side streets (which was actually enforced by MoCo cops) certainly influenced my decision to drive to work and I switched to bus or metro on days that I didn't feel like dealing with car traffic. I would have loved the ability to bike as an alternative. That is the point here- DDOT has made it very clear that they want people to shift modes from cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The city has had bike lanes for more than a decade, and the government has bent over backwards to promote them, and yet biking remains the least popular means of transportation.

Surveys show biking is less popular than driving, taking the subway, riding the bus, taking a cab/uber, walking, carpooling and commuter rail

It's surprising that the city has put so much effort into promoting bike lanes (they even pay teachers to bike), for so long, and still it hasn't really caught on.

I guess maybe it only appeals to a small segment of the population.

When I first came to DC it had a really big slugging culture. (I'm sure the bicyclists, who all seem to have moved here yesterday have no idea what that is, so we'll let them Google it). Anyway now the city actively discourages slugging which just seems bizarre. The DC government is against carpooling, something that used to be really popular, but is for biking, something that is really unpopular.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The city has had bike lanes for more than a decade, and the government has bent over backwards to promote them, and yet biking remains the least popular means of transportation.

Surveys show biking is less popular than driving, taking the subway, riding the bus, taking a cab/uber, walking, carpooling and commuter rail

It's surprising that the city has put so much effort into promoting bike lanes (they even pay teachers to bike), for so long, and still it hasn't really caught on.

I guess maybe it only appeals to a small segment of the population.

It would appeal to more if there were a concerted and connected network. That is why Connecticut Avenue is so important. It provides the straightest and flatest path from uptown, through the several commercial areas, to downtown. It connects residents with business and schools.

This is utterly ridiculous. No one who doesnt already bike thinks to themselves, "Well, I would if only there was a concerted and connected network." Only hardcore bike geeks think like that. Normal people see bike lanes everywhere.

It seems like the bike lobby's argument is always "we know not very many people bike right now but if you give us endless amounts of money and turn the city upside down, eventually people will come." Well, we've had bike lanes for almost 15 years and it seems clear they aren't catching on.

Wrong. Avid cyclists will bike wherever. The normal person says "holy crap, there is no way I am biking on Connecticut Avenue."

Normal people say "who are these idiots who think it's safe to ride a bike in a city?" That isn't going to change regardless of what happens with Connecticut Avenue.

So you think it is unsafe to blanket ride in a city? You think that protected bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue won't prompt people to ride in the neighborhood?

Boy, am I glad you are not in charge of anything related to planning and transportation.

I guess you prefer this:

It is not blanket unsafe to ride a bike in the city. There are lots of kids and parents riding bikes together inside the neighborhoods on residential streets just like there has always been. That has nothing to do with bike lanes.

It is blanket unsafe to ride a bike on Connecticut Avenue regardless of bike lanes. No parent will let their kid ride a bike on a street that has 30,000 vehicles per day use it. Permanently closing two lanes of traffic and intentionally increasing congestion will only make this more so.

What's more, the tripling of traffic within the residential neighborhoods caused by closing down 1/3 of Connecticut Avenue will make riding within the residently neighborhoods significantly unsafe. This plan will result in less people riding bikes because it makes the areas where people currently ride bikes less safe.

Everyone loses. This is a horrible plan and those ANC commissioners should be ashamed of themselves.

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Anonymous wrote:Here is the list of ANC commissioners behind this plan.
- https://anc3c.org/commissioners/
- http://anc3f.com/about/
- https://anc3g.org/commission-as-a-whole/
- https://anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-3e

These are the people that need to explain themselves.

It is a simple explanation. DDOT conducted a study to end reversible lanes and decide what the path is for the future. DDOT held a bunch of meetings, the ANC's and even SMD commissioners held meetings. The feedbacl was overhwelmingly in favor of "Option C," the Mayor based on the feedback from the public and the ANC's "great weight" chose option C and the Council funded it.

Again, the overwhelming majority of people who provided comments were in favor of it; with almost unanimity, the ANC Commissioners were in favor of it, and only one single Commissioner in the span of Connecticut Avenue from Woodley Park to Chevy Chase opposed it

If anything, at this point, the people who need to explain themselves are the ones who believe that cars are the future, that clogging roads with the most inefficient form of urban transportation is the path forward.

The mayor also closed the schools at the same time these meetings were occurring. Few parents had any bandwidth left to participate in this process because they were trying to juggle home school with work obligations. Most of the participants were young, childless, renters who have little if any skin in the game. This process was a complete fraud.

Oh yes, SIXTY public meetings plus the chance to submit written comments to DDOT is a "complete fraud." Designed to silence parents who spent $2 mil on their "1940s colonial" and to only hear those worthless renters.

Anyway, covid forced all public meetings to transition to virtual. This actually drastically increased the number of participants of all different opinions. Before, there would be like 3 people at ANC meetings. After, dozens or hundreds came online. Virtual made it significantly easier for parents to participate, actually.

You obviously do not have kids. Because if you did you’d still be recovering from the trauma of trying to juggle 8 simultaneously hours of Zoom calls for two working adults and two kids five days a week. The last thing parents wanted to deal with those two years was another Zoom call.

Yes, I do. And it was significantly easier to attend on Zoom than it is to have to go in person. Your claims are frankly absurd and just go to show the lengths to which people will go to complain. You're convincing nobody except yourself.

Give me a break. If you are a parent and you have time to pay attention to this stuff, you are the rare exception. People without kids have all the time in the world. People with kids, generally speaking, are just trying to keep their heads above water.

DP, hardly the rare exception. Most of the people I know who commented were parents with small children who wanted to be able to ride with their kids to school safely on a bike via Connecticut Avenue.

ok now we know you're a troll. as a parent of small children who pretty much only socializes with parents of small children, i can tell you that parents of small children would be horrified by the idea of their kids riding bikes almost anywhere in dc, but especially connecticut avenue. there is no one who wants that.

Then you should get outside your bubble and meet other people who want their kids to be able to get around safely.

If all these Canadian girlfriends want their kids to be able to bike safely in their neighborhood then why do they want to massively increase traffic on their own residential streets? It makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city has had bike lanes for more than a decade, and the government has bent over backwards to promote them, and yet biking remains the least popular means of transportation.

Surveys show biking is less popular than driving, taking the subway, riding the bus, taking a cab/uber, walking, carpooling and commuter rail

It's surprising that the city has put so much effort into promoting bike lanes (they even pay teachers to bike), for so long, and still it hasn't really caught on.

I guess maybe it only appeals to a small segment of the population.

All this bandwidth dedicated to the least popular way of getting around in Washington D.C.

the “bandwith” taken up by bike lanes is 90% people freaking out about bikelanes because they represent change and are for some reason very triggering to people.