Options for opposing Connecticut Avenue changes?

[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.

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.

In this case, people could care less about the bike lane part. It's the closing down a third of Connecticut Avenue part that people hate. And for good reason, it's a stupendously stupid idea that will actively harm the local community. If you all had decided to cannibalize the sidewalk for your scheme, it'd still be a bad idea but not a stupendously bad idea and there wouldn't be any outrage.

It isn't closing down a third when you look at it realistically. As it is, the left lane is backed up because people make turns. That goes away. The right lane is backed up with streeteries and double parked cars...that goes away. Still two through lanes, a buffer for pedestrians and a safe lane for bikes.

That's just blatantly not true.

Agree. The map I looked at is only two car lanes and has potential for turning vehicles to stop traffic in both lanes, left and right, with no middle through lane at rush hour when normally parking would have been restricted (making it three lanes wide). Now it will always be two lanes, with no unblockable lanes. I'm also wondering, where are the business delivery trucks going to stop? Right now they block the curb lane, so I guess they will either be blocking the bike lane or one of the car lanes, reducing it to just one lane (and help us all if someone is trying to turn left from that lane).

Where does PP get the idea that left turns and deliveries are going away?

Right, and double parked cars? There will be more of those when 50% of the parking goes away. People are already notorious for putting their flashers on and blocking a lane while they "just" pick up their dry cleaning or carryout food.

You won’t even have to worry about people. It will mostly be delivery vans blocking traffic.

Add post office boxes. Problem solved.

Grow more potatoes. Problem solved

???

Subsidize chicken coops. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

The sky is still falling 24 hours later and look at that nothing is going to change the fact that the bike lanes are coming.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Where are the bikes coming from to come down CT ave to go downtown? Is this recreational use or commuting? When the studies or plans were done what was the data showing who would use this? That would be helpful information.

Just a philosophical feeling that bikes are great and environmental does not sway me. If there really were significant numbers of residents of upperNW around CT ave who would bike in (and back up the giant 4 mile hill) that would be more persuasive

I live in Chevy Chase DC - I would use it multiple times per day and ditch the car.

If you hated your car that much you would not choose to live in Chevy Chase DC.

I live in the part that is walkable to multiple commercial areas and metro, so as you were saying?

What is the Metro station in CCDC? I’m curious to know.

I am still curious to know where this pro-bike lane CCDC resident’s local and walkable metro station is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the bikes coming from to come down CT ave to go downtown? Is this recreational use or commuting? When the studies or plans were done what was the data showing who would use this? That would be helpful information.

Just a philosophical feeling that bikes are great and environmental does not sway me. If there really were significant numbers of residents of upperNW around CT ave who would bike in (and back up the giant 4 mile hill) that would be more persuasive

I live in Chevy Chase DC - I would use it multiple times per day and ditch the car.

If you hated your car that much you would not choose to live in Chevy Chase DC.

I live in the part that is walkable to multiple commercial areas and metro, so as you were saying?

What is the Metro station in CCDC? I’m curious to know.

I am still curious to know where this pro-bike lane CCDC resident’s local and walkable metro station is.

When you find it, you will finally have the data you need to bring down the entire program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the bikes coming from to come down CT ave to go downtown? Is this recreational use or commuting? When the studies or plans were done what was the data showing who would use this? That would be helpful information.

Just a philosophical feeling that bikes are great and environmental does not sway me. If there really were significant numbers of residents of upperNW around CT ave who would bike in (and back up the giant 4 mile hill) that would be more persuasive

I live in Chevy Chase DC - I would use it multiple times per day and ditch the car.

If you hated your car that much you would not choose to live in Chevy Chase DC.

I live in the part that is walkable to multiple commercial areas and metro, so as you were saying?

What is the Metro station in CCDC? I’m curious to know.

I am still curious to know where this pro-bike lane CCDC resident’s local and walkable metro station is.

When you find it, you will finally have the data you need to bring down the entire program.

Or a lot of you people just lie all the time? Which is totally crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the bikes coming from to come down CT ave to go downtown? Is this recreational use or commuting? When the studies or plans were done what was the data showing who would use this? That would be helpful information.

Just a philosophical feeling that bikes are great and environmental does not sway me. If there really were significant numbers of residents of upperNW around CT ave who would bike in (and back up the giant 4 mile hill) that would be more persuasive

I live in Chevy Chase DC - I would use it multiple times per day and ditch the car.

If you hated your car that much you would not choose to live in Chevy Chase DC.

I live in the part that is walkable to multiple commercial areas and metro, so as you were saying?

So you'd bike instead of walking

Yes, it is much faster in almost every instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the bikes coming from to come down CT ave to go downtown? Is this recreational use or commuting? When the studies or plans were done what was the data showing who would use this? That would be helpful information.

Just a philosophical feeling that bikes are great and environmental does not sway me. If there really were significant numbers of residents of upperNW around CT ave who would bike in (and back up the giant 4 mile hill) that would be more persuasive

I live in Chevy Chase DC - I would use it multiple times per day and ditch the car.

If you hated your car that much you would not choose to live in Chevy Chase DC.

I live in the part that is walkable to multiple commercial areas and metro, so as you were saying?

What is the Metro station in CCDC? I’m curious to know.

I am still curious to know where this pro-bike lane CCDC resident’s local and walkable metro station is.

Freindship Heights is a few blocks away. Walkable commercial areas are Freindship Heights, Chevy Chase, DC and the Politics and Prose strips. Tenley and Ven Ness are a few blocks more. All would be much more convenient if there were safe routes on Connecticut Avenue (well Tenley and Friendshp are easy to bike to and have signed street routes.

[Anonymous]

Actual tweet 4 hours ago from pro-bike self proclaimed “urbanist”:

“This is a delivery driver from @DoorDash or something, @DDOTDC and @DCDPW. This isn’t working. #bikedc”

This isn’t working already and now you want to bring the fun to Connecticut Ave?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actual tweet 4 hours ago from pro-bike self proclaimed “urbanist”:

“This is a delivery driver from @DoorDash or something, @DDOTDC and @DCDPW. This isn’t working. #bikedc”

This isn’t working already and now you want to bring the fun to Connecticut Ave?

If you go on Amazon, you can find some more cheap straws to grasp at

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual tweet 4 hours ago from pro-bike self proclaimed “urbanist”:

“This is a delivery driver from @DoorDash or something, @DDOTDC and @DCDPW. This isn’t working. #bikedc”

This isn’t working already and now you want to bring the fun to Connecticut Ave?

If you go on Amazon, you can find some more cheap straws to grasp at

Why bother? The driver is not going to find parking to make the delivery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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:

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.

Side streets get speed bumps and raised crosswalks. Problem solved.

Problem not solved. The problem is volume.

And why is volume, if its not speeding, a problem? Sorry, I forgot, you don't want the actual public to drive down your very own public street. If you can swing the dough, consider moving to Chain Bridge Rd. - you'd fit in well there.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Dc resident here. This won’t affect my commute at all. I still won’t bike to work (too far and would take too long), and I will either take the bus or the metro to get downtown, or drive during non rush hour

I do feel for Maryland commuters

And anyone on a north south side street. Or a cut thru between conn and reno. Yes traffic will calm. But if that becomes gridlock things could get stupid pretty fast.

Yes yes, cars are bad. I agree! And we are in a new age where many office workers can be more flexible in their routines. But roads do help hundreds of thousands of people get to their jobs, prop up the tax base, allow families to get activities. So it is an important balance.

hope I am wrong and tons of people do bike conn ave. And traffic adjusts and a new safer equilibrium reached. Bookmarking this thread for review later …

The biggest problem with those cut throughs is the number of parks and schools, from nursery to college, along that road with students who mostly walk to school, many of whom cross Reno. I can think of 15 schools off the top of my head. There are not crossing lights at all of these intersections (only a few), unlike along Connecticut and Wisconsin. I'm glad they are finally putting speed bumps near the schools, but there are so many accidents at the Reno intersections as it is. Cars belong on the main roads of Connecticut and Wisconsin. Even there, we have a lot of schools and parks: 9 along upper Connecticut and 8 along upper Wisconsin.

The problem with the cut throughs is the drivers driving too fast and badly.

So we should intentionally triple the amount of them?

No, we should install more speed bumps and deploy cameras pointed at intersections. Punish the bad drivers and force them to slow down until they follow the law. Or go drive on CT Ave.

If we all chip in and buy you and your 10 friends condos downtown will you just go away? This is a shakedown right? Parents spent 1.5 years distracted during the pandemic trying to homeschool their kids and meanwhile like 20 renters along Connecticut Ave and their ANC pals are pushing through bike lanes and weed dispensaries while no one is looking.

The bike lane proposal is wildly popular to most everyone it has been presented to. There are like 20 people on two listserve and now this thread, who are opposed to them, oh and the GOP candidate for Ward 3. I guess you should go support him and his anti-Choice, pro-Christian agenda.

If you only present it to people predisposed to like it, of course it will be popular. I checked with neighbors at a street party and no one knew about this. Our ANC rep is useless and MIA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

In this case, people could care less about the bike lane part. It's the closing down a third of Connecticut Avenue part that people hate. And for good reason, it's a stupendously stupid idea that will actively harm the local community. If you all had decided to cannibalize the sidewalk for your scheme, it'd still be a bad idea but not a stupendously bad idea and there wouldn't be any outrage.

It isn't closing down a third when you look at it realistically. As it is, the left lane is backed up because people make turns. That goes away. The right lane is backed up with streeteries and double parked cars...that goes away. Still two through lanes, a buffer for pedestrians and a safe lane for bikes.

That's just blatantly not true.

Agree. The map I looked at is only two car lanes and has potential for turning vehicles to stop traffic in both lanes, left and right, with no middle through lane at rush hour when normally parking would have been restricted (making it three lanes wide). Now it will always be two lanes, with no unblockable lanes. I'm also wondering, where are the business delivery trucks going to stop? Right now they block the curb lane, so I guess they will either be blocking the bike lane or one of the car lanes, reducing it to just one lane (and help us all if someone is trying to turn left from that lane).

Where does PP get the idea that left turns and deliveries are going away?

Right, and double parked cars? There will be more of those when 50% of the parking goes away. People are already notorious for putting their flashers on and blocking a lane while they "just" pick up their dry cleaning or carryout food.

And for that reason you would deny cyclists a safe commute?

God forbid you ask the city to enforce its traffic laws. We would welcome your help.

In all seriousness, I hope there is some industrious soul making a list of all the reasons that NIMBYs on this thread have trotted out to oppose safe infrastructure for cyclists. It would be an absolutely riot of a read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dc resident here. This won’t affect my commute at all. I still won’t bike to work (too far and would take too long), and I will either take the bus or the metro to get downtown, or drive during non rush hour

I do feel for Maryland commuters

And anyone on a north south side street. Or a cut thru between conn and reno. Yes traffic will calm. But if that becomes gridlock things could get stupid pretty fast.

Yes yes, cars are bad. I agree! And we are in a new age where many office workers can be more flexible in their routines. But roads do help hundreds of thousands of people get to their jobs, prop up the tax base, allow families to get activities. So it is an important balance.

hope I am wrong and tons of people do bike conn ave. And traffic adjusts and a new safer equilibrium reached. Bookmarking this thread for review later …

The biggest problem with those cut throughs is the number of parks and schools, from nursery to college, along that road with students who mostly walk to school, many of whom cross Reno. I can think of 15 schools off the top of my head. There are not crossing lights at all of these intersections (only a few), unlike along Connecticut and Wisconsin. I'm glad they are finally putting speed bumps near the schools, but there are so many accidents at the Reno intersections as it is. Cars belong on the main roads of Connecticut and Wisconsin. Even there, we have a lot of schools and parks: 9 along upper Connecticut and 8 along upper Wisconsin.

The problem with the cut throughs is the drivers driving too fast and badly.

So we should intentionally triple the amount of them?

No, we should install more speed bumps and deploy cameras pointed at intersections. Punish the bad drivers and force them to slow down until they follow the law. Or go drive on CT Ave.

If we all chip in and buy you and your 10 friends condos downtown will you just go away? This is a shakedown right? Parents spent 1.5 years distracted during the pandemic trying to homeschool their kids and meanwhile like 20 renters along Connecticut Ave and their ANC pals are pushing through bike lanes and weed dispensaries while no one is looking.

The bike lane proposal is wildly popular to most everyone it has been presented to. There are like 20 people on two listserve and now this thread, who are opposed to them, oh and the GOP candidate for Ward 3. I guess you should go support him and his anti-Choice, pro-Christian agenda.

If you only present it to people predisposed to like it, of course it will be popular. I checked with neighbors at a street party and no one knew about this. Our ANC rep is useless and MIA.

Did you consider running for the ANC to replace them? Or is it more satisfying to go on anonymous forums to make up stuff than to have to suffer the actual consequences for presenting uninformed and often illogical opinion in public?

[Anonymous]

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.

Flattest?!?!?!

Flat enough to have been viable for the streetcar that prompted its construction, so yes. It is a relatively flat road.

Connecticut Ave. goes from below the fall line up to just below the highest point in DC: from sea level to just under 5000 feet above sea level. Have you ever been to DC?