Reply to Connecticut Ave bike lanes are back!

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Reply to "Connecticut Ave bike lanes are back!"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]All traffic deaths are horrible and streets must be made safer for all users.  That's why I find it so offensive that the bike lobby, led by Charles Allen, is seeking to include language in the budget that would deny any expenditure for safer streets that did not include bike lanes.  It shows that for the bike lobby, it is about biking, not safe streets.  Bike lanes are not going to happen for years because there is a cash crunch and issues to be worked out, so why not make Connecticut Avenue safer in the interim?[/quote]

How would the street be made safer without consideration for cyclists? Sure, they can put in some bulbouts, but if cyclists are left competing with motorists in driving lanes, then it is unsafe for cyclists. If cyclists are left competing with pedestrians on sidewalks, then it is unsafe for pedestrians.[/quote]

One solution is to shift a new north-south bike lane to Reno Rd.  Maybe it won't be as convenient for some bikers to reach the Connecticut Ave bars, but a Reno bike lane would provide easy access to locations up and down Connecticut and much of Wisconsin Ave.  Reno has a center turn lane that is underultized or unnecessary at all but the most busy intersections so space could be re-allocated to bike lanes on the side.  Connecticut Ave. is a designated arterial and evaluation route and where the thru and commuter traffic should be encouraged to go, instead of diverting more of it to Reno.[/quote]

Reno Road isn't wide enough to accommodate turn lanes, through lanes and bike lanes. DDOT already dismissed that option years ago.[/quote]

In fact, it is.  Eliminate the turn lane at all but the most major cross streets and the space on an entire lane could be repurposed as a dedicated bike lane, probably moved to one side or another.  The bikes are likely to have to stop for the signals at the major cross streets, so having the lane become striped at those locations is quite standard and doable.

Maybe Reno doesn't have the same Urbanist cachet of re-visioning Connecticut Ave as a very dense high-rise, mixed-use corridor with bike lanes, but that's not the primary purpose of having the bike lane, is it?[/quote]

I don't think the people who ride their bikes downtown from upper NW have any problem with putting bike lanes on Reno and changing the traffic patterns there, instead of on Connecticut. I know I don't. But DDOT doesn't seem to be into the idea.[/quote]

The focus should be building a bike path thru RC Park.  Faster and safer.  [/quote]

Many of us aren't riding downtown at all and don't "need" a path in RCP. What we want is to be able to run errands in our neighborhood, of which Connecticut Avenue is our main street.[/quote]

It is also a main street for a vastly larger number of drivers who don’t need all of the drawbacks that come with adding a bike lane there.[/quote]

The drawbacks of a safer street with fewer crashes that cause injuries. Horrible![/quote]

If that’s the only thing you can comprehend about why the vast majority of commuters don’t like bike lanes, you will never succeed in getting the bike lines you want. If you can’t even understand the other side’s argument, you will fail.[/quote]

Please stop using commuter as a synonym for driver. Lots of commuters aren't driving. Lots of drivers aren't commuting.[/quote]

I didn’t say drivers. But the vast majority of commuters in this area drive. And the people taking the bus aren’t always thrilled about the bike lanes either.[/quote]

This area being the 11 county metro area. In DC, which is where the entirety of the study area is located, driving commutes are in the minority (42%). Walkers and bikers also report being happier with their commutes than drivers. This is per your favorite study from 2022. [/quote]

Okay, but the commuters come from all over, not just DC. And the argument isn’t about who is happiest in their commute, but you’ve clearly lost the plot.[/quote]

Of course it's about who's happiest! That's the whole basis of the Everyone Is Trying To Force People Out Of Their Cars By Making Driving Miserable conspiracy fiction. But then it turns out that if the drivers forced themselves out of their cars and switched to non-driving, they'd actually be happier.[/quote]

So you’re agreeing that people choose to drive if left to their own devices (your “false” assumption 1), since they could apparently easily be happier but are choosing not to be. Great.

Interesting too that there are complaints about not calling drivers “commuters,” since there are other groups, but you ignore that the metro and bus riders are not really any more satisfied than the drivers (my original point). I guess The Only Alternative Mode of transportation is biking.
[/quote]

Metro and bus riders are less stressed than drivers.

I don't agree that people choose to drive, actually. I think that people are forced to drive.[/quote]

[b]I prefer to drive, and will continue to drive.[/b]  There is all this discussion about traffic.  DC, in fact, still has fewer residents than in the 1960s and 70s, when DC's population was 750-800K.  Today, it is about 680K.
[/quote]

Ok? Nobody is forcing you out of your car. To drive or not to drive, that's your choice. But DC does not have to configure DC streets for maximum convenience for your choice to drive.[/quote]But the same exact argument could be made towards cyclists as well.  No is forced to ride a bike it is also a choice. Why should tax payer $ be used to configure DC streets for cyclists convenience especially when the cyclists are in the minority? And have lots of options just not all and everything they want.  That is not how life works. It’s not all about cyclists either (except in their minds).[/quote]

If we're talking just DC taxpayers, as in the people that actually fund the infrastructure on Connecticut, then drivers are also a minority. The reality is that for DC, we allocate way more space and funding to cars than their proportion would dictate. Drivers want to keep it that way. [/quote]
[b]I love how you just make things up. [/b]

DC has one registered car per household. 
Car registrations: 298,400 (2021)
Households: 326,970 (2022)

Every household in DC, on average, has a car. Every adult is a driver. [/quote]

The bike lobby’s Trumper strikes again![/quote]

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