Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

Biking is also a good option. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

You can bike all you want just stop asking for things that are desired by few and opposed by many. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

The bike lanes have political support: The Mayor originally, all of the ANCs, the former councilmember and the current councilmember.
The bike lanes have broad residential support: as evidenced by the elections and the gathering of over 5,000 signatures in support since the Mayor changed her mind.

The opponents have a bunch of unvalidated signtures, mostly from Maryland Commuters, certainly far fewer in like two years of trying, than the proponents.

So just stop with the "opposed by many" because whatever the actual number of DC much less ward 3 residents oppose the bike lanes, many more support it.

Can I ask who are you posting this for and for what purpose?

I havent posted on here in a week, but there's a clear pattern of everytime a pro bike person makes a salient point, they are immediately responded to with off topic questions such as this to derail the fact they made an effective argument. I think at this point there's no point trying to convince to 2 - 3 anti bike trolls that are hovering over this page and we can call it a day. Hopefully, the Council was able to get the message through that the will of the people is for bike lanes on CT Ave and we can all move on with our lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

Biking is also a good option. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

You can bike all you want just stop asking for things that are desired by few and opposed by many. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

The bike lanes have political support: The Mayor originally, all of the ANCs, the former councilmember and the current councilmember.
The bike lanes have broad residential support: as evidenced by the elections and the gathering of over 5,000 signatures in support since the Mayor changed her mind.

The opponents have a bunch of unvalidated signtures, mostly from Maryland Commuters, certainly far fewer in like two years of trying, than the proponents.

So just stop with the "opposed by many" because whatever the actual number of DC much less ward 3 residents oppose the bike lanes, many more support it.

Can I ask who are you posting this for and for what purpose?

I havent posted on here in a week, but there's a clear pattern of everytime a pro bike person makes a salient point, they are immediately responded to with off topic questions such as this to derail the fact they made an effective argument. I think at this point there's no point trying to convince to 2 - 3 anti bike trolls that are hovering over this page and we can call it a day. Hopefully, the Council was able to get the message through that the will of the people is for bike lanes on CT Ave and we can all move on with our lives.

Ask Jeff to lock this thread. Then we'll have a few weeks of peace, before the 2-3 anti bike trolls start a new thread.

Uh, wasn’t this thread started by a bike bro ecstatic over CM Charles Allen issuing a committee report holding spendong on Conn Ave safety improvements conditional on moving forward with Option C bike lanes?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

So basically, you get to drive, polluting the air and taking up a lot of space for YOUR convenience, while forcing me to take more time to walk, or more money to ride share or metro.

Thanks, that is very generous of you.

To me, it demonstrates a bizarre and obsessive anti-bike animus. All transportation modes are fine, EXCEPT bikes, bikes are not fine, bikes are terrible.

It's as though they were pro-rainbow, except yellow. What colors should people use? Red, orange, yellow, blue, purple; people should not use green, green is terrible, no green, those green-users are so entitled wanting to use green for their own convenience; why can't they just use red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, that's plenty?

Except imagine now that the color is one that few people ever choose, and many people find annoying.

So what?

So we don’t spend everybody’s money on a color that they don’t like and don’t want, simply because a tiny vocal portion happen to like that color.

What an odd misunderstanding of government policy-making you have. Many people don't use green, some people hate green, therefore we should remove green from the color spectrum! Very odd.

Nope, just that we shouldn’t be spending money on and using green in places that people don’t want green. It’s called democracy, try it sometime. It’s “very odd.”

But people do want bike lanes on Connecticut Ave, including people who were elected by the voters of DC.

Do you also hate people when they're on skateboards or scooters, or just when they're on bikes?

Clearly they don’t, because DDOT pulled the idea based on community feedback.

No, the Mayor unilaterally went against 4 years and 70+ public engagement meetings, the will f the ANC's and the past and current councilmember as well as DDOT recommendations for Concept C.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

Biking is also a good option. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

You can bike all you want just stop asking for things that are desired by few and opposed by many. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

The bike lanes have political support: The Mayor originally, all of the ANCs, the former councilmember and the current councilmember.
The bike lanes have broad residential support: as evidenced by the elections and the gathering of over 5,000 signatures in support since the Mayor changed her mind.

The opponents have a bunch of unvalidated signtures, mostly from Maryland Commuters, certainly far fewer in like two years of trying, than the proponents.

So just stop with the "opposed by many" because whatever the actual number of DC much less ward 3 residents oppose the bike lanes, many more support it.

Can I ask who are you posting this for and for what purpose?

I havent posted on here in a week, but there's a clear pattern of everytime a pro bike person makes a salient point, they are immediately responded to with off topic questions such as this to derail the fact they made an effective argument. I think at this point there's no point trying to convince to 2 - 3 anti bike trolls that are hovering over this page and we can call it a day. Hopefully, the Council was able to get the message through that the will of the people is for bike lanes on CT Ave and we can all move on with our lives.

Ask Jeff to lock this thread. Then we'll have a few weeks of peace, before the 2-3 anti bike trolls start a new thread.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

Biking is also a good option. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

You can bike all you want just stop asking for things that are desired by few and opposed by many. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

The bike lanes have political support: The Mayor originally, all of the ANCs, the former councilmember and the current councilmember.
The bike lanes have broad residential support: as evidenced by the elections and the gathering of over 5,000 signatures in support since the Mayor changed her mind.

The opponents have a bunch of unvalidated signtures, mostly from Maryland Commuters, certainly far fewer in like two years of trying, than the proponents.

So just stop with the "opposed by many" because whatever the actual number of DC much less ward 3 residents oppose the bike lanes, many more support it.

Can I ask who are you posting this for and for what purpose?

I havent posted on here in a week, but there's a clear pattern of everytime a pro bike person makes a salient point, they are immediately responded to with off topic questions such as this to derail the fact they made an effective argument. I think at this point there's no point trying to convince to 2 - 3 anti bike trolls that are hovering over this page and we can call it a day. Hopefully, the Council was able to get the message through that the will of the people is for bike lanes on CT Ave and we can all move on with our lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, as for "drivers are a minority" - a lot of people can't drive. A third of people in the US don't have a driver's license. The majority of them are are disabled, lower income, unhoused, formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, kids, young people, and the elderly.

(Plus people like my parents, who are elderly, and do have a driver's license, but don't drive.)

I don't know what the specific fraction is of DC residents who don't have a driver's license.

Of those people who are too frail to drive, how many of them can ride a bike? Probably not many. But they all need to be able to cross a street safely and that would be much easier with the curb bump outs that the bike lobby opposes.

There are a lot of reasons why people can't drive, besides being "too frail".

Also the All Powerful Bike Lobby doesn't oppose curb bump-outs.

But yes, people do need to be able to cross a street safely. One thing that really helps with that, as you point out, is fewer car lanes to have to cross.

^^^Here's one example of designs for protected bike lanes that also improve access and safety for pedestrians with disabilities: https://walksf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/getting-to-the-curb-report-final-walk-sf-2019.pdf

Here's a design guide from the FHWA: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/separated_bikelane_pdg/page11.cfm

Here's a project with protected bike lanes and curb extensions in Chicago: https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/05/17/cdot-is-extending-avondales-popular-belmont-protected-bike-lanes-west-to-milwaukee

Thank you for these resources, its just a shame it was buried in pages of pedantic argument.

If you were going to put lanes on Connecticut, then the bend-out options seem ideal. Good to see that the technical part of the problem has already been solved and just needs to be drag and dropped here.

Interesting info-graph from the Chicago link:

Explosive growth in shopping/dining and almost no growth in commuting. Reinforces what many have been saying.

Good on Chicago! This is a powerful illustration that more people will bike more when bike infrastructure is built out. DC’s network pales in comparison to what Chicago now has.

As pointed out above, you can't say "Good on Chicago!" unless you know the raw numbers. If you start with one cyclist and end up with two, you've doubled the number of cyclists, but the real number is still negligible. Figures like these are meaningless without the actual data.

What’s even funnier is that they say “trip growth”. So we could be interpreting it to mean an increase from 1 cyclist trip to 2, which is a 200% increase in cycling trips. But is it actually reporting the change in trips? So if in 2022 the number of trips declined from 10 to 5 that’s a 50% decrease. Now if in 2023 the number of trips declined from 5 to 4, that’s a 20% decrease. Since the rate of decline decreased, “trip growth” was the delta of -50% and -20%. So 30% growth!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

So basically, you get to drive, polluting the air and taking up a lot of space for YOUR convenience, while forcing me to take more time to walk, or more money to ride share or metro.

Thanks, that is very generous of you.

To me, it demonstrates a bizarre and obsessive anti-bike animus. All transportation modes are fine, EXCEPT bikes, bikes are not fine, bikes are terrible.

It's as though they were pro-rainbow, except yellow. What colors should people use? Red, orange, yellow, blue, purple; people should not use green, green is terrible, no green, those green-users are so entitled wanting to use green for their own convenience; why can't they just use red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, that's plenty?

Except imagine now that the color is one that few people ever choose, and many people find annoying.

So what?

So we don’t spend everybody’s money on a color that they don’t like and don’t want, simply because a tiny vocal portion happen to like that color.

What an odd misunderstanding of government policy-making you have. Many people don't use green, some people hate green, therefore we should remove green from the color spectrum! Very odd.

Nope, just that we shouldn’t be spending money on and using green in places that people don’t want green. It’s called democracy, try it sometime. It’s “very odd.”

But people do want bike lanes on Connecticut Ave, including people who were elected by the voters of DC.

Do you also hate people when they're on skateboards or scooters, or just when they're on bikes?

Clearly they don’t, because DDOT pulled the idea based on community feedback.

No, the Mayor unilaterally went against 4 years and 70+ public engagement meetings, the will f the ANC's and the past and current councilmember as well as DDOT recommendations for Concept C.

In the document from the original post on this thread: “DDOT’s justification for the delay was that it has ‘received a considerable number of comments during this past year related to the parking removals required to implement Concept C.’”

Yes, and most of those comments were from residents, not even from DC, who want to be able to drive and park, totally ignoring the local resident who want a safer walk and the ability to bike/scooter safely as well.

And DDOT made the plans safer for pedestrians and yet you are now opposed. Methinks it was never about safety or pedestrians or mass transit for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

Biking is also a good option. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

You can bike all you want just stop asking for things that are desired by few and opposed by many. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

You can drive all you want just stop asking for things that prioritize your choice over everyone else's. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

I’m sorry I must have missed the numerous posts from drivers asking for special accommodations.

There's a whole 71 page thread about them, here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1204324.page

I think you made a mistake. Your link leads to another stupid entitled cyclist thread. Can you show where drivers are asking for special accommodations on the aforementioned thread?

DP. You're missing the dynamic entirely. Drivers already have all the special accommodations, and are fighting tooth and nail to keep it that way. Drivers are defending free/subsidized parking that literally moves 0 people over bike lanes. At no point do drivers plan on paying the full cost of those parking lanes, they view that parking as their special accommodation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

Biking is also a good option. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

You can bike all you want just stop asking for things that are desired by few and opposed by many. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

The bike lanes have political support: The Mayor originally, all of the ANCs, the former councilmember and the current councilmember.
The bike lanes have broad residential support: as evidenced by the elections and the gathering of over 5,000 signatures in support since the Mayor changed her mind.

The opponents have a bunch of unvalidated signtures, mostly from Maryland Commuters, certainly far fewer in like two years of trying, than the proponents.

So just stop with the "opposed by many" because whatever the actual number of DC much less ward 3 residents oppose the bike lanes, many more support it.

Can I ask who are you posting this for and for what purpose?

I havent posted on here in a week, but there's a clear pattern of everytime a pro bike person makes a salient point, they are immediately responded to with off topic questions such as this to derail the fact they made an effective argument. I think at this point there's no point trying to convince to 2 - 3 anti bike trolls that are hovering over this page and we can call it a day. Hopefully, the Council was able to get the message through that the will of the people is for bike lanes on CT Ave and we can all move on with our lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

Biking is also a good option. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

You can bike all you want just stop asking for things that are desired by few and opposed by many. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

You can drive all you want just stop asking for things that prioritize your choice over everyone else's. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

I’m sorry I must have missed the numerous posts from drivers asking for special accommodations.

There's a whole 71 page thread about them, here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1204324.page

I think you made a mistake. Your link leads to another stupid entitled cyclist thread. Can you show where drivers are asking for special accommodations on the aforementioned thread?

DP. You're missing the dynamic entirely. Drivers already have all the special accommodations, and are fighting tooth and nail to keep it that way. Drivers are defending free/subsidized parking that literally moves 0 people over bike lanes. At no point do drivers plan on paying the full cost of those parking lanes, they view that parking as their special accommodation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

Biking is also a good option. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

You can bike all you want just stop asking for things that are desired by few and opposed by many. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

The bike lanes have political support: The Mayor originally, all of the ANCs, the former councilmember and the current councilmember.
The bike lanes have broad residential support: as evidenced by the elections and the gathering of over 5,000 signatures in support since the Mayor changed her mind.

The opponents have a bunch of unvalidated signtures, mostly from Maryland Commuters, certainly far fewer in like two years of trying, than the proponents.

So just stop with the "opposed by many" because whatever the actual number of DC much less ward 3 residents oppose the bike lanes, many more support it.

Can I ask who are you posting this for and for what purpose?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, as for "drivers are a minority" - a lot of people can't drive. A third of people in the US don't have a driver's license. The majority of them are are disabled, lower income, unhoused, formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, kids, young people, and the elderly.

(Plus people like my parents, who are elderly, and do have a driver's license, but don't drive.)

I don't know what the specific fraction is of DC residents who don't have a driver's license.

Of those people who are too frail to drive, how many of them can ride a bike? Probably not many. But they all need to be able to cross a street safely and that would be much easier with the curb bump outs that the bike lobby opposes.

There are a lot of reasons why people can't drive, besides being "too frail".

Also the All Powerful Bike Lobby doesn't oppose curb bump-outs.

But yes, people do need to be able to cross a street safely. One thing that really helps with that, as you point out, is fewer car lanes to have to cross.

^^^Here's one example of designs for protected bike lanes that also improve access and safety for pedestrians with disabilities: https://walksf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/getting-to-the-curb-report-final-walk-sf-2019.pdf

Here's a design guide from the FHWA: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/separated_bikelane_pdg/page11.cfm

Here's a project with protected bike lanes and curb extensions in Chicago: https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/05/17/cdot-is-extending-avondales-popular-belmont-protected-bike-lanes-west-to-milwaukee

Thank you for these resources, its just a shame it was buried in pages of pedantic argument.

If you were going to put lanes on Connecticut, then the bend-out options seem ideal. Good to see that the technical part of the problem has already been solved and just needs to be drag and dropped here.

Interesting info-graph from the Chicago link:

Explosive growth in shopping/dining and almost no growth in commuting. Reinforces what many have been saying.

Good on Chicago! This is a powerful illustration that more people will bike more when bike infrastructure is built out. DC’s network pales in comparison to what Chicago now has.

As pointed out above, you can't say "Good on Chicago!" unless you know the raw numbers. If you start with one cyclist and end up with two, you've doubled the number of cyclists, but the real number is still negligible. Figures like these are meaningless without the actual data.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article from the NYT on how e-bikes have made life more dangerous for pedestrians in New York. Shouldn’t Washington DC consider similar legislation/rules for e-bikes?

“[T]he explosion of e-bikes has also soured the way some New Yorkers view the streets.
“In the last three years there’s been an enormous shift,” said Susan Simon, who moved to New York in the late 1970s. “The quality of life has gone down.”

“The streets are very dangerous,” Simon continued. “What used to be a wonderful walking city for tourists, for pedestrians, has become something of a nightmare.”

Simon used to pedal a bike herself, for fun or to go to the grocery store. But e-bikes are different, she said — faster and heavier and therefore riskier. She noted that a woman was killed last year after someone riding an electric Citi Bike hit her.

There are some efforts to tame the chaos. Janet Schroeder and Pamela Manasse, who was hit by an electric vehicle in 2022 and suffered a severe brain injury, founded the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which promotes various regulations for e-bikes.

The alliance supports a bill that would ban e-bikes and other e-vehicles from parks and greenways. It would also like the government to require that e-bikes be registered and riders licensed.”

I am a cycling advocate. I would support such limits for eBikes that can go over a certain speed. I would not be supportive of banning them from parks and greenways. Otherwise, one couldn't ride one in Rock Creek Park, either on the road or the path, which seems misguided.

I would also be for speed limiters for cars, so they could not exceed the posted speed limits.

Rock Creek Park was not created for use by motorized vehicles and their ban in the park would be far from misguided. It would bring the use of the park back to its true purpose.

The amount of carbrain idiocy in this thread is staggering.

You know what was bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? Kids riding bikes and walking to school.

You what wasn't bigger in the 1960's and 1970's? The kids themselves - childhood obesity rates were so low it was never considered a major concern - less than 5%. Today? ONE FIFTH to ONE FOURTH.

Jesus christ.

Why?

Because our roads are ridiculously dangerous.

SUVs and massive trucks. Distracted driving because of phones or texts. Too much speed. Too many cars.

A major dependence on automobile infrastructure has provided us with...

...massive increases in obesity rates across all age groups
...a huge amount of microplastic pollution from tires
...a ridiculous amount of money being dumped into road resurfacing constantly to fix all the potholes left by the increasingly heavier cars (electric vehicles are WORSE for this)
...noise pollution (hello mr. Dodge Challenger driver, or mr. I'm late for my dentist appt but stuck in this school drop off traffic-horn lay-er on-er)
...air pollution
...a money sink for a massive chunk of the average family's income into an asset that depreciates quickly and doesn't help build wealth (which btw is disproportionately felt by lower income families)
...a defunding of public services related to mobility like buses, trams, trains, etc because "no one is using these because they all drive" (while sticking buses and trolleys in traffic and then wondering why people don't use it).

We need all of our major streets in the city to be rethought. We need all of our streets in the city to consider multiple modes of transportation that *advantage* anything but a single-occupancy motor vehicle.

The amount of energy poured into blocking this bike lane by a bunch of people who have spent their whole lives happily driving automobiles and wanting to do so to the grave while their kids and kids' kids can deal with the consequences is absolutely absurd.

Like wtf. We have speed limiters on freaking stand on scooters in DC. But every freaking day the dozens or so of speed cameras are racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets (which many go unpaid because of VA and MD drivers just ignoring them) and there's not really any serious discussion about speed limiters on motor vehicles. Instead you carbrains are like - ah ITS THE EBIKES FAULT that our roads are so dangerous!!!

Oof. Imagine calling people idiots and then writing something like this and willingly posting it.

Typical anti-biker boomer response. You probably grew up riding a book to school. But now that you’re old and don’t have the energy for such physical exertion, you demand the right to the widest possible streets and an abundance of parking because what could possibly be more important than your own convenience? The inevitable consequences of further embedding car dependence - congestion, pollution, unnecessary deaths and injuries, squandering of resources and so on - are none of your concern for the likelihood of you being around here to experience what this all leads to in 10 to 20 years is slim to none. Of course, you lack the self-awareness to realize that this is what really going on but nonetheless come up a strange cognitive dissonance when anyone brings serious facts to the discussion. And so “Oof.” is about all you can muster by way of a response.

Not PP but whoever wrote this sounds like a kooky cult member. If you really want to make things safer for cyclists, diverting them to side streets would be a great idea. But safety is not your actual goal.

No, not really. A great idea is: Connecticut Avenue that is safe AND ALSO streets in the network around Connecticut Avenue that are safe. Also a simple idea, conceptually. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

And yet only the minority of cyclists is asking local government to spend everyone’s tax dollars for their convenience. Cyclists are still out there without bike lanes. It is your choice to bicycle. If you feel unsafe riding near cars DON’T ride near cars. Problem solved instead of problem created.

And for all the people who pay taxes but down own or operate cars?

NP. Bus, metro, ride share, walk.

Biking is also a good option. Streets should be designed, operated, and maintained to accommodate safe and convenient access and mobility for all users of the District's transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, users of mass transit, motorists, emergency responders, and persons of all ages and abilities.

You can bike all you want just stop asking for things that are desired by few and opposed by many. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

You can drive all you want just stop asking for things that prioritize your choice over everyone else's. Why do you feel your needs are more important than others?

I’m sorry I must have missed the numerous posts from drivers asking for special accommodations.

There's a whole 71 page thread about them, here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1204324.page

I think you made a mistake. Your link leads to another stupid entitled cyclist thread. Can you show where drivers are asking for special accommodations on the aforementioned thread?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, as for "drivers are a minority" - a lot of people can't drive. A third of people in the US don't have a driver's license. The majority of them are are disabled, lower income, unhoused, formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, kids, young people, and the elderly.

(Plus people like my parents, who are elderly, and do have a driver's license, but don't drive.)

I don't know what the specific fraction is of DC residents who don't have a driver's license.

Of those people who are too frail to drive, how many of them can ride a bike? Probably not many. But they all need to be able to cross a street safely and that would be much easier with the curb bump outs that the bike lobby opposes.

There are a lot of reasons why people can't drive, besides being "too frail".

Also the All Powerful Bike Lobby doesn't oppose curb bump-outs.

But yes, people do need to be able to cross a street safely. One thing that really helps with that, as you point out, is fewer car lanes to have to cross.

^^^Here's one example of designs for protected bike lanes that also improve access and safety for pedestrians with disabilities: https://walksf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/getting-to-the-curb-report-final-walk-sf-2019.pdf

Here's a design guide from the FHWA: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/separated_bikelane_pdg/page11.cfm

Here's a project with protected bike lanes and curb extensions in Chicago: https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/05/17/cdot-is-extending-avondales-popular-belmont-protected-bike-lanes-west-to-milwaukee

Thank you for these resources, its just a shame it was buried in pages of pedantic argument.

If you were going to put lanes on Connecticut, then the bend-out options seem ideal. Good to see that the technical part of the problem has already been solved and just needs to be drag and dropped here.

Interesting info-graph from the Chicago link:

Explosive growth in shopping/dining and almost no growth in commuting. Reinforces what many have been saying.

Good on Chicago! This is a powerful illustration that more people will bike more when bike infrastructure is built out. DC’s network pales in comparison to what Chicago now has.

As pointed out above, you can't say "Good on Chicago!" unless you know the raw numbers. If you start with one cyclist and end up with two, you've doubled the number of cyclists, but the real number is still negligible. Figures like these are meaningless without the actual data.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, as for "drivers are a minority" - a lot of people can't drive. A third of people in the US don't have a driver's license. The majority of them are are disabled, lower income, unhoused, formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, kids, young people, and the elderly.

(Plus people like my parents, who are elderly, and do have a driver's license, but don't drive.)

I don't know what the specific fraction is of DC residents who don't have a driver's license.

Of those people who are too frail to drive, how many of them can ride a bike? Probably not many. But they all need to be able to cross a street safely and that would be much easier with the curb bump outs that the bike lobby opposes.

There are a lot of reasons why people can't drive, besides being "too frail".

Also the All Powerful Bike Lobby doesn't oppose curb bump-outs.

But yes, people do need to be able to cross a street safely. One thing that really helps with that, as you point out, is fewer car lanes to have to cross.

^^^Here's one example of designs for protected bike lanes that also improve access and safety for pedestrians with disabilities: https://walksf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/getting-to-the-curb-report-final-walk-sf-2019.pdf

Here's a design guide from the FHWA: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/separated_bikelane_pdg/page11.cfm

Here's a project with protected bike lanes and curb extensions in Chicago: https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/05/17/cdot-is-extending-avondales-popular-belmont-protected-bike-lanes-west-to-milwaukee

Thank you for these resources, its just a shame it was buried in pages of pedantic argument.

If you were going to put lanes on Connecticut, then the bend-out options seem ideal. Good to see that the technical part of the problem has already been solved and just needs to be drag and dropped here.

Interesting info-graph from the Chicago link:

Explosive growth in shopping/dining and almost no growth in commuting. Reinforces what many have been saying.

Good on Chicago! This is a powerful illustration that more people will bike more when bike infrastructure is built out. DC’s network pales in comparison to what Chicago now has.