A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
RP: Driving v. Biking
In keeping with today's other transit related posts, here's Richard's post on commuting by bike.
15 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I would love to hear comments from people in our neighborhood about commuting by bike. It's something I've definitely thought about but it makes me a little nervous -- going from 11 and H NE to 20 and L NW with nothing between me and the crazy suburban commuters is a terrifying prospect.
@Skoochie- I bike to work some of the time from 8th and H NE to 15th and K NW-- I wish I felt comfortable shooting straight down H Street, but between the height of the Hopscotch Bridge and the seemingly billions of buses, I tend to go north or south a bit. E St. has bike lanes, and K's not a bad ride though the drivers are totally scary. Some times I go south to the front of Union Station and then pick up Mass Ave on an angle, that way only takes me 25-35 minutes and I'm not a very fast rider. If you go to the DC Department of Transportation, they have a map for cyclists that shows what streets have bike lanes and also rates most of the roads in the city- you may be able to guess that the roads in our 'hood range from "Poor" to "Fair."
I've been biking from 13th & H to Dupont Circle on a daily basis for 9 years. The stretch from the Hopscotch bridge to Mass Ave is the dodgiest part. It is not the worst ride I've ever had, but neither is it the best.
You need to command your space on the road and have a good sense of when to stick tight to the curb and when to take your place with the rest of the traffic.
You need to watch for:
1. Car doors (I never ride closer than ~ 3 ft. to a parked car). 2. Right turners (going your direction) 3. Left turners (oncoming)
You may want to start by trying the ride on a quiet Saturday and see if the prospect becomes any less terrifying.
I hate doing this, but we tried email, and it was ignored. I have to remind people that there's more than just one planning site out there.
Cyburbia (http://www.cyburbia.org), founded in 1994, is the Internet's oldest continuously operating planning-related Web site. Cyburbia has served the planning community for nearly 14 years with very little funding or financial remuneration. The Cyburbia Forums (http://www.cyburbia.org/forums) went online in 1996, and today remains a vibrant virtual third place for planners, students and others interested in the built environment ; 5,800 members, 400,000 posts, and still growing.
Cyburbia may be the considered the red-headed stepchild of planning-related Web sites among bloggers, but ask the thousands of people that use it every day ...
Um, actually Dan, I had been planning, but hadn't gotten around to posting that It's a Wonderful City video that was mentioned on Cyburbia. Maybe relax a bit. It's just a neighborhood blog. And Ithing part of the reason Cyburbia gets fewer links is that the interface is less conducive to quickly looking for articles that is that of Planetizen.
I wish DC would just hire smart people in government who have first hand expericane with biking. Like in Portland OR they are planning on making low traffic areas into biking blvds. Why can't we have that here in our city? Just turn H St into one huge ave for bike riders and street cars?
I have ridden my bike a few times from 6th & H to Dupont Circle and I find the traffic to aggressive. I have a bell and I use it. I respect when someone is suppose to walk and try to respect even those that walk anyways. The foot traffic with the tourist is a different story.
Is there a good path to take from Mount Vernon Square to Dupont Circle? I go north and take P Street. Is there a better way?
This is a bit long, but is for all of you Hill dwellers looking for a peaceful/safe ride into the heart of the city.
For 3 years I rode from 5th & F to 21st & D...and I LOVED my ride. My route involved VERY LITTLE TRAFFIC, always felt extremely safe, and involved relatively few major street crossings:
It would involve heading a little south for you K Streeters, but if you make your way down to Stanton Park (F NE is fairly quiet, as is G NE), then you can head due west on C Street out of the park, 2 blocks to the barricaded parking areas around the Senate buildings (avoid Constitution, which is hell on a workday morning!). Bikes can go through the barricades with no problems. Then turn left at Delaware Ave. (still within the Senate barricaded area) straigt up to the Capitol grounds (cross Constitution).
From there, cruise downhill in the barricaded parking area (pedal free!) that dumps you out at the foot of Pennsylvania Avenue, then make your way briefly 1 block up Pennsylvania Avenue (the block that is parking for the Capitol), and a quick left past the East Wing to the Mall. Madison Drive is virtually untraffic'd in the morning so you can cruise in the paved lane (you don't have to use the gravel paths) from 3rd street right to 15th Street & the Washington Monument and barely encounter a car. and only 4 road crossings. You can continue 'round the Washington Monument on the pathways, then head north through the Ellipse (all protected paths & parking lots) or head west over to the WWII memorial and ride along the pathways on the south side of Constitution as far as you need - right up to 23rd street.
These are all pathways outside of the Central Business District, so they are legal for bike use.
Of course, from Constitution then you have to head north into traffic to get into the business district, but with trial and error you can find some streets that are quieter than others. Crossing Constitution is easy at the crosswalks if you wait for the lights.
Coming home in the evening is a bit more of a challenge because the tourists are out and walking 4-abreast across every dang path you would want to use. Jefferson Drive on the way home is reasonably easu but not quiet like the mornings.
HOWEVER, the E Street bike lane runs from the Warner Theater right to Union Station and is surprisingly trouble-free if you "own" the lane and watch out for the very rare driver who hasn't yet figured out how to manage around a bike lane. The lane ends at North Capitol St., so you've got 14 blocks of good bike lane there. From there, coming round Columbus Circle in front of Union Station has never been a problem for me and if you cross Mass. Ave. north at the 1st street NE light to enter the Union Station area, you get dumped right onto F Street NE for a relatively peaceful trip through the rest of Capitol Hill.
Alternatively, from the E Street bike lane, make your way over to D Street and pick up that bike lane, which starts behind Schneiders liquor store and takes you just about all the way across Capitol Hill eastward!
Like someone suggested, try it on the weekend, but you will be AMAZED how nice & untrafficky riding along the mall is in the mornings - great way to start the day!
I bike to work from 2nd and K NE to 20th and Constituion NW. Much of my route follows the park space on Louisiana and the mall on Constitution, which has nice wide bike paths. If I'm biking on a road with a lot of cars, I'm not afraid to get on the sidewalk if there's not too many pedestrians. If there's not a lot of cars, I'm usually fine on streets. Like someone else said, be careful of people turning right going your way, many don't look.
To respond further to Dan's post, I get lots of email and I am guilty of not answering all of it [noting personal, I just get busy]. That said, I never added a sidebar link to Cyburbia because this is more of a local blog, and not so much of a professional planning blog. Thus, I was trying to play to the readership. I think the interface to Planetizen is more suited to quickly looking for articles of reference. Cyburbia is more geared towards those with a serious interest in planning issues. There are some useful forums and lots of Q and A. It is a site, that like most sites that aren't Westlaw or the Washington Post/New York Times, I use semi-regularly. But, for those that have an interest, I have now added a sidebar link. It is a good resource, and any site with advertising can use additional ad revenue from viewer traffic.
i ride a bike (read: motorcycle), without any problems.
hopscotch bridge (stupid name for a bridge), and down toward the native american museum (another stupid name).
you do have to watch out for displaced DCers (read: i now live in maryland with a two car garage), as they tend to swerve and most usually, need a primer on TURN SIGNALS. f*cking burbnite losers, from the school of "i used to live in DC, so it's my home forever..."
LOSERS.
i swear, one day, i'm gonna ride around your little suburbanite delight and scare you and your kids like you do in your newly financed chryslers in our nation's capitol.
If Im headed to Dupont, I usually take K from 7th NE down to 1st NW and then cut over to N. It's a bit full of potholes but the lack of traffic makes up for it. Run it over to 14th, which is awesome since they added the bike lanes. If I'm heading somewhere further south like Warner or E Street Theater, I agree with the previous commenter that E Street is the best route because of the bike lanes. K Street is OK to get to Chinatown, but I agree the drivers are less than considerate. Overall, biking is what makes DC a great city and I really recommend it especially now that the weather is so great. Fresh air, sunshine, and no worries over parking once you get there. Try it. You'll be addicted.
We used to live in McLean and commute down 66 everyday it was the most miserable experience I've ever had in my entire life.
I now commute from 11th & I st, NE to the Old Post Office building next to Union Station by bike and it's been a life saver. Not much of a commute, 1.1 miles, but riding the bike in the morning makes the first part of the day so much more enjoyable.
15 comments:
I would love to hear comments from people in our neighborhood about commuting by bike. It's something I've definitely thought about but it makes me a little nervous -- going from 11 and H NE to 20 and L NW with nothing between me and the crazy suburban commuters is a terrifying prospect.
@Skoochie- I bike to work some of the time from 8th and H NE to 15th and K NW-- I wish I felt comfortable shooting straight down H Street, but between the height of the Hopscotch Bridge and the seemingly billions of buses, I tend to go north or south a bit. E St. has bike lanes, and K's not a bad ride though the drivers are totally scary. Some times I go south to the front of Union Station and then pick up Mass Ave on an angle, that way only takes me 25-35 minutes and I'm not a very fast rider. If you go to the DC Department of Transportation, they have a map for cyclists that shows what streets have bike lanes and also rates most of the roads in the city- you may be able to guess that the roads in our 'hood range from "Poor" to "Fair."
I meant the DC Dept. of Trans website-- you can view the maps online.
I've been biking from 13th & H to Dupont Circle on a daily basis for 9 years. The stretch from the Hopscotch bridge to Mass Ave is the dodgiest part. It is not the worst ride I've ever had, but neither is it the best.
You need to command your space on the road and have a good sense of when to stick tight to the curb and when to take your place with the rest of the traffic.
You need to watch for:
1. Car doors (I never ride closer than ~ 3 ft. to a parked car).
2. Right turners (going your direction)
3. Left turners (oncoming)
You may want to start by trying the ride on a quiet Saturday and see if the prospect becomes any less terrifying.
Good luck.
p.s. Here is what you are in for... ;)
I hate doing this, but we tried email, and it was ignored. I have to remind people that there's more than just one planning site out there.
Cyburbia (http://www.cyburbia.org), founded in 1994, is the Internet's oldest continuously operating planning-related Web site. Cyburbia has served the planning community for nearly 14 years with very little funding or financial remuneration. The Cyburbia Forums (http://www.cyburbia.org/forums) went online in 1996, and today remains a vibrant virtual third place for planners, students and others interested in the built environment ; 5,800 members, 400,000 posts, and still growing.
Cyburbia may be the considered the red-headed stepchild of planning-related Web sites among bloggers, but ask the thousands of people that use it every day ...
Um, actually Dan, I had been planning, but hadn't gotten around to posting that It's a Wonderful City video that was mentioned on Cyburbia. Maybe relax a bit. It's just a neighborhood blog. And Ithing part of the reason Cyburbia gets fewer links is that the interface is less conducive to quickly looking for articles that is that of Planetizen.
I wish DC would just hire smart people in government who have first hand expericane with biking. Like in Portland OR they are planning on making low traffic areas into biking blvds. Why can't we have that here in our city? Just turn H St into one huge ave for bike riders and street cars?
I have ridden my bike a few times from 6th & H to Dupont Circle and I find the traffic to aggressive. I have a bell and I use it. I respect when someone is suppose to walk and try to respect even those that walk anyways. The foot traffic with the tourist is a different story.
Is there a good path to take from Mount Vernon Square to Dupont Circle? I go north and take P Street. Is there a better way?
This is a bit long, but is for all of you Hill dwellers looking for a peaceful/safe ride into the heart of the city.
For 3 years I rode from 5th & F to 21st & D...and I LOVED my ride. My route involved VERY LITTLE TRAFFIC, always felt extremely safe, and involved relatively few major street crossings:
It would involve heading a little south for you K Streeters, but if you make your way down to Stanton Park (F NE is fairly quiet, as is G NE), then you can head due west on C Street out of the park, 2 blocks to the barricaded parking areas around the Senate buildings (avoid Constitution, which is hell on a workday morning!). Bikes can go through the barricades with no problems. Then turn left at Delaware Ave. (still within the Senate barricaded area) straigt up to the Capitol grounds (cross Constitution).
From there, cruise downhill in the barricaded parking area (pedal free!) that dumps you out at the foot of Pennsylvania Avenue, then make your way briefly 1 block up Pennsylvania Avenue (the block that is parking for the Capitol), and a quick left past the East Wing to the Mall. Madison Drive is virtually untraffic'd in the morning so you can cruise in the paved lane (you don't have to use the gravel paths) from 3rd street right to 15th Street & the Washington Monument and barely encounter a car. and only 4 road crossings. You can continue 'round the Washington Monument on the pathways, then head north through the Ellipse (all protected paths & parking lots) or head west over to the WWII memorial and ride along the pathways on the south side of Constitution as far as you need - right up to 23rd street.
These are all pathways outside of the Central Business District, so they are legal for bike use.
Of course, from Constitution then you have to head north into traffic to get into the business district, but with trial and error you can find some streets that are quieter than others. Crossing Constitution is easy at the crosswalks if you wait for the lights.
Coming home in the evening is a bit more of a challenge because the tourists are out and walking 4-abreast across every dang path you would want to use. Jefferson Drive on the way home is reasonably easu but not quiet like the mornings.
HOWEVER, the E Street bike lane runs from the Warner Theater right to Union Station and is surprisingly trouble-free if you "own" the lane and watch out for the very rare driver who hasn't yet figured out how to manage around a bike lane. The lane ends at North Capitol St., so you've got 14 blocks of good bike lane there. From there, coming round Columbus Circle in front of Union Station has never been a problem for me and if you cross Mass. Ave. north at the 1st street NE light to enter the Union Station area, you get dumped right onto F Street NE for a relatively peaceful trip through the rest of Capitol Hill.
Alternatively, from the E Street bike lane, make your way over to D Street and pick up that bike lane, which starts behind Schneiders liquor store and takes you just about all the way across Capitol Hill eastward!
Like someone suggested, try it on the weekend, but you will be AMAZED how nice & untrafficky riding along the mall is in the mornings - great way to start the day!
I bike to work from 2nd and K NE to 20th and Constituion NW. Much of my route follows the park space on Louisiana and the mall on Constitution, which has nice wide bike paths. If I'm biking on a road with a lot of cars, I'm not afraid to get on the sidewalk if there's not too many pedestrians. If there's not a lot of cars, I'm usually fine on streets. Like someone else said, be careful of people turning right going your way, many don't look.
To respond further to Dan's post, I get lots of email and I am guilty of not answering all of it [noting personal, I just get busy]. That said, I never added a sidebar link to Cyburbia because this is more of a local blog, and not so much of a professional planning blog. Thus, I was trying to play to the readership. I think the interface to Planetizen is more suited to quickly looking for articles of reference. Cyburbia is more geared towards those with a serious interest in planning issues. There are some useful forums and lots of Q and A. It is a site, that like most sites that aren't Westlaw or the Washington Post/New York Times, I use semi-regularly. But, for those that have an interest, I have now added a sidebar link. It is a good resource, and any site with advertising can use additional ad revenue from viewer traffic.
i ride a bike (read: motorcycle), without any problems.
hopscotch bridge (stupid name for a bridge), and down toward the native american museum (another stupid name).
you do have to watch out for displaced DCers (read: i now live in maryland with a two car garage), as they tend to swerve and most usually, need a primer on TURN SIGNALS. f*cking burbnite losers, from the school of "i used to live in DC, so it's my home forever..."
LOSERS.
i swear, one day, i'm gonna ride around your little suburbanite delight and scare you and your kids like you do in your newly financed chryslers in our nation's capitol.
LOSERS.
give us locals a break, please.
thank you.
that's all.
Phew...! I thought Poo poo had moved. Glad to see he alive and well.
If Im headed to Dupont, I usually take K from 7th NE down to 1st NW and then cut over to N. It's a bit full of potholes but the lack of traffic makes up for it. Run it over to 14th, which is awesome since they added the bike lanes. If I'm heading somewhere further south like Warner or E Street Theater, I agree with the previous commenter that E Street is the best route because of the bike lanes. K Street is OK to get to Chinatown, but I agree the drivers are less than considerate. Overall, biking is what makes DC a great city and I really recommend it especially now that the weather is so great. Fresh air, sunshine, and no worries over parking once you get there. Try it. You'll be addicted.
We used to live in McLean and commute down 66 everyday it was the most miserable experience I've ever had in my entire life.
I now commute from 11th & I st, NE to the Old Post Office building next to Union Station by bike and it's been a life saver. Not much of a commute, 1.1 miles, but riding the bike in the morning makes the first part of the day so much more enjoyable.
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