Jumping the shark: claiming that not adding bike lanes to Connecticut Avenue NW will help bring workers back to Downtown
WTF? I'd be embarrassed writing a piece like this, "Viewpoint: Want workers back in the office? Stop Connecticut Avenue bike lanes" (Washington Business Journal). It claims that protected bike lanes are being removed across the country because they don't work. Mostly it's because elected officials roll over in the face of angry motor vehicle operators.
Currently Connecticut Avenue is six lanes, with more than enough capacity to shrink and still provide enough throughput capacity for cars. Especially considering the large numbers, even in the face of post-covid shrinkage, of people who take transit to work.
Plus, as if. All downtowns across the country are experiencing serious decline in the number of office workers returning to work. Connecticut Avenue doesn't even have the bike lanes yet. What makes bike lanes the X factor for Downtown DC?
Although I will say that lanes are not enough. There needs to be a lot more focus on raising the number of people cycling for transportation. And I don't think any North American city is particularly exemplary on that dimension.
-- "Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking: 18 programs," 2020
P.S. This Friday is World Car Free Day. In response, MTA in Baltimore is providing free transit ("Maryland Transit Administration to offer free public transportation this weekend," Baltimore Sun).
Labels: bicycle and pedestrian planning, car culture and automobility, transportation planning
posted by Richard Layman @ 3:45 PM&Permanent Link
2 Comments:
All you need to know about this guy's position is in his portfolio: https://prprei.com/property/
In my neighborhood a kid was killed crossing the street. The intersection is fine, obviously the driver didn't look.
In response, the Councilmember and Mayor pushed for raised crosswalks. They are a good idea, at least visually because this area has a high incidence of walk to school, 3 schools in close proximity, etc.
But some people are opposed. One of their complaints is it would negatively affect stormwater drainage. Umm, it's not like there aren't raised crosswalks in Salt Lake City, by one of the schools, and across the US. So much spurious reasoning.
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