As a resident just off the northern end of 17th St NW, and a frequent user of the bikeshare station at T St and New Hampshire, I write in enthusiastic support of the proposal to convert the southbound bike lane to a protected lane from New Hampshire Ave NW to K St NW and install a northbound protected bike lane on 17th from K St NW to T St NW.
I thank you especially for finding a way to extend the northbound lane all the way to T St NW. Many of the people I see riding northbound on 17th or on its sidewalks are riding bikeshare bikes, and as, again, a frequent bikeshare rider myself, I greatly appreciate that we will be able to safely and legally return to the docking station on T between 17th and New Hampshire. I am disappointed that the northbound lane doesn’t continue all the way to Florida Avenue, as I do frequently see northbound cyclists continue past U St toward Ontario and Champlain into Adams Morgan, and I hope that completing the connection to Adams Morgan remains at least in the long-term plans for the Department.
I am a bit concerned about the parking situation just north of Corcoran, where an existing loading zone in front of the Safeway is apparently to be removed, and a metered parking area across the street in front of the hardware store and McDonald’s is also to be removed. Given the particularly unique needs of the hardware store’s vendors and customers, I am slightly concerned about them having a sufficiently convenient place to load and unload—and even more concerned that drivers will simply choose to park in the bike lane if they don’t immediately see a more appropriate spot. After all, we have consistently seen all manner of vendors and utility drivers park in the bike lanes on 1st St NE outside the Union Station west docks, even after large concrete curbs have been installed on the buffer; on 4th St NE at Flash Glass; on Florida Ave NE at Mac’s Tire; and elsewhere. A couple years ago, before the recent changes to the 14th St NW bike lanes between Florida and Massachusetts Avenues, DDOT installed flexposts on a few sections of the bike lane—and shortly thereafter, I witnessed a FedEx truck parked squarely atop the bent-over posts at Wallach St. I hope we don’t have to make similar reports about a new 17th St bike lane. Please designate both parking lanes at Corcoran Street, and as much of 17th St’s parking lanes as possible, as loading and pick-up/drop-off areas, and provide barriers sufficient to actually protect the bike lanes.
This concern aside, on the whole I enthusiastically support the plan to protect the southbound bike lane and install a northbound protected bike lane on 17th St NW, and I look forward to its implementation as soon as possible. Thank you!
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Citation
@online{swiderski2020,
author = {Swiderski, J. I.},
title = {On the Proposed 17th {St} {NW} Bike Lanes},
date = {2020-07-07},
url = {https://jski.net/posts/17th-st.html},
langid = {en}
}