Posts about Roads
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Many of DC’s new protected bike lanes are in Southwest
Several new protected bikeways have opened in Southwest DC in recent months. At a length of around 0.75 miles, the new lanes make up most of the 0.94 miles of bike-only lanes installed this year, all in Southwest. Keep reading…
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The case of the disappearing bike lanes
In 2015, the year DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Vision Zero, DC had 73.3 miles of bike lanes. According to the city's government data website, DC currently has 84.2 miles of bike lanes. But do all 84.2 miles really exist on the ground? Keep reading…
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How 1920s-era zoning laws separated people from what they love about cities
A new video by the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University shares some history of how zoning laws caused decades of construction that separated people from the things they tend to love about city living, such as easy access to shops, restaurants, entertainment venues, and random encounters with diverse people. Keep reading…
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How the Washington & Old Dominion railroad created Northern Virginia’s suburbs
Today, the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) is a paved trail used for fun and commuting across Northern Virginia. Of course, originally the Washington & Old Dominion was a railroad — one with a long and convoluted history that helped form Dunn Loring, Reston, Herndon, Sterling, Ashburn, and other communities that still exist to this day. Keep reading…
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“It just takes too long” to make DC streets safer, councilmembers and advocates say
Four people have been killed on bicycles and scooters over the past few months, and 27 total people killed on DC roadways this year. In the shadow of those tragedies, advocates and councilmembers packed a hearing to express frustration at the lack of progress making streets safer for vulnerable road users. Keep reading…
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It’s been __ days since a driver killed someone walking, biking, or scooting in DC
On Thursday, the DC Council will hold a hearing on road safety for people walking and biking, spurred by two cyclists killed by drivers in July. In a cruel twist of fate, just before the hearing could happen, DC had another pair of deaths — one on a scooter and another on a bicycle. People are rightly furious that the District is not doing more. Keep reading…
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Could putting a park on top of an underpass work in Bloomingdale too?
This April, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) presented initial design ideas for the long-awaited “deck-over” project that would cover Connecticut Avenue’s open-air underpass north of Dupont Circle. Residents proposed the idea in 2010 and the Council allocated $10 million in the fiscal year 2015 budget to realize it. Keep reading…
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Scooters aren’t to blame for crashes — car-centric streets are
On Friday, September 21 a person riding a scooter was struck and killed by an SUV driver in Dupont Circle, the first fatality of a person on a rented scooter according to DDOT records. The tragedy sparked the usual handwringing over the danger of the devices, and comments about the persistence of victim-blaming. Keep reading…
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Arlington Cemetery is expanding to the south. That could help cyclists.
Arlington National Cemetery is expanding by 70 acres because it expects to run out of room in about 25 years. Southgate Road will close, and Columbia Pike will be realigned further south. The cemetery will get the land where those streets are now, and Columbia Pike will get a fresh design that's hopefully more multimodal. Keep reading…
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Blind spots in Vision Zero cause a pedestrian death in Kenilworth
Two months after multiple DC advisory councils asked the city government to improve pedestrian safety on Eastern Ave NE, a car driver hit and killed a 51-year-old woman, Sherron Pressly, while she was in a crosswalk on the same street. Keep reading…