Someone moved out of an apartment near the corner of 17th and Q, NW last week, and their moving van blocked the bike lane. And then, a week later, someone moved in, and their van blocked it too.

Left: Moving out, October 30th. Right: Moving in, November 7th.

Both movers posted “Emergency No Parking” signs for the move. On October 30th, the space was clear for the van to pull to the curb, but it did not and instead blocked the lane anyway because its side ramp was too long to fit on the sidewalk. It’s not clear why they didn’t pull forward and just extend the ramp onto the steps; it’s possible that tree is in the way.

For the second move, on November 7th, one driver didn’t get out of the no parking zone in time, and the truck again blocked the bike lane. When I was moving into our current house, a car pulled into the no parking zone early in the morning of the move and didn’t leave all day; nobody came to ticket or tow the car despite numerous calls. There’s no bike lane on my street, but the truck had to position itself where other cars and trucks faced a tight squeeze to get by.

We need better enforcement of bike lanes and no parking zones. Trucks need to pull to the curb and not block the lane, and cars need to get out of the zones so trucks can get over to the curb. It’s true that many DC streets are awkward for trucks, and we need to accommodate reasonable loading. But if there’s space for loading that’s just taken up by parked cars, the answer is to get the parked cars out of there.

Jim Graham, Gabe Klein, and MPD Assistant Chief Patrick Burke seem agree. Reader Zach emailed Graham about a perennial problem of cars blocking the 14th Street bike lane during his commute from Columbia Heights to downtown. Graham wrote,

Thanks for your follow-up on this.

I agree that we need better enforcement for those who park illegally in bike lanes. I am including MPD Assistant Chief Burke to comment on this.

I am also including DDOT Director Klein because he also has a role here. I authored legislation granting DDOT Traffic Control Officers (TCOs) authority to give parking citations. It was exactly this the sort of safety violation that I expected to see them enforce. Director Klein has done great work in getting this enforcement program up and running. Let’s see if he can add this to the list of key violations for strong TCO enforcement.

Take note that the new bicycle route on 15th Street provide a nice alternative to the 14th Street bike lanes.

Burke and Klein both responded that they are instructing their teams to step up enforcement of bike lane blocking. Send in a tip if you see more officers out there enforcing bike lanes or just notice a decline in lane blocking.