P Street SW could get a protected bikeway, but some residents don’t want to lose parking
Map of existing bike infrastructure in Southwest DC. Image by the author.
DC wants to build a protected bikeway along P Street SW to close an important connectivity gap in the Anacostia River Trail network. However, the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) unanimously opposes the plan because it would involve removing parking, and says the project poses a threat to affordability in the area.
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has significantly upgraded the bike network in Southwest DC in recent years, but along P Street between 4th Street and 2nd Street, there’s only a sharrow to accommodate people on bicycle and scooter. To fix this connectivity gap, DDOT has proposed installing a fully protected bikeway through the area.
Some area residents, however, are wary of the DDOT plan because it involves removing 26 parking spaces on one side of the street. The ANC 6D backed this viewpoint at an October 21 meeting, and unanimously opposed DDOT’s Notice of Intent.
Diagram of the proposed protected bikeway on P Street SW. Image by DDOT.
Swap out a few key words, and the debate playing out over the P Street bike lanes could easily describe a litany of other transportation fights here in the District and around the country.
An issue of equity?
The ANC 6D resolution says that while the commissioners are committed to a multi-modal city, they ultimately oppose the bikeway on the grounds that it poses a threat to affordable housing in the neighborhood.
By the ANC’s logic, eliminating the parking spots is detrimental to affordability because low-income residents are more dependent on cars for socio-economic mobility, and need them for jobs with working hours outside of 9-5. The ANC is not off base when it claims that the neighborhood’s transit connectivity is not adequate—just last week, DDOT proposed reducing bus service on the 74 on P Street.
The existing protected bikeway on 2nd Street SW. Image by the author.
Uneven development across the District has facilitated an environment where some associate important infrastructure upgrades with displacement. That fear may be compounded in neighborhoods in Southwest DC and others like them where there’s been a disproportionate amount of new growth.
Or an issue of parking?
While maintaining affordability and diversity is an important goal, the ANC’s approach shows some shortsightedness. There’s already a lot of off-street parking in the neighborhood, as DDOT’s presentation on the proposed protected bikeway shows. Removing 26 spaces wouldn’t have much of an effect on the overall supply in the area.
Buildings fronting on this section of P St have their own off-street parking lots with overflow spaces. Image created with Google Maps. 
At the same time, cycling fatalities in the District are continuing to rise, and the trade-off between parking and biking infrastructure is an issue of public safety. As development and new residents come to Buzzard Point in the near future, biking traffic in the area is likely to increase.
Biking infrastructure quality and distribution is also an equity issue. Low-income residents usually don’t have the same access to quality biking paths that their higher-income counterparts do. And we haven’t even touched on the negative long term environmental impacts of promoting car ownership while we’re amid a climate crisis.
There’s pushback almost every time a plan is put forward to swap parking spots for bicycle infrastructure, so some may be skeptical of the ANC’s arguments. Nonetheless, it’s true that the city must ensure its projects work for its most vulnerable residents. How DDOT will move forward remains to be seen.