Uncrossable: Where DC’s network of bicycle infrastructure falls short

Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s DC street design resembling the spokes of a wheel was built to move carts, horses, and, later, trolleys. Overlaid on L’Enfant’s wheel spokes was a network of wide streets that were designed to move cars in and out of the city quickly, but this became unsafe for bicyclists.

Since 2002, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has constructed 104 miles of bicycle lanes and currently maintains more than 150 miles of recreational trails and bike lanes in the District. Still, advocates say, there is plenty of work to be done.

“We do not have a complete network yet,” said Colin Browne, communications director for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. “You cannot get to one part of the city from another without having to ride on a more dangerous, unpleasant road somewhere.”

On a recent Saturday, Browne biked with his daughter on the back of his cargo bike from his home in Northeast to his closest grocery store in Ivy City. The 18th Street bike lane — through quiet, neighborhood streets — quickly led him to the five-lane Rhode Island Avenue, then to a partially-hidden, four-way intersection at Montana Avenue NE that forces even the most competent cyclists to consider riding on the sidewalk, many of which are in disrepair themselves.

The grand finale was having to cross New York Avenue, or “eight lanes of death,” as Browne calls it, with no way to cross east of the Metropolitan Branch Trail. Browne says it’s likely not a route he will repeat, opting instead to bike on safer roads to a grocery store farther away in Prince George’s County.

If you start in the center of the city and go around clockwise, you’ll frequently run into these uncrossable barriers at places like 16th Street, New Hampshire Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue, New York Avenue, Benning Road, East Capitol Street, and Minnesota Avenue, among other main roads. These wide, four and six-lane avenues are designed to optimize car flow, but are detrimental to anyone outside of a car. They are weak points in a network of mobility.

“It’s sort of like we don’t have sections of dirt road in the interstate highway system for a reason,” Browne said. “That exists as a connected network because it provides a consistent and reliable experience for the people who are using it. And so when we’re thinking about bike infrastructure, we spend a lot of time on individual projects, individual streets, but the reality is, most of those are part of a route. There are a variety of situations in the built environment that can break that network.”

In December 2021, DDOT released an updated plan for MoveDC, DC’s Multimodal Long-Range Transportation program. The plan features a map of existing bicycle infrastructure, locations with funding for construction to begin, and future planned improvements where there is no funding yet.

DDOT is on track to exceed its goal to complete 20 miles of protected bicycle lanes by the end of 2022 and will follow that with another goal from Mayor Bowser for 10+ miles of protected bike lanes each year over the next three years.

DDOT is integrating bike and bus projects together as a new practice and will install a protected bike lane along Minnesota Avenue SE as part of a bus priority project. In coordination with ANCs located east of the Anacostia River, other plans include a cycle track/trail on Texas Avenue SE, protected bike lanes on East Capitol Street, and extending the Oxon Run trail via a cycle track on Mississippi Avenue SE.

The agency is also working to address major state avenues and some circles, such as completing work on Virginia Avenue with changes to Juarez Circle. They recently finished West Virginia Avenue with work on Montana Circle.

With some 36 traffic circles, L’Enfant’s circuitous vision has become a key design feature of DC. While their design differs, most are categorized as traffic circles and not roundabouts. Traffic circles have multiple lights controlling entry and exit points separately throughout the circle. Whereas roundabouts also flow in a circular motion around a central point, they are controlled most often by yield signs and consist of a series of left turns before exiting with a “straight ahead” movement.

Here’s a roundup of just a few of the circles and their bicycle infrastructure, according to DDOT’s most recent 2021 bicycle map and Google Maps.

Circles with some bicycle infrastructure:

• Thomas Circle
• Grant Circle
• Sherman Circle

Circles with no bicycle infrastructure but bike lanes leading to it:

• Logan Circle
• Randle Circle
• Dupont Circle
• Washington Circle
• Sheridan Circle

Circles with no bicycle infrastructure:

• Westmoreland Circle
• Chevy Chase Circle
• Anna J Cooper Circle
• Ward Circle
• Scott Circle

While the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration says that roundabouts can reduce vehicle and other types of crashes, some data tells a different story. A study by Austroads in 2017 examined how the geometric design components of a roundabout may contribute to vehicle and bicycle crashes. While it examined the types of available bicycle infrastructure, it noted that “on-road bike lane within the roundabout,” designated by colored lanes or on-road markings, is not recommended by most design authorities. Instead, shared-use off-road paths and separated bike paths were more favorable.

Similarly, a 2013 study of more than 300 roundabouts in Denmark found that the installation of roundabouts led to a 65% increase in bike crashes and a 40% increase in injuries, as highlighted in an article on CyclingTips.com titled “Roundabouts Suck For Cyclists: Here’s Why.”

As noted in a 2014 GGWash article, DC could look to cities like London and Rotterdam for safer bicycle infrastructure around circles, with designated lanes separated from traffic and in some cases on sidewalks instead of streets.

DDOT says circles are certainly some of the more complex traffic features to deal with in DC, and while it does look at other unspecified jurisdictions domestically and abroad for safety features, there is not a specific effort devoted to circles.

Browne says there needs to be a combination of traffic calming efforts and transportation demand management at busier corridors to make streets safer to cross on foot and by bicycle. This usually means making people drive slower, which is not always a popular solution.

The removal of Truxton Circle and the ongoing 16th Street Bus Lanes project act as reminders that built infrastructure can be changed to more safely accommodate efficient transportation.

“Fundamentally, bikes and transit and micro mobility and walking are much more efficient ways to move people than driving,” Browne said. “There’s a lot of room for DC, and every city in America, really, to grow and really internalize that, and grow and prioritize moving people.”

Cyclists can check out DDOT’s 2021 Bike Map and the Capital Trails Coalition’s Interactive Map to find existing bike lanes and bicycle trails in and around DC.