At a council listening to Thursday, D.C.’s Department of Transportation performing director Sharon Kershbaum mentioned adjustments to the busy highway won’t include bike lanes.
D.C.’s Department of Transportation isn’t transferring ahead with a undertaking that will have put in bike lanes alongside a stretch of Connecticut Avenue in Northwest.
At a council listening to Thursday, DDOT performing director Sharon Kershbaum mentioned adjustments to the busy highway won’t include bike lanes.
“It has all the time been a security undertaking,” Kershbaum mentioned. “It’s on our ‘High Injury Network.’ And someway, through the years, that form of morphed right into a bike undertaking.”
Proponents of the undertaking argued that it might make Connecticut Avenue safer for cyclists. But opponents mentioned it might hurt companies by taking away road parking and will end in extra drivers slicing via surrounding neighborhoods.
The undertaking would have added bike lanes to a several-mile stretch of the highway that went from Woodley Park to Chevy Chase.
Moving ahead, Kershbaum mentioned, town is hoping to “establish another alternate options which are actually protected and strong for protected bike lanes and that that will be the place cyclists would select to use to journey north to south.”
The proprietor of Happy Go Bikes alongside Connecticut Avenue, who requested not to be recognized by identify, mentioned he anticipated the bike lanes had been unlikely to get put in due to the lengthy delay within the undertaking. Few cyclists use the highway, he mentioned, as a result of they think about it harmful.
He stays on the sidewalk if he’s using his bike within the space.
“With the bike lanes, I believe you’d see quite a few folks using down Connecticut Avenue to get to work,” he mentioned. “It’s the shortest route to get downtown.”
But residents like Lee Mayer had considerations about what bike lanes would imply for site visitors and companies. Mayer, who’s president of the group Save Connecticut Ave, mentioned the president of the D.C. police union argued bike lanes might sluggish first responders down and end in longer response instances.
The undertaking might have additionally made the highway extra harmful, Mayer mentioned, “with folks having highway rage and attempting to get off of Connecticut Avenue, diverting onto neighborhood streets.”
Mayer can also be fearful concerning the enterprise implications.
“Where would anyone who desires to drive to a restaurant or buy groceries, the place would they park?” Mayer mentioned.
Michael Harrison, supervisor at Parthenon Restaurant & Chevy Chase Lounge, known as town’s choice to not transfer ahead with the bike lanes “an excellent victory for this neighborhood.”
“To the cyclists, I don’t know what number of there are on the market. But there’s sidewalks, there’s again roads, there are streets. They’re already on these anyhow, simply proceed with what you’re doing,” Harrison mentioned.
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