Category: Meetings

You Want a Better #BikeDC? – Testify at an Oversight Hearing

A Plethora of BikeShare Bikes
Image: Author

You want the District Government to complete the Metropolitan Branch Trail or add protected bike lanes near you?

Ask them.

The Council of the District of Columbia has posted its Performance Oversight hearings schedule for the Fiscal Year 2018 Approved Budget for the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), D.C. Bicycle Advisory Council (DCBAC), and Pedestrian Advisory Council.

Hearings for these agencies are scheduled for Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 2:30pm in room 123 within the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

The agencies will make presentations before the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, chaired by Council member Mary Cheh (Ward 3). Specifically, oversight hearings provide a forum for Council tobask questions regarding the current operations of District Government agencies like DDOT, committees, and other government organizations during the current fiscal year, which began October 1, 2017 and provide information about successes (and failures) during the prior year.

The hearings also provides an opportunity for residents like you to testify about bicycling-related issues before a live studio audience and members of the District of Columbia Council. DDOT representatives will be present and may answer questions about the District’s bicycle-related policies.

By testifying, you are effectively becoming an advocate for bicycling – put that on your resume! Once you’re done Council members, or their staff, may ask questions about your issue to DDOT – on the spot!

While bike advocates always ask people to be advocates, they rarely explain what that entails. As BikeSpecific has testified a few times before, it has some thoughts on what to expect. If you are ready to testify for the first time, great. Below are some tips:

  • Sign up now. Actually, if you do do this, you can’t testify.  Contact Aukima Benjamin at 724-8062 or e-mail her at abenjamin@dccouncil.us.  She coordinates with the the Committee on Transportation and the Environment.

  • What to say.  The most compelling testimony typically is about something that you’ve personally experienced. To really make an impact, that experience should have a broader context where, upon hearing your story, anyone can understand it,  relate to it, and feel compelled to do something about it.

    Your testimony shouldn’t be solely about complaints. It’s easy to kick DDOT for its seemingly decade’s long the Eastern Downtown Protected Bike Lane study – because some day it will move past 30 percent design – but how does that really impact you? And more importantly, who else besides you can benefit from whatever it is you think needs improving? You are an advocate for the bike community, remembering that puts a lot of what you say and how you say it in perspective. If you can, chat with someone from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association to make sure that you get your facts straight – because facts help. Lastly, suggestions for improvements can work. Start with that.

  • The panel. Once the Committee chair begins the hearing and provides opening remarks, she will empanel witnesses by calling out names and having them sit at a table placed in front of the dais. There can be several panels depending on the total number of speakers. Sometimes, organizations go first, then public witnesses, then government witnesses. The panel table has up to 4 microphones and sometimes a pitcher of water. Have a drink.

    When called, make sure you turn the microphone on and bring it within about 12 inches of your mouth. Say your name, speak normally. If they can’t hear you, make sure the microphone is on and closer to you. When you’re done speaking, turn the microphone off, no one wants to hear you breathe.

    At the center of the witness table, their are 3 lights: green (keep talking), yellow (you’ve got less than 30 seconds), and red (times up and electronic buzzing will commence). They may give you a few more seconds to finish your thought but don’t press your luck.

  • Written testimony. Council encourages, but does not require, the submission of written testimony in advance of the hearing, typically three business days before. If you do not submit written testimony beforehand, Council requests that you bring 10 copies with you to the hearing so that they can circulate it among the members and staff. It’s not required but it’s helpful so that they can ask better questions.
     
  • You’ll be on TV. The hearing will be televised live on the District Council’s Cable channel. Tell your friends and warm up the VCR or some other recording device. Sit up straight and look at or in the direction of the council members. You’re having a conversation about something you’re interested in so try to relax. Try not to look into the camera because that’s just weird.
     
  • Watch your time. While written testimony can be longer, your oral testimony must be under 3 minutes as they can be strict with regard to time. Those representing organizations tend to have more time, up to 5 minutes. So if you represent a group, you’ll have extra time to make your case.

    Generally, most witnesses read from their written testimony while more experienced speakers tend to highlight particular points so that they have time to discuss them later. Practice reading it your testimony. Do this to ensure that you don’t go over time and what you write sometimes doesn’t sound the same as when you speak it.
     

  • You are not the only person with questions. Typically after the panel has made their statements, Council members may ask follow up questions or they may not. The Committee Chair typically is the first to act. The questions are usually asked in the same order as witness statements. Once the Committee Chair has completed asking her questions, she will ask if members of the committee have questions. If it’s an issue they value, council members may ask more than one question or may ask your thoughts on what someone else at the witness table says. If the Council members don’t ask questions, don’t be offended, time may be an issue. Rarely, Council members who are not member of the Committee may participate. Lucky you.
     
  • Can’t make the hearing. Not everyone is capable of attending due to work or they are out of the area. Council accepts written testimony now and up to two days after the end of the hearing.

    The DCBAC also encourages you to submit comments to it directly. As they will be testifying as an entity of the government, you can contact them about what they’ve done or let them know if you’ve experienced issues while biking.
     

  • Talking in front of large crowds isn’t your thing. Hearings are open to the public so if you have issues with public speaking, the option of just sitting in the hearing room may be for you. As these hearings tend to happen during the day, they aren’t always well attended. As the hearing will be shown live, having a full room shows the Council members and the public the importance of bicycling. Also, attendance is important for the public witnesses, as it lets them know that you have their back.
     
  • No need to freak out. This process can be intimidating. Relax. Hundreds of people of all ages are public witnesses so it’s really not that hard. Talk about what you know, don’t talk about what you don’t. For most public witnesses, the process is not adversarial so be cordial and topical. Council and government agencies really want to know what almost all of you think – but keep it about transportation. If you need to talk about boxing and wrestling, there’s a hearing for that.

This seems like a lot, but it’s not as much as you’d think. The important thing is that you’ve done a really important thing and spoke on behalf of thousands of people and directly helped make bicycling better in the District.

Congratulations!

A version of this article was published January 25, 2017.

14th Street NW Corridor Gets Another Look

Typical 14th activity
Image: Google

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will hold a meeting to discuss how to make “lower, middle 14th Street NW” more attractive and accommodating to all users.

The meeting will be held Thursday, February 22, 2018 between 6:30pm to 8:30pm in the  Community Room of the National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW.

According to DDOT, the project supports moveDC plan and the Mayor’s Vision Zero Initiative to help create a safer, more livable, sustainable and attractive corridor. The objective of the project is to increase multimodal safety and accessibility, improve mobility and pedestrian safety with ADA compliance, and improve the corridor with the new streetscape. 

As 14th Street is a major travel corridor, the mile long 14th Street NW Streetscape Project hopefully addresses concerns that bicyclists have noted for years. On social media, bicyclists complain that they are at risk as vehicles force them from the bike lane to the roadway or they are doored by unsuspecting vehicle occupants. Vehicles routinely double park in the roadway or bike lane and use the bike lane as a location to discharge passengers. There are also conflict with buses as they transition from the roadway to bus stops, making moving past them on bikes risky. 

Typical improvements in the 2010 version of 14th Street project
Image: DDOT

The current iteration of this project was listed in the draft D.C. Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) in 2015 but a plan for this area was underway by DDOT as early as 2007. The 2010 14th Street Transportation and Streetscape Improvements plan, created before Vision Zero and other planning initiatives, focused on adding multimodal features to the corridor to include street resurfacing, bulb outs to add sidewalk space, additional bike parking at transit stops, decorative pavement, and other amenities to help improve pedestrian safety.

Since then, DDOT implemented certain elements of that project at key intersections and presumably, the current project will reexamine certain traffic elements, including making improvements to the bicycle infrastructure. As of the 2015 STIP, the total amount obligated to this project totals $10.6 million.

Specifically, the project scope of work will include, but will not be limited to the following:

  • Preparation of plans, estimates, and specifications for roadway resurfacing; 
  • Resetting or reconstructing curbs; 
  • Reconstructing wheelchair ramps and sidewalks; 
  • Upgrading streetlights; traffic signal and drainage system; 
  • Removal of dead trees and planting of new trees; 
  • Improving pavement marking and signage; 
  • and other work deemed appropriate. 

This section of 14th Street also contains one of the District’s high crash intersections at 14th and U Street NW. DDOT issued a report in 2017 that suggested providing additional enforcement to reduce double parking, green paint through the intersection, and a redesign of the bus bulbouts as they create bus/bike conflicts – all of which may be included in this project.

 

Webinar on Safety Evaluation of Bicycling and Walking Improvements

Learn how to speak Transportation Professionalese
Image: Author

The District has installed biking and walking  infrastructure throughout the city with the hopes of reducing injuries and fatalities and making moving about safer for the most vulerable road users.

However, what are the steps or standards that transporation professionals use to analyze data collected from improvements? How do they use this information to evaluate if an improvement should be expanded or or removed? How can someone who isn’t a transportation professional understand what it all means?

Hoping to shead light on these questions, the Pedestrian and Bicycling Information Center (PBIC) will hold a webinar: Determining the Safety Impacts of Bicycling and Walking Investments, Monday, December 11, 2017 between 1:00-2:30pm.

According to the PBIC, the webinar will discuss the complexities of analyzing data to deterime if pedestrians and bicyclists infrastructure safety improvements, or countermeasures, are actually achieved. While transportation professionals typically look to a toolbox of countermeasures that are proven to reduce crashes, the determination of the safety effectiveness of improvements is a complex process.

Presentations will be led by Daniel Carter and Raghavan Srinivasan, Senior Research Associates at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Highway Safety Research Center. During the webinar, the researchers will discuss the value of crash modification factors, which quantify a countermeasure’s ability to reduce crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians. Panelists will explore methods for conducting high-quality safety evaluations and provide tips for determining the effects of safety improvements. Following their presentations, panelists will respond to questions from attendees.

The webinar is free but participants must register.

WABA to Hold a Charrette to Discuss How to Diversify Bicycling

Bicycling is already diverse, how can it be improved?
Image: Author

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) sent an email to certain members and organizations asking:

“What would it take to make bicycling more diverse? More inclusive? More equitable?”

Sunday, December 10, 2017, WABA is hoping to bring together regional bicycling groups at the Bellevue (William O. Lockridge) Neighborhood Library, 115 Atlantic Street SW from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm to conduct a charrette, which is an intensive planning session that brings citizens, designers and others together to collaborate on a vision for development. It also provides a space for participants to discuss possibilities, problems and think, creatively about moving people or people moving.

The event is free but participants should register online.

The charrette project partners include advisers Charles Brown of Equitable Cities and Mike Lydon of Open Streets Project and is supported by a grant from the Office of Planning and the Kresge Foundation.
 
From the WABA email:

Bicycling locally and nationally is overly represented by individuals who are white, male, educated, and with above average incomes. How can we as a community start to change that? How can local bicycling groups, clubs and organizations collaborate to make bicycling more inclusive? How can the city support this goal?

The charette hopes to help foster new ideas regarding the generation and refinement of future programs, events, or initiatives that would help increase diversity in bicycling. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for groups, club, and organization to discuss what they are doing to make bicycling more inclusive as well as discuss their experiences and perspective with people who are typically undeserved.

WABA is inviting several groups to discuss how to meet people of color where they are with regard to bicycling and give them the tools to make their own decisions on how to bike and what bicycling looks like in areas traditionally undeserved.  According to the email, the following groups were invited:

Color of Cycling
Slow Roll DC
Kidical Mass DC
Black Women Bike DC
Gearin’ Up Bicycles
Artemis
WABA’s Women and Bicycles
Capital Bikeshare
All Walks DC
Getting it in Cycling
Oxon Hill Bike and Trail Club
Anacostia Bicyclist Association
Safe Routes to School National Partnership
Tour de Bike Lane
dVELO		 Cycling Without Age
Peace in the Streets Ride
Streetwize Foundation
Jews on Bikes
Red, Bike, Green
Phoenix Bikes
E. L. Haynes PCS
Latin American Youth Center
DC Bike Polo
DC Bilingual PCS
Office of Planning
Department of Parks and Recreation

If there is a group that could potentially contribute, email Greg Billing at greg@waba.org with additional names and groups.

Light snacks and drink provided. All participants will receive a thank you gift of goodies for your participation.

A Closer Look at the FY 2018 – 2022 DDOT STIP

The DDOT STIP is a 4-year Transporation Plan.
Photo: Author

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) presented its draft Fiscal Year 2018 – 2022 State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), Monday, October 2 at the Shaw Public Library. The plan includes several important projects like the continued rehabilitation of Rock Creek and Capital Bikeshare maintenance and expansion, but there were a few missing.

The $1.1 billion Draft Fiscal Year 2018-2022 STIP is a District-wide, long-range funding plan that prioritized transportation projects that are eligible for federal grant funding. The projects listed are consistent with the District’s statewide transportation plan, also known as moveDC, which differs from STIP as it doesn’t allocate funding.

The STIP tracks federally funded and regionally-significant projects that directly address the transportation needs of the District. The STIP is produced every two years and is a cooperative effort that requires the input of District stakeholders, regional partners, and the public. The STIP does not include projects that are funded exclusively through local resources, which would include elements of the District’s Streetcar or Circulator projects. The full list of projects can be seen here.

The plan contains 117 projects and while many are allocated by ward, the majority deal with District-wide operational or administrative needs. The STIP has nine project categories that include Major Multimodal improvements, which build key transportation corridors, typically addressing travel by a mix of modes (including transit, vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian), operations, safety, curbside uses, and public space quality; to Asset Management, which maintains and upgrades transportation assets including roadway pavement, streetlights, traffic signals, and signal systems.

Of the total number of projects, about 14 specifically state having a bike component or are designated as one of the nine project categories as Bicycling and Pedestrian initiatives. Projects that focus solely on expanding or maintaining bike infrastructure represents about 3.9 percent of total STIP spending or about $45 million over 4 years. Adding in the projects that contain bike components, like Safe Routes to School, the total stated investment in bicycling is approximately 13.6 percent or $159 million of STIP planned spending.

DDOT is conducting a short online survey to gather public comments and determine how the STIP is perceived and what should be the District’s top transportation priorities. Additionally, the survey asks general questions regarding how residents use the District’s transportation network. The survey also has a section that allows you to add what you believe is missing from the STIP. The comment period ends October 25, 2017. The DDOT STIP management team will also accept feedback by email.

Below is a table listing all projects that have a bicycling component or are bicycling specific. Certain projects like bridge replacement and equipment purchases may make the roads safer for bicycling but is not included in this list.

While the STIP has many improvements for bicycling and pedestrians, there are a few missing projects or projects that descriptions that don’t specify bicycling improvements. The New York Avenue corridor contains several planned projects but is not shown in the STIP. DDOT staff stated that projects that are in the early planning stages or do not have a funding stream attached are not included. Irving Street (at North Capitol Street), the Metropolitan Branch Trail extension, and the reconstruction Southeast Boulevard are also absent. Although the rebuilding of New Jersey Avenue between Massachusetts and N Streets NW and the replacement of the Fredrick Douglass / South Capitol Street Bridge projects should include protected infrastructure, it was not stated in the draft plan so it was excluded from this list.

The Draft Plan October 2 meeting. Photo: Author

The STIPs included improvements help link the District’s Wards and maintain the current infrastructure in a state of good repair. The Arboretum Bridge and Trail project would provide a much-needed link from Ward 7 to Wards 5 and 6. Currently, the neared pedestrian crossing is Benning Road, which is poor given its focus on moving vehicular traffic. And because of its current inhospitable state, the replacement of the Benning Road Bridge over Kenilworth Avenue in northeast will greatly improve the ability of pedestrians and bicyclists to cross the Anacostia safely.