The Morning Commute is an occasional look at meetings or other #BikeSpecific discussions and stories happening in the District. It also looks at interesting bike, scooter, or urban related ideas or concepts from other places across the globe that could possibly work here. Again, this isn’t journalism, just fun.
Today’s commute includes:
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| Artist conceptual drawing of a redeveloped Southern Hill Apartments. Image: Southern Hill Apartments |
The Board of Zoning Adjustment has scheduled a hearing September 3, 2018 for the a special exemption to dramatically redevelop over 9 acres of the Southern Hills Apartments. As part of this redevelopment, the apartment complex plans to add a total 98 bike parking spaces and other amenities that will hopefully encourage bicycling in an area that has few secure bike parking options.
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| Current aerial view of Southern Hills Apartments and the adjacent Oxon Run park and amenities. Image: Google |
In a community that has few bike options, the Southern Hills Apartment Redevelopment plan includes an investment in bike infrastructure. Located less than a block from Oxon Run, which has a recently rebuilt trail and other amenities, the Southern Hills Apartments are located in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of Ward 8.
The $90 million project will demolish the existing seven-building apartment complex and construct 42 town homes, five multifamily buildings with a total of 213 units, and an approximately 25,000-square foot community service center which will include a learning center, job training, child daycare, and arts and music centers, as well as space for community-based start-ups, recreation, and community meetings. The resulting redevelopment will serve households earning an average of 15 percent of the Area Median Income.
While the project will add additional vehicular parking, increasing from 120 to 147 spaces, the applicant states that the increase is a requirement of zoning regulations and will only slightly increase vehicle trips. Pedestrian connectivity through the site will be improved, including an ADA-accessible route between 3rd Street and 4th Street SE that does not currently exist.
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| The Community Service Center contains showers and secure bike parking Image: Southern Hill Apartments |
According to Southern Hills applicant statement, the project include new 98 short and long-term parking for residents and visitors. Long-term bicycle parking will be located on the ground floor of each apartment building and in the basement of the community center. The project will create at least 82 long-term bicycle parking spaces, including 72 secure, long-term residential spaces and 10 long-term community center spaces. Bicycle storage for the townhouse units is expected to be accommodated within each individual home. The project will at minimum meet these requirements and the community center will also provide shower facilities and lockers for employees.
The project will also add eight short-term bicycle racks that will accommodate 16 bicycles. These short-term spaces will include inverted U-racks placed in high visibility areas along the perimeter of the site. is willing to work with the District Department of Transportation in selecting locations for the racks in public space.
The Southern Hills developers worked collaboratively with the Southern Hills Tenant Association over a 3-year period. The Tenant Association is made up of existing apartment residents achieve community and design elements. The result is the replacement of all apartment units, a better use of green space, a larger number of family units, and reorienting units and overall density to directly face the street.
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| People Bicycling on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue Image: Author |
At the Wednesday, May 31, 2017, District Department of Transportation (DDOT) public meeting on the revitalization of MLK Avenue SE at the R.I.S.E Demonstration Center, DDOT planners were introduced to the Congress Heights community.
This section of MLK in Congress Heights is one of the few stretches of commercial and social activity in Ward 8. Congress Heights Day is celebrated near it, four schools are adjacent to it, the check cash, Martin’s Cafe, Pro Cut Family Barber Shop, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen are on it. People walk, bike, and drive to its business and schools; they catch the A or W series of Metrobuses to work or services; some just sit with others or by themselves to watch the world. For what it is, this is what some people love about MLK. Naturally, change of almost any type is sometimes met with uncertainty, skepticism, and resistance.
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| Presentation at R.I.S.E Center Image: Author |
Connecting needs of current residents with the thoughts about future development, Council member Trayon White Sr. spoke about the potential of new projects planned or underway at the of the sprawling east campus of St. Elizabeths. He noted the need for protected and signaled crosswalks as shown in the plans as more people will be attending events and crossing the neighboring streets as well as how DDOT would meet the basic services of the people he represents, pothole filling, adding speed bumps to streets where children were struck, and other basic street repairs.
Project Background
According to DDOT, the first meeting to discuss the rehabilitation of MLK began as a Corridor Traffic Study that analyzed current conditions for all transportation modes to support the Vision Zero Initiatives, which aims to eliminate traffic-related deaths by 2024.
While the project states that all mode were considered, the corridor improvements listed by DDOT focus mainly on improving pedestrian infrastructure. This includes intersection realignments, installation of street furniture, roadway resurfacing, and the reconstruction of sidewalks, curbs, and landscaping.
Bicycling Improvements
There is a common misconception shared by many that African Americans do not ride bikes. Uniquely, this idea is strongly held by African Americans, although the reasons why are many. The League of American Bicyclists and the Sierra Club stated in their report, The New Majority: Pedaling Towards Equality, that the fastest growth in bicycling is among people of color – Latino, African American and Asian American populations. According to their analysis, between 2001 and 2009, those three groups grew from 16 to 23 percent of all bike trips, with African American bicycling growing by 100 percent.
While DDOT spoke of creating a complete street, one that accommodates multiple users, they did not include much with regard to bicycling. The plan proposed connect lanes from 4th street, with the current bike lanes along the southern sections of the project. The plans does add sharrows, improvement to pick up and drop off for schools. Planners did indicate a potential for a new capital Bike Share station at what would be open space due to the elimination of high speed right at Alabama and 5th Streets.
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The segment above represents the lower portion of the of the study corridor from about South Capitol Street to 1st Street / Upsal Street S.E. The plan creates a shared bike / vehicle lane which would include rush hour parking restrictions.
This segment includes currently existing bike lanes. It will replace current sidewalks and new crossing markings. The segment from 4th Street to Alabama Avenue contains no bike lanes.
General Roadway Improvements
The planners discussed changes to the site plan as a result of the initial meeting held in 2015 and a subsequent meeting in 2016. This planned presented DDOT’s 30 percent conceptual design for the project. This includes the addition of pedestrian safety features including the elimination of a higher speed turn lane off of MLK to 4th Street, the elimination installation of a median and pedestrian bump outs to shorten the distance pedestrians need to travel across the street and reduce U-turns and other vehicle actions that could injure pedestrians.
The presentation highlighted that desire to slow down vehicular traffic with the proposed use of up to six traffic signals: a combination of standard signals and pedestrian-activated High-intencity Activated Crosswalk signals. DDOT also included making Randle Street SE one-way, creating queue space for Democracy Prep.
Public Feedback
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| Many, many signals Image: Author |
With about 10-15 people in attendance, the discussion focused on concerns raise mainly by a few, who stated that their positions reflected those of residents. Early on, a member of the District Bicycle Advisory Council spoke about the inclusion of bicycle lanes to this corridor as he was a frequent bicyclist. A few commented with regard to bicycling that as speeding is problematic and because African Americans wouldn’t bike on MLK, lanes should not only be excluding from the project but removed from where it currently exists.
Some attendees suggested that bike lanes are not for the community, not what the community wants. Some said that lanes, along with a proposed median would hurt local business. A woman stated that a median on Malcolm X or anywhere in the project area would block the entrance to Popeye’s. Later, an ANC commissioner stated that her constituents viewed shared lanes or bike lanes in general were ‘not welcomed in the area’, that the lanes ‘should not impede vehicles’, as they ‘have no motors’. An man stated that bike lanes should be disregarded as they could potentially cause more accidents.
How to proceed
While a few others stated that they bike regularly and wanted more bike infrastructure privately, they did not speak publicly. The ANC commissioner who was publicly opposed to bikes stated while she personally enjoys biking with her son, she felt obligated to voice her opposition based on her constituent requests, who also wanted speed bumps installed, potholes filled, and better delivery of basic services.
It’s not that people in this community hate bikes, they bike there all the time and have done so for decades. What they want is the power to decide for themselves. While bicycle advocates can vigorously discuss reports and necessity, they sometimes fail to consider that no one wants a government entity and perceived carpetbaggers telling them what to do or want to want. For those who lifvee there, perhaps they need to be sold on the idea that bikes, cars, and people can coexist.
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| Current conditions near MLK and Milwaukee Pl SE Image: Google |
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will hold a public meeting concerning the revitalization of Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Avenue SE in Congress Heights. The meeting will be held at the R.I.S.E Demonstration Center, 2730 MLK Jr. Avenue SE, on Wednesday, May 31, 2017, from 6:30p to 8:00p.
This 1.1 mile revitalization project could be the first step in improving the bicycle network in this area: allowing youth to get to schools along MLK Avenue by bike; people to travel to and from the commercial corridor and the current and planned improvements at the St. Elizabeths site; and bike commuters who use MLK to connect to downtown by bike.
The aim of this initial meeting is to gather community comments about the street and present alternative revitalization options. Specifically, the project hopes to comply with elements of the #VisionZero initiative by improving the transportation network, reduce interactions between pedestrians and vehicles, and enhance the corridor’s aesthetics with street and sidewalk modifications.
The project corridor is one of the few streets that allow cyclists to connect with the rest of the District from its most southern sections to downtown. The #MoveDC bicycle plan proposed bike lanes for this section of MLK Avenue, from Alabama Avenue south until it meets with South Capitol Street. Those lanes were added in 2015 and travel mostly in a residential section of the corridor, starting just south of 4th Street SE. The area north of Alabama Avenue contains no bike lanes and contains the neighborhood’s commercial corridor. The project corridor contains at least 5 schools within two blocks of MLK Avenue.
As more people use bicycling as a transportation alternative, the need for bike lanes on major corridors has also increased. The project corridor contains one 10-dock Capital Bikeshare station located at Alabama and MLK Avenue SE. Two other Bikeshare stations lie outside of the project corridor at Atlantic and South Capitol Streets and near the Congress Heights Metrorail Station. Some residents and those who work near or along the corridor use bike share as the “last mile” connection to the Metrorail Green Line stations at Congress Heights, while some continue to the Anacostia Station or beyond.
