Each year, Council of the District of Columbia committees hold hearings with District agencies to discuss how they’ve spent funds during the first quarter of the fiscal year.
The oversight hearings also provide Council with updates to projects or programs recently completed, underway, or planned. Council committees gather this information in the form of questions that District agencies complete and submit to Council before each hearing.
The District Department of Transportation provided answered to a total of 113 questions totaling, with attachments, 624 pages. The document is available on the Council’s website.
At BikeSpecific, because we have no lives, we looked through this document to find the top ten most interesting questions or responses that have some relevance to #BikeDC, micromobility, or specific trail elements devoted to pedestrian issues.
This isn’t a comprehensive list of topics discussed in the DDOT document. Let me know if I missed something significant was overlooked.
We’ll go through the questions as they were asked on Council’s question document. Oddly, no questions concerning the Eastern Downtown Protected Bike Lanes.
#1 – Studies, Analyses, Reports
The first question, #32, asks DDOT to list of all studies the agency requested, prepared, or contracted for during last year. DDOT commissioned or received a Transportation Research Board Paper entitled: “Analysis of the Effects of Urban Form on Dockless Bike-share and Scooter-share Systems Usage; the Case of Washington, D.C.” presented January 2020 and conducted a study involving an “Analysis of Bicycle and Pedestrian Crash Causes and Interventions“, published in 2019. Both look interesting, we’ll look at them later this year.
#2 – Specific Bike and Trail Projects
Question #50 of the document asks about the state of a few specific projects, below are the answers to a few that pertain to #BikeDC:
- The design for the Florida Avenue NE Streetscape Project (from 2nd Street to H Street NE) is 65 percent complete. DDOT anticipates delivering the final design by fall 2020. DDOT plans to advertise the project for construction in late 2020 and begin construction in spring 2021.
- The Maryland Avenue NE Streetscape project is in construction and it is about 10 percent complete, the project is scheduled to be completed by June 2021.
- The C Street NE rehabilitation design will be completed by March 2020, and as soon as funding becomes available it should be advertised for construction in 2020.
- The pedestrian bridge over Arizona Ave and connecting trails is in design and is 30 percent complete. There will be a Public meeting in January of 2020 to present the preliminary design. Final design is expected to start in Winter of 2020 and be completed in Winter of 2021.
#3 – Utility Cuts
Question 53 asks about a utility working group that plans and coordinates when roads can and will be torn up for utility line replacement. A better question would be if this group, or any DDOT group, monitors and evaluates compliance of Safe Accommodation laws.
#4 – Connecticut Avenue Bike Lanes
The Chair of the committee, whose represent the ward that contains the majority of Connecticut Avenue, always asks question #56 or some variation of the question, What is the status of a bike lane on Connecticut Ave NW? Has DDOT commissioned a study on the removal of reversible lanes?
DDOT reports that A kick-off meeting for the Connecticut Avenue Reversible Lane Study occurred on December 18, 2019. The selected consultant team is led by AMT Engineering. The study will have two phases. Phase I will last 9 months, concluding in fall of 2020, and generate a concept report that includes recommendations of any alternatives and new infrastructure, including a bike lane, that may advance to Phase II. Phase II will last six months, concluding in Spring of 2021, and include tasks related to development of a Categorical Exclusion (Level 3) environmental document, as part of the NEPA process, and community engagement.
#5 – The New York / Florida Avenue NE Virtual Circle
Dave Thomas Circle gets a shot out at question #63. What is the status of DDOT’s plans to deal with the virtual circle of New York Ave, Florida Ave, First Street NE, and Eckington Place NE? DDOT states a few including that in 2019 DDOT decided to move forward with the design of a new intersection which would include the acquisition of the beloved and historic Wendy’s restaurant.
In partnership with the NoMa BID, the project will hire an urban design / landscape architecture firm to advance concepts for the new open spaces. Additionally, the DC Office of Planning is conducting a Public Life Study which looks at how people use and move through the space today and makes recommendations for the future.
DDOT says it is prioritizing the final design of the intersection and the acquisition of the property at the center of the intersection to advance this capital project. DDOT anticipates completing the final design in Fall 2020 and estimates construction from Spring 2021 to Summer 2022.
#6 – Foundry Branch Trolley Trestle
Recently, activity regarding the right-of-way has heated up with residents in the Foxhall, Berkley, and Palisades communities wanting to know what’s happening with question #64. the status of the Foundry Branch trolley trestle.
DDOT provided some interesting news. In December 2018, DDOT initiated a feasibility study for the Palisades Trail, including the Foundry Branch Bridge. The Study was completed in December 2019 (but has not yet been publicly released at the time of this posting).
According to DDOT, the study found that restoration of the Foundry Trestle Bridge is feasible through replacement of the approach trestles and abutments at a cost between $2.5 and $4.5 million. However, the trestle rehabilitation, along with most of the rest of the $20 million Palisades Trail will not move forward at this time due to cost, engineering, and right of way challenges. Any trail alignment near the Foundry Trestle Bridge would require property from WMATA, NPS, and/or Georgetown University.
DDOT plans to develop a small section of the Palisades Trail near the Arizona Avenue Bridge and improve the connection to the Capital Crescent Trail at Arizona Avenue. The future of the trestle is now in the hands of WMATA and Mayor’s Agent for Historic Preservation.
#7 – Pennsylvania Avenue West Streetscape Project
Question #65 addresses the status of the Pennsylvania Avenue West streetscape project, a long-planned pedestrian and bicyclist improvement project between 17th and 22nd Streets NW. The project will build new protected bike lanes in both directions, separated by new medians; and add improved streetlight, landscape, sidewalk, drainage, stormwater management. The project completed preliminary design in September 2019, and is currently in the final design phase. Final design of the project is expected to complete by October 2020.
#8 – List and Map of Bike and Trail Network
While some of this information is readily available on DDOT’s website, it’s a good thing to ask questions #79, and #80 provide a list AND a map identifying the location and length of all sharrows, cycle tracks, and bicycle lanes and trails in the District. Important, the question also asked to identify how much of the District’s bicycle and trail infrastructure is contiguous. The embedded section below provides those details.
Bike-routes#9 – Metropolitan Branch Trail
After discussing recent progress regarding the ground breaking of the trail segment between roughly Taylor Street NE and the Fort Totten Metrorail station, DDOT states that construction is expected to begin along the railroad tracks, near the DPW Trash Transfer Station and the Fort Totten Metro in winter of 2020.
The scope and budget of the project have remained the same, but the timeline for the project completion has been delayed and is now expected to be complete in September 2020. Construction and design have experienced delays from the contractor and is seeking to expedite the remaining tasks.
The DDOT also discussed the segment north of Fort Totten that links the trail to Takoma. This is a fairly segment that we complete will allow bicyclists a direct route to the main trail. DDOT states that the preliminary design for this segment of trail was completed in 2017. DDOT engaged the community in nine public meetings in 2017 that resulted in a supportive resolution from ANC4B in support of advancing the project.
The community concern primarily regards the trade-off of replacing one lane of traffic on Blair Rd with the Metropolitan Branch Trail. DDOT has hired a design consultant for the final design of the project and expects to complete final design by the end of 2020 with construction beginning in Spring 2021.
#10 Klingle Valley Trail
Question #82 updates the Council on the on Klingle Valley Trail with regard to the rehabilitation of the trail, its stormwater management plan, and tree replacement. DDOT says it added signage and temporary barriers to stop vehicle access onto the trail and is currently making permanent fixes to repair storm damage and install permanent barriers at entrances.
Reconstruction of the trail began in September 2019 and is substantially complete. Fixes to the storm sewer and eroded areas have been completed. Permanent bollards to stop unauthorized vehicle access to the trail are expected to be complete in February 2020. Landscaping improvements will be made in Spring 2020.
#11 – Bike Racks
Question #83 asks how many existing bicycle racks were damaged, destroyed, or lost in FY 2019 and how many new or replacement bicycle racks did DDOT install in FY 2019.
DDOT repaired 36 damaged bike racks in FY 2019. Eight bike racks were reported lost and those locations were added to installation lists in FY 2019 and FY 2020. Of the eight reported lost, four have already been replaced and the remainder will be reinstalled in FY 2020.
In FY 2019, 561 bike racks were installed in the District (386 installed by DDOT; 175 installed by BIDs). This total does not include racks installed with new developments as part of zoning requirements as DDOT does not have a full accounting of the number of racks added through this method.
#12 Improve Pedestrian and Bike Safety
The remaining questions deal with questions of safety, specifically, the crashes involving micro mobility over the last 4 years. This includes a report on the most dangerous intersections and the making of that crash data accessible publicly.
Again, there’s a lot of stuff here and I may have missed something. Feel free to review the questions and answers and learn what DDOT has done and plans to do in the District.