Back home in New Zealand and we are reminded how much President Trump’s seemingly never-ending war with Iran is affecting people’s wallets. This is particularly the case if they are very dependent on cars and the associated fuel prices; fortunately I’m relatively well insulated from that with more regular biking (BTW: if you want to learn more about making the transition to sustainable transport options, see the Radio NZ Thrift podcast I featured in a couple of months ago). Under the shadow of Trump, it seems that there is also an anti-science theme running through government agencies there, with recent news of the Dept of Transportation quietly dropping bike lanes (amongst others) from its website’s “Proven Safety Countermeasures”. Contrast with the more evidence-led previous administrations that embraced cycling facilities, like this one in Washington DC, as posted back in Jan 2013…
I’m back from Washington DC and I just managed to avoid the chaos that surrounded the inauguration of President Obama. If you were watching footage of the President’s walk down Pennsylvania Ave the other day you might have noticed something unusual on the ground:
Yep, it’s a bike lane, running down the middle of Pennsylvania Ave, between the White House and the Capitol building. This was installed back in 2010 after my last visit to DC, so I haven’t had a chance to see it up close yet. But it’s certainly noteworthy for its location down the middle of the thoroughfare, typically with three lanes of traffic either side.
The bike lanes have a simple painted buffer to separate them from the adjacent traffic lanes. At the intersections, a separate left-turn (our right-turn) lane is introduced and bollards prevent cars from trying to turn through the bike lanes (in fact motorists are generally prohibited from turning left at many of these intersections).
The construction of this bike lane has not been without controversy. As late as the week before their official opening the layout got changed, and even recently there have been calls to add more separators to stop cars making (illegal) u-turns across it. The intersections are also rather odd in having pedestrians share crossing refuges with bikes coming through, and any turning riders are expected to use the pedestrian crossing signals.
Nevertheless, an evaluation of some of the recent innovative bikeways in Washington DC found that cycling numbers along this route doubled in the year after installation, while peak hour traffic volumes fell by 15-20%.
I’m not sure whether I can picture an application for this in Christchurch (down the middle of Moorhouse Ave anyone?). I have thought that the middle of Linwood Ave would make a pleasant cycleway, but that has a wide green median to work with. {Postscript: And so it turned out to be a reality!}
What do you think of the “Presidential Bikeway” in DC?