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Well, I'd say a lot of streets qualify as similar to bike boulevards. Biking isn't prioritized on those streets, but they are secondary arterials and pretty congenial by comparison. That being said, they aren't cycletracks, which are the most conducive to people of all levels actually biking.

So X, that's a big difference between Arlington and DC. We have parallel roads as alternatives. You don't for the main arterials in Arlington.

Another thing that makes biking easier in DC are the radial avenues, which provide "short cuts" along an otherwise orthogonal grid. E.g., with Kansas Ave., it's easy for me to get to many places, and to continue via Columbia Rd. and Florida Ave. to Georgetown or Arlington County.

WRT Jake S. -- I don't know if biking sucks in those places, but hills are definitely an issue. Going up the escarpment across the fall line, around Florida Avenue in the Adams-Morgan to Columbia Heights area, around Howard University on GA Ave. (but I don't like riding uphill from Upshur St. to Missouri Ave.), from Michigan Ave. to Taylor Street on N. Capitol, etc., does suck. People probably have their preferred hills. I don't mind 14th, Sherman, or Georgia, but 15th, 16th, 13th are terrible, and I hate the long incline up Michigan Ave. or on Ft. Totten Drive.

by Richard Layman on May 14, 2012 9:24 pm • link • report