Posts by Mitch Wander — Contributor
-
Soon you can use 311 to request repairs at public schools and recreation centers
It’s about to get much easier to request repairs for broken equipment at DC public schools and recreation centers. In this year’s budget, the DC Council fully funded the addition of DC Public Schools (DCPS) and Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) facility maintenance requests to the city’s existing 311 system. Keep reading…
-
Tour buses have trouble parking in DC, so the city is giving them more spaces
By spring 2019, the District will nearly double the number of street parking zones reserved for tour bus parking. These changes will allocate some limited curbside parking to create additional easy-to-use and safe places for large numbers of passengers visiting the District to get on and off motorcoaches. Keep reading…
-
Here’s what happens when your bicycle is stolen
People are more likely to feel that bicycling is a safe, effective means of getting around when stolen bicycles are recovered and abandoned bikes are removed. This also makes stealing bicycles less attractive. In DC, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Department of Public Works (DPW) are the agencies that work together to provide these services. Keep reading…
-
One good question led to an important safety improvement in Rock Creek Park
When people speak out about issues in their communties, sometimes the powers that be actually listen. In September 2017, the Washington Area Bicycle Association noticed that most of the crosswalk signs along Rock Creek Park Trail telling pedestrains and cyclists to stop had been swapped with caution signs that encourage drivers to yield. Keep reading…
-
DC’s rivers could be swimmable in the next several years
The reasons why you can’t safely or legally swim in the District’s rivers could be resolved within the next several years. That would open new outdoor recreation opportunities city-wide and enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors, and also represents a concrete milestone for clean rivers which until recently seemed difficult to envision. Keep reading…
-
Most pedestrians killed by drivers in the District are hit during darker times
Pedestrian fatalities in the District overwhelmingly occur during periods of limited natural light; more than 86% of pedestrian fatalities from 2015 until now happened during night, dawn, or dusk. Any effort to eliminate pedestrian fatalities will need to identify factors that can reduce the dangers to pedestrians during darker times of the day. Keep reading…
-
Parallel stormwater grates can endanger cyclists. If you see one, say something.
DC Water plays a small yet important role in making District streets safe and usable for bicyclists. While the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) takes care of nearly all of our street and sidewalk infrastructure, DC Water maintains storm water drains and grates. Grates with bars in the direction of travel mean big trouble for bicyclists. Keep reading…
-
Ten things you might not know about crosswalks
I asked DDOT Communications Specialist, Michelle Phipps-Evans, a bunch of questions about crosswalks, and she helped me understand the basics. Here are ten bits of crosswalk trivia I learned: Keep reading…
-
Fixes are coming to the 15th Street bikeway near the White House
I work near the White House, and I see near misses—and sometimes crashes—between bicyclists and pedestrians in the 15th Street bike lanes there way too often. I reported my concerns to the District Department of Transportation, and the agency is going to change the bike lanes’ design this summer. Keep reading…
-
Ditching our car meant hundreds of new transportation options for my family
My wife and I were a two-car family. She used hers for work and to cart our kids around town. And while I started biking to my job three years ago, I needed mine for weekend work located nowhere near a Metro or early morning weekend bus service. I thought I needed it, anyway… Keep reading…