Breakfast links: Supply and demand edition

Bicycling

by David Alpert • July 28, 2008 9:53 am

15th and I. Photo by Wayan Vota on Flickr.

Parking parking everywhere and not a drop for bikes: Despite a city law mandating bike parking, there's just not enough, leaving racks bursting at office buildings from Friendship Heights to the U.S. Senate, writes the City Paper. And as WashCycle found out, Metro won't even return calls about renting bike lockers at New Carrollton. Meanwhile, Chicago is building new enclosed buildings for bike parking at major El stations.

Get Met Branch. It pays. At least the Metropolitan Branch Trail is moving forward. Another segment (New York Avenue to Franklin Street) has a signed contract, and the bridge over Rhode Island Avenue is being designed, reports Bloomingdale (for now).

NIMBYs vacation in developments they'd oppose: Next American City looks at a supreme irony: when suburbanites choose where to vacation, they usually look for walkable beachfront towns with higher density than their homes. Many of the same people fight against the very same density back home. (That's because higher density in beachfront towns doesn't bring lower-income and/or minority residents the way people fear it would elsewhere.) Via Planetizen.

Nobody drives there because it's too crowded: One of San Francisco's supervisors is resurrecting an idea to ban cars on Market Street. With historic streetcars and high foot traffic, it's a perfect place for a pedestrian and transit boulevard. Plus, with so many turn restrictions to get off Market and very wide parallel streets in SoMa, it's already the least pleasant street to drive on in the area.

6 comments — Share	— tags: anti neighbors, bike parking, Chicago, density, links, Metropolitan Branch Trail, San Francisco

Change car parking to bike parking, suggests Georgetown bike shop (Dec 12, 2008)
DC USA: SmartBike yes (eventually), racks in garage no (Aug 25, 2008)
WashCycle weighs in on Georgetown (May 29, 2008)
"Save our sprawl" in Brookland (May 12, 2008)
Less parking at 14th and U would solve many problems (Feb 15, 2008)

Comments

I went to http://www.metbranchtrail.com/maps.asp and looked at the Rhode Island Metro Station Area Presentation. This is in my opinion a total waist of tax payers dollars. A simpler and cheaper design would be to build a ramp to the sidewalk on the north side of Rhode Island Avenue and utilize the existing ramp and bridge that WMATA built from the north side of Rhode Island Avenue to the metrorail station.

by John R Cambron on Jul 28, 2008 10:44 am

Oh, people will live in sprawl by the beach too. I spent a lovely weekend last summer in a "beach house" in one of Ryan Homes' many "Delaware beach communities" no less than twenty minutes from Rehoboth Beach. The homes are the same ones they build (used to build) in Montgomery County, along the same strip-mall-lined highways, for slightly lower prices.

Of course, people might prefer to live in the walkable little town by the beach itself, but many beach towns put up the same barriers to higher-density development that you see inland.

by dan reed on Jul 28, 2008 12:54 pm

I was just in Chicago for the Pitchfork music festival and I was impressed by the volume of bikers in that town. I guess that is one advantage of having wide streets. Bikers can take up a whole lane and there is room for cars to go around (even without dedicated bike lanes).

Anyway, they just park bikes anywhere. I was impressed by the metro's willingness to provide indoor bike parking (inside the turnstiles, which I thought was really smart). But when it comes to bike parking on city streets, the local bikers just use chain link fences. I should have taken a picture. It was wild.

by Eric on Jul 28, 2008 1:47 pm

I wonder what streets we might consider permanently closing in the District? Perhaps 18th street in Adams Morgan? 8th Street in Eastern Market? Half Street by Nationals Stadium? Even if they were only closed part time, like Ellsworth Drive in Silver Spring, I bet it would improve the street life dramatically.

by Dave Murphy on Jul 29, 2008 2:24 am

Regarding beach density: I was in Ocean City last weekend. Considering that the development is basically just a strip by virtue of geography, the density is ruined by the auto-centric layout of the town. Tacky parking lots below Oceanfront condos, strip malls all over the place, and no way to reach the resort town without a car. It's the worst of both worlds out there!

But the idea is generally on point. Disneyland, for example, is one of the most walkable "communities" in the world. I'm sure if Ocean City had a train station, not a square inch of that town would be wasted on excessive parking spaces or traffic lanes.

by Dave Murphy on Jul 29, 2008 2:30 am

Bicycle parking gets even more crowded when the bike racks are filled with scooters: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmetroblogger/120382391/

by Wayan on Jul 29, 2008 9:21 am