15th Street being closed for the 4th. Photo by the author.

Bicycling is sometimes a recreational activity, but for many people it’s an integral means of transportation. Federal officials securing the Mall for yesterday’s festivities forgot that, keeping roadways open for cars to traverse but blocking all safe routes for bikers in the area.

Reader Vicente writes:

Most weekends I pedal my way out of the District via one of the area’s many bike paths. Often this means heading south on the 15th Street-

Ohio Drive-

14th Street Bridge route, one of the most popular bikeways in the city. This route intersects the Mount Vernon trail, which opens destinations including the Pentagon City mall and Old Town Alexandria.

Yesterday, I decided to use this route and head for Potomac Mills Yard. This is home to the closest Old Navy, after all, and I was jonesing for some cargo shorts. I also did some grocery shopping while at the mall there. Since I always bike to Potomac Mills, I did not anticipate it being much of a problem, but once en route I quickly noticed the massive street closure and security operation that was underway.

The bike access to the 14th Street Bridge path was closed. All of the people that wanted to use this area had to wait in line and go through a security checkpoint. It did not make any sense. That small corner of road at Independence and 15th is an important access point for cyclists and pedestrians. It’s not part of the Mall or the Washington Monument. Why close it? Other nearby areas, including 14th Street as it crosses the Smithsonian area, were open to bikes and pedestrians.

Security barricades at the Mall. Image adapted by the author from Google Maps.

The guards at the Bureau of Engraving sprung out of their booth when they spotted me and a fellow biker evaluating alternate routes on 14th Street. The shortcuts through their building lots had been taped off.

“Can I help you?” one of them asked.

“Can we get to the Jefferson Memorial and the bridge bike path by heading down that way?” I asked, pointing south on 14th Street towards the freeway-ish looking overpass.

“Only if you want to get hit by a car,” he reassured me.

My biking comrade claimed that he had used this route before, so we decided to chance it. It was a half-mile sprint across the overpass to the Jefferson Memorial area. We pedaled hard as cars zipped past us at highway speeds. But we made it.

Jefferson Memorial checkpoint. Photo by the author.

On the way home from Potomac Mills, I once again crossed the 14th Street Bridge. This time I decided to wait in line and go through the Tidal Basin security checkpoint to access the bike route.

A member of the Alexandria police force rummaged through my backpack once I reached the bag check area. He spotted a 12-ounce glass jar of Target-

brand cheese dip that I had purchased just moments earlier along with other glass-

enclosed groceries. “You’ll have to throw all of those things away if you want to get through here,” he told me.

This was outrageous. This city is my home. This is where I’ve lived for ten years. Now I can’t even bike back from the grocery store with cheese dip. Had I been in a car, I could have easily driven any of the numerous roads to get home, including the 14th Street overpass.

The guard directed me towards a Park Police lieutenant who gave me the same “tough shit, buddy” look that his underling had. He told me I could either bike back across the Potomac and head many miles north to the Key Bridge crossing and on into Georgetown or bike many miles south to another crossing that he said would lead me to the Capitol.

Once again, I decided to improvise. I headed away from the checkpoint down Maine Ave., another road that didn’t feel super safe for biking, and found a place where I could drag my bike under the overpass, across a couple of metal guardrails, and up 14th Street once more.

Event planners need to be mindful of common bikeway access points when setting up street closures. It is not appropriate to use a one-size-fits-all security approach anymore where people are treated as cars or non-cars. Fine, close off the Mall. Set up a perimeter. But take into consideration those of us who bike and go about our daily lives as residents of this city.

There is no need to close off bike access on 15th Street. This is how cyclists, including many tourist cyclists, access some of the area’s best trails. Moreover, there is no security interest that is being protected by closing this street.

When setting up a security perimeter, please look closely at these locations instead of blankly eyeing a map and setting up roadblocks. There are freeways and overpasses in this area not just a flat street grid. Many of these roads are dangerous for pedestrians and bikers, both of whom will be forced to use these areas when left with no choice but to wait in a security line.