L Street cycle track about half done

Bicycling

L Street cycle track about half done

by Dan Malouff • October 29, 2012 11:25 am

While most Washingtonians prepared for Hurricane Sandy, DDOT crews were hard at work over the weekend installing the L Street cycle track.

The cycle track will run from New Hampshire Avenue in the west to 12th Street in the east. Workers began marking it on Thursday near New Hampshire Avenue, and have been moving east block by block. As of Sunday they reached just past 17th Street.

L Street near New Hampshire Avenue by Zach Rausnitz (left),
and near Connecticut Avenue by Dan Malouff (right).

On Sunday, DDOT's "green lane flash mob" was out, painting a high-visibility green coating where the cycle track approaches Connecticut Avenue.

Photos by Andrew Heining (left) and Scott Thomasson (right).

When Sandy is safely past and DDOT begins to work again, share your photos with us via Twitter and on the Greater and Lesser Washington Flickr pool.

13 comments

Tags: bicycling, bike lanes, DC, DDOT, downtown DC, L and M Street bike lanes

DDOT moves planned I Street cycle track to M Street (May 4, 2010)
1st Street NE may get cycle track (Nov 30, 2011)
DDOT will extend successful 15th Street cycle track (Sep 7, 2010)
See the plans for the L Street cycle track (Mar 28, 2012)
Pennsylvania Avenue cycle track slated for May (Mar 10, 2010)

Dan Malouff is a professional transportation planner for the Arlington County Department of Transportation. He has a degree in Urban Planning from the University of Colorado, and lives a car-free lifestyle in Northwest Washington. His posts are his own opinions and do not represent the views of his employer in any way. He runs the blog BeyondDC and also contributes to the Washington Post Local Opinions blog.

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Actually, they seem to be running it from 22nd -- on the narrower part of L st -- which is going to be bad. After NH Ave, L st has too much room. Before that it doesn't.

by charlie on Oct 29, 2012 11:33 am • link • report

charlie: It's a painted bike lane, not a cycle track, from 25th to NH.

by David Alpert on Oct 29, 2012 11:45 am • link • report

So I'm confused. It looks like this is a protected, painted bike lane near Connecticut Avenue with parking inbetween the bike lane and the curb.

Is that right? is that a turn lane?

If its a parking lane that seems like a big mistake with the flexible bollards that were put up to make bicyclists safer.

by Nick D on Oct 29, 2012 11:55 am • link • report

@DaveAlpert; yep, thanks for the right street.

However, same problem. Honestly that part is too crowded -- or they should have taken out the parking. One lane is not enough for that area. the Rosslyn-Dupont circulator is going to be very difficutl to use.

by charlie on Oct 29, 2012 12:00 pm • link • report

@NickD; yes, cars were parked there. They have removed the rest of the parking signs so another design fail.

by charlie on Oct 29, 2012 12:01 pm • link • report

Nick, That will become a turn lane. It used to be a parking lane. I don't think the new signs are up yet, so drivers can be excused for some confusion.

If they're still parking there a week from now, then we'll have a problem.

by Dan Malouff on Oct 29, 2012 12:32 pm • link • report

That's great news! We need one or two good east-west bike lanes in this city. Thanks for the update and for the photos.

by John H. on Oct 29, 2012 1:22 pm • link • report

It will get better. The 15th St. cycle track had a lot of short comings when it first opened but after left turn signals and better signs were put in it became much better. So will the L Street track.

by Tom Coumaris on Oct 29, 2012 5:04 pm • link • report

Not exactly the safest scenario having left turning vehicles to the right of the bike lane, but hopefully those parked cars will catch on that they're actually parked in the left turn lane and the left turning vehicles will realize they're supposed to merge over...The road has been painted just fine, but a good number of bollards and much of signage seems to be still missing.

by UrbanEngineer on Oct 30, 2012 1:04 pm • link • report

Why not all the way down L to Mass? Or am I getting greedy? Or was it a decision to discourage people from biking down Mass (which is pretty unsafe in that area, esp. during rush hour).

by wylie coyote on Oct 30, 2012 1:55 pm • link • report

It's great they have built it and it will really increase the number of folks cycle commuting. My only worry is the number of driver idiots who will try to turn left from the right side of that lane.

by T1 on Oct 31, 2012 10:39 am • link • report

The partial construction has led to some danger. For example, the two left lanes on L turning onto 19th allow for left turns during rush hour. However, there is now a bike lane between those two lanes, and the sign remains. Someone is going to get hit if they don't fix this ASAP.

by Anonotron on Oct 31, 2012 10:44 pm • link • report

I hope dot gets signs up soon. Cars are actually driving in the cycle lane--and driving fast since they assume the lane was built for them personally.

by David on Nov 1, 2012 9:12 pm • link • report