Breakfast links: Now serving crepes

by Eric Fidler • August 5, 2010 8:58 am

The real Metro center. Photo by The Great Photographicon on Flickr.

Metro Station Map Makeover: By mid-August WMATA will replace the neighborhood maps in all Metro station with new versions featuring distance radii, bike lanes, SmartBike racks, and overlaid bus routes. Check out the sample version. (Gavin)

The Smart Money's on Smart Growth: Reuters details the increasing popularity and profitability of building compact neighborhoods. Maybe R.E.M. will go back to Rockville Town Square. (Reuters, engrish_major)

The Footloose Synagogue: DC's first synagogue hasn't wandered the desert for forty years, but it will be moved for the second time since it was built in 1876. It's making way for the development that will deck over I-395 downtown. (Washington Post, Cavan)

Bike-Share Your Way to Global Tyranny: Colorado gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes says that Denver's membership in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives is "converting Denver into a United Nations community." Bike-sharing programs are apparently typical of this one-world philosophy and just the tip of the iceberg to shredding the Constitution. There's no mention of the geopolitical consequences of importing oil, though. (Denver Post)

VRE Slowing: VRE's on-time performance dropped to 77% in June. That's a 10% decline since May and a 20% decline since March. (WTOP, Gavin)

Metro Center misnomer: The name "Metro Center" was chosen on impulse, but graph theory and network analysis show that the closest station to the center of the system is actually L'Enfant Plaza. (The Contingency Table, Jaime Fearer)

Bus Stops Become Parking in NY: Under budget pressures, NY MTA is closing some bus stops and lines. Unfortunately, the curb space formerly devoted to transit isn't being used for bicycle parking, instead it's being used to make more parking spaces. (Second Ave. Sagas, Michael P)

Connecting the Anacostia Tributary Trails: The two-mile missing link between Bladensburg and the Arboretum is about to be paved for cyclists and pedestrians. (DCmud)

Street Crêpes Easier in Arlington: Two food truck vendors found it easier to launch their Solar Crepes truck in Arlington. It seems DC's French bureaucracy doesn't beget French food. (ARLnow, Gavin)

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16 comments

Tags: Anacostia River, Arlington, bike lanes, bike sharing, bike trails, Colorado, Denver, food trucks, links, maps, New York, parking, Rockville, Smart Growth, station names, Third Street Tunnel, VRE, WMATA

Eric Fidler has lived in DC and suburban Maryland his entire life. He likes long walks along the Potomac and considers the L'Enfant Plan an elegant work of art. He also blogs at Left for LeDroit, LeDroit Park's (only) blog of record.

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Wow - this is the snappiest morning links ever. Tres bien!

by M.V. Jantzen on Aug 5, 2010 9:39 am

According to the PDF, that station map is going to be 31 x 44 inches. I'd prefer something even bigger, so that the details are easier to read. The artwork looks great.

But the building labels get a little sloppy at points. Let's take a walk down G St:
*Georgetown Law (1-2&G) is more than one building.
*The Best Western at 3-4&G closed a long, long time ago. The buildings shown on that block are abandoned, and the empty spaces shown on that block are occupied by 2 huge apartment buildings and the Fraternal Order of Police.
*The grey blob at 4-5&G should be blue; it's the Army Corps of Engineers offices inside the GAO building.
*The Shops at Gallery Place (6-7&G) really should be on that map.
*Why are they omitting the buildings on 11th, 12th, and 13th where the station exits are? I'd think those are pretty important places of interest, especially for people who are trying to meet up outside of a station.
*National Place (13-14 & G) really should be on that map.

by tom veil on Aug 5, 2010 9:59 am

On the metro station map, I hope that's a typo, and that metro really won't be rolling out a map with SmartBike stations (which will be closed within two months). Did you mean to say Capital Bikeshare, or Bike Sharing? I sure hope so, otherwise a new map is rather pointless.

by will on Aug 5, 2010 10:00 am

Very sparse coverage of the pedestrian hit yesterday at 1st and M SE.

by Jazzy on Aug 5, 2010 10:31 am

CrÃªpes? Freedom pancakes!

by Jasper on Aug 5, 2010 11:12 am

To add to @will, Metro should use CaBi's icon (the red shield with the bike-shaped, circulator-inspired "cb"). Branding is crucial for bike sharing systems: I would love to arrive at an unfamiliar station and, with a quick glance at the station map, immediately see where I can pick up a bike. That would really reinforce the notion that CaBi is everywhere I need to go. Thanks for all the great info GGW!

by Steven on Aug 5, 2010 11:26 am

Bike lanes inevitably lead to crepe-eating. Slippery slope to European welfare state socialism, my friends. Bike "sharing" is the end of freedom as we know it.

by Ward 1 Guy on Aug 5, 2010 11:29 am

It's a little misleading to say the extension of the Anacostia Trail is a connection to the Arboretum. They *may* be linked in the future but the current plans for the trail construction would not do that.

by Lara on Aug 5, 2010 11:31 am

Anyone notice the planned cycle tracks on L and M streets aren't labeled as on-street bike routes? I haven't heard anything about those since they were first announced. Are plans still underway to put them in? It would be a shame if they scrapped them, since the two streets are highly-frequented by cyclists and would certainly be even more popular if there were separate, dedicated lanes for them. I know Penn was a controversial project, but come on!

by ML on Aug 5, 2010 11:41 am

I guess not much has changed with DCRA. Disappointing that small businesses have such difficulty even getting a return phone call from D.C. government.

by Adam L on Aug 5, 2010 11:52 am

It's good that Metro is updating and revising the in-station neighborhood maps, but a little more editing might be in order. On the sample I see the Octogon has been placed at 15th St. and New York Ave., but last time I walked by, the house was at 18th St. and New York Ave.

by Mike on Aug 5, 2010 12:01 pm

The station name "Metro Center" refers to the major Downtown station being at the CENTER of the Washington METROpolitan area. So it is not a misnomer.

by GWalum on Aug 5, 2010 2:24 pm

I love detailed maps. But doesn't that seem a bit overly detailed for a metro station, where the primary users are likely to be tourists looking for more of the major sites?

by ah on Aug 5, 2010 4:14 pm

I don't think that Colorado gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes knows how to ride a bike. If not that, he was one of those few teens who reached the age of 17 while still using training wheels.

by Zac on Aug 6, 2010 3:43 pm

lara: i pointed that out to the DCMud writers in the comments. they've finally made an edit to the article to make it more accurate.

by IMGoph on Aug 7, 2010 9:52 am

I was very disappointed to see the NYC bus stops being taken over for parking. I had been hoping that the cuts would be temporary, but this gives them a real sense of permanence.

by Matthias on Aug 9, 2010 3:38 pm