Posts about 14th Street Bridges

Someone riding south on the 15th Street lane has to merge into busy traffic and then cross the Mall either by riding on the sidewalk, which is often quite crowded with tourists and joggers, or in the road, where cars expect to drive fast and not encounter cyclists. The last time David rode there, a DC taxi pulled up right behind and started honking, even though there was another, mostly empty lane it could switch into. It eventually did, honking even more.

It gets worse around Maine Avenue and Ohio Drive, near the Tidal Basin. Not only is the pavement in this area in horrible condition, but those roads are configured like highways with cars speeding along the winding curves. The sidewalks are extremely narrow and packed with pedestrians, especially during warm, sunny weather and in Cherry Blossom season.

The pedestrians deserve to use that space, but what do cyclists do? Riding in the road is only an option for southbound bicyclists, and it's a harrowing experience with the curved yet high-speed roads and drivers traveling very fast.

Bicycle issues near the bridge. Image from Google Maps.

In the other direction, there isn't really a choice. From the path over the Mason Bridge, a cyclist has to ride on the sidewalks around the Tidal Basin, go the long way around west of the Tidal Basin toward the Lincoln Memorial, or take a long detour through East Potomac Park to get to the eastern side Ohio Drive and then head back up through the Maine Avenue area.

From Southwest DC, there's a path along the Case Bridge, which carries I-395 over the Washington Channel, but to get to it you have to navigate across and around highway-style ramps in Banneker Park, then 2 narrow switchbacks which force dismounting.

On the East Potomac Park side, the path turns into a narrow sidewalk along the on-ramp from the Park Police headquarters. Riders have to travel though the NPS parking lot (or go farther out of the way), then ride along the western Ohio Drive past the George Mason Memorial to get to the path.

On the Virginia side, the Mount Vernon Trail connects to many trails, but has no direct connection from the 14th Street bridge area to Pentagon City right across the freeways. Someone riding there has to either head north through Lady Bird Johnson Park and then wind around the Pentagon parking lots, or go south to the airport and then backtrack through Crystal City.

Alternatives improve Virginia connections

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement suggests 3 alternatives. The most ambitious, Alternative 2, proposes a new bridge from western Ohio Drive across the Potomac along side the Long Bridge (the CSX and VRE tracks) and then over the GW Parkway, with access to both the Mount Vernon Trail and Long Bridge Park.

The connection in Virginia seems great, but dumping cyclists in East Potomac Park isn't that useful. It's a little closer to the Case Bridge path, but not much, and getting to downtown or the Mall is worse than today's existing bridge.

The DEIS also contains 2 other, smaller bicycle proposals. Alternative 1 slightly widens and makes some changes to the approaches to the Mason Bridge path on each side, connecting to the Mount Vernon Trail and to the Jefferson Memorial. An earlier version also proposed widening the bike/ped path on the George Mason Bridge, but this bridge widening was removed from the alternative for "technical complexity." The final EIS ought to reconsider this option.

Alternative 3 has two parts. One would create better and more consistent wayfinding signage on both sides of the river. The second part proposes new trail connections to the Pentagon and in Pentagon City.

Around the Pentagon, a new connection would extend the half-built trail under the Humpback Bridge over to Boundary Channel Drive, providing a more direct connection between the 14th Street Bridge and the Pentagon. In Pentagon City, it would create a better bike connection from the north end of Crystal City (12th and Clark) west along Army-Navy Drive, under I-395, and along the south edge of the Pentagon Reservation to Columbia Pike and the Washington Blvd trail.

Proposed trail connections in Virginia. Labels added to base image from the EIS.

DC needs better bike connections as well

The Virginia connections would significantly improve access to the bridges, but there are no comparable bike connections proposed on the DC side of the river. This is the most glaring missing piece in the DEIS. The team should study and propose a better connection to 15th Street.

Drivers have direct connections in all directions here, even having too many ramps to too many roads. Cyclists, meanwhile, have one bad connection southbound from downtown and none at all northbound, and poor and winding connections to other directions.

This isn't just a recreational amenity. Many already use the bridge for commuting. Many more likely would for both commuting and general transportation if there were a clear, direct, and safe connection.

Ideally, we could find a way to extend the 15th Street cycle track from Pennsylvania down through the Mall, then past or through the Maine Avenue/Ohio Drive/East Basin Drive area up to either the Mason Bridge path or a new bridge.

WashCycle suggests extending the new bridge along the railroad tracks across East Potomac Park to the east side, where it's a lot closer to the mainland. Another option is to convert 1 lane on East Basin Drive (the 2-lane road from Maine Avenue to I-395 South and the Jefferson Memorial) into a 2-way bicycle facility up to Maine Avenue, and eventually connect through the Mall to the 15th Street lanes.

What do you think is the best way to create a connection between the Mall and downtown across the Potomac?

They analyzed a number of options and condensed them down to 3 bicycle and pedestrian options, 4 roadway options, and 6 Transportation Demand Management options. This post looks at the roadway and TDM alternatives; the next one will delve into the bicycle and pedestrian options.

Vehicular options

One of the most significant conclusions from the draft EIS is what it chose not to recommend: More single-passenger vehicle capacity. The team looked at adding new general-purpose lanes (which, on a freeway-type bridge, aren't as much "general purpose" as "motor vehicle only") or HOT lanes. Once Virginia decided not to run HOT lanes through Arlington, the HOT lane options became moot, and adding new auto capacity generally did not reduce congestion.

There are 5 remaining proposals that would affect motor vehicles:

Add a bus lane. A lot of commuter buses drive to the Pentagon and then over the 14th Street bridge to DC, and many local buses also cross in this area. This alternative would use the existing shoulder of the Rochambeau bridge (the center of the 3 road bridges, which carries the express lanes in both directions) for a bus lane, and convert one lane on 14th Street to a bus lane.

The heavy volume of buses moves a great many people in this corridor. Helping buses bypass congestion and give riders a quicker ride would further improve the value of taking transit from many parts of Virginia.

Ban left turns at 14th and C (at a cost of about $203,000). C Street SW ends at 14th, in the last intersection with a traffic signal before the bridge. The study says that giving time for vehicles to turn left from southbound 14th onto C, or left from C onto southbound 14th, creates significant delay, and this option would forbid these turns. Drivers would only be able to turn right in or out of C.

Click to enlarge (PDF).

On its own, this sounds like a bad idea because it would move further away from a functional grid in this area, and make 14th more like a freeway. It could, however, be a reasonable way to reduce some of the extra delay that comes from the bus lane option, making that a little more palatable.

The most important question, which the report does not specify, is how this would affect pedestrians. People cross on foot to get to and from the Holocaust Museum, for instance, and already the signal here forces them to wait long periods of time for the various movements. Removing the left turns could allow more pedestrian crossing time, or it could make things worse, depending on the final signal timings.

DC should also add a marked crosswalk along the south side of this intersection, where there is none today. Every side of every intersection ought to have a marked crosswalk, regardless of its effect on traffic, but an animation of the proposal makes it appear that there would be no traffic effect with left turns prohibited, anyway.

For the final EIS, the team should investigate pedestrian crossings and suggest timings that help them cross more safely and with a shorter wait.

Restripe around Maine Avenue, 7th and 9th Streets ($185,000). There are a lot of ramps on and off in this area, creating a lot of merging and weaving. This option would narrow the on-ramp at Maine Avenue to 1 lane instead of 2, reducing the amount of merging on the freeway itself.

Also, it would add a solid white line between some of the freeway's lanes east of 9th Street. Drivers getting on at 7th Street would only be able to then continue to the 3rd Street tunnel (the one that goes under the Mall to New York Avenue, also signed as I-395), and drivers getting on from 9th Street would have to continue onto the Southeast Freeway (now signed as 695) instead. Drivers might ignore this line, but FHWA hopes it will decrease weaving.

Click to enlarge (PDF).

Remove some ramps on the Virginia side ($2.7 million). There are 10 ramps on and off 395 right around the Pentagon, also creating a lot of merging and weaving. This alternative suggests removing the ramps from 395 northbound to the GW parkway northbound, and the matching ramp from the GW Parkway southbound to 395 southbound. Drivers can still get where they need to go by taking Washington Boulevard (Route 27) instead, which is actually shorter, anyway.

In addition, this alternative would change around the ramps at Boundary Channel Drive, the access road to the Pentagon north parking lots. Now, there are cloverleaf-style ramps on and off of 395 southbound, so that cars coming from or going to each direction of Boundary Channel have their own ramps.

Instead, the ramps in the southwest quadrant would go away, and the northwest quadrant ramps changed so that cars can turn in either direction on and off of Boundary Channel.

Ramps in gray would be removed. Click to enlarge (PDF).

Arlington has proposed another option to add roundabouts instead of traffic signals at the ends of the ramps.

Potential roundabouts on each side of 395. Click to enlarge (PDF).

Transportation Demand Management options

Reconfiguring roadways is not the only way to reduce congestion. Transportation Demand Management is the field concerned with helping people better understand their travel options besides solo driving. Maps, real-time information, and public service ad campaigns can help people choose transit. Employers can provide incentives or assistance for people to carpool, telecommute, or commute outside peak hours.

The TDM options that the DEIS proposed to carry forward to the final version include:

• Expand incentives for telecommuting
  
• Expand flexible work hours
  
• Increase prices for parking and/or decrease supply
  
• Better coordinate among agencies along the corridor (Federal, District, state, and local) to share information and respond to crashes or other incidents
  
• Create a program to educate drivers in the corridor in "[crash] avoidance maneuvers and defensive driving skills"
  
• Make signs better and more consistent across the corridor

The study team is accepting comments on the draft EIS until March 15th. They will then begin work on the final EIS. I will send them all comments made on this post through at least the end of Wednesday, March 14. If you want to send them your own, more detailed comments, you can do so through this form.

The bicycle and pedestrian proposals, meanwhile, are worth a whole discussion on their own. Part 2 will examine these in detail.

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.

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.

When asked whether she supported higher gas taxes to support better roads, Jones said, "Of course not. Every year they ask for more money at the pump and the quality of our roads is still declining. Why should I have to pay more?" Charlie Green, who commutes daily across the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, thinks he has a solution to the funding mess. "Why not just take the money from Metro to fund roads. I hear no one rides it anymore because it's too crowded."

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is furious. His administration believes Mayor Fenty's move will "overwhelm" the rest stops he plans to open at I-66 and the GW as part of his congestion mitigation "plan."

Martin O'Malley, Maryland's governor, did not have a comment on the plan for the 14th Street Bridges, but he did seem to get an idea from the concept when asked at a press conference on Monday. "If Prince George's can get by on almost no Sunday bus service," he mused, "surely Maryland could get by without freeways for one day a week." He said that he would instruct the Maryland Department of Transportation to see how much a Sunday closure of the Beltway, I-95, and I-270 would save.

When pressed more on financing, especially with regard to Maryland's toll facilities, he responded by saying that "well, Metro doesn't collect a fare when it doesn't run service, and it's not falling apart, right?"

Advocates insist they will fight the plan and have launched a new Web site, FairShareForBridges.com, to ask local jurisdictions to contribute to keeping bridges operational, which they say provide a vital economic resource our region depends on.