Month: February 2010

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Bike Locker Space is nearly 6X as costly as Car Parking Space

by washcycle

If WMATA increases the bike locker fee to $200 a year it will then be nearly six times more expensive to park a bike per square foot than to park a car. Car parking for the year is $660. But, as pointed out in the brochure of the company who makes the bike locker

you can fit nine of our bike lockers in one car parking space – that’s enough parking to hold eighteen bikes.

So that same parking space could generate $3600year if dedicated to bike lockers. Even at the old price WMATA was making a killing of $1260 per car parking space. Metro is not considering raising the price of automobile parking I should note.

Again, I support performance parking for bike lockers, but that involves actually knowing which lockers are being used and which are not. Where there is a waiting list, raise prices gradually, and use some of the new revenue to install more bike lockers or double-tiered ones at places like Eastern Market where there’s a waiting list. Where there is no waiting list, lower prices. 

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The Fitzgerald at UB Midtown to Become Baltimore’s Largest LEED(R) Certified Residential Development

GREENBELT, Md., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ — The Bozzuto Group today announced The Fitzgerald at UB Midtown is on track to become the most sizeable LEED certified apartment community in the Baltimore area.
The development, comprised of 275 apartments, 24,000 square feet of street-level retail and a 1,245 space parking garage, is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and is being constructed to attain LEED certification. The Fitzgerald garage opened on January 11th, residential leasing will commence in March, and retail will begin to deliver in early summer.
"As a longtime multifamily developer, we have for many years believed that growth can be both economically and environmentally sound," said Tom Bozzuto, CEO of The Bozzuto Group. "We believe The Fitzgerald takes that notion to the next level."
To achieve LEED certification, The Fitzgerald’s sustainability strategy includes implementing a number of environmentally-conscious design features, construction tactics, water efficiency technologies and air quality practices.
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Elkton, Maryland Bike Plan: UPDATE

WILMAPCO is working with the Town of Elkton to develop a bicycle plan to expand the existing transportation system, support economic activity and growth, and improve quality of life for Town residents and visitors. The Elkton Bicycle Plan will introduce a proposed coordinated bicycle network, which will connect residents with surrounding neighborhoods, the downtown central business district, and other key destinations, along with improvements for bike facilities such as bike racks and signage. This Plan is being developed with the participation of an advisory committee comprised of Town, County and State officials, and citizen advocates. One key task in the planning process is identifying the network, in which cyclist’s input will be most valuable. Thus, those who bike in Elkton are encouraged to fill out a Field Worksheet and/or map the route (available online) that they take in and around Town. This input will help to identify improvements that can be made along bike routes, and will be used to better prioritize corridors for improvements. To give input, join the Advisory Committee or email Dave Gula: dgula@wilmapco.org for more information. This is your chance to help create some of the very first Bicycle Friendly Communities in the North East US, and it can only happen with cyclist participation.
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LaHood Talks Budget: Cyclist will have to continue to supplement car centric roads to the tune $11 billion

Well OK it’s not just cyclists but everyone who contributes to the general fund which cyclists are a part. But the point is cars are not paying their own way as often asserted.
>>"One topic of particular interest was the White House’s continued assumption of transfers from the general Treasury to the highway trust fund (HTF) pending enactment of a new long-term federal transportation bill. As the federal gas tax, last raised in 1993, remains static and lawmakers decline to discuss an alternative funding source, the presidential budget document projects that the HTF would need more than $11 billion to make it through the current fiscal year."
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It’s not secrete, we just can’t tell you

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

To call this “secret” and a “vehicular tunnel” implies that the county was trying to pull a fast one over the community, and that just isn’t true.

…
Because the conceptual renderings are the company’s proprietary intellectual property and cannot be made public at this time

If I am reading this right there are two plan sources being discussed.

[1}Metro produced a report in July 2009 that analyzed five designs to address pedestrian access between the Naval Medical Center and the Metro station. All plans excluded consideration for bicyclists and integration of the needs of the surrounding communities. After the Metro report was published, [2]a local builder [Clark Construction Group] submitted an unsolicited proposal that was far superior to any of the Metro designs. The builder’s concept would serve every rider arriving at the station — rail, bus, car/vanpool and cyclists. The concept took into account concerns from the community.

But

That proposal [the one that included cyclists???] wasn’t included in the TIGER grant application. In fact, under the new process, the proprietary concept cannot be considered as part of the alternatives to be developed and evaluated.

I’m not sure if I am reading that right or not but it sounds to me that the plan that did not include cyclists (which is against MD State Law) is seeking a TIGER grant and the “far superior” plan has been put on the back burner.

Continue reading “It’s not secrete, we just can’t tell you”

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The “Enhancer” – Say thank you to people who obey the law

[Baltimore Spokes: This sounds like something out of “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” with annoying overly friendly automated messages. If the sole responsibility of making crossing a road safer lies with the pedestrian then we should consider other options, my personal favorite in the “If this is the best we can do then lets get crazy with the idea” category is have a supply of red capes for pedestrians on the corner and as the pedestrian attempts to cross they attempt to misdirect the car into charging the cape with shouts of “El Toro.” Cyclist could act as as picadores by using colorful suction cup plunger like devices to attache to cars to help increase the entertainment value. If the pedestrian successfully crosses he would get an automated score card that would allow them to compete at local, state or national championships that would be televised as pedestrians attempted to get the best scores as they cross some of the busiest car centric roads. If crossing a road requires great skill to avoid death then people should get some glory from their death defying talents.]

by Sarah Goodyear

Today on the Streetsblog Network, we’ve got a post from M-Bike.org weighing in on a new crosswalk treatment in a Michigan town:

home_pic2.jpgCan this crosswalk penetrate a driver’s consciousness? (Photo: R.D. Jones)
crosswalk signs
(the “Enhancer”), with lights, flashing beacons, and a pleasant spoken
instructions have recently been installed in Lyon Township where the
Huron Valley Trail crosses both a newly constructed road as well as
Grand River.

They’re expensive, obnoxious, and as far as we can tell, somewhat ineffective.

As for the obnoxiousness, here are the instructions. “Hello. You’ve activated the crosswalk signal. Wait for traffic to stop before you cross. To show traffic you want to cross, place one foot near the curb line. And remember to thank the driver as you are crossing the roadway.”

Why are pedestrians and cyclists instructed to thank
motorists just for following state and local crosswalk laws? Shouldn’t
that be a basic expectation?…

[W]hile testing them on Grand River, a van never slowed
when the sign was activated and we were trying to cross. It appeared
they were texting.

Maybe we should thank those drivers that aren’t driving while distracted, too.

…

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MPD officer tells cyclist to get into non-existent bike lane

by washcycle

Reader Patrick relays a story from this morning,

I wanted to relay a scene I experienced this morning involving some DC
metro police. It took place on 16th street, going south on the hill
coming down from Euclid to U street, along Meridian Hill Park. As you
know, this hill is pretty steep and during rush hour traffic al
three lanes are clogged. Basically the whole street is filled with cars
all the way to the curb, leaving little to no space for bikes. To get
around this, I, and almost every other biker I’ve seen on that road over
the past two years, usually ride between the lanes until after W St., at
which point more room opens up on the right side of the road. The only
issue I’ve ever encountered with this strategy is the occasional car
changing lanes without signaling.

This morning as I rode this stretch, everything was going fine
until I had to stop short due to an MPD car abruptly cutting me off
by turning toward the adjacent lane. This was a potentially dangerous
move and I grudgingly chalked it up to the cops simply not seeing me. However, as I tried to
weave around their car, they gave a short burst of their siren and told
me to pull over to the side of the road. I reluctantly obliged, moving
around two lanes of traffic to the corner of 16th and W, and watched as
the cops tried to do the same. After a minute, they realized that they
probably wouldn’t be able to traverse the same two lanes of clogged
traffic and instead got on their loudspeaker. They blasted the
following statement at me: “You are required to bike in the bike lane!”

There is no bike
lane on 16th Street. This cop was ordering me to bike in a non-existent
bike lane. Thankfully, by this point, a few other bikers had gathered on
the corner so I had some backup as we all pointed out that there was no
bike lane in which we could bike. Their response was that if there
wasn’t a marked bike lane, we should consider the right-hand side of
the road  to be a bike lane. We then pointed out that the right-hand
side of that stretch of 16th was very dangerous since cars drove so
close to the curb. Their response: “It doesn’t matter, follow the law!”
And they drove off.

Cyclists aren’t required to ride right when they’re moving faster than traffic.

Continue reading “MPD officer tells cyclist to get into non-existent bike lane”