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KLMNO COMMUTER
Testing our patience, one lane at a time
DR. GRIDLOCK Robert Thomson
D.C. turns plan for bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave. outside in
B Dear Dr. Gridlock:
ike lanes are the latest favorite subject in this city where the quest for the
politically correct seems constant. And they doubtless can do a lot of good. But has anyone looked at how much other traffic is slowed down on Pennsylvania Avenue when two lanes are reserved for bikers? I had a very slow cab ride to the Capitol at midday last week, and saw exactly one bicyclist using the lanes.
— Adam Clymer, The District
Gabe Klein, transportation GERALD MARTINEAU/THE WASHINGTON POST Orange barrels and electronic lane-closure signs mark the way for vehicles crossing the increasingly confusing 14th Street bridge.
Phase 2 reconstruction of the 14th Street bridge starts Monday, with more tricky lane-switching for drivers. The good news: Only about 14 months to go.
by Ashley Halsey III A eternity.
But for now, it may get more confusing.
Since you can’t block too many lanes on a bridge that carries 200,000 cars a day, the $27 mil- lion, two-year rehabilitation will proceed one lane at a time for about the next 14 months. Most of the rehab work, includ- ing the launch of Phase 2 for Monday morning’s commute, is focused on the five-lane span of the bridge
that carries traffic
from Virginia into the District, and that’s where the lane work is underway. What makes the whole busi- ness of shifting lanes tricky for drivers is this: Two major high- ways — Interstate 395 and the ramp from the George Washing- ton Parkway — merge coming on- to the bridge from the south. Then traffic splits in two on the north side, feeding both 14th Street and I-395. Even when all lanes are open, it can be a challenge to switch lanes while crossing the bridge if, for example, you merged onto the bridge from the right and want to exit the bridge to the left. Now, picture one of those lanes
blocked, and the crisscross could get nerve-racking. “That’s one issue we want to
0 MILE R
G.W. MEM. PKWY.
395 1 D.C. VA. Source: DDOT
make sure people are prepared for,” said John Lisle, spokesman for the D.C. Department of Trans- portation. “People who know what they’re doing will take [I-395] to the 12th Street tunnel so they don’t have to cross over. It’s the tourists and people who don’t use the bridge much that we’re concerned about.” That tunnel surfaces two blocks over from 14th Street, a lower-risk route than trying to buck across I-395 traffic to exit the bridge directly onto 14th. The right lane of the bridge has been closed for months, far lon- ger than had been anticipated, because DDOT engineers deter- mined that it wasn’t having a huge traffic impact. So, they used it as a staging area for work on the bridge tower, the pilings that
G.W. MEM. PKWY.
Potomac Park
East
14th Street bridge
Phase 2 lane closure
Traffic merges from the northbound George Washington Parkway.
Drivers still will have four lanes during peak periods.
Note: Graphic is schematic
THE WASHINGTON POST
support the bridge and painting. That lane will reopen as the rest of the work rolls out in seven phases, each expected to last three to five weeks. In the next three phases, the lane closures will be in the south- ern half of the bridge moving from right to left. After work on each is done, the entire left lane will be closed. Once that is com- plete, work will begin on lanes of the northern half of the bridge, moving from left to right, until the whole job is finished. “It’s not just to pave it,” Lisle
said. “It’s also for joint work, and there probably are some sections where they need to pour a new bridge under-deck.” All of the paving work is expec- ted to be done by the end of the year, although work on the sup-
1/4
re you among the thou- sands who have been shaking and rattling while rolling across the 14th Street bridge every
day for what now seems to be just about forever? Have you jolted loose a couple of fillings, tossed a hubcap or several dozen exple- tives? Take heart. It won’t last for
14th Street bridge
The far-right lane of the northbound 14th Street bridge will reopen soon as rehabilitation work begins Phase 2. Traffic will be channeled around the construction island formed by the closure. The $27 million, two-year project will proceed one lane at a time for the next 14 months.
INDEP. AVE.
F.D.R. Mem.
N E D 14th Street bridge
Shoulders will be eliminated, and traffic will shift
Tidal Basin
Jefferson Mem.
1
Potomac River
porting structure will continue until August 2011. Lisle said that four of the five lanes will be open to traffic dur- ing rush hours, but that the con- tractor might close more than one lane during off-peak periods and on weekends. What is commonly referred to as the 14th Street bridge is, in fact, three bridges that sit elbow to elbow just northeast of the Pentagon. All three of them con- nect to the District just to the southeast of the Thomas Jeffer- son Memorial. The newest of the trio opened
in 1972 for the exclusive use of high-occupancy vehicles. The southbound bridge was finished in 1962, and the northbound bridge opened 60 years ago. That difference in age is why
the northbound span has gotten most of the attention, even though the southbound bridge needs some repair. As with most road surfaces, heavy traffic on bridges not only wears out the surface pavement over time, it also fractures the under-bed be- neath it.
Among other things, that
makes it difficult to keep potholes from popping up over and over again in the same weak spots. In addition, of course, bridges are supported by structural steel and pilings that wear out. An inspection of the north- bound bridge found worrisome cracks on the bridge pilings. Five of the bridge’s 13 pilings, also known as piers, are being re- paired during the project.
halseya@washpost.com
DDOT has posted videos of the new configuration on its YouTube channel at
www.youtube.com/user/ DDOTVideos.
DR. G’S TIPS
I-66 SPOT WIDENING The widening project that has
set outside-the-Beltway commut- ers against inside-the-Beltway communities, is scheduled to be- gin this week. Rather than widening all of close-in Interstate 66, as many long-distance drivers would pre- fer, the Virginia Department of Transportation has picked three spots on the westbound side where it thinks the highway can be safely expanded. The first target, where con-
struction is set to start, is a 1.9- mile zone between Fairfax Drive and Sycamore Street in Arlington County. The work will take 18 months, VDOT said.
THE DAILY QUIZ
Page 26 of this week’s Washington Post Magazine features a photo of a pin that is part of the Madeline Albright Collection at the Smithsonian Castle. The pin is in the shape of what animal?
EARN 5 POINTS: Find the answer, then go to
washingtonpost.com/postpoints and click on “Quizzes” to enter the correct response.
Planners expect that this spot widening will ease congestion by expanding the highway’s foot- print. It’s a compromise based on the amount of money available for construction and on transpor- tation politics. Many Arlington residents oppose any widening. This $10.2million phase of construction will start with the closing of one of two westbound lanes from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sun- day through Thursday nights in June and July. Then, periodic lane closures will occur until the project is done in December 2011. All lane closings will be at night.
ROCK CREEK PARKWAY More difficulties for drivers us-
ing Rock Creek Parkway: Through the end of August, work along the side of the parkway might require temporary clo- sures of the southbound lanes and the adjacent trail just north of Q Street NW. This will usually mean closing the right-most southbound lane only, but sometimes both south- bound lanes could be shut. None of the closures would occur dur- ing rush hours.
Drivers will need to watch for
flaggers directing traffic along the parkway. There will be signs directing trail users through the construction zone when a por- tion of the trail is temporarily di- verted.
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The National Park Service says the work is part of an effort to close sewer outflows and improve Rock Creek’s water quality. The area of the lane closures
and trail diversions is between Georgetown and Dupont Circle. It’s north of the zone disrupted by the Ohio Drive SW lane closures, although some drivers may en- counter both during their trips.
FAIRFAX COUNTY PARKWAY Starting Thursday, drivers on Rolling Road will come across oc- casional delays between Fuller- ton and Richfield roads while workers reconstruct and repave a 1,500-foot section of Rolling Road. This is part of a project that
will extend the Fairfax County Parkway (Route 7100). Watch for occasional lane clo- sures from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Mondays through Fridays, and occasional- ly on Saturday and Sunday nights. Both lanes will be open to traffic during rush hours. This work will continue until Decem- ber.
CROSSING ROUTE 7 If you’re one of the brave folks who walks around Tysons Corner, be extra cautious when using the new crosswalks on Leesburg Pike (Route 7) at the intersection of Westpark Drive and Gosnell Road. They were installed in con-
POINTS & REWARDS
Next Day Blinds Remodeling? Visit
nextdayblinds.com for so many great looks in shutters, blinds and shades.
The State Theatre
Enjoy live music at this restored theatre in the Falls Church historic district. Check
thestatetheatre.com.
junction with the recent lane shifts and roadway widening on Leesburg Pike that are part of the Dulles Metrorail project. Because of the widening, pe- destrians only have time to cross half of Route 7 during a green traffic signal cycle. The new traf- fic signal requires that pedestri- ans stop on the median, press the signal button and wait for the light to cross to the other side. Drivers, please be on alert for pedestrians who might not heed the warnings that they can’t make it all the way across on one green light.
For more traffic information, go to
www.washingtonpost.com/traffic.
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washingtonpost.com/postpoints.
director for the District, seems to be following the guidance attributed to Daniel Burnham, designer of Union Station: “Make no little plans.” When Klein and his team decided to expand downtown street access for bicyclists, a goal that always generates conflict with motorists, he didn’t start with the far right lane of some alphabetized side street. He went to the middle of the most famous ceremonial avenue in the nation. There, on Pennsylvania
Avenue NW, the original plan called for converting the left lanes in each direction into bicycle lanes. Perhaps Klein was thinking of
Capt. John Parker’s advice to his men on Lexington Green: “If they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” Clymer’s letter, which arrived
in late May, reflected the concerns of people in motor vehicles, as well as their confusion: There are so many of us and so few cyclists. Why take away two whole lanes? Klein, like Capt. Parker,
revised his plans. The new version, likely to be operational later this month, restores the car lanes and puts the bike lanes in the median. But Klein told me last week
that he didn’t do it because of driver complaints. When he got a chance to look
at the paint put down on Pennsylvania in preparation for the new bike lanes, he said, “I started to question how safe it would be for cyclists once we removed the orange cones.” When the temporary barriers were removed for a test, cars retook the bike lanes, he said. An idea that appeared great on paper looked somewhat risky on pavement. Cyclists, knowing they were in lanes set up for bikes only, might not be as wary about the presence of cars. Motorists might simply be confused and cross over. “We applaud the city for
revisiting the issue and for putting safety and practicality first,” AAA Mid-Atlantic’s John B. Townsend II said in an e-mail. He said AAA’s concerns focused on whether the design would increase the number and severity of car-cycle crashes and whether the design would impede mobility for all. Drivers and cyclists need to
share expectations as well as space on such a busy route, and this new plan takes us in that
direction. But it does raise this issue: By attempting to reduce confusion between drivers and cyclists, will the District’s new plan create confusion between cyclists and pedestrians in the median? That’s on the mind of Shane
Farthing, the new executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. “WABA appreciates the District’s efforts to incorporate bicycle lanes on this portion of Pennsylvania Avenue,” he wrote in an e-mail, “but we are concerned that the reconfiguration may create a dangerous competition for space between cyclists and pedestrians in certain places — most notably at the brick pedestrian refuges.” Klein thinks the realities of
Pennsylvania Avenue will limit such conflicts. First of all, he said, there aren’t hordes of pedestrians waiting in the middle. People tend to make it all the way across on the first try. Second, he said, sight lines on Pennsylvania are very good. A cyclist can see pedestrians a long way off, slow down and avoid them. This is my main concern about
the new version, and I hope DDOT will be monitoring the potential pedestrian conflicts closely. I think Klein’s concern about the car-bike conflict and the decision to revise the plan is quite reasonable.
I was especially glad to hear
him say the Pennsylvania Avenue experience will inform, rather than delay, the overall effort to put more bike lanes in downtown Washington.
To contact Dr. Gridlock: By mail: Write to Dr. Gridlock at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. By e-mail:
drgridlock@washpost.com. On the Dr. Gridlock blog:
washingtonpost.com/drgridlock. On Twitter: drgridlock.
Dr. Gridlock also appears Thursday in Local Living. Comments and questions are welcome and may be used in a column, along with the writer’s name and home community. Personal responses are not always possible.
on
washingtonpost.com
SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 2010
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