DCBAC Testmony of Ellen Jones

TESTIMONY OF ELLEN JONES, CHAIR, DC BICYCLE ADVISORY COUNCIL BEFORE THE DC COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND
TRANSPORTATION March 4, 2013 Good morning, Chairwoman Cheh, and members of the Committee. My name is Ellen Jones. I represent Ward 3 on the DC Bicycle Advisory Council (BAC) and I serve a Chairwoman of that Council. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this morning. I would like to begin my remarks by thanking the DC government officials who are invaluable partners to the BAC in pursuit of a more bike-friendly DC. The District Department of Transportations Active Transportation staff, lead by Jim Sebastian, are consistently engaged with the BAC to solicit advice on the full range of bicycling issues that they are working on. Mike Goodno, DDOTs bicycle specialist, is accessible and responsive to requests from the BAC, putting in many hours to participate in meetings and field observations with the BAC and other concerned citizens after his workday ends. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has maintained active participation with the BAC throughout the past year. The current MPD representatives to the BAC are Sargent Terry Thorne and Commander James Crane (special thanks to Lieutenant Nicholas Breul). We appreciate their collaborative, open approach to our mutual concerns. The DC Office of Plannings Joshua Ghaffari keeps the Council abreast of the sustainability initiatives taking place in that agency. He is a valuable resource to the BAC on the planning efforts across the city that may offer opportunities for improving bicycling conditions. STATE OF BICYCLING Facilities. In 2012 the BAC joined with DDOT to learn more about innovation in bicycle facilities by participating in the Green Lanes initiative sponsored by Bikes Belong, a national 1
nonprofit that promotes safety in cycling. It was encouraging that DDOTs Chief Engineer was engaged in this program as well. Notable facilities improvements in 2012 include the opening of the citys third protected bike lane, aka, cycle track, on L Street, NW. Expansion of the Bike Share program continued, contributing to ever increasing numbers of trips made by bike in the city. These improvements have built an unprecedented momentum for bicycling in DC. And the city needs to continue to move beyond the low hanging fruit to realize the goal of a city where everyone feels safe to bicycle. Probably most of easily installed bike lanes have been completed in the city and were a long way from having a complete bicycle network. Hopefully, as part of the WeMoveDC multi-modal planning process, DDOT can become empowered to install lanes, reconfigure signal timing, and reallocate the public right of way in a way that strikes a new balance for walking, biking, transit and automobiles. While the city has added some outstanding bicycle infrastructure in recent years, decades-long deficits remain: Maintenance of current bicycle facilities (repair, sweeping detritus, trimming overgrowing vegetation); Trail projects that never get finished or started (Met Branch, Anacostia Riverwalk, S. Capitol Street, Suitland Parkway); and Missing connections between/among the various trail/bike lane/cycle track facilities throughout the city. Safety. The District of Columbia experienced zero cyclist traffic fatalities in 2012, and the lowest overall number of traffic fatalities in decades. Although there were zero cyclist fatalities in calendar 2012, there has already been one cyclist fatality in 2013, and a crash in which the cyclist was critically wounded on February 25, 2013.
The District has made progress with regard to creating a safer bicycling infrastructure; however, there is still an education gap. Both drivers and bicyclists need to be aware of each other while sharing the road. Bike lanes, sharrows, cycletracks and other design elements help but bicyclists and drivers need to know on how to interact with the infrastructure and with each other. Safety has an enforcement component as well. MPD has received a number of comments from the BAC over the past year on how to improve their training on bicycle enforcement, and is in the process of completing an updated training module. The new module addresses common enforcement errors and reinforces the importance of interviewing all crash participants, even in cases where that requires an officer to make a trip to the hospital in cases of injury. We greatly appreciate MPDs responsiveness to our input. FY 2012 HIGHLIGHTS The BAC provided DDOT with detailed notes and feedback from 5 bicycle study tours in areas where cycling improvements are needed and/or where designs are either starting or in process. The areas included: The proposed M and now operational L Street NW cycle tracks, Rhode Island Avenue NE, Ward 4 around both the new Wall-Mart location as well as the Walter Reed facility and traversing Rock Creek Park;, the M/I Street SE/SW corridor from Water Street SW to 11th St SE and Tenelytown/AU corridor via Nebraska Avenue and New Mexico Avenue NW including Ward Circle. The BAC maximized implementation of the recommendations from the 2011 Office of Police Complaints report through a continuous and active dialogue with MPD on the issues of officer training regarding traffic law as applied to cyclists and equitable crash investigation procedures.
The BAC advised the DC Office of the Environment, Office of Planning and DDOT throughout the Sustainable DC initiative. FY2013 PRIORITIES Facilities. Four bicycle study tours will be conducted. All four quadrants of the city will be included. Recommendations for improving conditions will be made to DDOT. The BAC needs to work with the Committee on Environment, Transportation and Public Works to establish a tracking system for its recommendations to DDOT. This would provide accountability for realizing improvements needed in bicycling conditions in the city, which is ostensibly the purpose of the BAC. Planning. The BAC will form a Planning Committee to coordinate its participation in the Sustainable DC initiative and DDOTs multimodal planning effort, WeMoveDC. Safety. Continued tracking of resolution of issues raised in the 2011 police complaints board report. Outreach to the DC Taxicab Commission and valet parking companies to institute bicycle awareness and safety training. Legislative. The BAC will provide the Committee with its feedback on the Bicycle Safety Omnibus legislation that was recently introduced.

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TESTIMONY OF ELLEN JONES, CHAIR, DC BICYCLE ADVISORY COUNCIL BEFORE THE DC COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND

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