[Lincolnparkdc] Update on Kentucky Ave Advisory Bike Lane Project (Kentucky to Independence) Some revisions and a planned community meeting

Wed Oct 21 22:47:08 EDT 2020

Hi Steve,

I was unable to email my concerns about the new plans earlier but wanted to voice a concern that my family and I have. With three little children, the thought of not being able to park on my own street terrifies me. It’s bad enough lugging an infant and two children from wherever I park on my street but now my neighbors are saying that they will all get handicapped parking spots for all of them because they are old which will leave nothing for our family. Independence is extremely difficult to park on because you can’t park there consistently due to street cleaning and most importantly, getting a child out of a car seat is virtually impossible. I can’t tell you how many times cars have honked at me/yelled at me for having my car door open so I could take my child in or out of their car seat. I’m also not sure how many families will use an exterior bike lane anyways. We typically ride in the side walks because we don’t feel safe in the bike lanes unless they are between sidewalks. I would be all for creating bike lanes that are protected.

If the city is concerned for bikers (we are a biking family) and pedestrians, perhaps they should look at the loop around Lincoln park. I can’t even count the number of times that I have almost been hit trying to cross the street to or from the park. The worst was when I was crossing with a stroller and my daughter on a scooter who was 4 at the time. Someone wanted to make the light and missed my daughter by near inches. People got out of their cars screaming at the car that almost hit her (not her fault) and the man apologized but what is an apology going to do. He could have killed her. Similar experiences occurred with us weekly when my daughter attended Appletree. I have never had an issue with crossing the street by my house and I cross the street 10 or more times a day. I also bike often and again, we have never had an issue here but have had numerous issues around the park and on east Capitol. People have been hit walking and on bikes around the park and nothing has been done yet money and time is being waisted on an intersection that doesn’t have any issues. I’m also perplexed on why there would be a need for a bike lane going north on Kentucky. Once you get to the end of the street you can only take a right and 13th already has a bike lane. That just seems like a waist of money and time. I rarely see anyone even bike that direction on Kentucky and the only people who even drive that direction on Kentucky are people that live on that side of the street since it ends on a one way street. I would hope that the city would actually be looking at statistics rather then arbitrarily picking an intersection. Ask the people who live here about what needs to be fixed and I’m sure no one will say that there are issues with speeding on our street but perhaps on independence or the amount of people who drive the wrong direction down 13th. 

Jeni Schoemaker
146 13th SE

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 21, 2020, at 7:51 PM, Holtzman, Steve (SMD 6B05) <6B05 at anc.dc.gov> wrote:
> 
> 
> Neighbors,
> 
> To give you an update on where things stand with the Kentucky Avenue Advisory Bike Lane project ( as it pertains to 100 blocks of Kentucky, 13th and adjacent areas of Independence). While the (extended) public comment period ends tomorrow, two important developments of note in the last few days.
> There will be some changes in the design. I know that for many, they won't be sufficient to meet your concerns..  However, Will Handsfield and his team are listening to what you are saying and are trying, within parameters of their project objectives, to adapt to a range of resident comments. I had a 2 hour meeting with Will last thursday and tried to underline many of the specific issues that residents of Kentucky and 13th had raised.But, more importantly,last week, by my rough count, 126  thoughtful, detailed emails (from 37 households) were sent by all of you, with at least 40 sent or copied to Will as well as to Councilmember Allen. Last friday the DDOT team sat down to review the design and make efforts to  accommodate some of the concerns raised by a multitude of residents.Three main things:
>   Numbers of parking spaces affected have been reduced. But, there are still a good number of losses remaining.(see pasted emails from Will below)
>   The number of flexi-posts to be installed has been cut in half. I don't have a good understanding of the esthetics of how they are doing this, i.e., interspacing flexposts with low profile "rubber wheel stops".
>   In response to several of your comments, the plan now includes installation of some additional flexposts at the western corner of East Capitol and Kentucky with the objective of trying to slow down some of the vehicles turning right onto Kentucky. (I don't know how many)
> the full diagrams of the adjusted design will not be ready until the end of next week and will be shared as soon as we get them.. However, I've pasted ,below this email, two emails from Will with preliminary information. One to me summarizing the flex-posts and some other aspects of their revisions. A more extensive one to Commissioner Oldenburg which includes a rough chart of the Independence Intersection and highlights (in red) the diagonal sidewalk added to the project two weeks ago (from 13th & Kentucky to eastside of 13th near Independence). The email also gives, based on the new adaptations, a rundown of parking spaces affected overall in the Independence /Kentucky /13th intersection area.  Note this email does contains a number of bullet points which pertain to other segments of Kentucky Avenue and not to this area.
> We propose holding a virtual, localized commmunity meeting soon after the diagrams are available. Date not set yet, but sometime in first week of November. While the Notice of Intent (NOI) period technically closes this thursday Oct 23, Will Handsfield has agreed to meet with residents of the 100 blocks of Kentucky and 13th St SE and adjacent Independence Ave SE residents in a zoom meeting to listen to your views, answer questions and dialogue with all of you. I asked him about the NOI deadline.  He noted that regardless of cutoff dates for NOI comments, he has the latitude as project manager to take on comments at any stage and is ready to do so. Tom Woteki has agreed to host the meeting under the rubric of the Lincoln Park Listserv and post an invitation on the listserv when we get an exact date and agenda in the next few days. If that list leaves any gaps in household coverage, I'm hoping that all of you will also share the invitation with other neighbors who live in close proximity.
> I spent much of last night rereading all of your emails from the last week and the ones sent to Will after the first notice in early September. I do have a few observations I'd like to make but I'll do that in another email later tonight or tomorrow. Two quick things now. First, to be clear, I am not evaluating the revisions, only sharing them. Second, it's important to stress that we all share a common objective of making the roads safer for pedestrians, bicycles and cars. The goal of safety, as David Morris put it last week, is not the issue, it is the design for how to achieve it.( I would add to that... and ensuring an informed and inclusive dialogue on the costs and benefits which stem from policy decisions and transparently weighing the two against one another). In my view, for what it's worth, that's the most productive base for discussion to revolve around. 
> 
> Over the next few days, we'll work out a draft agenda for the meeting and send around for comments, suggestions. My thought was to propose a date soon after the new diagrams are available. Sunday November 1 (either afternoon or early evening) or November 5th. Any views?
> 
> best,
> 
>  Steve
> 
> Steve Holtzman, 6B05
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From:Handsfield, Will (DDOT) <William.Handsfield2 at dc.gov>
> Sent:Friday, October 16, 2020 12:55 PM
> To:Holtzman, Steve (SMD 6B05) <6B05 at anc.dc.gov>
> Subject:RE: Fyi latest
>  
> We reduced the amount by more than half from the existing plan, but I don’t have an exact count.  We will interspace some rubber wheel stops with the flex posts to create a virtual curb line, but having the vertical element is important to guide drivers around this new traffic feature.  If it works, we can explore making the new curb lines permanent in the 2 – 4 year timescale, but we first need to establish that pattern with safe equipment, and the flex post is tried and true at this very purpose.
> 
> We also added the crosswalk we discussed, reduced the parking change on the SB lane north of Independence, and tightened up the parking set backs on NB 13th, those will be in the next drawing.
> Will Handsfield, AICP
> Bicycle Program Specialist
> 
> Planning & Sustainability Division
> District Department of Transportation
> 55 M Street SE, Suite 500
> Washington, DC 20003
> 
> o. 202.671.3378
> m. 202.705.7845
> e.will.handsfield at dc.gov
> w.ddot.dc.gov
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From:Handsfield, Will (DDOT) <William.Handsfield2 at dc.gov>
> Sent:Friday, October 16, 2020 4:31 PM
> To:Oldenburg, Kirsten (SMD 6B04) <6B04 at anc.dc.gov>
> Subject:RE: Kentucky Ave Bike Lanes & Parking
>  
> Hey Kirsten,
> 
> I just had a meeting this afternoon to revise the plan, and try and recover as much parking as possible while still meeting the DEM rules.  We did get a few back.  Here is my best estimate of spaces (22 feet long in our planning environment):
> 
> 
> Removing 3 spaces on the east side and half a space on the west side of 13thwhere a new crosswalk will be installed as shown: 
> <pastedImagebase640.png>
> Removing 1.5 spaces (33’) from the west side of Kentucky south of Independence – these spaces are currently too close to the crosswalks, and our design engineers were in unanimous agreement that these spaces are “within” the intersection and should not be retained.
> Removing 2 spaces (45’) from the west side of 13th/Kentucky south of Independence – same reasoning as above, they are both too close to existing crosswalks under our design and engineering manual (DEM) regs, and they are within the intersection.
> The remaining “spaces” altered or reduced in the corridor are because they are too close to crosswalks under the DEM regs on this topic.
> We will reduce the number of flex posts, and alternate flex posts and rubber wheel stops at 13th/Indy/KY in order to both establish this new pattern while reducing total flex posts used.
> We will add flex posts at East Capitol to try and reduce the speed at which people turn onto Kentucky.
> 
> 
> For the latest information on the District Government’s response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus), please visit coronavirus.dc.gov.
> 
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