L Street Cycletrack Construction Begins; M Street On Hold

Resurfacing and installation for a new eastbound cycletrack on L Street NW began Monday night and will continue for three weeks, according to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). The cycletrack features both a painted buffer and flexible bollards to separate cyclists from drivers and to prevent vehicles from illegally parking in the bike lane.

The L Street cycletrack will run east from New Hampshire Avenue to 12th Street NW.

"Parking will be removed from the north side of the street in order to maintain three motor vehicle travel lanes. Non-rush hour parking and loading will remain on the south side of the street," according to a DDOT press release.

According to a tweet from the DDOT Twitter account, intersections along the cycletrack will feature green paint to draw drivers' attentions to the presence of cyclists. Drivers turning left "will have to cross thru merge zones and watch for cyclist continuing straight," according to another tweet.

A westbound M Street track is on hold until next year so DDOT can study the impacts on the L Street track and implement necessary adjustments, according to the transportation agency.

Originally the L and M Street improvements were to have been completed in the same year. The M Street cycletrack as proposed would create a westbound bike lane from 15th Street to 29th Street in NW.

In April, DDOT's Mike Goodno told Patch in an email, "Once we install L St [sic], we will be able to apply what we have learned to M St [sic], which we hope to execute next year."

In a press release DDOT provided the following advisories about construction:

• Crews will start ... milling, repaving, and line striping two to three-block sections of the roadway at a time.
• Throughout the construction, at least one lane of traffic will be maintained. Curbside parking will be restricted during the work and motorists should look for posted “Emergency No Parking” signs.
• The nighttime resurfacing work is expected to take approximately three weeks to complete. Additional concrete work will also be performed daily between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.