M Street Cycletracks Still Planned for 2012

The planned are still a very real possibility for 2012, according to an updated District Department of Tranportation bike lane map. The L and M Street cycletracks will extend from Massachusetts Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue.

There was a fear that the project would be scrapped when then new DDOT director Terry Bellamy testified before the District Council during his nomination hearing that the cycletracks were on hold, possible permanently, over concerns about a loss of vehicular parking.

Cycletracks are different from normal bike lanes because they add an extra barrier between the rider and traffic, sometimes that barrier is a line of parked cars, sometimes it is a narrow curb or median. The goal is to make cycling more comfortable for riders by offering an additional separation from motor vehicles.

In July, Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans rode through parts of Georgetown and along the paths of planned cycletracks. After the ride, Greater Greater Washington, which helped organize the ride, said Evans had been won over about the need for better bike lanes. "We need a complete system," he told GGW,  calling it "crazy" for anyone to have to ride on busy streets like L and M without better delineation and safety measures.

At a Georgetown ANC meeting in October, that the cycletracks project would move forward; the map is one more reassurance.