DC Bicycle Advisory Council Committee Ride

August 28, 2014

Attendees:
Mike Goodno- DDOT
Jeanie Osburn- DC BAC Facilities Committee Chair
Ursula Sandstrom DCBAC Support

Objectives - Exploring connections between the South Capitol Street Bridge and the
Wilson bridge on the east side of the Anacostia before the building of the planned
South Capitol Trail.

Routes explored
- South Capitol Street and Overlook Ave, paralleling the Anacostia Freeway
- Martin Luther King



Major takeaways:
- Both routes have significant drawbacks. Riding on South Capitol, paralleling
the freeway, substantially reduces elevation change but much of the route
resembles a freeway with little shoulder, large traffic volume and speeding cars.
MLK has significant elevation and is a major thoroughfare for cars and buses,
particularly during rush hour but is not treated as a highway by roadway users. The
area is a challenge for all road users because of the large swathes of land that are
restricted access, forcing abnormally large amounts of traffic through the limited
available choices.
- The planned trail on S. Capitol would dramatically improve access and
safety along this corridor.

Details

Anacostia Riverwalk Trail
The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail is pleasant but compared to the rest of the ART, the
section from the Douglas Bridge west to the terminus of the trail at the gates to
Bolling is an eroded patchwork of surfaces and needs to be repaved. It is a great
connector to the Firth-Sterling gate of Joint Base Anacostia Bolling.

South Capitol Street
S Cap is a wide 4 lane road. It is flat and well paved. However in road design, use and
aesthetics, the street is a highway. The lanes are wide, well paved and designed to
facilitate car to move safely at high speed with gently curving turns. The
surrounding is also highway-like with the presence of guard rails, jersey barriers
and lack of buildings or sidewalk. Many drivers use it to circumvent traffic jams on
the Anacostia Freeway, using S Capitol until the entrance to 295 at Overlook Ave. As
such, they drive fast and do not expect bicycles. We were yelled at to get off the road
and aggressively honked at by drivers.

South Capitol to the underpass at Malcolm X
A narrow shoulder on each side leaves some room for bikes. Most of the storm
grates were perpendicular on the shoulder but there was at least one that was
parallel to traffic, near the intersection with Malcom X. We were unable to document
where the dangerous parallel grate was because it was unsafe to stop. With lighter
traffic, we were able to take the lane for the first half of this section but were
eventually forced into the shoulder by the traffic flow.


Figure 1. South Capitol after the Bolling Gates. Note the separated directions of
traffic, highway style grading and infrastructure, and small shoulder.

Intersection with Malcolm X
South Capitol has an underpass at the intersection with S Cap, reinforcing the
treatment of S Cap as freeway-like. The intersection marks the end of the righthand
shoulder on S Capitol. The on-ramp to S Capitol from Malcolm X feels particularly
perilous because of the traffic is moving at high speed and drivers do not expect
bicycles.


Figure 2. The intersection of Malcomn X and South Capitol. Note the lack of a
shoulder and highway aesthetic.

Malcom X to Overlook Ave
This section has no shoulder and six lanes of traffic. Cars are driving fast, with the
anticipation of the freeway entrance reinforcing this desire. There is a shoulder on
the left side of the lane. Lanes could be re-striped to move the shoulder to the right
hand side to give cyclists breathing room. The monotonous viewshed, with a 30 ft
wide strip of grass to the right of the road, continuous walls on both sides of the
street and jersey barriers separating the directions of traffic reinforce the freeway
feel of the street.


Figure 3. South Capitol south of Malcolm X. Note the six narrow lanes of traffic and
wide grass capable of handling a trail.

Overlook Ave around the connection to 295
This is a chokepoint on the route where the road narrows to one narrow unsafe to
share lane. This constriction is after the exit ramp from 295 but it was primarily cars
that had been on Overlook continuously that passed through this chokepoint and
that we felt threatened by.

Overlook Ave to Naval Research Laboratory
This stretch of Overlook is two lanes with a very wide shoulder either side. The
parking lanes were entirely empty when we rode by and have become defacto bike
lanes. It would be easy to transition this parking to official bike lanes and legitimize
bicycle presence in the eyes of drivers. The intersection of Overlook and
Cheasapeake has three lanes going southbound, one left turn, one straight and one
right turn. There was concern for the fate of the right turn lane due to the closing of
the Bellevue housing complex. Extending from the South Gate of Bolling to the
intersection with Chesapeake, this turn lane is barely used and serves as a wide
defacto turn lane. If this lane reverts to through traffic, this brief area of calm after
the perils of South Capitol would be gone.

Cheasapeake St to MLK
Chesapeake St is a wide lane with plenty of room to share. The grade is steep and
daunting. The transition after coming under the freeway into the neighborhood
made the road feel calmer and safer. The change in behavior of cars from freeway-
like arterial to neighborhood was immediate, cars in the neighborhood are much
nicer.

MLK to Atlantic Ave
MLK is a two-lane neighborhood road with wide lanes and plenty of room to share.
It is a steep hill.

Atlantic Ave and South Capitol Street
Atlantic Ave is flat and presented no notable troubles. Particularly compared to the
section of South Capitol to the north paralleling the freeway, this section of South
Capitol Street is the usual challenges of a major 4 lane street without any of the
highway overtones. Cars were impatient but we were able to take the lane without
any heightened fear of being run over.

MLK to Malcolm X
Much of the car traffic continues on South Capitol where MLK merges off. This
makes for a comparatively calm ascent of the MLK hill. Starting after the summit, the
new bike lanes are nice though the lanes are badly paved and filled with potholes.


Figure 4. The new bike lane on MLK.

MLK from Malcolm X until Howard Rd
MLK was very low traffic when we rode by. Buses were running every half an hour
and we were able to take the right lane without any problems. Parking is allowed in
the right hand lane for most of the day, banned only during the morning rush hour.
The steady row of parked cars from South Capitol until Lebaum St created a de facto
bike lane that was pleasant to ride in. During rush hour when buses are running
every 10 minutes and parking is banned, this route will be less protected. Up until
the northern edge of the St. Elizabeths campus, MLK is flat. But the significant hill
from Pomeroy Rd until Howard Rd is a challenge for bicyclists coming up. It is hard
to take the lane when cars are impatient at your slow speed. A climbing lane would
be quite helpful.

MLK from Howard Rd until the 11
th
St Bridge
This is a narrower section of road with all the usual biking challenges. Side streets
are more pleasant. In the long run, this stretch will pose problems for cyclists with
the laying of streetcar tracks.

Image Credit: Google Street View for all South Capitol pictures. (Stopping for photos
would have been very dangerous). Ursula Sandstrom for MLK photo.