The Washington Area Bicyclist Association sent around word today that Bicycling Magazine has named Washington, D.C. the #1 most improved bicycling city in America (you can download a pdf of the story here, since it appears it’s not yet available on Bicycling.com). The news was timed well with WABA’s efforts to remind everyone to sign up for Bike to Work Day (coming up on May 16).

As Tanya Snyder notes over at City Desk, the award is in some respects damning the city with faint praise, but the article credits the city with starting the country’s first bike sharing program and for having more and more elected officials who are avid cyclists. Where are we lacking? In bike lanes, says Bicycling. According to the magazine, the city has been slower than it had planned in laying down more miles of bike lane.

One piece of news Bicycling surely didn’t know: almost all of Q Street NW now has a dedicated lane. A bike lane along Q all the way to 11th Street NW was completed a few weeks ago (at the same time construction between 14th and 11th finally ended), and painting on the rest of the road was done in just the last couple of days. Above, a view of Q Street’s new bike lane from between 8th and 7th Streets NW. As you can see, it’s still not quite finished, but the lane itself is now in place, providing an excellent new eastbound crosstown bike route to complement the westbound version on R Street that’s been there for some time.