Anyone who bikes around the District learns to appreciate the ups and downs of cycling-related infrastructure and vehicular temperment in going from home to work to play and back. There are the potholed city streets that threaten the hardiest of tires, bikes lanes that arbitrarily appear and disappear (and the drivers that assume they can use them for their double-parking purposes), the possibility of being doored by an unwitting commuter emerging from their car, and having to deal with cars that either do not care to share the road or simply do not know how to.

But all told, the D.C. metropolitan area tries to be accomodating to cyclists. There is a network of bike paths, trials, and lanes that spans Maryland, Virginia, and the District; the District last year produced a city-wide Bicycle Master Plan; and bike-related causes are ably represented by the Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA).

By way of the Examiner, today we find out about upcoming bike-related improvements. The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has decided to complete the “Bicycle Beltway” by building the final link in a series of bike paths and trails traversing the region. The addition to the Metropolitan Branch Trial, an 11-mile stretch from downtown D.C. to Silver Spring, Md., will serve commuters in Northeast D.C. and Maryland, offering direct connections to seven Red line metrorail stations and the existing network of trails. The majority of the work is to be done by 2008, and the $13 million price-tag will be covered in part by the federal government.

According to the 2000 census, 1.16 percent of D.C. commuters biked to work, averaging roughly 25,000 trips a day. Traffic-related difficulties — always a concern on area roads — have pushed many commuters to walk or bike, and bike advocates in Congress have similarly attempting to legislate tax breaks for those that pedal to and from their places of employment.

May 20 is Bike To Work Day, locally sponsored by WABA, when commuters are encouraged to join convoys and pedal themselves to work, stopping at designated pit-stops along the way for breakfast, contests, and speakers.

The image above is of the existing bike trails in the area, with the proposed addition to the Metropolitan Branch Trail in red. View a more detailed map of the addition here (.pdf).