Is the District selling advertising space on the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes? Those using the lanes over the past few days might think so. Blogger and ANC Commissioner David Garber spotted some advertisements for local television station WUSA9 this morning, noting that there were “probably 7 or 8 of them plastered around the lanes at the 11th and Pennsylvania intersection.”

In addition to being something that one might think DDOT, the communicative agency it is, would have let us know about, the ads come as somewhat of a surprise — after all, when the Pennsylvania Avenue lanes were being planned, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts vehemently opposed any kind of color in the lanes.

We asked DDOT spokesperson John Lisle about it, who noted that he wasn’t aware of the advertisements until yesterday, either. According to Lisle, the WUSA9 ads were actually laid down during last weekend’s Safeway Barbeque Battle, and are not part of any dedicated campaign to collect some revenue from the bike tracks.

“Given that it’s still there, maybe we can collect a little cash from Channel 9 for the prime advertising spot,” Lisle joked.