At some point this week, a ghost bike that had sat on and off at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and R and 20th Streets NW for the last three years was removed.

The white bike was installed to mark the 2008 death of cyclist Alice Swanson at the crossing, and had been removed by the Department Public Works in 2009, only to be replaced a few months later with 22 other bikes. (The city then removed those.)

Spare another replacement in mid-2010, the Swanson ghost bike has remain somewhat untouched since, locked to a lamppost at the intersection.

Ghost bikes are supposed to remain in the place of the accident, but the District maintains a policy of removing all public memorials within 30 days. We reached out to both DPW and the D.C. Department of Transportation earlier this morning for confirmation on whether or not they had removed the bike again; so far, we’ve gotten no response.

After Swanson’s death, her mother, who lives in Massachusetts, became active in local cycling safety issues. She recently testified at a hearing on legislation that would give cyclists additional civil tools to sue drivers that intimidate or assault them.