In light of the brutal beating of a biker on the Metropolitan Branch Trail yesterday, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and others will hold a safety walk Friday.
NoMa BID, WABA, ANC 5E03 Commissioner Tim Clark, ANC 6C06 Commissioner Tony Goodman and Ward 5 Bicycle Advisory Council representative Silas Grant will host the walk, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the entrance at 3rd Street and Randolph Place NE.
WABA also announced the creation of its Trail Ranger program, which will “improve safety and increase trail usage by quickly and accurately reporting conditions and making the trails more favorable for daily use.”
“The main objective will be to increase the number of issues reported and repaired by [District of Columbia Department of Transportation] through the DC311 system,” a post on WABA’s Web site states. “We will also increase awareness and conditions of the trail by high profile volunteer trail clean up days. Our success will be measured by an increase in the number of new users and more regular users, increased numbers of trail users engaged, the number of volunteers attending the clean up days and number of tasks reported and tracked in the system.”
News of the program comes one day after a 37-year-old male cyclist was beaten by a group of up to 15 juveniles on the trail on his way home from work. The Silver Spring man, who did not want to be identified, told WJAL, “I can’t make sense of this, just random. … I hope I can regain the courage to keep riding.” The man said the suspects did not want any of his valuables.
WABA’s program will extend to all DDOT-managed trails — the Suitland Parkway Trail, Anacostia Riverwalk Trail and Marvin Gaye Park Trail — according to the group. More information about the program can be seen here.
Update: Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) put money into the District’s budget last year so DDOT could initiate the Trail Ranger program and put additional funds into the budget this year to make it permanent, her communications director emailed DCist to remind us.
