Unlike the L Street bike lane, the M Street track will be buffered by parked cars. (Photo by Rich Renomeron)
Long-awaited bike lane projects on M Street NW and I and G Streets NE are still coming, D.C. Department of Transportation officials say. But the timeline for construction is still unclear.
First for the Northeast: Sam Zimbabwe, associate director of the Policy, Planning & Sustainability Administration, says that they hope to have the I and G Street lanes in before the weather changes this winter.
Both streets, which mainly run in one direction, will have a shared-lane marking, or sharrow, for bike traffic that goes with the cars. There will also be a bike lane on the left-hand, or driver’s, side of the street for bike traffic that will oppose car traffic.
Zimbabwe said there’s “a fair amount of sign work and a fair amount of striping that needs to be done.” For example, signs will have to be installed at cross streets to let cars know that bikes are coming from the opposite direction.
“I can’t be firm on a timeline, but we’re trying really hard to get it done,” he said.
Indeed for both the Northeast bike lanes and M Street cycletrack project, DDOT couldn’t be firm on a timeline.
As the Washington Area Bicycle Association laid out this morning, work on the M Street cycletrack was supposed to begin in August. Then October. And now?
It’s now the end of October, and we’ve seen no cycletrack, nor received an update.
Hundreds of people have inquired about this project, and yet no city agency or official has provided any answers. As a result, WABA filed a Freedom of Information Act request last week in an attempt to get some information.
“There’s still some things we need to do before we can start putting it in,” Zimbabwe said. (This DCist editor will admit to blanking on the obvious follow-up question – “What things?” – but has since emailed to see if more details are available.) (Update: DDOT said in a statement to WAMU that an environmental review process is holding up M Street.)
DDOT spokeswoman Monica Hernandez added that, because this is permanent infrastructure that deals with traffic safety, “we need to make sure we’re getting this right.”
When asked when DDOT would be able to provide an update with a firm timeline, Hernandez said “they’re a lot closer to getting there.”
“For both of these, there are a fair number of moving parts,” Zimbabwe said, adding that they likely won’t have a timeline until they’re about to start work on the projects.
