WASHINGTON D.C., DC — There is a growing movement to bring bike lanes to D.C.’s Ward 8.
According to the District’s Department of Transportation, there are more than one hundred miles of protected bike lanes in the city, but Ward 8 residents say they have been left out and their safety is at risk.
Advocates point to one of the access points to the Anacostia Park bike trail at the intersection of Martin Luther King and Marion Barry Avenues, SE. There are no bike lanes in the area, forcing many cyclists to navigate through tight road construction and lots of traffic to reach the park. Advocates say it is not only a safety issue, but also an equity issue.
“I live in Congress Heights, to get to Anacostia River Park I have to go down MLK,” said Marvin Brown co-founder of Ward 8 Bike Alliance.
The newly created Ward 8 Bike Alliance is circulating a petition to urge city leaders to bring protected bike lanes to their community. It is part of a national effort to create safe spaces on city streets. In fact, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association is screening the film “Street Project” Monday evening at Bellevue Library to showcase the effort.
“D.C. has over 100 miles of protected bike lanes in the city and there are zero in protected bike lanes in Ward 8,” said Brown, “that is absolutely shameful and it’s a major transportation inequity!”
According to data from Capital Bike Share, over 20,000 residents rented bikes last year. The station on Marion Barry Avenue is the second most used in the entire Ward.
“It’s one of the wards with the highest number of people who do not own a car and take public transit. We want to make sure they have the option to travel across the ward or get to the other side of the river without a car if they don’t want to,” said Brown.
“Sometimes you see here there’s too much traffic,” said one man who was walking his bike on the sidewalk.
“It would be better for them to have their own lane, so you don’t have to worry about getting hit by a bike or a scooter,” added Quantavious Summerour.
“It’s harrowing,” said Brent Peterson who’s lived in Anacostia since 2017 and rides with his 2 and 4-year-old children in a bike trailer. “You definitely have to ride defensively and the scariest part is coming from Anacostia Park back up to ride up MLK and you have traffic coming in nearly highway speeds from the offramp into the neighborhood, so with that behind you – even as a seasoned rider - I still prefer to ride on the sidewalk one block to get my bearings.”
Opponents said the narrow roads and newly created bus lanes already make parking difficult, but Peterson said there could be another option – much like the off-street trails connecting Capitol Hill to the Anacostia bike path.
“Shepherd Bridge bike path is one idea that’s been put out there to use an old rail line to create a shared path there are difficulties in doing that, but if you can’t put them on the street there has to be another way to do that.”
“There should be a happy compromise that we can make in some places where it does not make sense you don’t put a bike lane and in places that you can you put it,” said Edgar Ndjatou.
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