DC Bicycle Advisory Council Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

BAC Members in Attendance: David Cranor (Ward 6) Emily Oaksford(Ward1), Ellen Jones
(Ward 3), Jay Steward (Ward 8) Jeff Johnston (At-Large, CM Silverman), Michael Forster
(Chairman Mendelson), Darren Beck (DDOT).
Members of the Public in Attendance: Liz Thorstensen, Andrea Adleman, Jeff Whitesall,
Randall Meyers
Election of Officers
Dave Cranor agreed to be chairperson, Jeff agreed to be Secretary/Treasurer and also conduct the
search and hiring of an administrative assistant. Ellen offered to help Jeff navigate the paperwork
to make that happen. An election of officers will occur at the next meeting of the BAC on
Wednesday, January 6, 2016, 6pm, 441 4th Street NW, 11th Floor Conference Center.
Approval of the minutes was deferred until the January meeting.
Legislation
Dave provided legislative updates. CM Cheh's bicycle pedestrian safety act is now a bicycle
omnibus bill. The hearing is on December 8th, 11am. Dave will testify on behalf of the BAC.
Vision Zero act of 2017 has a variation on complete streets from the Cheh bill. BAC will ask the
DC Council Transportation Committee to harmonize the complete streets policy across the two
pieces of legislation before it in Daves testimony.
Facilities
Darren Buck provided updates on the proposed east side protected bikeway. Darren stated that
comments are still being collected: dccycletracks.com. 3 alternatives are being proposed. After
the comment period ends, DDOT will narrow options down until some time in the new year.
A general discussion ensued about the value of using temporary infrastructure (e.g., paint and
flexi-posts) to launch protected bike lanes versus installing permanent infrastructure (e.g.,
concrete medians) from the start. Ellen noted that DDOTs experience with constructing
protected bike lanes to date has involved adjustments in the designs over a period of time before
getting the optimal solution. Once that point has been reached, then putting in permanent
infrastructure makes sense, but going for permanent installations from the get go doesnt. Ellen
suggest that if the public is asking for permanent protected bike lane infrastructure, DDOT
should do so on the proven designs of the 15th Street, L Street and M Street protected bike lanes,
while taking a temporary approach to the east side project.
Dave recommended that the Facilities Committee takes up the issue and prepare BAC comments
before the end of the calendar year.
The bike share development plan is out for comment until November 15th. 99 station expansion
is planned over the next 3 years. Those installations include infill and expansion station

installations. Darren did the plan. Not getting a lot of comments on goals. Ellen offered to
prepare comments for BAC.
Darren provided updates on DDOT staffing. Michael Alvino is now the trails planner. Marina
Budimar is now the Transportation Demand Manager planner. Jenny Hefferin has left the safe
routes to school program and that's vacant.
Regional Trails Symposium
Liz Thurston of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) reported on the regional trail symposium
held on November 3, 2015. RTC reached out to RTCA to help put together a regional trails
gathering that was aimed at existing trails organizations. AECOM presented NPS' update of their
1990 Recreational Trails Plan.
Safety
Jeff Johnston raised the question about bike crash data, which lead to a discussion of hospital
trauma data. Ellen promised to follow up with Cheh's committee on the interest GWU Hospitals
Trauma Center staff to create a mechanism to share crash data that all city hospitals are required
to collect.
Meeting adjourned at 7:55pm.