Last night during the ANC 5A monthly meeting, DDOT presented plans to build an extremely small cycletrack (less than a full block in length) on Riggs Road NE, which would go from 1st Place NE almost to South Dakota Ave, veering off onto the sidewalk just before the intersection. DDOT indicated they planned to build some sort of path off of the road at that point, which would eventually connect to long-planned protected bike lanes on South Dakota Ave (as indicated in both the MoveDC 2015 and 2021 bike plans). The goal is to help communities east of South Dakota Ave connect to the Metropolitan Bike Trail, which currently ends just to the south along 1st Pl NE, but will soon be extended north to Takoma and then Silver Spring after that.
I am very supportive of this very small cycletrack, with my only complaint being that it isn’t nearly ambitious enough. I would ideally like it to extend significantly further east, ideally all the way to the Maryland border, or at a bare minimum all the way to the intersection with South Dakota (as currently planned it stops just short of it to preserve a turn lane for cars turning right from Riggs onto South Dakota), with a curb cut planned to divert bikes onto a small side path and then the sidewalk. The plans that were presented would take the right-most third lane for a small portion of Riggs Road to South Dakota. I’d ideally like to see it take it at the very least all the way to South Dakota Ave.
I look forward to seeing more developments on this if and when I am elected as ANC for 5A09 and plan to support the project along the way.
Zachary Ammerman for ANC5A09 