Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Washington DC

Will DC Finally Repeal Its Unfair Treatment for Injured Cyclists and Peds?

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 6, 2014 | 1 Comment

In Washington, DC, if a driver crashes into a person on foot or on a bike, and that person walking or biking is deemed to be even 1 percent at fault, he or she cannot collect any damages from insurance. Shane Farthing of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and Tracy Hadden Loh of the Rails-to-Trails […]

Progress on Parking Reform Could Make DC More Walkable and Affordable

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 10, 2014 | No Comments

A few key changes to the DC zoning code could help make housing more affordable, streets more walkable, transit more convenient, and healthy foods more accessible. Years of debate and delay have watered down the reforms somewhat, but they still represent substantial progress. And now it looks like they will pass. New zoning rules will […]

Census Finds DC and NYC Bike Commuting Has Doubled in Four Years

By Michael Andersen | Sep 18, 2014 | 4 Comments

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets. For the first and second U.S. cities to start building networks of modern protected bike lanes, the payoff seems to have arrived. In both Washington, DC, and New York City, the rate […]

DC and New Orleans Closing the Bike Commute Gap With Portland

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 18, 2014 | No Comments

Growth in bike commuting has slowed in Portland and Minneapolis, while some less well-known biking cities are making gains. Graph: Bike Portland New Census numbers are out, providing fresh data on how Americans are getting to work, and Michael Andersen at BikePortland has noticed a couple of trends. The mid-size cities best-known for biking haven’t […]

Fixing a Blank Wall Streetscape With Storefront Retrofits

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 5, 2014 | 20 Comments

Every city has places where the buildings present a blank face to the sidewalk. A dark, recessed arcade deadening the pedestrian environment or a soulless concrete wall fronting a windswept plaza. Consultant Brent Toderian, formerly the planning director for the city of Vancouver, pointed out a cheap and easy solution to this problem. He calls them […]

How Should Streetcars and Bikes Interact?

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 3, 2014 | 31 Comments

Streetcar service could finally begin this year in Washington, DC. Trial runs are already taking place. And the debate about how people on bikes will navigate the tracks is already raging. Last week, the District Department of Transportation quietly proposed streetcar regulations that would ban bicycling within a streetcar guideway except to cross the street. Most immediately, […]

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