Wednesday, March 26, 2014

BAC-FAC Rolling Meeting - The Florida Avenue Corridor - April 19

The first Bicycle Advisory Council Facilities Committee (BAC-FAC) "rolling" meeting of the season will explore the Florida Avenue/Benning Road corridor April 19, 2014.  The ride will begin at 1pm at the NoMa-Gallaudet Station (2nd and Florida entrance). Bikeshare stations are near the M Street NE entrance of the NoMa - Gallaudet station and along the route.

Courtesy of Google
The BAC-FAC rolling meeting coincides with the District Department of Transportation's (DDOT) Florida Avenue Multimodal Transportation study, which assesses the potential reconfiguration of the Florida Avenue corridor from North Capitol Street to Benning Road NE.

In an earlier post, BAC discussed some of the challenges along Florida Avenue for bicyclists and pedestrians, which include narrow sidewalks and fast moving vehicles. BAC-FAC will explore the options DDOT has proposed for the corridor and provide DDOT and members of Council with our feedback.

The BAC-FAC committee chair, Jeanie Osburn (BAC-FAC@dcbac.org), plans to travel east along Florida Avenue until it intersects with Benning Road. From there, the ride will travel on Benning Road to the bridge which cross over Kenilworth Avenue NE and the freight rail tracks.  While not in the Florida Avenue study zone, the man-made barrier and the street car tracks pose hazards to bicyclists and pedestrians. The ride may make stops at Union Market, Argonaut or other destinations on the route.

Please contact Jeanie Osburn for more information about the ride or bicycle facilities concerns in your area. Please feel free to pass this information on to anyone you think is interested in sharing their ideas about bicycling in the District. If you live in the area or use Florida Avenue, feel free to provide your comments below. 

We look forward to riding with you April 19.