Media release
October 22, 2020
Contact Nick DelleDonne
703-929-6656
DECAA Considers Lawsuit of DDOT’s 17th St. Bike Plan
Addressing District Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) 17th St. Bike Plan at a meeting of Dupont East Civic Action Association (DECAA) Monday, Oct. 19, ANC Commissioner Ed Hanlon (SMD 2B09) presented the case that the Plan is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
DDOT’s 17th St. Bike Plan calls for protected bike lanes on both sides of the street but fails to provide safe passage for the handicapped across the lanes. Hanlon demonstrated with a photo (attached) the difficulty wheelchairs would have crossing the bike lanes alighting from vans in the high traffic commercial blocks between P and R Streets. Another photo (attached) showed what the lane configuration would look like had accommodations been made for handicapped parking.
“DDOT’s proposed Bike Lane design may make it impossible to have handicapped accessible parking anywhere along 17th Street,” Hanlon said. The required accommodations cannot be found on DDOT’s plan. At the only public presentation this year, Hanlon directly asked DDOT’s project leader Laura MacNeil but got no response.
DECAA, whose boundaries include the celebrated 15th St. protected bike lanes, is on record protesting the 17th St. DECAA is not against cyclists nor protected bike lanes, but protected bike lanes encourage bad behavior that puts pedestrians at risk, and the stretch between P and R Streets is particularly perilous as a quasi-mall with many pedestrians, including toddlers and seniors on walkers.
Reporting on DECAA’s Candidates Forum for At-Large seats on the DC Council last month, DECAA Vice President Iris McCollum Green said of the thirteen candidates in attendance, a significant majority were in favor of and would support regulations that protect pedestrians from bicyclists.
In other news from the meeting, DECAA endorsed a petition to speed up citizen requests under the Freedom of Information Act. In response to the COVID pandemic, the DC Council lifted the time limits for government response to FOIA requests. But it is at a time of emergency that the public is more concerned about oversight of government operations. DECAA encourages readers to sign the petition sponsored by DC KinCare Alliance, active in providing services for the homeless, on this link.
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/give-dc-residents-full-access-to-information-about-dc-government-operations-now-2?source=direct_link&
Join DECAA. www.KeepDupontGreen.org, and sign the petition
Make a donation at www.GoFundMe.com/Keep-Dupont-Green
DECAA – Dedicated to community engagement and civic action