North by Northwest (Quadrant): A Transplant’s Perspective on Cycling in Washington, D.C.
A Bike Ride Down D.C.’s Busy 14th Street Corridor Illuminates the Tension Between Cars and Micromobility — and Potential for Safe, Joyful Mobility
To bike through downtown Washington, D.C., is a life-affirming experience. Cars pulling into bike lanes; ATVs racing past you; pedestrians waiting until you’ve just made it into the crosswalk before they decide to do the fake jog to make it look like they’re trying to get out of the way. All of these moments make me stop, breathe deep and try to laugh at the struggles that shape the experience of a cyclist in the District.
It was during one of these times of reflection that I came up with the idea for this blog. This summer marks my first time in beautiful D.C. Since arriving, I’ve decided to lean into the intern life and learn all I can about this city. I want to experience what it’s like to commute, travel and take up space here. As a Chicago native, if you asked me to imagine D.C. before I arrived, the phrase “city-sized field trip” would come to mind. Even a first-time visitor is familiar with the statues and heritage sites that reflect the city’s status and history as the nation’s capital. But I’m more interested in seeing what D.C. is like after the monuments have closed and the breaking news has passed.
And I want to see it by bike, not just because it’s cheaper than Metro (though I’m loving Capital Bikeshare’s $20 monthly bike pass). No, I’ll travel by bike so I can feel how D.C. is adjusting to the reality that micromobility is here to stay.
D.C. is known, at least in the transportation world, as a bikeable city. Before the pandemic, the number of people who exclusively biked to work in the District jumped to at least 4% of the population, or some 13,000 people. Today, bikes, electric bikes and scooters are becoming even more of a factor in the commuting landscape of the city. Like many cities around the world, D.C. is adjusting to the reality that how we move is changing — and noting which parts of the city do this well and which do not is part of my effort to help this transition. More selfishly, I want to bike here because of the simple fact that it’s fun! Whether I’m at home in Chicago or traveling abroad, I feel the same freedom when I’m flying down the street by bike.
I decided to start this project with a ride down the 14th Street corridor, a highly-trafficked and popular stretch that runs through one of the densest parts of the city. I’d already walked along the corridor a few times, but transit planning and commuter policy had not been on my mind as I bounced from a night out dancing at Cloak and Dagger to finding some good greasy food at Jumbo Pizza. This time, sunlight lit my way, instead of street and strobe lights, as I biked down to the Busboys and Poets restaurant and bookstore on 14th and V streets in Northwest.
As I biked, it struck me that parts of 14th Street have some of the best bike infrastructure I’ve seen in this or any other American city. Wide streets, clearly visible bike lane lines and concrete separating bike lanes from cars on the main road give the corridor the potential to be a cyclist’s dream. Additionally, there are frequent Capital Bikeshare docks and e-scooters lining much of lower 14th Street. With so much to offer, especially in terms of urban planning, 14th Street ostensibly presents a great example of how D.C. is adjusting to the rise in usage of micromobility options.
Yet appearance and reality are often two tragically different things. So far this year, three bicyclists and 12 pedestrians have been killed by drivers in the District. 2021 had the shameful distinction of being the deadliest year for bicyclists and pedestrians in D.C. in over a decade. While no e-scooter rider deaths have been recorded this year, recent studies show that the majority of e-scooter accidents in the district happen on the sidewalks because riders tend to illegally ride on sidewalks to avoid sharing the street with reckless drivers.
A lot of noise has already been made about the D.C., Maryland and Virginia drivers micromobility users share the road with, and the number of times (three) I was cut off by unaware drivers gave me plenty of reason to add to the dogpile. Eventually, I began to wonder why I was so exposed to life-threatening risk in the first place.
The issue of street safety goes beyond the behavior of drivers. As I biked, it became clear that the very design of the corridor does neither drivers nor micromobility users any favors. On my ride, I encountered bike lanes obstructed by delivery trucks or idling cars, and cars mindlessly drifted close to me, demonstrating a lack of respect for the space I was entitled to as a fellow commuter. Feeling how anxiety-inducing it was to bike through busy commercial arteries shows that D.C., like many other cities, is still figuring out how to combine the need for safe, protected space for diverse transportation options with its existing infrastructure.
The transition is slowly, but surely, happening. By the end of 2022, D.C. is set to construct over 20 miles of protected bike lanes, and at least 10 more miles will be built every year from 2023 to 2025. Additionally, 18th Street, which cuts through a busy commercial area in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, will be officially closed to cars on several Sundays this year as part of the District’s Streets for People initiative.
These are great steps, but why not aim even higher? Why not actively enforce laws that forbid parking in bike lanes? Why not draw bike paths that feed into less busy side streets that can then be forbidden to cars? Why not ordain that trucks park and unload in the back of buildings, instead of on the street where they force cyclists and scooter users to chance dipping into fast-moving car traffic just to get by? All of these could be worthwhile responses to the reality that drivers often do not respect the space micromobility users need.
I share these complaints and suggestions because I see that cycling around D.C. has so much potential to be both safe and joyful. Accessing so much of the District by bike has become a positive feedback loop; the more I bike and see the city, the more I want to engage with its liveliness. One long ride down 14th street, however, opened my eyes to the danger of that desire. At the same time, just one ride has shown to me the capacity D.C. has to be a trailblazer in building an integrated, multimodal transportation ecosystem. The District could truly be a model for how cities accommodate the cyclists and other micromobility users who are the future of commuting. It’s just a matter of deciding how much D.C. wants to lead the way.
Dominick Tanoh is a graduate intern for NUMO, the New Urban Mobility alliance. He currently studies international development and urban policy at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs.
NUMO is a global organization that channels tech-based disruptions in urban transport to create joyful cities where sustainable and just mobility is the new normal. Founded in 2019 as an outgrowth of the Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities, NUMO convenes diverse allies and leverages the momentum of significant revolutions in mobility to target urban issues — including equity, sustainability, accessibility and labor — impacted by the shifting transportation landscape.
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