Test track for Washington Street?

There's already a bike lane on Washington Street.  Unfortunately it's been taken over by parked cars from either employees of the many restaurants and bars in Five Points, or guests coming to the area for some of the greatest wining and dining experiences San Diego has to offer.

Now, there's a new bike track called The Flow from Copenhagenize that allows cities to test out bike lanes without committing to changing their infrastructure.

I found and article extolling it's virtues on Fast Company: Lego-Like Bike Lanes That Snap Into Place Could Create Instant Biking Cities.

Maybe we need a test track on Washington Street and the surrounding areas?

10 Opportunities for parking in the very crowded Five Points area of San Diego

Head-in parking can help create more space in the area of Five Points, San  Diego.

Despite it sitting right next to the I-5 freeway, and despite it being a tiny strip of (mostly) historic buildings, the area known as Five Points in San Diego is a HUGE destination for locals and beyond.  It's marginalized setting belies its attraction points; it is an area that many people travel to from all over San Diego county, and in fact, the world. This is because it has some of San Diego’s oldest and most famous wining and dining spots.

To wit, many people say that as soon as they land at San Diego's Lindbergh field, they bee-line straight over to Five Points for either the rolled tacos at El Indio, or a craft beer at the Regal Beagle.  Others say they want fresh Pacific seafood from Blue Water Grill, and still others say they are craving the chicken from Saffron Thai. Yes, it's pretty much San Diego's International Restaurant Row!

So, at certain times of the day, especially on weekends, parking is absolutely horrendous. Frankly, the area becomes one giant parking lot.  Both the volume of parked cars, and then the circling traffic looking for parking makes it like the COSTCo/Ikea lotin Mission Valley.  And of course this parking-lot-atmosphere gives one a sense of more marginalization, and quite degrades the entire neighborhood, which is the gateway to Mission Hills.

One time my parents who live in Scripps Ranch drove over to meet me on a late Sunday morning.  They had been in Coronado at dog beach and fancied some oysters at Blue Water Seafood and Market Grill.  (Their seafood is very FRESH!)  They swung by and picked me up in Middletown.  We drove along India, looking for parking.  It was probably 1pm.  There was NOTHING.

We circled.

We circled again.

And then circled again.

After about 20 minutes, we decided I'd drop them off, and return home to park the car and then walk back to meet them.  I did, and the parking problem was solved.  Essentially no parking = walk, if you live in Middletown.

But what if you don’t live close by?  What if you were driving in from Poway, or from the mesa of Mission Hills or Hillcrest?  What if you had just landed back in San Diego after being out of the country?

I posed that question to some friends.

The Poway friends said, 'well because it's so far, we would probably just keep circling until we found something.'  This was pretty much what I expected.  As pointed out above a lot of the traffic conditions in the area are made up of drivers circling, waiting for parking spaces to open up.  This creates a lot of unnecessary traffic, air pollution, noise pollution, danger for pedestrians and drivers, flared tempers etc.

The locals from up on the Mesa of Mission Hills said, 'we don't go. It's too hard to find parking.'  They added that if they are really craving San Diego's best gelato, they 'strategically go'.  In other words, they go off hours, or place an order for pick-up so they can run in and get it.  This is what I do too.  I only ever agree to meet friends in the area during non-peak hours, and if it is peak hours, I suggest somewhere else.  

My friend who works for the Marines, and lives in Indonesia said he'd park way up in the neighborhood and walk into Five Points. (He’s a lifelong fan of El Indio’s Mexican food and it’s his first stop every time he comes home!) That’s pretty typical too.  The residents in the surrounding area have long complained that the overflow from Five Points impacts them negatively, affecting their own parking abilities.  I mean, how do they invite guests over when there’s not parking?

Long story short: parking is bad in Five Point.  Having safe bike lanes leading in and out of the area will mean local people will travel by bike, freeing up parking spaces.  And, business will increase because more people can get there.

If I were a business in Five Points, I would want the City to maximize parking by doing 90-degree head-in in the following areas:

1. Chalmers (both sides, 2 blocks)
2. California (as much as possible, both sides)
3. Winder (both sides, 1 block)
4. Columbia street at the top of Chalmers intersection
5. I would also like to see head-in parking all the way along India to Glenwood on the east side.  This would calm traffic as it would narrow the lanes.   (And I would put a STOP sign here too, but that is for another post.)
6. Beyond head-in parking opportunities, there is room for a 'striped parking island' on the corner of Winder and Columbia,that if done right could allow for 2-4 more cars.
7. On the corner of Glenwood and India, there is a used car lot. Someone on the BID should find out if that is private or city land.  If it's City land, the BID should buy him out of his lease, and work with the city to get a parking lot built there.  (In my opinion.)
8. Next to the Shell on India, before Upas, there is another empty lot that could be built out for parking.  Again, the local BID could work with the City to put something there.  If anything, the parking created could be simply for employees of the area who represent a huge amount of the required parking spaces
9. I thought this one was smart, and it is not my idea; it actually came to me by way of an Urban Planner.  The area at the base of Washington on the north side, across the street from the Palomar Market parking lot to the east, there is a pump station for storm water.  There is a lot of very nasty invasive arundo growing here.  I think this area is a prime area for a parking lot also.  It would probably require an elevated metal structure over the pump station, or maybe we could just put in bioswales to capture storm water on India to eliminate the pump station, but it could easily fit 5-8 cars in this area.  I am not sure how cars would access it – perhaps through the Palomar lot, or perhaps a small road could be built off Washington, but again, it’s a great spot for employee parking in the area.
10. Last, but not least, there are private businesses in the area who are not open for business on the weekends however could open up their lots to the public for parking. On the corner of SD Avenue and McKee, there is a lot with 30 spots, that could easily help with overflow from the Five Points area.

Overall, it would increase business right away.  In the long-run, due to growth, and density planning, parking spaces would end up filling up again, but maybe by then better public transport options would be in place?  The valet parking currently in place is working extremely well.  (One biz owner mentioned it had increased their business 20-25%!)

Obviously, the bike lanes will help too.  

Support for bike lanes growing in Uptown.

We had a great turn-out in support of the Bike Project last night at the Uptown Planners meeting.  It was standing room only, with two extra rows of chairs to accommodate everyone.  

A few highlights:

•           It was standing room only, and the crowd was overwhelmingly in favor of the bike project.
•          The President of the Hillcrest BID said that if this project was going to happen, they wanted it to be a world-class project, with all the features and benefits other cities have; that we should be a model!
•           A woman who’s a resident of Hillcrest, pointed out that DC and Denver where she’d previously lived had great bike lanes, making it safe and easy to get around.  She said San Diego needs to step up and act like the size city it is, meaning, we can’t act like we’re a little cow town anymore.  Bike lanes are what transform cities allowing for more growth, more density, and better livability.
•          The Cashbah’s publicist was completely in favor of it, because she knows, there’ s no parking around them, so anything that offers new ways to bring customers to their events is good for business.
•           A local resident and cyclist who commutes through Uptown brought up a few academic and business studies that show bikelanes bring more business to communities.  He also reminded everyone we have entered a new era, and that the old model of traditional car-centric community focus is over.  There’s simply no more room to plan around cars. 
•           Another  local resident on the Mesa in Mission Hills, was in support of the project, but wanted to make sure Washington Street was safe; he said he and his wife would more likely walk down to Five Points more for dinner or drinks if it was safer.
•          I spoke about making it a green project to help stop polluted water entering our creeks and bays; I also talked about the speedstudy which had audible gasps from audience members.  Clearly this project will bring much-needed calming to Washington.

All in all, over 20 people spoke, with only a few dissenters who mostly lamented the loss of potential parking. 

Those few dissenters made their points.

One guy said that cycling is for white people only.  I didn’t catch it entirely, so feel free to comment with what he actually said.  But the representative of Center City Advisory Group who has attended all of SANDAG’s bike project meetings cleared that up for the crowd and pointed out that studies show minorities often don’t have the extra funds to operate a car, and that biking allowed them to get to jobs. 

Another couple said that narrowing Washington Street canyon’s lanes might be challenging for ambulances.  Her point was that it might be harder for her to pull over.  I see what she’s saying, but frankly we pull over in traffic in crowded busy streets now, and yes, it’s hard to turn your steering wheel for sure.  BUT we do it. 

A manager of an apartment complex in Five Points read a letter from a resident saying that there is not enough parking now, and that any loss of parking will be even worse.  He’s right, but I think it’s also important to consider parking from the standpoint of availability vs. convenience.  Parking will still be available.  People may just need to walk further.  That is a hazard of density.

Another woman pointed out that some funds should be used for parking.  I wanted to explain it’s a bike project, not a parking project.  And, for the umpteenth time that parking will actually open up if people can get there via bicycle safely.

Five Points folks, (some of them Board members,) pointed out the loss of parking also; that if there was reduced parking, then their sales would be reduced, and sales taxes to the City would be less.  One person even considered some businesses might go out of business.  His fears are unfounded though –all studies point to increased business.  And Beth, the project manager from SANDAG has said she will get the parking in Five Points figured out. I trust her to keep her word.

One Board member pointed out that if we want an environment like New York City, which is known for density and biking, then we should all go live there.  This seemed slightly ridiculous.  From a literal standpoint it’s very disrespectful towards residents who value our community and want to see it grow and thrive to tell them to leave. Secondly, given that he sits on a land-use and planning board that is about to approve increased density all over Uptown…. I mean, can we arguably approve density without approving alternate modes of travel?  What exactly does he think parking will be like in a few years when density really hits?

What do you think?  Can we allow for increased density, but not allow for alternate modes of travel? Does density planning automatically mean alternate travel modes must be considered?  Or do we just keep approving density without considering alternate forms of transport?  I'm not an expert, so please enlighten me.

Travel speeds on Washington Street reach 70 mph!

Washington Street is constantly busy, and 45% of drivers are traveling at speeds over the legal 45 mph.

Earlier this year, we were curious as to what actual speeds on Washington Street Canyon are.  We asked the City to do a speed test by putting those little speed tracks across the road.  The results were eye-opening.

I’ve posted the detailed Washington Street speed data on line so you can print it out to see it, but here are a few highlights:

• 27,773 cars use the canyon on a daily basis in and out of our community. This was a staggering amount of vehicles.
• The posted speed limit is 45mph.  The average speed was 55 mph.
•  740 cars traveled at speeds of 60-69 mph.  This is equivalent of driving on the freeway!
• And 28 cars traveled at more than 70 mph! 
• Surprisingly, it made no difference to speeds whether people traveled uphill or downhill.
• Travel during off-peak hours was much higher than expected; in fact the off-peak volumes were actually higher than regular travel times. 

Clearly speeds on Washington Street are too high, making it extremely unsafe to walk, bike, or park on the road, especially when it is so busy. I have had so many friends tell me they have tried to walk it but turn around because they were too afraid. A car driving within a few feet of you at 70 mph would do that!

Even though there is a sign posted to only cross at the crosswalk, I have watched families park at the bottom of Washington and India, and then try to get across the north side of it it to go to a restaurant.  They have to hop the median, which is fairly narrow at that point, but still, in flip-flops carrying a kid, it’s not easy.  If more than 750 vehicles are traveling over 60 mph, it’s just a matter of time before someone else is injured or even killed. 

I’ve been told that accidents are a regular occurrence at Washington and India as cars heading  west and then south onto India are regularly hit by speeding cars heading east at that intersection.  I’ve heard it happens every week. 

If we had trees planted in the median, narrower lanes as proposed by SANDAG’s bike project, and grade elevated bike lane and pedestrian path, it would slow cars down, and the road would be a much better connector between the mesa at the top, and the area of Five Points at the bottom.  More people would feel safe traveling it whether on foot, or by bike.

More bikes means more business.

$$$$$ 

Studies show that bike lanes not only improve livability for communities, but also increase business for retailers within that community.

For one, people who travel by bike are more likely to stop and patronize a business, because parking’s so easy.  A bike rider can always a place to lock up a bike, whether it’s a tree, or a rail or a fence. In the case of the Five Points area, bike access will increase business for all retailers, restaurants, and bars in the area.  Secondly,  as anyone who rides a bike knows - whether  it’s for commute, leisure, or exercise - stopping is often part of the goal.  Perhaps you need to do an errand while on your commute, or perhaps a place looks so inviting, stopping for a cold beer or a sandwich or a coffee, is exactly part of the whole point of traveling by bike.  The fact is, it’s simply easier to spend money when access is easier. 

I’ll say it again: there’s no parking in Five Points and most of Hillcrest now.  I’m sure we are going to squeeze out a few more spots if we work with the City to do head-in 90 degree angle parking in Five Points, but then what?  What will we do as we add more density to our communities?  Where exactly will all these additional cars park? Adding more parking when there is no space to put it is simply not an option.  The key is to act now, and embrace bike and pedestrian access to mitigate density impacts that are coming.

Here are some very good studies and articles that show bike access is great for business. 

http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/370893

http://www.lrrb.org/pdf/200450.pdf

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/bike-lanes-may-benefit-small-businesses-1C7488581

http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/how-bicycling-is-transforming-business

http://atlanta.curbed.com/archives/2013/08/08/bike-lanes-property-values-is-there-a-correlation.php

http://momentummag.com/features/the-rise-of-the-north-american-protected-bike-lane/page-8.html

http://streetsblog.net/2013/08/13/further-evidence-that-road-diets-dont-hurt-businesses/

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/08/05/in-vancouver-traffic-decreases-as-population-rises/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Streetsblog+%28Streetsblog%29

http://www.ncdot.org/transit/bicycle/safety/safety_economicimpact.html

www.dot.wisconsin.gov/business/econdev/docs/impact-bicycling.pdf

www.maine.gov/mdot/opt/pdf/biketourismexecsumm.pdf

 I particularly liked this one, because it shows how cities in Colorado used bike trails to lure tourists in non-skiing months.  Now we have pretty good weather year round in San Diego, but are we a cycling destination when getting around is so unsafe?  Probably not.  So bike lanes will likely give us one more reason for vacationers to come for a visit, and increase overall spending.  http://www.americantrails.org/resources/economics/biketourismcolo.html

Mission Hills residents can show support for bike lanes.

We can show support for SANDAG's bike project at the Uptown Planners meeting next Tues, 9/3. 

If you have not yet told your friends and neighbors that we are finally getting safe bike lanes through-out our city, now is the time to! 

We are still very much in the concept phase, but it is crucial to make sure our voices are heard so we get a world class project implemented.  Key issues are safety, connections, and access.

Here is the agenda for the Uptown meeting which starts at 6pm.  Please note there is a map that shows you where to go.  (Next Trader Joe's.)

See you there!

Five Points BID meeting

You're invited!

Calling all residents: there's a Five Points BID meeting tomorrow a.m.

The BID is having a meeting to discuss how they will lose parking spots if the bike lanes go in at the bottom of Washington.  Here is the invitation with further information.


See you there!

Parking, Parking, Parking.....

Proposed Washington Street bike lanes in San Diego, Five Points area.

Lately when it comes to the Washington Street Bike Upgrade project, all I've been hearing about is parking.

Yes, parking.

I had never given even a passing thought to parking management is in San Diego until I began working on the efforts to improve Washington Street.  

I first heard about parking as it's own trade when I started talking to the Mission Hills BID about Walk The Wash.  They all said the idea to make Washington Street bike and pedestrian-friendly was a good idea, but 'just don't eliminate any parking' is what they said.  

I agreed.  After all, parking is really, really hard to find at certain times of the day at Five Points.

I did 3 months worth of tours in the area in late 2012, and when I talked to people about how Washington Street could change for the better with a new footpath and bike lane, no one from the public ever mentioned parking.  They were focused on how great it would be to finally feel safe getting around the area without a car.  Some of them shared other ideas of how to make the area feel more like a community.

• They wanted less traffic.  (There's always a lot of cars circling, looking for parking.)  
• They also wanted it to be cleaner, and have more trees. 
• One guy told me about making the area more beautiful; a Shepard Fairey mural underneath the i-5 overpass that had been designed.  It's ready to go, but it just needs funding.   
• And countless others asked why the medians in the canyon on Washington had never been planted out with beautiful trees?  The trees would have all kinds of benefits to our community like
• creating shade
• providing habitat
• beautifying the area by hiding the the freeway
• helping to block some of the noise pollution
• cleaning the air pollution
• sucking up storm water when it rains
• and creating much needed traffic calming. 

But now that the designs for the bike lane are out, a lot of people are suddenly focused on parking because it turns out, you can't keep put in bike lanes and a sidewalk, AND find room to park cars without closing down a lane on Washington Street.  

So, if you can't close a lane, something's gotta give.  It looks like it's the parking at the bottom of the canyon.

I asked the employees one Friday morning at Gelato Vero where they park. They laughed, and said, it's really hard to find parking.  They said if they work in the morning, it's easy.  But if they work an afternoon shift, it's really challenging. They said that many times, the afternoon shift person will call in and say, 'I'm here, but I'm just circling, looking for parking'.  And then the employees will see the person drive by in their car, circling, looking to find a place to park.  The person will usually end up parking up the hill in the neighborhood, so that means the residential area is now a parking lot for the businesses down below.

I think it's strange that a City can keep giving out business licenses, and allowing areas to put in more and more businesses, but not coordinate the infrastructure support of items like additional parking, or increased public transit, or safe bike lanes to support access to the businesses. They do require minimum parking spots for each 1000' of business establishment (2.1 spots in Five Points!) but when you have amazing grub from so many famous places (El Indio and Reagle Beagle to name just two,) it becomes a destination spot for people.  Let's face it, people come to Five Points from all over the County.

I also think it's a little short-sighted of the business owners to keep trying to grow their businesses, without tackling the parking issue.  Why aren't they creating parking lots?  Where do they expect their employees to park? Where do they themselves park in the Five Points area?  I estimate that there are about 40-50 spots needed for employees on any given day in Five Points.

The thing is, if bike lanes go in, it will actually alleviate parking problems because frankly there is no more parking left.  So, by having safe bike lanes, more people can ride their bikes to their jobs, which will free up parking for the area. Patrons can also ride their bikes to Five Points.  

What do you think?  Do you believe parking will become available if more people feel safe getting around by bike?  How long do you think it will take society to transition to this mode of travel?   

Litter on Washington

Unlike the rest of Five Points, litter at the bottom of Washington street tends to build up over the weeks.  

Fellow resident, John Lomac had noticed it driving up the canyon one day and mentioned it a few weeks ago because was particularly bad.  We took a walk over to see it and noticed a lot of cigarette butts, fast food wrappers and drink bottles, straws, etc.  

Along India Street, the business owners do an amazing job of sweeping the sidewalks, and generally keeping everything very clean and welcoming. 

But as soon as you turn up the canyon, over in the bike lane parking, it's full of litter.  So what's happening?

During the day, employees for some of the businesses tell me they park there.  It's not a metered area, so they don't have to move their cars if working an 8 hour shift.  That said, I do not think they would be eating fast food and leaving the litter there.  

I think the litter is coming from folks who come late at night to Bar Dynamite, which pretty much becomes a club atmosphere with a DJ late at night.  This crowd which likes to get their drink on, their dance on, and also needs to satiate their drinking with fast food.  So, they go out for drinks, grab some fast food, then head to Bar Dynamite to kick up their heels.  Sounds like fun, but they're leaving all their nasty trash when they leave.  

It would be great if the business owners could get a crew from each business out to clean it up every morning.  

Debris of every type of fast food you can think of: cups, straws, bags, boxes, lids, containers, and all plastic!

Lots of bags that blow around and end up everywhere else.

The litter is all the way up the hill as far as the cars park.

It blows across the street onto the other side too.

Here's a bag trapped by some weeds, halfway up the side of the canyon.

When the first rains come in the Fall, all the litter will flow down the canyon, into the storm drain, and then wash out to sea, where it ends up on our beaches.

One of the big benefits of implementing the bike lane, is that this area will have a proper footpath, and these cars will be parked elsewhere.  I imagine the City will have a place for trashcans too, so hopefully this mess will get resolved once the bike lanes are in.

Washington Street Bike Plan - DESIGN IDEAS!

SO finally, after months and months, we are starting to see some designs for what a bike path on Washington Street could look like.

The image shows what the current state of Washington street is, and what it could look like.  Some thoughts:

• this is a section of Washington Street at 68' wide.  But not all sections are that wide, nor do they support a 6' median.  But, we are not supposed to take this view as the literal implementation of the plan.
• the pathway/sidewalk on the right is a nice feature, and because it's grade-separated, it looks really safe.  
• both bike lanes look like safety is a priority
• the median planted with a tree makes the whole street look much more aesthetically pleasing.  I wonder if they are thinking about capturing any runoff in that median?
• it's not really fair to call it a "Parking Lane" in the existing view because it is actually a bike lane currently, albeit a really poor one.  Apparently the city places a sign off to the right indicating it's for bikes, but someone keeps taking it down.  That said, this bike lane contains an average about 15 cars a day parked in it, because as we all know, there is no parking in Five Points.

What do you think of the proposed design?  Do you think it's safe?  Do you think it works?  What do you think the impacts will be?

Bike lanes to boost business in Mission Hills, San Diego!

I haven't posted on Walk the Wash in forever because now that the project is funded and underway, we are all waiting to see what the fabulous team at SANDAG has come up with!  We are eagerly anticipating the design solutions in the coming weeks.  As soon as we have pics, we'll post them.

In the meantime, our friend Jean sent us this great post from Treehuger on how bike lanes boost business.

Bike lanes increase business and decrease injuries to everyone using the streets.

You can read the article on how bikes boost business, but suffice it to say, that a NY study showed a whopping 49% increase in retail sales! When you consider that our city council just made the permits for outdoor sidewalk seating a lot easier and cheaper, this will really increase sales for everyone on Washington and the surrounding areas!

I wonder what would happen to businesses along India street if there was a bike lane there too?  

Surface streets like Washington are not freeway onramps.

The City Council voted Tuesday to improve bike routes all over the city.  Thanks to our Councilman, Todd Gloria, for supporting this important mode of transportation!  

This resolution will make biking safer which means more people will use bikes instead of cars.  

"With our progress on sharrows, bike corrals, bike sharing and ciclovias, we are working hard to make our city more bike-friendly."  - Todd Gloria, via facebook.

A good article on KPBS is here, and Fox has a good video summary, with a blog link.

Project Update

Members of the community give input on the Uptown Regional Bike Corridor Project.

Beth at SANDAG has uploaded a project schedule with a good summary of our portion of the regional bike project for Uptown. The next meeting is Feb 6, and it will cover design ideas and review existing conditions.

Last year we blogged about some design ideas when we toured Washington street with some of the trustees from the Mission Hills Town Council.  

In SANDAG's first meeting, staff did a great job of explaining how communities would like to bike more, but the vast majority feel unsafe on the roads.  In fact, surveys show that 60% of people are interested in riding, but are concerned and so they don't. Of course this means communities continue to have more cars on the roads, more traffic, more parking issues, worse air quality, less exercise for folks that want it, more wear and tear on infrastructure, etc. etc....  Only 1% of people have no fear when it comes to sharing the road with cars.  SANDAG showed an excellent powerpoint with the great information on bike lane designs, and explained how roads are for everyone, not just cars.

They finished the meeting by asking what are the opportunities for our community as we build out this enhancement?  And, what types of facilities be implemented in certain areas?  Check out the powerpoint for ideas, and tell us what you'd like to see in Mission Hills.

The danger of cycling next to parked cars

This is a great video that shows the danger of cycling next to parked cars, or what's known as the "door zone."




The safest lane to travel in is the bike lane, and reduces injuries by 90%.  You can read a good summary post and link to a new study here.

According to the study, the most dangerous roads are "wide streets with parked cars and no bike infrastructure".  Hey, that sounds like Washington Street!