The failure of the Bowser administration’s Vision Zero program has shed light on D.C.’s inequitable transportation infrastructure that, in part, has spurred traffic fatalities east of the Anacostia River over the past few years.
That’s why an increasingly growing group of cyclists from Ward 8 has coalesced around a call for traffic safety measures. They will soon make their appeal to D.C. Council member Trayon White and the Ward 8 D.C. Council candidates.
Jeremiah Lowery, a Black bicycling advocate who hails from Ward 8, said that the lack of crosswalks, speed bumps, bus lanes, protected bike lanes, stop signs and other traffic safety measures has made it difficult for bicyclists, race and ethnicity notwithstanding, to navigate communities located east of the Anacostia River.
Lowery, advocacy director at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), said the problem has fueled a false narrative that Black people haven’t embraced biking. He pointed to survey data debunking that notion.
“When we have this perception, it’s [actually] decades of underinvestment,” Lowery said. “Communities outside of east of the Anacostia River have been invested [when it comes to] transportation infrastructure. You can do an eye test and go to Petworth, Columbia Heights, and Shaw in Northwest. The folks [in Ward 8] I talk to aren’t happy.”
Ward 8 Community Members Embrace E-Bikes, But With Questions
The District has seen 242 deaths from traffic incidents since 2017, according to data collected by D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT). Of those deaths, 105, or 43%, happened in Wards 7 and 8.
By 2022, Southern Avenue in Southeast earned the title of D.C.’s deadliest corridor, with at least 18 traffic fatalities in eight years.
The danger on D.C.’s roads has gotten worse in recent years. As of Oct. 17, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) had recorded 40 traffic fatalities in 2023 — a 54% increase from what had been recorded at the same time last year. More than 40% of traffic fatalities this year took place east of the Anacostia River, with Ward 8 representing the larger share.
One traffic fatality in the District this year involved a cyclist. When it came to injuries, cyclists accounted for 8.2% of serious injuries, compared to 24% for pedestrians, 18% for passengers and nearly 50% for drivers. In Wards 7 and 8, three cyclists suffered serious injuries in traffic incidents this year, while 25 cyclists suffered a traffic-related injury, severity notwithstanding.
Notably, it can be difficult to make a direct comparison of traffic incidents involving cyclists versus pedestrians. That’s because, while the number of cyclists in the District has increased in recent years (Axios DC reported that the number of average daily bike trips per 1,000 people in the D.C. metro area rose from 24 to 31 between 2019 and 2022), there are still far more pedestrians than bikers on the road on a given day.
During the earlier part of October, the D.C. Council Committee on Transportation and the Environment and the Committee on Public Works conducted a joint hearing on four bills intended to boost traffic safety.
For hours, dozens of advisory neighborhood commissioners, organizers and residents weighed in on the importance of strengthening traffic enforcement and effectively penalizing reckless drivers, particularly those who cruise around the city with fake tags.
This hearing took place weeks after the D.C. Council approved an e-bike subsidy bill. Once the program gets up and running, District residents eligible for programs like SNAP can receive up to $1,500 for a qualifying e-bike, among other rebates for e-bike expenses. Residents outside of the income qualifications can get half of that.
Glenn Brown, owner of the D.C. Bike Academy in Congress Heights, said more e-bike users means fewer cars on the road, which reduces both traffic and harmful pollution.
Brown said the city is “absolutely moving in the right direction” in terms of becoming more bike-friendly. But he also said that the shift has been “a slow process,” especially in Ward 8, where he thinks introducing more bikes and e-bikes into the community will require installing more bike lanes, and better maintenance and cleaning for the ones that exist. Bike lockers for safe storage are important, too, he said.
Other serious barriers that Brown discussed included high risks of theft, and, above all, inaccessible prices. “The question is, is it affordable to our community yet? As we build this infrastructure, are we still leaving behind a community of need?” Brown said.
Other cities, Brown said, also have far more visible, diverse biking communities than D.C. When he started up the D.C. Bike Academy in 2022, he noticed dozens of young people walking past the bikes outside his shop without showing any interest.
“The hurdle is that we don’t see ourselves on bikes, and you cannot be what you cannot see,” Brown said. “We had to build a culture, first of all, that it was okay or cool to ride a bike.”
Brown said he enlisted help from “the Wheelie kids” who often ride up and down Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, front wheels raised high. Today, the D.C. Bike Academy program has 48 young people, 12 of whom compete in mountain and road bike races.
Next semester, youth in Brown’s program will get to learn how to use e-bike conversion kits to add batteries to their newly built bikes. While Brown focuses on giving youth the chance to learn about building, repairing and riding bikes, he said he also thinks more bike and e-bike use could make a big difference for communities in D.C., especially those located east of the Anacostia River.
“Our community, Ward 8, is a walking community—on any given day, you can go to Safeway, in Ward 7, or Giant in Ward 8, the parking lot can be empty, but the store will be crowded,” Brown said. “E-bikes will allow for accessibility and transportation to flourish in our communities.”
Congress Heights resident Marvin Brown IV has encouraged his neighbors to take advantage of the e-bike program. He said many of them have taken his words to heart and will soon follow in his footsteps.
Since moving to Congress Heights nearly three years ago, Brown IV has embraced the benefits of a nearly 30-minute commute on e-bike from his residence to his office in Metro Center in Northwest. He told The Informer that he goes along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue before crossing the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge and working his way through Downtown.
Along the way, Brown IV is often reminded day in and day out of what he described as streets in Ward 8 that are unsafe, not only for cyclists, but drivers and pedestrians.
Even with bike lanes on portions of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Alabama Avenue and Malcolm X Avenue, Brown IV stresses that there is still the potential for serious injuries and fatalities without the installation of bollards and plastic posts near bike lanes.
Brown IV recounted a couple of unsuccessful attempts over the years to engage Council member White’s office on this matter. He also reflected on interactions with Everett Lott who, during his tenure as DDOT director, told Brown IV and other constituents that a lack of cooperation from the Ward 8 council member has discouraged DDOT from seriously pursuing the installment of protective bike lanes and other traffic calming measures.
Frustration around the loss of parking space and driving lanes have driven tensions around bike infrastructure. In 2019, DDOT erased one of two bike lanes the agency had installed just a month prior on Alabama Avenue in Southeast following nearby residents’ concerns, mostly regarding parking.
These days, Brown IV has set his sights on Anacostia Park, which he says is in dire need of bike lanes that ease accessibility for cyclists riding from Downtown Anacostia. Within the coming weeks, he and other cyclists who live in Ward 8 will launch their appeal to White and Ward 8 council candidates for improvements to Ward 8’s transportation infrastructure that boost traffic safety.
“There are people who cycle to get around town — not just for recreation, but to commute,” said Brown IV, an attorney and environmental justice advocate. ”I see folks on bicycles on a day-to-day basis. We’re in the midst of organizing them now through listservs, meetings, and hopefully some events. We want to make sure people feel safe.”
Ward 8 Cyclists Return to Oxon Run Park
The Fresh Wind Community Development Corporation hosted the 3rd annual Ward 8 Bike Ride on the morning of Oct. 21. The 12-mile bicycle ride started at Oxon Run Park on the corner of Wheeler Road Southeast and Valley Avenue Southeast.
Ramona Barber, the founding executive director of Fresh Wind Community Development Corporation, coordinated the inaugural bike ride in 2020 at the behest of Council member White. She said that White saw the bike ride, which took place at the height of the pandemic, as an event that could get people more active after several weeks of quarantine.
For the first two years, WABA served as a sponsor. This year, sponsors included Amerigroup, DDOT, DC Housing Finance Agency, Friends of Oxon Run Park, and H2 Design Build. MPD also dispatched officers to accompany cyclists. More than 50 cyclists were anticipated to participate.
Barber said future cycling events could potentially expand beyond the ward with the formation of cycling teams and a focus on special causes, like autism research.
For the time being, Barber and her colleagues continue to assess ways of making cycling more attractive to Ward 8 residents. She told The Informer that she’s increasingly looking at biking, her childhood pastime, in a new light, acknowledging the bike lanes that cyclists plan on using during the bike ride as a game changer.
“I grew up in Ward 8, and all we did was ride our bikes up and down the street,” Barber said.
“Council member White loves the fact that we’re getting people out to bike,” she added. “With Ward 8 having the most school-aged children, it’s important for them to know about bike riding like we did.”
On Sunday, Oct. 15, White promoted the bike ride via X, formerly known as Twitter, framing it as a response to health disparities that Ward 8 residents experience. Within minutes, nearly a dozen people responded to White’s post, criticizing what they called the Ward 8 council member’s refusal to secure bike lanes and other traffic calming measures.
During budget deliberations earlier this year, White clashed with his council colleagues when he insisted on diverting funds that DDOT had allocated toward a Ward 8 traffic infrastructure project to fund improvements to Marion Barry Avenue (formerly known as Good Hope Road).
In 2019, White stood alongside residents who’ve bemoaned the installation of bike lanes along Alabama Avenue in Southeast that he said shifted traffic patterns and caused constituents to rack up more traffic tickets. By that time, he had successfully introduced legislation that, had it been funded, would’ve stopped traffic fines from doubling after 30 days and allow offenders to do community service. Another traffic-related bill that White successfully championed eliminated a practice through which District residents lost their licenses for unpaid civil fines. During his mayoral run, White once again appealed to residents perturbed by traffic tickets when he pledged to launch a ticket forgiveness program if elected.
During a visit to The Informer office earlier this year, White said that developers have been able to leverage Vision Zero into contracts for infrastructure projects that haven’t curbed reckless driving. He went on to say that DDOT and other agencies don’t have the cultural sensitivities to respond to residents’ concerns.
White’s office has since revealed that it’s exploring the possibility of introducing legislation that would require DDOT to engage community members about proposed changes or changes that had been implemented, especially when unintended consequences are discovered.
While he acknowledged the benefits of Bowser’s plan to install 20 miles of protected bike lanes to compel the gradual reduction of cars on the road, White pointed out several factors that he said would preclude the Bowser administration from realizing its goal.
“There are obvious energy and health benefits to this policy, however, Ward 8 has the most families and children of any Ward, and many of our families rely on their cars for work and school,” White told The Informer. “Parking is also a big issue in the infrastructure. What would make a big difference is if DDOT engaged with the community prior to, during, and after it makes changes to allow all perspectives of residents to be heard on the matter and find a common ground.”
Council Candidates Speak about Biking and Traffic Infrastructure
The Informer unsuccessfully attempted to gather comment from DDOT.
White hasn’t officially thrown his hat in the ring in the Ward 8 council race. As of Oct. 18, three people — Salim Adofo, Rahman Branch, and Markus Batchelor — are running in the Democratic primary, a contest that often determines the outright winner of many, if not all, District electoral contests.
Twice, The Informer unsuccessfully attempted to secure an interview with Branch.
Adofo, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Congress Heights, has spent the past four years advocating for traffic calming measures along Ward 8’s major corridors.
Long before an accident at a crosswalk on Wheeler Road left a father and his two daughters critically injured, Adofo submitted a traffic safety assessment to DDOT for the corridor. In the assessment, Adofo requested that the agency provide stop signs, speed bumps, raised sidewalks and islands in the middle of streets, among other resources for Wheeler Road and surrounding areas.
While he acknowledged the installment of bike lanes along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Malcolm X Avenue, and Alabama Avenue, Adofo told The Informer that he would like those bike lanes to be protected. He also expressed a desire for the installment of protected bike lanes along the portion of Mississippi Avenue leading to Southern Avenue, saying that there’s less demand for parking so residents wouldn’t be inconvenienced by the traffic calming measure.
If elected, Adofo has pledged to engage Ward 8 residents in conversation about how to make communities more favorable for multi-modal transportation. As it relates to transportation, Adofo identified the transition of the Ward 8 WMATA bus terminal from gas to electric and a comprehensive plan that outlines when Ward 8’s major corridors get repaved.
Adofo said he also wants to work more closely with DDOT to advance traffic safety goals in the ward. When it comes to the agency’s relationship with Ward 8, Adofo too recounted conversations with DDOT leadership concerning Council member White’s apprehension about traffic calming measures. For Adofo, such a situation, in part, hints at a tension specific to Ward 8, the most economically disadvantaged part of the District.
“This is still a largely populated African-American community so when new things come, we don’t think they’re meant for our success and enjoyment,” Adofo said. “There are so many issues that are plaguing the community, [so] issues such as bikes don’t seem to measure up, and understandably so. We have to understand that we can do multiple things at the same time. The alternatives that biking can provide is a small piece of a larger puzzle.”
If elected, Batchelor said that he would work to attract investment in all forms of transportation in Ward 8.
Meeting that goal, he said, requires the merging of a wide range of viewpoints — including that of homeowners, business owners, cyclists, drivers and bus riders.
He told The Informer that previous attempts to engage the community have left out large swathes of residents, particularly those with concerns and fears about how bike lanes and other forms of traffic infrastructure can change their lives.
While Batchelor acknowledged what he described as DDOT’s heavy presence in the community, he said that communication between the agency and the community has been misaligned at times. He pledged to tackle that issue and move DDOT and residents toward more of a common understanding about how to make the roads in Ward 8 safer for all people.
“A disproportionate share of our residents die on our streets because of bad drivers enabled by bad infrastructure,” Batchelor said.
“We need a comprehensive plan to make our streets better, but the real core is keeping people alive,” he continued. “By the metric of Vision Zero, we’re regressing, and Ward 8 is paying an unfair share of those injuries and deaths. It’s a chronic problem and wires getting crossed can’t get in the way of making progress on this issue.”