“Dear PoPville,
As has been rumored in the past week, the Trump admin is threatening to remove the 15th Street protected bike lanes on the national mall. DDOT just completed a before/after evaluation showing major safety improvements since implementation, including a 91% reduction in bicycle injury crashes!
See the full report here.
“In Fall 2021, DDOT completed the 15th St NW/SW Protected Bike Lane Project (Pennsylvania Ave NW to Maine Ave SW). The goals of this project were to:
Create a safe right-of-way for people, regardless of walking, biking, or driving
Improve function of the street and intersections to make them easier to use and understand
Balance travel delay with right-of-way capacity and access for everyone who uses the street
To understand the impact of the project, in 2026 DDOT conducted a data-driven evaluation of the corridor to understand the vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian impacts.
DDOT’s evaluation showed that:
The project reduced all roadway crashes by 46% and bicycle injury crashes by 91%.
The new protected facility resulted in a 3% increase in bicycle traffic along the corridor.
Capital Bikeshare stations along the corridor are among the most used in the system, with the Jefferson Street station seeing 232,658 CaBi trip starts and ends since 2022.
After the project was installed, speeds increased by 17%. Peak hour northbound travel time decreased by 36 seconds, while southbound travel time decreased by 40 seconds on the corridor.”