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Young Students Watch a DDOT Planting Crew at Work

There is no shortage of pictures of children planting trees with big smiles on their faces, or perhaps college students or a neighborhood group volunteering on a Saturday. Such photos and the events from which they derive are the stock-in-trade of promotion in urban forestry. Volunteer planting efforts excite the public, engage all populations in beautifying our city while helping it function more like a natural ecosystem, and plant trees where they might otherwise not be. Yet in Washington, DC there is another, albeit less photogenic, side to urban tree planting that doesn’t make it in too many glossy brochures. It is the highly efficient professional street tree planting operation that has far fewer cherub smiles and far more calloused hands, but accounts for a large majority of the thousands of trees planted throughout Washington, DC every year.

The District Department of Transportation’s Urban Forestry Administration (UFA) is currently planting about 7,000 trees citywide this year during the colder months of dormancy. Far from saplings, these trees stand about 8 feet tall with approximately two inch wide trunks. This year’s effort includes about 2,800 more trees than UFA planted last year. Despite a hurricane and other hindrances, 3,200 of those trees were already in the ground less than two months after beginning (See a map of the first 3,200 locations and species).

Staking a newly planted tree

Planning: UFA’s planting effort starts long before any hole is dug. Certified arborists use their intimate knowledge of the streetscape in their portion of the city, along with asset management and mapping technologies, to plan a diverse mosaic of species in good locations for each one. Their priorities are to replace dying and warranty trees that were recently removed, fulfill planting requests from residents, and, eventually, fill every plantable tree box or strip in the District’s street right-of-way.

Planting the right tree in the right place is critical. Smaller trees are planted under power lines or in narrow tree boxes while larger trees are put in areas with more room for both their canopy and root system to expand. The goal is to maximize tree canopy and species viability for each location.

Planting: Contracted crews, making their livings improving the urban environment, are motivated to complete their daily planting lists as quickly and effectively as possible. These 3 to 4 person crews haul trailers loaded with about 20 trees per day and usually spend only 10-15 minutes at each planting location. They dig sometimes unforgiving urban soil, adding amendments to the soil as well as a non-toxic hydrogel that stores water and releases it during dry periods. They plant, water, mulch, and stake each sizable tree before most residents know they were even there.

Monitoring: A certified District of Columbia arborist follows each planting crew every day. The arborist inspects every tree, either approving or rejecting it before it ever leaves the trailer. On site, the arborist does neighborhood outreach to encourage tree adoption and makes sure each tree that is planted meets industry specifications and contractual obligations. This level of oversight is necessary because there is little room for error or hidden shortcuts amid the intense infrastructure of an urban street when it comes to new trees getting established and surviving against the odds.

Maintenance: Too often maintenance of new trees falls by the wayside, but DC’s street trees are maintained under warranty. The contractor regularly provides a specified amount of water to each tree and replaces, free of charge to the District, any tree that does not survive its first year (exceptions, such as vandalism or a vehicle running into a tree, are obviously not the responsibility of the contractor).

Planting Requests: UFA prioritizes citizen planting requests made through the District’s 311 service request system (311.dc.gov or call 311). Individuals can suggest a preferred species and the arborists try to fulfill those wishes whenever possible. Requests must be received by June 15^th to make it onto the following autumn planting list.

Just as we get requests for trees, sometimes we get requests from folks who don’t want trees planted near their home or business. Our response is that street trees are for the greater good; they are considered a public asset providing environmental, social, and economic benefits. They are planted and maintained in as many viable street locations as possible to help reach the Mayor’s citywide goal of 40% tree canopy coverage.

Tree Adoption: To help residents and businesses fulfill their obligation to provide basic upkeep to the curb near their properties, DDOT will provide a free covered watering device for each tree adopted through the Canopy Keeper program. This once-a-week effort to water and clean tree boxes is a successful public-private partnership that provides critical support to the trees more consistently than just contractor watering; the trees have a chance to not just survive but thrive in their early years.

As UFA’s professional planting operation has been refined over the years, it has proven to be a successful, efficient means of expanding urban canopy, beautifying the streetscape, improving air and water quality, and minimizing tree mortality within the most intense and unforgiving urban habitats for trees.

Ian Leahy
Urban and Community Forestry
Coordinator

The holidays are the season of giving, a time when many people go out of their way to be charitable. In that spirit, many DDOT employees are making selfless contributions, big and small, to help others less fortunate than themselves.

Some are participating in the annual DC One Fund campaign, a very high profile effort spearheaded by the Mayor to raise a $1 million dollars for local charities and organizations. But we discovered some DDOT employees are making a difference in a much quieter way, but with just as big an impact on the recipients of their kindness.

Alex Carmona-Rodriquez shows his mom one of the toys he got from DDOT Employees

Staff in the Street and Bridge Maintenance Division (SBM) took it upon themselves to help less fortunate students in the District of Columbia Public School system. They reached out to the LaSalle-Backus Education Campus – which is not far from the SBM facility in Northeast DC – and were put in touch with social worker Yoland Ugorji.

Ms. Ugorji identified a family she felt not only needed but also deserved a helping hand over the holidays, Victoria Rodriquez, Juan Carmona and their four children, Karen (11), Michelle (10), Alex (8) and Cynthia (4).

“I knew they were struggling” said Mr. Ugorji, “But even so, their children were always in school.”

Social Worker Yoland Ugorji with Victoria Rodriquez and 3 of her Chidren

With staffer Angela Pettus and Antania Henderson leading the charge, the Street and Bridge team collected more than $1000 in donations and purchased gifts for the Camona-Rodriquez children – lots of gifts – including bicycles, toys, clothes and a small tablet computer. They presented the gifts to the very grateful family at the Street and Bridge Branch’s annual holiday party today.

4 year old Cynthia with some of her gifts

“Incredible,” added Ms. Ugorji. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to describe this to the principal.”

“It was wonderful,” said Ms. Pettus. “One of the kids said ‘I got everything on my list’ and they might not have gotten anything. It’s a great feeling.”

It was an effort to make the holidays special for others, but as is often the case, giving was as much a gift as receiving.

Happy Holidays to all of you from DDOT!

New signage along South Capitol Street

Signs of progress for the DC Streetcar are starting to appear around the District. Along South Capitol Street, for instance, work has begun on the Testing and Commissioning Site. The 3 streetcar vehicles the District already owns are expected to arrive at the site in February/March for testing and driver training, which will prepare them for operations on the H Street/Benning Road Line. DDOT already has an experienced operations and maintenance team on board and vehicle testing on the H/Benning tracks is scheduled to begin in October.

Work on Maintenance Pit at Anacostia Testing Site

There is also activity on H and Benning. While 80% of construction for the line was completed in 2011 during the Great Streets project, the final 20% began this month. Through October 2013, when streetcar vehicles will arrive in the corridor, we will be hard at work putting the finishing touches on H Street and Benning Road to make them streetcar-ready. On December 17 we met with business owners and other stakeholders in the corridor to update them on the planned work and construction schedule – the materials from that meeting are available on the DC Streetcar website.

Concept Rendering of Car Barn Training Center

Design work continues on the Car Barn Training Center (CBTC) as well. The Spingarn campus was granted historic designation in late November and DDOT is working with the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) to refine the design. We’re also working with DCPS on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the student training program that will be housed in the facility.

We can also update you on the 3 additional streetcars the District has ordered. They are starting to take shape at the U.S. manufacturer, Oregon Iron Works, and are on track to be delivered in August (2 cars) and December (1 car).

One of the new vehicles being prepped for painting

Meanwhile, work continues on the Environmental Assessment for the planned Anacostia streetcar line and a draft document is expected in the New Year.

As you can see, there are a lot of moving parts – including safety oversight, public outreach and the planning of future lines – and our goal is to keep everyone up-to-date on the progress as all of this critical work advances; that includes you, who we hope will ride the streetcars, and the media who share this information with their audiences.

To that end, Last week, DDOT hosted area reporters and bloggers for a DC Streetcar update briefing. The Washington Post, Greater Greater Washington, WAMU, WMAL, NBC 4 and DCist were represented and a couple even live tweeted. (See Twitter chatter here.)

Media Briefing on DC Streetcar Program

Questions ranged from what happens if a vehicle breaks down, to whether the in-production vehicles will be delivered on time, to how fast the vehicles can travel, to how fares will be collected. Several very informative articles were published as a result of the briefing and we encourage you to read them:

D.C. Streetcar Tests Will Begin In March
WAMU 88.5
December 13, 2012
By Martin Di Caro

Start seeing streetcars soon
Greater Greater Washington
December 13, 2012
By David Alpert

D.C. Officials Confident That Streetcars Will Roll in 2013
DCist
December 13, 2012
By Martin Austermuhle

D.C. to Start Testing Streetcars Next Spring
Transportation Nation
December 14, 2012
By Martin Di Caro

Keeping the media informed is just one of the many ways the DC Streetcar communications team is reaching out to the public.

Other ways to stay up to date on all things DC Streetcar include:

• Visit our website!                            www.dcstreetcar.com (New website to debut in 2013!!)
• Follow us on Twitter!                     @DCStreetcar
• Visit us on Facebook!                     www.facebook.com/dcstreetcar
• Sign up for our email list!              http://www.dcstreetcar.com/stay-informed.html
• Read our latest newsletter!           December Special Issue – H/Benning Construction

We look forward to keeping you posted on all things DC Streetcar as we prepare to enter 2013 – it will be a big year for this big program!

DC Streetcar Team

Each May-June DDOT counts bicycles at approximately 40 locations throughout the city, 8 hours at each location, 4 hours in the morning (6 to 10am), and 4 in the evening (3 to 7pm).  We have consistent counts at 19 of the locations dating back to 2004, which we use calculate the average peak hour growth in cycling.  This is performed by taking the peak hour count at each location, adding all the locations and dividing it by the total number of locations (in this case 19).The chart below shows the growth in the average peak hour count, as well as the growth in the city’s bicycle lane network.  In 2004, the average peak hour was 35 cyclists and there were 14 miles of bike lanes.  By 2012 these numbers rose to 95 cyclists per hour and 57 miles of bike lanes, a 175% increase in the cycling rate and over 300% increase in the bike lane network.

Gender

The gender split has remained relatively consistent at about 77% male to 23% female.

Helmet Usage

In Washington, helmet usage has remained consistent with approximately 75% of cyclists choosing to wear helmets.

Sidewalk Riding

Please note that the percentage of sidewalk riding is inflated because 6 of the 19 locations are on bridges over the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers where sidewalk riding is recommended; however, in general sidewalk riding is discouraged, and is forbidden in the Central Business District (CBD).  While there has been some fluctuation over the last nine years, the trend for the last three years has been a reduction in the number of cyclists on sidewalks.

Capital Bike Share Usage

For counting locations that were in proximity to Capital Bike Share stations, in 2012 we requested that the counts distinguish between privately owned bikes and Capital Bikeshare bikes.  13 of the 19 locations have such counts, with bikeshare bikes representing between less than 1% to 12% of all bikes (see chart below).

Next steps

Since 2008, COG has been collecting reliable bicycle count information at approximately 40 locations.  When time allows, we plan on entering all of this data in the bicycle count database to get a more accurate picture of citywide and neighborhood-specific cycling rates.   In addition, we hope to collaborate with our IT department to develop an interactive online database.

Mike Goodno
Bicycle Program Specialist

If you drive, ride or walk around the District this fall you might notice something different about our streets, particularly at some key intersections. DDOT has been adding green paint to some of the city’s bicycle lanes.  The coloring is being placed in “conflict zones” where motor vehicles cross the bike lanes to make right turns; at locations with high crash rates; and in places where the bike lane shifts from the right side of the road to the left of a right-turn only lane.

Addng Green Paint on I Street at S. Capitol Street

The goal is to improve the visibility of the bike lanes and cyclists using them, and to reinforce that a cyclist traveling through an intersection has the right-of-way over a motorist making a turn.  Research of similar lanes in Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas has shown an increase in the yielding behavior of motorists and a reduction in bicycle conflicts with turning motorists.

The locations already completed include:

1. I Street and South Capitol Street
2. C Street NE between 15^th and 16^th Streets
3. 14^th and Rhode Island Avenue, NW
4. R Street, NW between Rhode Island Avenue and 7^th Street
5. R Street, NW and Connecticut Avenue
6. 4^th Street and Rhode Island Avenue, NE
7. Calvert Street and Connecticut Avenue, NW
8. Columbia Road and 18^th Street, NW
9. 4^th Street, and I Street, SW

R Street, NW at Connecticut Ave

DDOT has been training and using its own crews to apply the green paint. That will build
the expertise in-house to install and maintain them more rapidly in the future.

15th and C Streets, NE

It’s Not Just Paint

To color the lanes DDOT is using a product called Ride-A-Way™ which the manufacturer describes as “a durable, colorized, slip resistant and skid resistant coating suitable for delineating areas for preferential use such as bike lanes, bus lanes and other vehicular or pedestrian traffic uses.”

This type of coating is used for bike lanes in other cities including New York and Baltimore, as well as our neighbor to the south, Arlington County.

What You Should Know About Green Lanes

The green paint doesn’t guarantee safety – that requires your cooperation. Here’s some information that will help everyone share the road.

Motorists: 

• By DC law, cyclists are granted the same rights and responsibilities as operators of motor vehicles.  When making a right-turn, DC regulations require you to make that turn as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway.  This means that you should look, and yield, for cyclists before merging across the bike lane to make your turn. This should be done whether the lane is colored or not.
• For bike lanes that are to the left of a right-turn lane, you should look for cyclists that will be merging from the right side of the road to the new location of the bike lane.  DDOT has colored some of these “merging zones” to highlight the areas where cyclists and cars must make this maneuver.
• In addition, the bike lane may be colored on the approach to the intersection to emphasize that this is a dedicated space for bicyclists.  Do not drive in this area.  This is a reserved space for bicycle travel.

Cyclists:     

• The green paint is being used to highlight conflict areas.  These are places where cyclists and cars cross paths, such as an intersection approach where cyclists must merge to the left of a dedicated right-turn lane, or where cars must cross the bike lane to make a right-turn.
• The paint is meant to improve the visibility of the bicycle lane, and has been proven to increase motor vehicle yielding behavior.  However, please remember that you should continue to follow all rules of the road.  By DC law, cyclists are granted the same rights and responsibilities as operators of motor vehicles.

L Street Cycletrack

Over the next few weeks DDOT will be resurfacing L Street, NW and adding a protected bike lane on the north side on the roadway between New Hampshire Avenue and 12th Street, NW.  The separated lane is designed to give bicyclists more protection from cars than a typical bike lane, and to prevent delivery vehicles from illegally parking in the bike lane.  However, there will be merging zones at intersections where vehicles and bicycles may cross paths and those areas will be marked with green paint as well.

Typical Intersection on L Street, NW

Green Lane Project

This might just confuse you, but the District is also one of 6 U.S. cities participating in the Green Lane Project. “Green” in this case doesn’t necessarily mean green paint; green lanes are dedicated, inviting spaces for people on bikes in the roadway, protected by curbs, planters, posts or parked cars. Like the L Street cycletrack or the bike lanes on 15^th Street, NW and Pennsylvania Avenue.

DDOT is working with the national bicycling nonprofit Bikes Belong Foundation to identify additional opportunities for new bicycle infrastructure in the District. For more information about the initiative visit www.greenlaneproject.org.

For more information about DDOT’s Bicycle Program visit dc.ddot.gov/bikes.

Sam Zimbabwe, DDOT Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Sustainability
Jim Sebastian, DDOT Supervisory Transportation Planner
Mike Goodno, DDOT Bicycle Program Specialist