(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser, officials from the District’s Department of Transportation (DDOT), and local and federal partners unveiled the completion of the 9th Street NW two-way protected bike lane and announced the addition of nearly 700 next-generation e-bikes to the Capital Bikeshare program.
“With our 9th Street bike lane and the addition of 700 e-bikes, we are accomplishing two goals: making our streets safer and better connected and making it easier for people to come downtown,” said Mayor Bowser. “We’re grateful for the community members who stuck with us on this project and got us to where we are today – a more connected DC and a DC that is better positioned for the future of transportation.”
The recently completed 9th Street NW protected bike lane spans 1.5 miles and provides a continuous and separated route from the U Street corridor to Pennsylvania Avenue NW, connecting some of the densest and fastest-growing areas of DC with the downtown DC and National Mall. The protected bike lane includes many safety features—such as protected left turns and pedestrian crossing islands—to reduce vehicle speeds, improve pedestrian safety, and reduce crashes for all modes of transportation. In 2015, DC had 63 miles of bike lanes and fewer than 6 miles of protected lanes. With the addition of the 9th Street bike lane, DC now has 108 miles of bike lanes and more than 30 miles of them are protected bike lanes.
Additionally, today, nearly 700 next-generation e-bikes were added the Capital Bikeshare fleet, including along 9th Street NW. The additional e-bikes will bring the total current e-bike fleet in DC to around 1,000 e-bikes. DDOT plans to continue increasing the number of e-bikes in DC to 2,500 over the next several years. Additionally, the Capital Bikeshare program will add 200 additional e-bikes to neighboring jurisdictions, which will bring the total number of bikes available to 7,000 bikes across the region.
“Our newest e-bike has cutting-edge features that riders love, making Capital Bikeshare better than ever,” said General Manager of Capital Bikeshare at Lyft Dominick Tribone. “We’re making it easier than ever for people to reach jobs, family, and friends with sustainable, climate-friendly transportation that gets cars off our roads. I want to thank Mayor Bowser and DDOT for their continued investment and partnership in Capital Bikeshare—without them, it wouldn’t be the tremendous success it is today.”
The completion of the 9th Street NW two-way protected bike lane, and the addition of nearly 700 e-bikes, are part of the Mayor’s commitment to creating more reliable and efficient transportation options under moveDC. MoveDC is the long-range transportation plan for Washington, DC. MoveDC 2021 establishes goals, policies, strategies, and metrics for DDOT to invest in transportation facilities and programs that address the needs of Washingtonians across all eight wards. It provides an overarching framework of goals and policies that will guide transportation decisions in the District over a 25-year period, and describes a series of strategies to achieve them as well as tools to identify needs and priorities for different modes of transportation.
“Thanks to Mayor Bowser’s leadership, the District Department of Transportation continues its commitment to creating safe and equitable transportation projects outlined by our moveDC long-range transportation plan,” said DDOT Director Everett Lott. “With today’s announcement, we are taking another big step forward in not only providing transformative projects, but providing cycling opportunities that are convenient, affordable, reliable, and accessible to every resident and visitor.”
Residents interested in trying one of the new e-bikes can use the promocode ‘TRYCABIEBIKE’ to take $2 off one e-bike ride through March 31, 2023. To redeem, add the promo code in the rewards section of the Capital Bikeshare or Lyft app.
To learn more about the 9th Street NW protected bike lane, visit HERE.
To learn more about moveDC, visit HERE.
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