At a DC Council hearing Tuesday, June 10, District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Director Sharon Kershbaum expressed pride in a new DDOT website of self-evaluation named ‘before/after evaluations.’ Kershbaum said such studies had long been sought and demonstrated agency transparency.
She apparently did not know that the website was wiped clean last week after testimony drawing attention to data on the website showing a dramatic rise in crashes in protected bike lanes.
DDOT’s website https://before-after-evaluations.ddot.dc.gov/ had reported on three protected bike lane projects, namely, G Street NW, Virginia Ave. NW, and Pennsylvania Ave. SE on Capitol Hill. The website had included a chart showing a dramatic increase in crashes from right turns.
In testimony at the Council hearing last week, Nick DelleDonne, representing the DC Safe Streets Coalition, applied DDOT’s finding from its website to the upcoming installation of a protected bike lane on Grant Circle, a traffic circle at New Hampshire and Ave. and 5th St. NW. “It would be a death trap,” DelleDonne had said. Immediately after his testimony, the DDOT website was wiped clean.
The Coalition had begun a petition https://chng.it/9ZjNchxbHX alerting neighbors of the deadly hazards of installing a protected bike lane on Grant Circle and advising decision-makers of their opposition, before the deadline for public comment, June 12 (NOI-25-124).
As if to add insult to injury, at Tuesday’s hearing, two days before the deadline, Kershbaum assured the Council that the protected bike lane on Grant Circle was on schedule and would be installed this year.
Why Protected Bike Lanes on Traffic Circles are a Death Trap
First, intersections are recognized as the place where most crashes occur. Traffic circles are the juncture of intersections. Grant Circle has 16.
Second, studies from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that protected bike lanes are dangerous depending on the frequency of interruptions in the lane, for example, by intersections. With 16 intersections on Grant Circle a protected lane will be interrupted every 30 to 50 feet, leaving cyclists exposed.
Third, the final blow is the finding by DDOT on Pennsylvania Ave. of a dramatic increase in crashes as vehicles turn right, crossing the bike lane. All turns on a traffic circle are right turns, both entering and leaving the circle. It’s a death trap.
Solution: There is no need for a multimillion-dollar project at a time of severe budget constraints. If the city diverted biking to side streets and installed speed cameras on the Circle, we would all be safer.
Nick DelleDonne
June 11, 2025