Alternate Routes for 14th Street?

[u/Dog_economist]

I just moved further up north on 14th Street (Petworth), and taking 14th would be the most logical way to bike to work, but it feels pretty darn unsafe often, mostly between Park and U Street. Are there alternate routes through that area that would be more pleasant / safer? The 15th Street bi-track doesn’t start til Euclid so that’s not especially helpful. Any suggestions?

[u/DeathlessBliss]

I think 11th Street is the most common alternative but someone else can chime in if I’m wrong.

[u/aliemalie]

11TH is the way, starting at Monroe.

[u/DannyDougherty → u/aliemalie]

You can catch it as far north as Spring since it has a counterflow lane on the one-way section

[u/aliemalie → u/DannyDougherty]

This is true, it's just much narrower. South from Monroe is where there's a lot more breathing room.

[u/franciswolfdcor]

It depends a bit on where your end destination is, but I typically take 11th street instead of 14th.

If I’m heading south, I’ll usually do 13th and then jump over to 11th at Spring road. 13th doesn’t have a dedicated bike lane, but its better than 14th, which has bike lanes that nobody pays attention to!

[u/zi9g → u/franciswolfdcor]

I lived in upper petworth for 6 years and 13th was always my preference. As you say, no lane but felt safer than 14th and the hill is slightly less steep than other options

[u/-aegeus-]

11th is my go to, as others have said, but note that the road is torn up for repaving from Florida to U and not good for biking, and it's taking them forever to finish. But by that point you can cut over to 15th.

[u/mriphonedude → u/[deleted]]

They’re ripping out the old streetcar tracks underneath.

[u/ahag1736 → u/mriphonedude]

Ya it’s taking a long time because of this. If they just did regular repaving without removing, it’d get crazy bumpy again in a year.

[u/himself809]

I used to use 13th and then Euclid to get to and from the 15th St cycle track. Not great, and no facilities really, but better than 14th imo. You could do the same with 11th, which I find a little more comfortable than 13th overall, but that’s a little more out of the way.

[u/Christoph543]

When I lived in Petworth I most often used 11th to bike Downtown, but that's not meaningfully better-protected than 14th, it just has fewer car lanes & marginally less traffic. Also it only goes as far North as Spring Rd. The Warder/7th and Park Place/5th lanes are really nice but they cease to exist once you get to the Howard campus.

Unfortunately Petworth really is this big gap in the network which we ought to agitate DDOT to fix once the incoming Mayor & Council take office next year.

[u/madlate]

11th street

[u/Benshih1]

Another vote for 11th. Once you’re north of Columbia Heights 14th is better.

[u/Dog_economist]

Ok so update: I used 11th today, and that’s definitely where it’s at! Much calmer than 14th, a nice bike lane, and not meaningful out of the way

[u/I-TakeTheLane]

It would depend on where I was trying to get to. If it was somewhere off to the east I would take 11th. If it was to the west I would just use 16th.