NPS Open House meetings

Washington, D.C. - The National Park Service (NPS) is continuing to seek the public's input regarding planning efforts that will help to determine the future of the National Mall by hosting three local public open house format meetings designed to provide an opportunity for public/NPS dialogue.  The meetings will provide identical opportunities to provide public input into planning.  

To help prepare for these three public meetings, the NPS is adding new maps to its website (www.nps.gov/nationalmallplan) that show study areas and approved projects, such as the approved locations for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial or the National Museum of  African-American History and  Culture.   Display boards will provide background information.  Staff will be available to talk about planning, and maps will be available for use by attendees.

The three public meetings will be held:

• Saturday, February 24th, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Thursday, March 8th, 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Saturday, March 10th, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. 

All meetings will be held at the Old Post Office Pavilion, at the corner of 12th and Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., in Room M-09 on the Mezzanine level.   Meeting attendees are directed to enter on the 12th Street side and proceed through security.   The Mezzanine level is located one floor up from the street level.   Parking is very limited.   Meeting attendees are advised to take METRO to the Federal Triangle stop on METRO's Blue and Orange lines located across 12th Street.  

If these meetings are not convenient, the public may still submit written or graphic depictions about the National Mall to www.nps.gov/nationalmallplan or mail comments to our non-profit partner, The Trust for the National Mall at:

National Mall Plan Comments
Trust for the National Mall
P.O. Box 96475,   601 13th Street, N.W.
Washington D.C.  20090-6475

The National Park Service will accept written comments or graphic depictions regarding planning efforts for the National Mall through March 16, 2007. 

Cyclists ignored in NPS EA for the National Mall

In the recently released Environmental Assessment for the Visitor Transportation Study for the National Mall and Surrounding Park Areas, the National Park Service has again failed to take into account the thousands of visitors and commuters that bicycle in the National Mall area each year.  WABA needs your help to make sure that the concerns of cyclists are heard.

At the beginning of the study, WABA submitted detailed comments on what needed to be done to further encourage bicycling on the Mall.  Interest among cyclists was strong, and during the initial meetings former NPS regional Director Terry Carlstrom was quoted in a study newsletter as saying the public process, “indicated a great deal of interest in bicycling as a mode of transportation.”

Among our recommendations were to:

1. update the 1991 Paved Recreational Trails of the National Capital Region and include a prioritization of implementation of the plan. 
2. integrate bicycle information in all National Park Service communications regarding transportation to and through National Capital Area Parks, such as, websites, wayfinding and directional signage, maps and brochures
   
3. improve bike parking at Mall destinations by added new parking racks and replacing broken ones
   
4. widen and improve Mall trails and improve connections between area parks and the DC street network.

However, in the new EA, cyclists have been all but ignored despite the stated goals of the project to provide sustainable transportation solutions and to coordinate with other long term plans in DC that aim to reduce vehicle congestion, improve air quality, and provide a continuous system of hiker and biker trails. 

View WABA's complete response>>

Other Issues

A Segway Giveaway

The EA does actually call for new signed routes, but only for Segways!  The NPS preferred alternative (alternative 2) will also open up all Mall area trails to Segway users.  Currently, Segway users are restricted to only the north and south bound sidewalks of the Mall.  There are vastly more cyclists using the Mall than Segway users, yet bicyclists do not get any route signing improvements.

Mandatory Helmet Use for Adults?

The EA also recommends a new policy that would make helmet use by adults mandatory.  WABA has yet to take a formal position on mandatory helmet laws for adults, and we’d appreciate hearing from you on whether or not such a policy is advisable.  Please click here to take a quick survey. 

Take Action

WABA needs your help to make the voices of area cyclists heard. 

Send Your Comments

WABA urges you to send your comments to the National Park Service by clicking here and filling out the electronic form.  WABA also encourages you to send a copy of your comments to your federal representative.  DC residents should send their comments to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.  Residents of VA’s 8th Congressional District are strongly urged to Contact Congressman Jim Moran, who sits on the House Appropriations subcommittee for the Department of the Interior. 

Sample text:

Dear ________:

As a local cyclist, I am writing today to express my strong disappointment with the environmental assessment (EA) on the Visitor Transportation Study of the National Mall and Surrounding Area Parks. 

Thousands of recreational and commuter cyclists visit the Mall area each year yet all the options presented in the EA fail to take any significant steps to encourage bicycle access to the Mall area.  Rather than recommending improving Mall area trails, wayfinding signage, and motorist and cyclist education, the Park Service recommends a mandatory helmet use for all adults in order to improve safety.  However, while helmets can be effective preventing serious injury resulting from crashes, they will not prevent crashes from occurring in the first place. 

I am also concerned that the Park Service is recommending opening up all Mall area trails and paths to Segway users.  If safety is truly a concern of the Park Service, then the Mall area trails need to be improved to accommodate the existing user groups, before new ones are added to the mix.

I strongly urge you to revise the EA to include the following:

1. Update the 1991 Paved Recreational Trails of the National Capital Region study
2. Improve wayfinding and directional signage for cyclists, and signed connections to the DC bicycle network
3. Improve Mall area trails and improve connections to the trails outside the Mall and the DC street network
4. Provide b ike parking at all destinations
5. Show bike route and trail information on Mall area maps

The success of the bike rentals on the Mall, as well as the increasing popularity of the National Park Service ranger-guided bike tours, should be a strong indicator of the demand for improved facilities for cyclists.  I hope that you will reconsider the options presented in the EA and revise the document to include a strong bicycle component.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

* your name*