Blog Post

(An update from Alex Hutchinson, WABA’s East of the Anacostia Bikes Program Manager.) On Saturday July 14th, WABA staff, residents, and volunteers gathered in Oxon Run Park. Nestled between the neighborhoods of Bellevue, Congress Heights, and Washington Highlands, Oxon Run features wetlands, ball fields, BBQ pits, and naturally where WABA comes in, a beautiful bike […]

Generally speaking, streets are reconstructed only once a generation. If that is the case for Minnesota Avenue, the next generation cyclists east of the Anacostia River will still have no bicycle facilities on the area’s main north-south connection. Minnesota Ave. is a major thoroughfare and transportation corridor, connecting neighborhoods from Deanwood to Anacostia.  It connects […]

This post is part of WABA’s Women on Bikes program, an ongoing campaign to create a community, share resources, and develop strategies for getting more women on bikes. To read about the project so far, click here to check out the WABA blog. To learn more and sign up to receive emails about this project, […]

On Saturday, WABA provided our first mobile bike repair clinic of the season alongside the Anacostia River & Jazz Festival at the Anacostia Park skating rink.  We made lots of friends, gave out nearly 100 DC bike maps, and fixed dozens of bikes.  Thanks to all who came out, and especially to our volunteer mechanics.

This post is part of WABA’s Women on Bikes program, an ongoing campaign to create a community, share resources, and develop strategies for getting more women on bikes. To read about the project so far, click here to check out the WABA blog. To learn more and sign up to receive emails about this project, […]

This post is part of the WABA Women Bicycling Project, an ongoing campaign to create a community, share resources and develop strategies for getting more women on bikes.  To read about the project so far, check out Quick Release, the WABA blog. To learn more and sign up to receive emails about this project, click […]

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) is looking for a dedicated, self-motivated lover of bicycling to assist in planning and executing major components of our East of the Anacostia 2012 Bicycle Outreach initiative. This is an expansion of our successful 2011 program, and includes distribution community engagement and outreach materials and organization of educational offerings, […]

WABA will be hitting the streets tonight to begin our “Got Lights?” program for 2012, giving away 1,000 free sets of front and rear lights (provided by DDOT). The program is designed to target bicyclists riding after dark without lights. This post is a personal story from Gina Arlotto, who handles WABA’s Planning and Organizational […]

Last month, WABA held the region’s first Women’s Bicycling Forum, an important and innovative event designed to start the conversation about why more women aren’t bicycling. Our Women’s Bicycling Advocacy & Outreach intern played a critical role in planning the Forum and took part in a wide range of WABA activities. For the spring, we’re […]

2011 was not the year for bike lanes in the District.  Since 2006, DDOT has  installed on-street bike lanes at a rate of four to eight additional miles per year. Less than one mile of new bike lanes was installed in 2011. As DDOT nears the end of the timeframe laid out in 2005’s Bicycle […]

This post is part of the WABA Women Bicycling Project, an ongoing campaign to create a community, share resources and develop strategies for getting more women on bikes.  To read about the project so far, check out Quick Release, the WABA blog. To learn more and sign up to receive emails about this project, click […]

This post is part of the WABA Women Bicycling Project, an ongoing campaign to create a community, share resources and develop strategies for getting more women on bikes.  To read about the project so far, check out Quick Release, the WABA blog. To learn more and sign up to receive emails about this project, click […]

The National Park Service (NPS), along with DDOT and FHWA have released their environmental assessment for the Rock Creek Trail. The preferred alternative includes: Resurfacing and widening the trail (Alternative 3) Creating an 8 ft. spur trail to Peirce Mill (Option B) Resurfacing the Rose Park Trail at 6 ft. width (Option B) The full […]

This post is part of the WABA Women Bicycling Project, an ongoing campaign to create a community, share resources and develop strategies for getting more women on bikes.  To read about the project so far, check out Quick Release, the WABA blog. To learn more and sign up to receive emails about this project, click […]

Bike lanes connecting the Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan and Dupont neighborhoods on Columbia Rd., NW are an important missing connection in the bicycle network. DDOT officials have confirmed they have received the appropriate approval of ANC 1C   and the lanes will be installed by Thanksgiving.  Community members’ concerns centered on the need to remove […]

On your way into work tomorrow, you may notice vast hordes of children walking, bicycling and making their way down the street. It’s quite likely that they will be pretty loud and boisterous, making you look out your window to see what the commotion is. Have no fear-it’s just International Walk and Bike to School […]

The rain didn’t stop this weekend’s 9th mobile bike shop in downtown Anacostia. WABA staff and volunteer mechanics from The Bike House biked to the Big Chair, set up their stands and spent the afternoon teaching 22 guests of all ages how to do everything from changing inner-tubes to replacing cables and housing.

Here at WABA we are often asked what should be done when a bike is stolen or damaged.  After some commiseration, we invariably ask the victim whether there are records of the missing bicycle such as type of bike, year, distinguishing characteristics and most importantly: the serial number.  Unfortunately, the answer is all too often, […]

Last Saturday, WABA staff and volunteers joined The Riverside Center in hosting a community bike party in the neighborhoods of Lincoln Heights and Deanwood in Northeast DC. This area is home to one of DC’s hidden gems, the Marvin Gaye Park Trail. Nestled in the newly restored Watts Branch corridor, this 1.6-mile linear park offers […]

Earlier this month, WABA rode with Councilmember Jack Evans through his ward, including on L, M, and 15th Streets, NW. Afterward, he expressed his support for both the L & M cycletracks and the 15th Street cycletracks. Later that week, he reportedly met with DDOT Director Bellamy to communicate the need to complete the L […]

Last night, Councilmember Tommy Wells hosted an evening bike ride through parts of Southeast to explore the planned South Capitol Bridge Project.  WABA joined CM Wells, representatives from the DC Bicycle Advisory Council, DDOT’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Program, DDOT’s new head engineer, and many community members.  Discussions centered around the traffic circle (to be built […]

This weekend’s event at the Malcolm X Recreation Center felt more like a neighborhood bike party than a mobile bike shop. While children spent their time racing bikes around an impromptu velodrome or partnered up with mechanics from The Bike House , families relaxed in the shade sharing popsicles and pleasantries. Be sure to check […]

You might’ve noticed that here in the DC region, we’re embroiled in our annual heat wave. Temperatures are hovering in the triple-digit range, air quality alerts and heat advisories are a daily routine. Even some of us who ride our bikes year-round don’t find too much enjoyment biking in these circumstances, but there are a […]

Several months ago, WABA asked residents of Wards 7 and 8 to tell us what they would do with a new bicycle and how it would change their lives. The response was overwhelming. Last week, we contacted the lucky winners of our Get On a Bike contest and delivered five brand new 2011 Jamis Commuter […]

In its excellent article on the uptick in the number of black women cycling in DC, Washington Post reporter Vanessa Williams mentions some of WABA’s work in wards 7 and 8 that is part of our East of the Anacostia program.  Again, thanks to those who have donated their time and money to this program. […]

(For a description of the HIA project, CLICK HERE.) On July 1, WABA received the exciting news that we have been chosen to move forward to the next round of the Pew Trust/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Impact Project.  Out of nearly 250 applications nationwide, only 40 were asked to submit a full proposal.   […]

Since 2006 the Washington Area Bicyclist Association has educated over 26,000 children in the District of Columbia in safe bicycling and pedestrian habits.  In the Washington DC region, we are nearing our 100,000th student reached via our mobile bike rodeo trailers, in-service training sessions for teachers, hands on bike lessons, in class pedestrian and bicycle […]

When we first read it, WABA had no intention of responding to Justine Whelan’s anti-cyclist rant, published by the Ballston Patch.  For the most part, the article’s content is so similar to the random blog comments we cyclists see regularly, it hardly seemed worth responding to.  But there was one interesting thing that I’d like […]

Last night at the July meeting of the DC Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1C tabled its vote on the  proposed Columbia Rd., NW bike lanes.  These proposed bike lanes would extend from Connecticut Ave. NW to Harvard Rd. NW. This 1 mile section of bike lanes creates a continuous on-street bicycle facility through Adams Morgan and […]