New Bike Lane Network Connecting Columbia Heights to Downtown Opens This Month

The District Department of Transportation will open a 3.2-mile protected bike lane network connecting Columbia Heights to downtown D.C. later this month, completing a project three years in the making. The lanes run along 11th Street NW and Irving Street, with dedicated signal phases at major intersections.The $4.7 million project includes 14 new Capital Bikeshare docking stations and separated lanes protected by concrete barriers — a departure from the painted bike gutters that cyclists have long criticized as unsafe."This is the kind of infrastructure that actually gets people out of cars," said DDOT Director Everett Lott. Daily bike commuters in the corridor are expected to increase 40% within the first year.