A bicycle transit center designed to give two-wheeled commuters a safe place to park their wheels, change into work clothes and even fix a blown tire won’t be ready in time for Friday’s Bike to Work Day.
The District had once hoped to open the center alongside Union Station by 2006. Then it was slated to open in 2008. The last timetable called for March, but now officials say the opening has been waylaid until July.
“It’s a delay related to the construction,” District Department of Transportation spokesman John Lisle said of the latest postponement. “It is not unusual for such projects.”
The station is intended to make it easier for bicyclists to commute to work, and it will take cars off roads, reducing traffic and air pollution.
The 1,700 square-foot space will provide indoor parking for at least 150 bikes, plus offer rentals, a repair shop and accessories for sale. It also will have a changing area and lockers where members could store clothing.
The center will sit at the nexus of local transit services, where commuter trains, Amtrak and Metro lines all converge. It will also connect with the Metropolitan Branch Trail, a biking and walking path planned to extend eight miles from Union Station to Takoma Park and other biking trails. The second phase of the trail, which will extend it north to Franklin Street Northeast, is scheduled to open in August, Lisle said.
Such bike stations exist in California, Chicago, Japan and around Europe. The D.C. project, the first of its kind in the region, has been in planning stages for several years. In December 2006, officials estimated the cost to be $1.9 million, but the expense had risen to $4 million as of September.
