Just days before crews were expected to start, a legal roadblock put the brakes on removing protected bike lanes along 15th Street NW between Constitution Avenue and the Tidal Basin in D.C.
Federal authorities, including the Department of Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, and the Federal Highway Administration, argued the bike lanes would impair foot traffic before upcoming major events like the America250 celebrations.
But last month, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association sued the DOI to permanently stop the effort.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled the Interior Department’s case was “arbitrary and capricious,” and it failed to explain how removing the bike lanes that run beside the Washington Monument would improve traffic. Jackson also said the DOI skipped the required safety and environmental reviews.
WABA’s executive director, Elizabeth Kiker, described the ruling as a “very good day” for cyclists.
“I’m on my bike right now, though I stopped. I stopped!” Kiker said with a laugh. “Our case was not that they couldn’t take out bike lanes … but there are rules and there are environmental protections and safety protections that they have to show they have considered.”
Kiker’s case alleged the federal government had not considered those necessary protections.
“And we won that case,” she said.
Nearly 4,000 cyclists use the lanes, which have been in place since 2021, every day.
The cyclist group cited data from an D.C. Department of Transportation evaluation that showed a 46% drop in crashes and 17% increase in vehicle speed after the bike lanes were added.
“There was a clear path for pedestrians, for bicyclists, for drivers, and it made sense and it made it (possible for) everyone to get through faster and safer,” Kiker said.
As Kiker was on her way to a celebration with some of the 5,000 members of WABA at the Washington Monument, she said the ruling set “a precedent for other advocates across the country.”
“Secretary of Transportation (Sean) Duffy sent a note to governors yesterday, saying, ‘take the roads back for cars.’ And this precedent says, ‘No, unless you can prove that it is safer, you cannot just do that.'”
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