Matt Yglesias

Good National Mall Ideas from NPS

The National Park Service has released its Preliminary Preferred Alternative for the National Mall available and opened it for comments. It’s a pretty solid plan, featuring calls for increased bicycle facilities (in theory, the Mall should be a great venue for recreational biking that also services some cross-town practical transportation needs; in practice it’s sort of neither) some smarter parking policies, and better pedestrian access between the Tidal Basin and the Washington Monument.

You can offer comments on the proposal here and read more about it here.

8 Responses to “Good National Mall Ideas from NPS”

1. JT Says:
   March 9th, 2009 at 6:35 pm

   Recreational biking on the National Mall? Really?
   I should have to fear rude bike packs if I want to take in the museums by, heaven forbid!, foot?
   As long as we are at it can we deepen and add lap lanes to the reflecting pool?

   Seriously, while I fully understand bike riders complaints about auto traffic and lack of bike lanes it is rarely pointed out that bikers are as large if not deadly a nuisance to pedestrians. And now the Mall?!

2. CParis Says:
   March 9th, 2009 at 7:11 pm

   JT says:As long as we are at it can we deepen and add lap lanes to the reflecting pool?
   Ubbabukknamupnamummup says: The National Mall should be replaced with a spiral NASCAR track.

   LOL! Reminds me of the scene in the movie Idiocracy where replaced the reflecting pool with a water park and folks are riding jet skis.

3. CParis Says:
   March 9th, 2009 at 7:32 pm

   Sorry, I’m turning into an Idiot! Should read “where they replaced”.

4. Ubbabukknamupnamummup Says:
   March 9th, 2009 at 11:12 pm

   LOL! Reminds me of the scene in the movie Idiocracy

   Yeah, I was thinking of that, and the point where he opens the blinds to see the f***ed-up future, which included people driving off the end of a half-destroyed overpass.

5. Kolohe Says:
   March 10th, 2009 at 2:48 am

   For those of you you didn’t read the plan (which is to say everyone) the bike lanes appear to be on the roads that go through the mall and around the Jefferson & Lincoln memorials. No footpaths will be harmed*. Looks overall like a good idea.

   *the only thing I’m down on is it appears they may convert all the dirt paths to fully paved. If done poorly, that’s going to look really ugly a dozen or so years after the project.

6. Angry Sam Says:
   March 10th, 2009 at 12:12 pm

   More softball fields!

7. alexandrian Says:
   March 24th, 2009 at 3:26 pm

   Mmm, Kolohe is right…fully paving the paths is a dumb idea. But bike lanes on Madison & Jefferson would be great. I use them every day as a bike commuter and they are a bit too wide for a single car, so cars sort of drive all over the place on them while I am innocently pedaling away. It would be great to have a designated space. The roads are definitely plenty wide enough.