Ward 8 Cyclists Critical of How D.C. Officials Have Tackled Transportation Issues — Anacostia Parks and Community Collaborative

The failure of the Bowser administration’s Vision Zero program has shed light on D.C.’s inequitable transportation infrastructure that, in part, has spurred traffic fatalities east of the Anacostia River over the past few years.
That’s why an increasingly growing group of cyclists from Ward 8 has coalesced around a call for traffic safety measures. They will soon make their appeal to D.C. Council member Trayon White and the Ward 8 D.C. Council candidates.
Jeremiah Lowery, a Black bicycling advocate who hails from Ward 8, said that the lack of crosswalks, speed bumps, bus lanes, protected bike lanes, stop signs and other traffic safety measures has made it difficult for bicyclists, race and ethnicity notwithstanding, to navigate communities located east of the Anacostia River.
Lowery, advocacy director at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), said the problem has fueled a false narrative that Black people haven’t embraced biking. He pointed to survey data debunking that notion.
“When we have this perception, it’s [actually] decades of underinvestment,” Lowery said. “Communities outside of east of the Anacostia River have been invested [when it comes to] transportation infrastructure. You can do an eye test and go to Petworth, Columbia Heights, and Shaw in Northwest. The folks [in Ward 8] I talk to aren’t happy.”