Mt. Pleasant Bikes

Better connections, safer cycling

Issues

While DC bike infrastructure has improved substantially over the years, significant gaps remain between Mount Pleasant and surrounding areas.

Main cycling gaps

Many people in Mount Pleasant and surrounding neighborhoods (including Columbia Heights, Lanier Heights, and Adams Morgan) use bikes to get to work, shop, visit friends and family, or for exercise. When doing so, they face important gaps in the bike network – creating unsafe situations and discouraging people from using their bikes.

Read more about our proposed solutions »

Cycling into Mount Pleasant

When cycling into Mount Pleasant, key gaps are:

  • Coming from 15th St NW: The two-way protected bike lane ends at Euclid St, with the remainder being a narrow unprotected one-way bike lane. This one-way bike lane ends at Irving St, but the road to Mount Pleasant St is a one-way street in the other direction.
  • Coming from Columbia Heights: The streets between Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant are busy narrow streets with no bike lanes. The excellent Kenyon St NW two-way protected bike lane stops at 11th St NW.
  • Coming from Adams Morgan: Getting into Mount Pleasant requires careful navigation around Rabaut Park, with unclear traffic patterns and oncoming cars turning in from 16th St.

Cycling out of Mount Pleasant

When cycling out of Mount Pleasant, key gaps are:

  • To 15th St NW: There is no easy and safe access to the 15th St NW two-way protected bike lanes, which only start at Euclid St NW.
  • To Columbia Heights: Both Irving and Harvard St NW are busy and narrow streets, with a lot of traffic. Sidewalks are narrow for bikes not feeling safe riding the street.
  • To Adams Morgan: Unclear and unsafe traffic patterns around Rabaut Park require careful navigation to reach the Columbia Rd protected bike lanes.

Safety

The streets around Mount Pleasant are major throughways with consistently heavy traffic. District Department of Transportation (DDOT) data show a substantial traffic incidents on streets that cyclists currently have to rely on to get around.

Crash data from DDOT (all crashes, 2018-2023)

Our asks

We advocate for better bike connections between Mount Pleasant and surrounding neighborhoods, including a better North-South connection (to the 15th St bike lanes) and better East-West connections between Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights. Read more about our asks.

Please support this initiative by signing our petition or getting involved. We would love to hear from you.