Cyclist Killed in West End

The District Department of Transportation announced changes to an intersection in the West End where a cyclist was killed in a traffic collision earlier this month.

The cyclist, 36-year-old Jeffery Hammond Long, was hit on Saturday, July 10, and died the next day. The Metropolitan Police Department’s initial investigation found that Long was struck when a truck attempted to make a right turn from M Street onto New Hampshire Avenue NW, passing through the M Street bike lane.

On July 16, just days after cyclists took to M Street in a memorial ride for Long, DDOT said on Twitter that the agency had removed four parking spaces from the intersection in a bid to “improve visibility” near the scene of the incident. “Additional bike lane upgrades” — including extending the M Street sidewalk and shifting the bike lane’s position next to Duke Ellington Park — were also announced.

The memorial bike ride, organized on Facebook, attracted some 100 cyclists, according to the Washington Post. On the event page, the ride’s organizer described the bike lane on M Street as “chaotic at best for experienced cyclists on a quiet day.”

Later that week, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association hosted a rally, billed as Rally for Streets That Don’t Kill People, at the John A. Wilson District Building, reporting an attendance of more than 120 people.

In 2015, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Vision Zero, a plan to eliminate road deaths in the city by 2024. However, according to the Washington Post, traffic deaths have increased in the past two years.

Long is the second cyclist killed while biking in the city in the past two months. Malik Habib, 19, died after being struck by a charter bus in the H Street NE corridor in June.