FABB Blog

 

VDOT Six Year Program public hearings

FABB attended the VDOT Six Year Program hearings held on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at the Fairfax County Government Center. We testified before the Secretary of Transportation, Pierce Homer, and the Commonwealth Transportation Board members about the need for better bicycle facilities on Virginia roads. While we commended VDOT on the new policy for using 2% of road maintenance for paving shoulders and for the on-road bike facility on Stringfellow Road, we noted several areas of concern.

Fairfax County has requested VDOT to restripe Gallows Road to create bike lanes from the Dunn Loring Metro station to Gallows Branch Rd. in Tysons. Funding has been available for several years and yet VDOT has found many reason for NOT installing the lanes, and their cost estimate for just the design for the work is much too high. We asked that VDOT “...have a more cooperative and flexible attitude when it comes to retrofitting existing roads with bike lanes.”

We mentioned the need for bike facilities on the bridges over the Beltway that will be re-built as part of the HOT lanes project. We also discussed the idea of dedicated funds for maintenance of bike facilities; trails, bike lanes, and road shoulders. See the full FABB testimony.

More than half of the speakers discussed bicycle and pedestrian issues in Northern Virginia. Among the speakers was Allen Muchnick of the Virginia Bicycling Federation who discussed the “Virginia Bicycling Federation Proposals For Effective VDOT Bicycle And Pedestrian Programs At The Statewide And District Levels” as described at the bottom of the VBF home page. Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth mentioned the need for a more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly Route 7 and Route 123 in Tysons. Roger Deitrich of the Sierra Club noted the need for more transit-oriented development which facilitates bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly communities.

See the VDOT News Release about the meetings. Public comments will be accepted until November 22, 2007 at Six-YearProgram@VDOT.Virginia.gov. posted by Bruce Wright at 4:37 PM permalink