FABB Blog

 

Tysons Bicycle Plan meeting this Thursday

The final community meeting on the Tysons Bicycle Plan will be held on Thursday, February 17 at Kilmer Middle School, 8100 Wolftrap Road Vienna, VA, from 7-9pm. Cyclists are encouraged to attend to hear about the final draft of the plan and to provide comments. The draft plan, including maps of planned facilities for the four phases, should be available on the Fairfax County Bicycle Master Plan page a day or two before the meeting. See the Fairfax County News Release about the February 17 meeting. Below is a summary of the latest version of the Plan.


Phased Approach

Phase 1: 2011 - 2013

• Begin with a set of relatively low cost improvements. Focus on providing sufficient bike parking at the Silver Line stations, as well as convenient and comfortable bike access to and from the stations.
• Start encouragement programs. Focus near term bicycle-use promotion and route improvements on creating better access to and from the new Silver Line stations.

Phase 2: 2012 - 2016

• As the core of Tysons Corner begins redeveloping, implement priority on-street, and off-street bicycle facilities. Improve bicycle access within and from the surrounding communities. Install high-tech Bicycle Sharing infrastructure and
• Launch encouragement programs like "Bike-to-Lunch" and "Bicycle-Friendly Employer Awards."

Phase 3: 2015 - 2019

• Plan, and implement over time, major new crossings of the Beltway and Dulles Toll Road.
• As routine accommodations, implement bicycle facilities in conjunction with development of new streets in the planned downtown grid. As the residential population grows in the core of Tysons Corner, ensure that new trails are aligned and designed to serve both transportation and recreation. Residential and commercial developers should also design bike-friendly buildings and sites and provide bicycle support facilities to make bicycle-use prominent, convenient, expandable and ultimately commonplace.

Phase 4: 2020-2030

• In later years, transform even major arterials like VA 7, International Boulevard, and VA 123 by adding bike facilities that are separated from the road for priority cycling, shared use paths for lesser skilled cyclists, and signalization that facilitates safe multi-modal travel along and across these corridors.

 Policy and Program Recommendations

• Fairfax County should implement bicycle parking requirements and require bicycle accommodations on private roads that serve public access. Bicycle-related Transportation Demand Management (TDM) requirements are critical to success. BikeArlington is an ideal model for Fairfax.
• VDOT should adopt typical urban travel lane widths, access management across sidepaths and refined intersection design standards. The Draft Virginia Bicycle Policy Plan is repeatedly referenced.
• Program recommendations include a new "Bike-to-Metro Ambassadors Program" and a "Bike-to-Lunch" campaign. They also include recommendations for a Bicycle-Friendly Employers
  program, full-service bicycle stations, and a bike sharing service. Bicycle safety education programs such as Safe Routes to School, and those directed toward motorists are also recommended.

Maps

• Implementation Phasing Maps - Maps depict planned facilities for each phase showing existing and future on- and off-road facilities, and spot improvements (mostly at intersections and interchanges).
• Signed Bike Route Plan by Phase
• Action Needed - For each facility type, both on- and off-road, a specific action is indicated

Three FABB members sit on the Tysons Bicycle Advisory Committee. We provided extensive comments on the plan and are awaiting the final draft so that we can develop a FABB position.We strongly support the latest version of the plan, provided our earlier comments are incorporated in the final draft. If you have questions about the lastest version, contact us.

Labels: tysons bike plan

posted by Bruce Wright at 12:19 PM permalink