FABB Blog

As you are well aware, over the last year there has been an increased focus on safety-related issues on the W&OD Trail.  A new law was passed in Richmond [Section D] that will allow local governments to enact ordinances related to the stop signs on the trail, and there has been an uptick in local law enforcement attention to the issue of safe crossing of intersections.

With goals of enhancing safety and promoting communication and understanding among the cycling community, law enforcement and local transportation planners, NVRPA will be facilitating a working group (AKA task force or advisory committee) with representatives from these interest groups to work on the subject of safety on the W&OD and to develop recommendations.  We will be bringing in professional facilitators with experience in conflict resolution to help engineer a productive process.

Please do not volunteer for this group just yet, since we want to start by selecting a facilitator and then working with them on the structure, process and size of the group.  Our goal would be to have this group begin meeting sometime this winter.

Our hope is that this process will result in enhanced safety on the trail and better understanding among the parties.

County officials and biking advocates hope that the new network — a planned 51 Bikeshare stations and 450 bikes across Silver Spring, Bethesda, Takoma Park, Rockville and Shady Grove — will be a small but significant step toward a less auto-centric community.

“These little red bikes are a great symbol of change,” said County Council member Hans Riemer (D-At Large), one of a dozen local and state officials who spoke at the ceremonial ribbon cutting for a station with 15 bikes at the corner of Maryland and Montgomery avenues, among the first 14 sites activated Friday.

Montgomery, the first local government in Maryland to adopt Capital Bikeshare, joins the District, Arlington County and Alexandria in trying to reshape the way residents travel. The short-term rental system allows bikes to be picked up in one location and returned to another. Trips under 30 minutes are included in the membership fee, which ranges from $7 for 24 hours to $75 for a year.

South side of Greensboro station

I noticed bike racks at the new 'Greensboro' Silver Line station (used to be called 'Tysons Central 7') for the first time today so I took a few pictures. Also took a detour to check out what had been done at the 'Spring Hill' Station (used to be called 'Tysons West').

In summary, there are 10 inverted U racks on the north and south side of each station, with the exception of the south side of the 'Spring Hill' station . There were only 4 at that location. Its possible they plan to put in more. So current count looks like a max of 40 bikes at Greensboro and a max of 28 at Spring Hill.

North side of Spring Hill station

If anyone is interested, I also took some pictures of the sidewalks on either side of Route 7. Work is still on-going, but in general they are doing a decent job of widening the sidewalks on both sides. Unfortunately the sidewalks COMPLETELY stop as you walk east past the Greensboro Station. Any Silver Line rider that exits the Greensboro Station and needs to go east (to the other side of Rt 123) is out of luck. Despite the wide sidewalks the Rt 7 corridor is a VERY difficult place for pedestrians. Street crossings are poor, if present at all. But work is still underway, so hopefully some of these issues will be addressed.

Wider sidewalks along Route 7

A public meeting is scheduled for Oct. 2. See below for more information;

River Birch Road: Community Meeting on Changes to Pavement Markings
VDOT and Fairfax County Supervisor Foust have heard concerns from the community surrounding River Birch Road: there is too much speeding traffic, and there is not enough parking. VDOT is considering ways to change the pavement markings to help address these concerns and wants the community’s input before taking any action.

In particular, River Birch is currently striped with two lanes in each direction, but the amount of traffic is so low that it would easily fit in one lane. Taking a lane away would make room for other uses of the pavement, such as on-street parking and bike lanes. Public input is essential in deciding if and how to reconfigure the street, so please consider attending to let VDOT know your views.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013, 7:00 p.m.
Coates Elementary School, Cafeteria
2480 River Birch Rd., Herndon, VA, 20171

Questions? Please contact Ivan Horodyskyj, VDOT Traffic Engineering, ivan.horodyskyj@vdot.virginia.gov

From the north: There are few good routes from the McLean area and points north. You could use Old Dominion Dr to Old Cedar Rd. Toward the end of the road there is a paved trail into Bull Neck Stream Valley Park. Follow the trail to Spring Hill Rec Center and L on Spring Hill Rd. Continue under the Toll Road to R on Spring Hill Rd. Continue across Route 7 to the station.

Another guest, Rich Tepel of the Potomac Pedalers Touring Club, will give us an overview of the club and its activities. Charlie Strunk, county bike coordinator, will give us an update on county bike projects and activities. We'll also discuss planning efforts for the Fairfax Bike Summit on Nov. 2.

The FABB meeting is held at Patrick Henry Library in Vienna starting at 7:30pm and runs until 9pm. All are welcome to attend.

Staff have been compiling lists of projects, developing cost estimates, and doing a Benefit/Cost Analysis which is one of the criteria for selecting projects. The list included approximately 100 [unfunded] pedestrian and bicycle projects. Of the first 80 projects subjected to Benefit/Cost Analysis we identified 3 bike projects: 

• Old Dominion On-Road Bicycle Improvements
• I-495 Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge
• Old Keene Mill Bike Shoulders.

Several projects "were not compatible with Benefit/Cost Analysis Or Project Information is Incomplete." There were several bike projects on that list:

• Government Center Pkwy Road Diet Demonstration Project
• Westmoreland Street On-Road Bike Lanes from Kirby to Arlington Co line
• Improving bicycle access between INOVA Center Medical Education Campus and Franconia-Springfield Metro station
• Van Dorn Street ped/bike access from Oakwood Road to the Alexandria City Line
• Barry Road Metro/VRE Bicycle Parking
• Shipplet Blvd.: Burke Lake Road to Old Keene Mill Road, restripe/Lane Diet with bike lanes
• Hunter Village Road Bicycle Parking
• Fairfax County Parkway Bicycle Wayfinding Signage

Draft Key Recommendations

Implementing what’s in the Toolkit...

• Add over 250 miles on new on-road bike lanes includinq; Tysons Corner, Reston Town Center, South Lakes Drive, Lawyers Road, Hummer Annandale Roads, Sherwood Hall Lane, Huntington Avenue, Rose Hill, Belle Haven Boulevard, Guinea Road, Government Center Parkway...
• Install Shared Lane Markings on 123 miles of roadway
• Examine innovative bicvcle design treatments (e.g. cycle-tracks, buffered bike lanes, climbing lanes, striped shoulders) on an additional 94 miles of roadway.
• Add 91 miles of new shared use paths and upgrade 31 miles of existing shared use paths to provide bicycle transportation connectivity
• Examine new pedestrian and bicvcle crossings of the beltway and other maior barriers. 
• Advance over 100 spot safety improvements to improve bicycling
• Implement a Countywide bicycle wayfinding signage proqram (e.g. McLean Demonstration)
• Expand connectivity to activity centers and rail stations by expanding access to/from the W&OD trail, the Cross County Trail (CCT), Holmes Run, Rocky Run, South Run, and the Pohick Stream Valley.

Jump Start Plan Implementation

• Form a Countywide Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) 
• Launch an intensive Bike Parking Initiative
• Partner with private sector to create a High Profile Network of Bicycle Stations
• Implement Capital Bikeshare in the County's Urban Centers and Transit Station Areas
• Promote Fairfax involvement in all League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly programs
• Retrofit and open key park trails for use after dark
• Fund a coordinated trail maintenance, resurfacing, and wayfinding sign program
• Partner with VDOT; coordinate the annual repaving program to expand the onroad network  initiate an intersection retrofit program to eliminate barriers in the bicycle network
• Continue the current strategy for infrastructure funding
• Launch a law enforcement initiative
• Address bicycle safety education and coordinate with FCPS
• Target bike safety education programs to the most high risk constituencies
• Focus safety education on motorist and bicyclists behavior
• Focus on encouraging_bicycle tourism/Initiate events such as cyclovias
• Strengthen the Fairfax County DOT Bicycle Program
• Create “Bike Fairfax”, a bicycling encouragement program modeled after “Bike Arlington”

Next Steps

• Currently addressing comments and modifying documents to conform to required Comprehensive Plan language (September-October)
• Finalize final draftBicycle Master Plan Policy and merge Phase I (Greater Tysons Area) with Phase II, the rest of the County (October-November)
• Finalizing four quadrant maps (September-November)
• Schedule third briefing with the Planning Commission’s Transportation Subcommittee (November)
• Schedule PC and BOS Public Hearing (early 2014)

The man responsible for coordinating the District Department of Transportation’s bike plans says he fell into the city’s bike culture out of necessity. “My story is not that much different from a lot of people’s stories in D.C. who discover bicycling,” Jim Sebastian says. “They discover it’s quicker, it’s more convenient, it’s cheaper and it’s more fun than driving or taking the train.”

Sebastian, who is helping coordinate for the first time all of the District’s master transit plans as part of the moveDC project,became the District’s bike program coordinator in 2001 and helped bring bike share to the city, first with a pilot program called SmartBike D.C. in 2008, then partnering with Arlington County to launch the Capital Bikeshare system in 2010.

Under Sebastian’s watch, the District has added more than 50 miles of bike lanes and 2,500 bike racks, and has more than doubled the number of people on the streets biking. But he’s not done yet. In addition to overseeing the growth of Bikeshare, which is managed by the company Alta, he’s also partnering with DDOT to complete the 20-mile Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, now 60 percent done, and the M Street cycle-track.

“He has been a real moving force behind gaining acceptance of bicycles here in the District of Columbia,” Gray says. “We’re very fortunate to have him working with us, because it is not just a job to him, it is a commitment, and that’s a big difference.”

Right now, bikes represent 3.3 percent of total commutes, Sebastian says. But he expects it to hit 5 percent by 2015.

Bike advocates such as Sebastian and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association also insist commuting isn’t their sole focus. Short trips to the grocery or library, or a recreational ride along the water, are the sorts of things they say that Bikeshare can facilitate better than Metro and buses. Indeed, a 2013 member survey showed that seven in 10 users had used Bikeshare for social activities or to run errands.

“Every city’s bike culture is a little bit different,” says Greg Billing, advocacy coordinator at WABA. “I think where we really excel is kind of how commonplace it is.”

WABA has been around since 1972, long before bike sharing captured the imagination of city planners. The organization helped lobby for bikes to be allowed on Metro during non-rush hours and to close Beach Drive to car traffic on the weekends. Now it’s offering adult biking lessons and safety instruction while continuing to lobby for more bike lanes and infrastructure.

W&OD Trail counts - It's surprising that there are no automated counters on the W&OD Trail in Fairfax County. Arlington County has several. The trail is the most popular bicycle facility in the county and we'd like to show that usage is increasing.

Chain Bridge/Westmoreland Dr - Bike lanes were striped on Westmoreland a few years back and we want to track usage over the years.

George Mason Blvd/University Blvd - We'd like to know if bike use is increasing at Mason. They are a Bicycle Friendly University and have added bike lanes and good bike parking over the past several years. Students are currently in session. The spring count period recommended by the documentation project often doesn't work for Mason because students are usually on break. 

Sunrise Valley Dr - With the coming of Metrorail to Reston, we expect bicycle usage to increase. We want to get some counts before rail comes to see if there is an increase afterwards. We also want to count on Soapstone Dr because bike lanes were installed there a couple of years ago.

We hope to have some summary data together in a week or so.

Only about half of survey respondents — 49 percent — said local governments were doing enough to support biking and walking, and only 20 percent said employers were doing enough. Among the most popular suggestions for improvement were more bike lanes, sidewalks and trails (49 percent); increased public and private funding (22 percent); employer-based incentive programs (10 percent); and more legislation and enforcement of drive, pedestrian and biker rules (9 percent).

Rother said she expects to see owners and managers of office buildings in urban areas begin to offer more incentives for bike commuters, including private bike rentals for employees and bike repair stations.

According to authorities, 361 bicycles were reported stolen in the county between Sept. 1 2012 and Aug. 31, 2013 — an increase of about 36 percent over the previous year, when roughly 265 thefts were reported.

The McLean area, police said, appears to have taken a significant hit, with 86 bikes reported stolen.

Many of the bikes were taken when residents left their garage doors open. “Thieves simply seize the opportunity, take the bikes, and walk away,” police said in a news release.

Bike thefts in Arlington County are also on the rise, reaching an all-time high this year, police reported in August.

Authorities are urging residents to take the following precautions to prevent thefts:

• Keep garage doors closed, and don’t leave bikes outside for extended periods of time. “Thieves may be watching and may target ‘unused’ bikes,” police said.

• Invest in a hardened steel U-lock.

• Consider installing motion sensor lights or alarms on your property.

• Take a photo of your bike and record the serial number.

• Register your bicycle on the National Bike Registry.

•Report the stolen item online.

On the PlanItMetro blog, system planners studied how people use each of the 35 stations where Metro operates parking lots or garages and where they come from. They found that people drive from as far as Baltimore, Annapolis and Manassas to use Metro's 9 terminal stations, which have lots of parking and are some of the system's busiest.

Meanwhile, 26 other stations serve "neighborhood parking" needs, attracting commuters who drive very short distances. Two-thirds of drivers at Forest Glen station come from within two miles, while 30% of drivers at Van Dorn Street, West Hyattsville and Fort Totten come from within one mile. These commuters could walk or bike instead, but many of these stations are located in a way that makes doing so hard, if not impossible.

Fort Totten is in the middle of a park, and while surrounding neighborhoods are fairly dense, there are very few street connections to them. West Hyattsville is surrounded by vacant lots. Van Dorn Street is hemmed in by rail yards, busy roads and the Beltway. Forest Glen actually has decent street connections, but people living south of the station have to cross the Beltway on a dark, dangerous pedestrian bridge.

As a result, people living near these stations feel like they have to drive there. This means more car traffic and more pollution, since cars produce the most emissions withinthe first few minutes of operation.

But poor pedestrian and bike access also restricts the capacity of a station to how many parking spaces it has. If those spaces are filled by the morning rush hour, that station is effectively closed to new riders until the evening. That might explain why stations like Forest Glen and West Hyattsville have some of the system's lowest ridership.

John Pickett, a federal economist, mounts the 20-year-old red touring bike that he’s dubbed “the Mule” just before 7 a.m. outside the shed behind his home in the Mount Vernon area of Fairfax County. Over the past decades, he’s put more than 33,000 miles on its odometer, and he’s ready to add 15 more.

As the rising sun breaks over the Potomac River, Pickett pedals northward along the Mount Vernon Trail. He is one of the Washington area’s growing number of bicycle commuters, and he’s due at work in Rosslyn in about an hour.

Getting into his rhythm near Dyke Marsh, the 57-year-old Pickett barely notices passing a brown wooden post. He has no sense of breaking a light beam, but this is where the National Park Service first detects — and counts — him.

It happens over and over again to Pickett and the approximately 2,000 others who use the trail each day. As they bike, run and walk the 18.1-mile path, they unknowingly trip a series of sensors. Those dozen sensors are connected to counters, which over time will tell a tale of who is using the route and at what times.

In the traffic-snarled capital region, where transportation alternatives are becoming increasingly important, this bike and pedestrian route and others like it across Northern Virginia, Maryland and the District have become “a secondary nervous system” for commuters.

“We know a lot about cars,” said Ralph Buehler, an associate professor of urban affairs and planning for Virginia Tech who has consulted with the Park Service. “Suddenly, we have data that enlarges what we can see about how bicyclists and pedestrians behave.”

Bike-friendly Arlington County, which works closely with the National Park Service, has placed the newest sensor, an expensive, state-of-the-art, French-made device, on the trail near Reagan National Airport.

Unlike older counters, this one can distinguish between humans and machines, using an induction loop embedded in a double-diamond pattern in the pavement. It senses when a bicycle passes over. That is paired with a passive infrared sensor that notices the direction of travel when a warm body passes by, creating a disturbance much like a boat’s bow wave. That minute-by-minute information is wirelessly uploaded each quarter-hour to a central database and sent to the county daily.

While pedestrians and bicyclists share the trail, reports show that two-thirds of the users are on two wheels. No one knows how many are commuter, but bright red Capital Bikeshare bikes are popping up with regularity.

That rent-by-the-hour bike program started with 100 stations in the District and 14 in Arlington in 2010. It now has more shared bikes in circulation — 1,890 — than any other region in the country, having just flown by the 4 million trip mark, with 22,000 members and expanded networks in the District, Arlington, Alexandria and, soon, Montgomery County. Bike commuting in Arlington has more than doubled between 2006 and 2011, and the D.C. Department of Transportation estimates an average of 87,000 bike trips per day in the region.