FABB Blog

According to the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan, 2013 Edition Area III Reston, Amended through 10-20-2015, Reston Parkway should have a speed limit of 30-35 mph in the Transit Station Area (TSA). As you can see from the map, one of the TSAs along Reston Parkway extends to South Lakes Drive.

As noted in the Post article in today's paper, As traffic deaths soar, cities pursue lower speed limits to eliminate fatalities, speed kills. In order to achieve a vision of zero traffic deaths, motorists need to slow down. Unlike several other jurisdictions in the area, Fairfax County has yet to take the Vision Zero pledge. We hope they soon will.

Speed kills

We plan to ask Supervisor Hudgins when the speed limit on Reston Parkway will be lowered to comply with the Comprehensive Plan for that area.

From the above-mentioned Comprehensive Plan:

Below is an update based on the latest Virginia Bicycling Federation's reports on bills that could affect bicyclists in the 2017 Va legislative session. Bills that have failed indicated by strikethrough.

SB 860 Use of handheld personal communications devices while driving; penalty. Would prohibit usage of handheld personal communication devices while driving. Filed by Sen. Surovell. Update 19 Jan - Failed by a vote of 7-6 along party lines, with Republicans all voting against.

SB 1338 Bicycle lane; penalty for driver to pass another vehicle using lane. Filed by Sen. Surovell. Bill number added. Update 25 Jan - Amended bill passes Senate Transportation Subcommittee 8-5. Update 22 Feb - Passed by full Senate 22-18. Failed to pass House Transportation Subcommittee 3-4.

SB 1339 Careless driving; cause of injury to vulnerable road user. Filed by Sen. Surovell. Update 25 Jan - Heavily amended (reduced penalties) bill passes Senate Transportation Subcommittee 9-4. Update 22 Feb - Passed Senate 21-19. Failed to pass House Criminal Law Subcommittee by voice vote.

HB 1834 Distracted driving; penalty. Adds a “Distracted Driving” offense to the section of the Code that prohibits Reckless Driving (46.2-868).  This will add a lesser infraction to the code for infractions that are not as severe as to warrant “Reckless Driving” which has traditionally been considered a very severe charge in this state. Filed by Del. Anderson. Update 25 Jan - Being re-written. Update 22 Feb - Passed Criminal Law Subcommittee 11-0, Failed to pass Courts of Justice Committee 9-10 (apparently someone switched their vote from Y to N when the bill moved from the subcommittee to the committee).

HB 2016 Electric personal delivery devices; operation on sidewalks and shared-use paths. This bill anticipates having wheeled drones delivering merchandise in the future. Filed by Del. Villanueva. Update 22 Feb - Passed House 97-0, passed Senate 40-0. Amended in Senate.

HB 2023 Highway maintenance payments; bicycle lanes. The bill to not reduce highway maintenance payments to municipalities that have implemented road diets. Filed by Del. Villanueva. Update 19 Jan - Reported out of Transportation Committee 22-0. Update 22 Feb - Passed House 97-0, passed Senate 40-0.

Operation Close Pass

In September 2016, the West Midlands Police force, the UK’s second largest, launched Operation Close Pass. Initiated by officers concerned with the safety of cyclists, its purpose was to address unsafe overtakes and passing distances by motorists. Using Cycliq's Fly6 and Fly12 all-in-one bike cameras and safety lights, officers recorded drivers from an on-bike viewpoint.


Operation Close Pass was praised by cyclists and media alike and attracted a lot of attention in the national press. Afterwards, The Road Danger Reduction Forum also gave an award to the West Midlands Police for 'Give Space, Be Safe'. More importantly, there was an immediate impact on local drivers as can be read on the West Midlands Police’s own 'Behind the badge' blog. Equipped with Fly6 and Fly12, one team of officers rode around traffic hot-spots and informed their close-by patrol car colleagues by radio of any infractions. Offending drivers were pulled over and offered the option of formal proceedings; namely a fine or, dependent on the severity of the offense, a road-side education on the vulnerability of cyclists and road rules.

On behalf of the Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment

Dear Interested Citizen,

The movement of people and goods is important for Virginia’s vitality and competitiveness. As we plan for a pipeline of short-range improvements to 2025, we are also scenario planning for 2040. We need to understand your ideas and concerns regarding transportation planning across our state.

Every four years, the Code of Virginia directs the Commonwealth Transportation Board, with assistance from the Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment (OIPI), to conduct a comprehensive review of transportation needs in a Statewide Transportation Plan – VTrans. The development of VTrans2040 was initiated in spring 2014. The 2025 Virginia Multimodal Transportation Plan (VMTP) is part of the overall VTrans plan. As part of the development of the VMTP, a comprehensive statewide needs assessment was completed. The VMTP Needs Assessment includes multimodal transportation capacity and operations needs at three travel market scales and included a statewide assessment of safety needs.

The assessment led to draft 2025 Recommendations as follows:

• Over 800 statewide needs identified in the Needs Assessment were consolidated across travel markets, 
• The resulting 170 total consolidated needs statewide were evaluated and divided into 3 Tiers,
• Tiering was completed by combining a data-driven “criticality assessment” of the consolidated Needs with an outreach process, in which regional and local stakeholders and the public correlated each Need with VTrans goals and both the importance and urgency of each Need to individual regions, 
• The resulting Tiered 2025 Needs were shared with the public in the CTB Fall 2016 Public Meetings, and
• The Tier 1 needs were compared to existing plans and programs to identify projects to meet the needs, and in some cases, new project ideas were drafted.

The Draft 2025 Recommendations for Tier 1 needs are currently being presented to all MPO and/or PDC regions in Virginia. All the materials from these meetings are available at http://www.vtrans2040.com/Pages/Recommendations.aspx.

Since this is the first time VTrans has included project-level recommendations in a Multimodal Transportation Plan, we are eager to receive feedback on the Tier 1 needs that address the VTrans Vision, Goals, Objectives and Guiding Principles (found here).

Please share your comments on the Draft 2025 recommendations using this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VMTP2025 (A link is also provided on the vtrans2040.com page).
The survey will take about ten minutes to complete.

Comments will be gathered through March 10, 2017.

FCDOT's community meeting on Braeburn Drive is this Thursday, February 23, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Little Run Elementary School, 4511 Olley Lane, Fairfax. 

If you live or ride in the Braddock district, FABB encourages you to attend and add your support for plans to add bike lanes as part of VDOT's summer road repaving program. New bike lanes are being planned for Braeburn Drive from Guinea Road to Olley Lane.

It's ironic that NVTA began their remarks by stating the TPB needs to address the "core cause and that the longer the cause is ignored, the longer it will continue." Their solution is building more roads, when in fact, the cause of our congestion is poor land use planning that leads to sprawling communities where the only way to reach jobs, schools, and stores is to drive. Proper land use planning in transit-oriented, walkabale/bikeable communities is the solution.

The Alliance frequently takes positions opposing funding for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. See previous FABB blog entries from 2009. We can understand that the development community wants more and bigger roads to allow more sprawling development, but the focus of development recently has been on more compressed developments around transit that allows residents opportunities to walk and bike and take transit to get around. It's time NVTA got with the program.

Braddock District and other interested FABB members and bicyclists are encouraged to a community meeting hosted by the Fairfax County Department of Transportation to discuss proposed bike lanes on Braeburn Drive.  The meeting will be held on Thursday, Feb. 23, 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Little Run Elementary School, 4511 Olley Lane, Fairfax. 

Representatives from FCDOT and VDOT will present plans for the project, which includes bike lanes, pedestrian improvements and overall safety. Several bicycle projects are proposed as part of the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) summer road repaving program. New bike lanes are planned for Braeburn Drive from Guinea Road to Olley Lane, extending the existing connection from Wakefield Chapel Road. 

ACTION - 3
Endorsement of the Fairfax County Bicycle Parking Guidelines

ISSUE:
Board of Supervisors endorsement of the Fairfax County Bicycle Parking Guidelines (Attachment I).

RECOMMENDATION:
The County Executive recommends that the Board endorse the Fairfax County Bicycle Parking Guidelines (Guidelines) to provide guidance to the development community on the number, type. and location of bicycle parking proposed with new development.

TIMING:
Board action is requested on Febmary 14, 2017, to allow the recommendations in the Guidelines to be implemented expeditiously.

BACKGROUND:
Bicycle parking is needed for the County to meet its goals of encouraging multi-modal transportation as stated in the Comprehensive Plan. Residents who choose to bicycle need safe and secure locations to park when they visit friends and family, shop, and work. The type, quantity, and adequacy of bicycle parking that currently exists varies from location to location. The Guidelines will provide direction to facilitate adequate bicycle parking in all future development.

In the Washington D C . metropolitan area. Arlington County's. the City of Alexandria’s, and the District of Columbia's zoning ordinances prescribe the required number of bicycle parking spaces in each of their zoning districts. The parking ratios suggested by the Guidelines were determined after researching these ordinances, as well as bicycle parking ratios and guidance from multiple jurisdictions around the country.

Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) staff presented information about the Guidelines to the Board Transportation Committee on May 19, 2015 (Attachment II). The presentation discussed the various sections of the document, what the process currently entails without these guidelines, and examples of how the document would be used to guide bicycle parking as a part of development. The Board instructed the Fairfax County Department of Transportation to conduct further public outreach with the development community to supplement its previous outreach with the bicycle community.

FCDOT released an “Announcement to Industry” in November 2015, with a link to the Guidelines online and asked for feedback by the end of January 2016. The following is a summary of the comments received and the response by FDOT:
In addition to these specific comments, many stylistic comments were received and incorporated into the document.

FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact to the County as a result of this endorsement.

ENCLOSED DOCUMENTS:
AttachmentI: Fairfax County Bicycle Parking Guidelines
Attachment ll: Presentation to Board of Supervisors on May 19. 2015

STAFF:
Robert A. Stalzer, Deputy County Executive
Tom Biesiadny, Director, Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT)
Eric Teitelman, P.E.. Chief, Capital Projects and Traffic Engineering Division, FCDOT
Chris Wells, Capital Projects and Traffic Engineering Division. FCDOT
Adam Lind, Capital Projects and Traffic Engineering Division, FCDOT

ASSIGNED COUNSEL:
Joanna Faust, Assistant County Attorney
Sara G. Silverman, Assistant County Attorney

Wheel you be my Valentine?! Join us for a special Valentine’s Day themed family-friendly bike ride. Before the ride we will decorate our bikes and helmets, and then head out for a short spin around the neighborhood trails. We will take a break at a playground and share some sweet treats!

We are bringing together families who bike in an effort to provide a positive community experience that will show children how much fun riding your bike can be!

Rides are very slow and we have a ride ‘sweeper’ who stays in the back of the group to make sure no one is left behind. Also, the ride leader will stop as many times as necessary to make sure the group stays together since it’s safer and more fun that way! Since we are not stopping traffic or blocking traffic this may mean it’s the slowest ride you’ll ever take- but it makes it more fun and festive!

Please vote for FABB as a Most Valuable Clean Air Partner. Enter your email address under the FABB logo to vote. An email will be sent to ask you to confirm your vote.

About Clean Air Partners

Clean Air Partners is a public-private partnership that educates the greater metropolitan Washington-Baltimore region about the health risks associated with poor air quality and the impacts everyday actions have on the environment. For 20 years, Clean Air Partners has helped individuals and organizations take simple actions to reduce their impact on the environment and exposure to air pollution during unhealthy air quality days. Clean Air Partners’ Air Quality App is a free resource that provides air quality forecasts and real-time health notification. For more information and to download the app, visit www.cleanairpartners.net.

If you haven’t already added your voice in support of these proposed traffic safety, bicycling and pedestrian improvements in Annandale, please make sure to get your comments submitted by this Wednesday, February 17, 2017.

FABB members in Braddock District are encouraged to send in comments on proposed improvements for the Braddock Road corridor, which are due by next Monday, February 20, 2017 (Presidents Day).

To provide feedback, please use the comment form on the FCDOT pages for the Mason project or the Braddock Road project.  You can mail comments to FCDOT Bicycle Programs, 4050 Legato Road, Suite 500, Fairfax, VA 22033. Another option is to call 703-877-5600 and leave a message.

FABB is switching its monthly meeting in February from Wednesday, 15 February, to Thursday, 16 February, and is combining our meeting with an FCDOT community hearing that evening. Please join us at the Groveton Elementary School cafeteria at 6900 Harrison Lane, Alexandria, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. for the FCDOT and FABB meetings.

An explanation: FABB had intended to focus its February meeting agenda on developments in the Lee and Mt. Vernon Districts and was scheduled to meet at the Mt. Vernon Government Center. As it happens, FCDOT scheduled a meeting on plans for bicycling improvements in Lee District the next evening. So, FABB’s Board decided the best use of our members’ time would be to focus on supporting the proposed bicycling infrastructure improvements. Our intention now is to hold a quick membership meeting after the FCDOT meeting ends. 

We’ve done this type of thing in the past but generally don’t like to give up our monthly gatherings. We will return to our usual arrangements in March. Our general meeting will then be held on Wednesday, March 15, at the Oakton Public Library.

Please check out this StreetsBlog Denver article about the former Vancouver chief planner’s thoughts on improving transportation by emphasizing biking, walking, and transit over self-defeating efforts to widen roads. 

In a nutshell, Brent Toderian, speaking at the Bicycle Colorado' Moving People Forward conference this month, made the case for urban planning that foregoes trying to “balance” highway construction with other transit options. The result of this approach is to encourage car traffic and discourage the use of multimodal options.  In Toderian’s view, “balancing modes” is code for not prioritizing walking, biking, and transit. But, if you design and build a multimodal city, it works better for everybody, including drivers. He also points out that if you want more people to ride bikes, don’t add bike lanes slowly. If there isn’t a complete network of bike lanes, fewer cyclists will use them. So, if you want to get serious about mode share for cycling, cities need a much faster and more robust approach to building separated, protected bike lanes. 

Toderian has some other interesting things about Vancouver’s and Denver’s examples, about financing transit, and about the importance of improving transportation for cities’ economic futures. 

Brent Toderian is a nationally and internationally respected practitioner and thought-leader with 24 years of experience in advanced urbanism, city planning and urban design. Check out his website UrbanWORKS.

ONLINE SURVEY: Please let us know if you have suggestions for Fairfax County's environmental policies. This survey may take 10-20 minutes of your time, but your feedback will have a lasting impact for years to come. What we hear from residents will help shape our environmental policy language.

From the Fairfax County page 2017 Proposed Springfield/Braddock Bicycle Improvements;

FCDOT will be holding a community meeting tonight, Monday, 6 February, 2017, in the cafeteria of the Lake Braddock Secondary School at 9200 Burke Lake Road at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting will begin with an open house and an opportunity to review information and talk to FCDOT staff the Braddock Road Widening Project and Multimodal Study. At 7:30, the Braddock Road Task Force will present recommendations for improvements to Braddock Road from Guinea Road to the Beltway. These will include options to connect all of the trails and to run mixed use paths down both sides of Braddock. The meeting will conclude with time for questions and answers.

This is an important meeting for bicyclists and others interested in improved multimodal transportation options in the Burke area. Please try to attend.