FABB Blog

Fionnuala Quinn is a licensed civil engineer with a background in bicycle and pedestrian planning and advocacy. Through her recently launched organization, The Bureau of Good Roads, she is working to spark interest in how students can influence the design and operation of public streets and the built environment. She hopes her work can inspire young people to play a role in designing streets to better serve the needs of all members of the community.

Why did you launch the Bureau of Good Roads?

I launched The Bureau of Good Roads for several reason. First, through my work as a bicycle and pedestrian engineer and advocate, I recognized a need to engage and educate local communities about the public realm (of which streets are a large part). Often times, I witnessed community members get involved with infrastructure projects only when the projects directly affected them, rather than taking a broader community view of the public realm.

Second, I have worked to promote STEM and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education for over 10 years starting initially with a weekly girls engineering program at a local elementary school. Walking, bicycling, and school-zone infrastructure are a perfect way to relate STEAM principles to everyday life. Finally, my historical interest in the development of streets led me to a career in engineering and planning and this new way to use my career directly benefits the next generation of leaders.

What resources does the Bureau of Good Roads offer?

The Bureau of Good Roads holds workshops, leads educational programming, and publishes free lesson guides and materials online aimed at students ages 7-13. Our workshops aim to educate and engage students. For example, the Good Roads Rangers Club is a weekday camp program focused on building places and cities for people of all ages and abilities. The Sidewalk Superintendents is a field workshop investigating how infrastructure, design, and safety relate. The lessons guides cover topics such as sidewalk closures, street festivals, street connectivity, street signs, and more. Lessons typically utilize recyclables or low-cost materials to help ensure lessons are accessible.

What projects are you currently working on?

The Good Roads Rangers Club learning about the built environment via the hands-on Complete Streets kit.

We are currently working with an established program in Middleburg (Team Saturday) to create complete streets toolkits. Students are developing these toolkits, which will be presented to town officials in February, in order for Middleburg to help explain different traffic calming techniques to local residents. Middleburg has been great to work with and Town Administrator, Martha Semmes, joined the students to discuss the impacts of a local traffic calming project.

What materials are you currently developing?

I want all of the materials to be easily accessible and help improve understanding of our transportation systems. I am developing a set of basic design principles which will represent the key complete street principles. These principles highlight that the world around us is designed for our use, design is an iterative process, the built environment can be altered, infrastructure is a connected network, and change is normal for example. If students, parents, and community members understand these principles, then the quality of the built environment should improve.

How can VA SRTS Coordinators contact you?

For more information about The Bureau of Good Roads and to access free materials, please visit www.goodroadsmovement.com or www.facebook.com/GoodRoadsMovement. If you would like to partner with the Bureau of Good Roads, please contact Fionnuala at info@goodroadsmovement.com. Join The Bureau of Good Roads Newsletter!

Update: Fionnuala will participate in the FABB Advocacy Training on Feb. 4. Details and registration info coming soon. She will also be the featured speaker at the March 15 FABB meeting in Vienna where she'll discuss her work with the Bureau of Good Roads.

The Innovation Award goes to an organization that’s pioneering or inventing new ways to promote biking and walking. In 2010, the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling released a groundbreaking new resource: Guide to Reviewing Public Road Design and Bicycling Accommodations for Virginia Bicycling Advocates. The 28-page booklet simplifies and streamlines the confusing road design process with easy-to-follow flow charts, handy check lists and explanations that make sense to folks who don’t have a masters degree in urban planning. Almost immediately, FABB’s innovative guide was in high demand. Over the past six months, it has been widely distributed, well received by both advocates and transportation officials, and now FABB advocates are working on a template that other organizations can use to tailor the guide for their specific states and transportation jurisdictions.

Certificate of Recognition presented to Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling for its consultation with the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation to develop, prepare, and promote the Guide for Reviewing Public Road Design and Bicycling Accommodations for Virginia Bicycling Advocates to outline ways bicycling enthusiasts can provide input into the process to design, approve, build, and retrofit roads to ensure accommodations for cylcists.

CERTIFICATE - To recognize the members of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling for preparing the Guide for Reviewing Public Road Design and Bicycling Accommodations for Virginia Bicycling Advocates. Requested by Supervisor Hudgins.

Dan Malouff is right, "Bikesharing is going to be awesome." It will be the biggest thing to happen to area transit since Metrorail opened. It will change travel patterns and attitudes. It'll be good for the economy and public health. The DC region has seen a steady climb in bike commuting from 1.26% in 2005 to 1.63% in 2008. That number could double in a couple of years and then double again before mid-decade. We'll see the percentage of trips - already as high as 5-7% in some neighborhoods - go up even farther where Capital Bikeshare stations are located. Metro usage could see a bump as well, as Capital Bikeshare is a perfect compliment to rail/bus transit.

Recognition of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling(FABB): For their work on the completed Guide for Reviewing Public Road Design and Bicycling Accommodations for Virginia Bicycling Advocates, outlining ways bicycling proponents can get involved in the process of designing, and building roads to ensure that bicycling accommodations are integrated into the plans where needed.

In some places, there are already strong local groups that work with us in this manner. I'll take this opportunity to plug our friends at Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) as one good example. They handle local Fairfax County cycling issues wonderfully and have recently released a publication (in partnership with WABA and funded by the League of American Bicyclists) explaining how citizens can be better advocates for cycling in their local communities.

Guide for reviewing bicycling facilities in road projects in Virginia now available

Reston, VA, July 14, 2010 - Virginia bicycling advocates have a new resource to help them review and comment on public road projects. The new guide, prepared by Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) in consultation with the Virginia (VDOT) and Fairfax County departments of transportation, outlines ways bicycling proponents can get involved in the process of designing, approving, building, and retrofitting roads to ensure that bicycling accommodations are integrated into the plans where needed. Although geared for Virginia, many of the ideas contained in the report could be applied to other locations as well.

As described in the guide, planning, approving, and constructing road projects is a long process that presents many opportunities for bicycling advocates to provide input into the final outcome. Readers will find helpful tips for speaking at public hearings and meeting with engineers. The easy to read booklet covers the basics of understanding engineering plans and also outlines various roadway features (such as intersections, roundabouts, wide curb lanes, and bike lanes) that could be shown in the plans. Design standards and guidelines, design and safety issues, and a checklist for each of these features help advocates review and comment on road design plans.

"As far as we know, no one has compiled material like this before," said Fionnuala Quinn, primary author of the guide. "I wanted to use my background in civil engineering to help demystify the road design process and to help people take advantage of occasions to incorporate bike facilities whenever roads projects are being designed. A crucial point to remember is that the earlier you provide input to the road design, the better your chances of having an effect on the final design. Besides the printed version of the report, we also plan to have an online version on the FABB web site that contains links to additional information."

Funding for the report came from an Advocacy Advance Grant from the Alliance for Biking & Walking. Funding for the grant was provided by SRAM, Planet Bike, Bikes Belong Coalition, and 42BELOW. Additional funding was received from the IEEE.

The report "Guide for Reviewing Public Road Design and Bicycling Accommodations for Virginia Bicycle Advocates," by Fionnuala Quinn and Bruce Wright, will be provided to major bicycle organizations in Virginia and to the Alliance for Biking & Walking. Copies are available free of charge upon request to finnbike [at] gmail.com or can be downloaded from www.fabb-bikes.org.

For more information on the guide, contact Fionnuala Quinn, finnbike@gmail.com, or Bruce Wright, chairman [at] fabb-bikes.org, 703-328-9619. FABB is a grassroots initiative in Fairfax County, VA, affiliated with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), aiming to make bicycling an integral part of Fairfax County's transportation network. Visit us on the web at www.fabb-bikes.org.