FABB Blog

 

Fairfax County DOT Installing New Bike Racks

Fairfax County DOT recently installed bike racks at several county-owned locations. The racks are simple, functional inverted U (or Hoop) racks. These racks allow two contact points on the bike and the use of a variety of bike locks. See the county Bicycle Parking Guidelines for more info. Thanks to FCDOT for the following photos.

Gum S[rings Community Center

Patrick Henry Library in Vienna

Huntington Community Center

Sherwood Regional Library

Labels: bicycle parking guidelines, bike racks

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:09 PM permalink

 

New Bike Racks at County Facilities

Fairfax County DOT has been busy installing bike racks at facilities owned by the county. The latest racks were installed this week at Springfield Government Center on Rolling Rd and John Marshall Library in the Franconia area. If you know of a county-owned property in need of a new bike rack, contact DOTbicycleprograms@fairfaxcounty.gov.

New U-racks at West Springfield Government Center

Old grill rack on the left replaced by new U-racks at John Marshall Library

Labels: bike racks, john marshall library, mason district park, west springfield government center

posted by Bruce Wright at 8:21 AM permalink

 

North County Government Center still without bike parking

Plenty of room for bike parking in front of the North County Government Center

The new North County Government Center was opened in January of this year. When we inquired about bike parking we were told it would be installed any day now. When we saw the graphic depicting the rack we noticed it was a "wave" rack which is not recommended by the current draft bike parking guidelines. We suggested that U racks, which are recommended by most jurisdictions around the country, be used instead. We were told U racks would be installed but seven months later there's still no bike parking.

Earlier we reported on new bike racks improperly installed at the Providence Community Center. U racks were used but they were installed on the edge of the concrete, meaning that one wheel would be in the grass. After we complained, additional concrete was added to the edge and one of the racks, which was too close to the adjacent railing, was removed.

We've been advocating for bike parking guidelines since 2007. The guidelines still aren't final and the county still hasn't figured out how to purchase and install racks properly. They are making progress, but it's been much too slow.

Labels: bike parking, bike parking guidelines, bike racks, hunter mill district

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:30 AM permalink

 

New bike racks at school headquarters building

Hitch rack at FCPS Gatehouse Road offices

Fairfax County Public Schools staff recently installed new visitor bike parking at the entrance to their headquarters offices located on Gatehouse Road in Merrifield. We requested the racks last year and property management staff were receptive to the request. They also agreed to meet with us and the county bike coordinator to discuss installation and specifications of the rack.

We've learned from previous rack installations that many, many factors are involved in getting the right rack installed correctly in the right location. The type of rack used at this location is referred to as the hitch rack (see photo) that allows two contact points on a bike that is parked parallel to the ring. A U-lock can easily be used. Most communities prefer either the inverted U rack or the hitch rack.

Entrance to FCPS headquarters

The preferred location for visitor parking is near the entrance to the building, within sight of security if present, or visible by people entering and exiting the building. The more eyes on a bike the safer it is.

The rack needs to be properly anchored if it's a single rack. If the base is not solid, sometimes concrete needs to be poured to provide a good foundation.

A good guide to bike parking at commercial locations is 12 Bike Parking Essentials for Retailers. If you ask for bike parking at places you visit regularly you might want to print the flier and use it as a reference.

Thanks to FCPS for working with us to provide good visitor parking. It's greatly appreciated.

Labels: bike racks, fairfax county public schools, fcps, gatehouse road, hitch rack

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:13 PM permalink

 

Bike rack at Trader Joe's in Reston

Cart storage area/bike rack at Reston Trader Joe's

Even though Reston is a Bronze level Bicycle Friendly Community, many of the stores do not have bike parking. Those that do usually have racks that are not recommended by local standards.

Yesterday we were at the local Trader Joe's food store located just north of the Reston Town Center. The store has what is called a "grill" rack or a "schoolyard" rack. It's the kind of rack that isn't recommended by proposed Fairfax bike parking guidelines. Many people park the front wheel in the rack and lock the wheel; which makes it easy to steal the rest of the bike by removing the front wheel. We usually use the end of the rack where we can use a U-lock to lock the bike frame to the rack.

At Trader Joe's the bike rack is used for storing their shopping carts with baby seats as you can see from the photo. We've complained nearly every time we've been to the store. Once again I complained to the manager. He looked up, nodded, and said "OK." I could tell he was basically ignoring me so I asked for his card. He handed me a blank store card. I asked for his name. He gave me his first name. I asked for his last name. Only then did he actually engage me in conversation.

U racks at Reston community garden

He said "we don't have much of a bicycling population here." I told him that the carts stored in the racks didn't help. He said why not just move the cart and park your bike, that's what one of his employees does who occasionally bikes to the store. My wife once tried that only to find a cart wedged in next to her bike when she returned.

FABB has been advocating for bike standards in Fairfax since 2007. We're told the standards have finally been completed and will be sent to the Board this spring. They are desperately needed. Even though the county is trying to apply the proposed standards, they are not official and there is no Fairfax reference to point to when we ask someone for a rack. We usually refer to Arlington's standards.

We plan to contact the national Trader Joe's office to complain about the bike parking at the local store.

Speaking of bike racks, we were pleased to see new U-racks at the local community garden. Reston Association has been installing U-racks at many of their properties. The installations are not always perfect but they are using the right type of rack and are being proactive in providing the parking.

The standard rack is an inverted U-rack that allows two contact points on the bike. There should be plenty of side and rear clearance. They should be placed near an entrance, not tucked away on an upper level of a parking garage. A bike with panniers can easily be parked at a U-rack using a U-lock.

Labels: bike racks, trader joe's

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:46 AM permalink

 

Bike to School Day on May 8

Is your local school celebrating Bike to School Day? Last year around 25 Fairfax schools participated and the goal for this year is to double that number. Why not contact your local school and ask if they are supporting the event? You could volunteer to lead a bike train to the school. If the school does not have bike parking, ask for a rack. If you are told that biking is not allowed at the school, point out the new school policy that parents make the decision whether their kids can ride, not the principal.

Langston Hughes MS rack

FABB's Kelley Westenhoff recently checked out the schools in her area to see whether they had bike racks. See her blog post Less Than a Month Away!:

Labels: bike racks, bike to school day

posted by Bruce Wright at 8:09 AM permalink

 

FABB purchases bike racks for Falls Church community

FABB recently purchased 4 inverted U racks that will provide bike parking cyclists at a local pool in Falls Church. Two years ago FABB received a grant from the Transurban Community Grant Program for bike light giveaways, purchasing bike racks, and conducting bike commuter classes. We've held several bike light giveaways, conducted bike commuting seminars in Tysons, and provided racks for cyclists in Vienna and Falls Church.

From the folks at Glen Forest:
With the purchase of these racks, we've used all the grant funding for lights, classes, and racks. We've applied for additional funding for conducting bike light giveaways this Fall and Winter.

Labels: bicycle parking, bike racks, Transurban

posted by Bruce Wright at 8:52 AM permalink

 

Busy week ahead in Fairfax

There are several events and meetings this week that cyclists should be aware of:

• Monday, April 16 - Vienna Elementary School Bike Rodeo, 128 Center St. South Vienna, VA 22180 from 1-3pm. FABB will be there along with a mechanic from bikes@vienna who will do minor repairs on kids bikes.
• Tuesday, April 17 - Fairfax Co Parkway Repaving meeting at Robinson Secondary School, 5035 Sideburn Road, Fairfax, VA 22032 at 7pm. Speak out for repaving of the parallel trail that is in bad condition and has never been repaved. Other meetings include April 24 at VDOT District Office, 4975 Alliance Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030 and May 2 at West Springfield High School, 6100 Rolling Rd, Springfield, VA 22152
• Wednesday, April 18 - Pohick Valley Stream trail meeting at White Oaks Elementary School, 6130 Shiplett Blvd, Burke at 7pm. The trail is an important connector between Burke VRE and Rolling Road VRE stations. This is a chance to speak out in support of the trail.
• Wednesday, April 18 - FABB Monthly Meeting at Patrick Henry Library, 101 Maple Ave E, Vienna, 7:30-9pm. Tom Biesiadny, Director of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, is our invited guest speaker.
• Thursday, April 19 - Vienna Green Expo at the Vienna Community Center from 6:30-9pm. FABB will be there along with the Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee, bikes@vienna, and Spokes, Etc.
• Falls Church Bike/Ped Plan meeting is also on the 19th, at the Community Center, 223 Little Falls Street starting at 7:30pm.  This is a chance to provide feedback on the draft plan.
• Saturday, April 21 - Bike Rack Ribbon-Cutting and Family Event in Vienna at the Maple Ave Shopping Center, 11-1pm. Sign up to win a Breezer bicycle.

See the redesigned FABB Events Page for details.

Labels: bike racks, bike rodeo, fairfax county parkway trail, vienna green expo

posted by Bruce Wright at 8:11 AM permalink

 

Vienna bike racks installed today

FABB has been working with the Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee to help get better bike parking for residents and visitors to the Town of Vienna. Thanks to a generous grant from the Transurban-Fluor Community Grant program we were able to purchase and have installed 3 inverted U racks at Red Mango frozen yogurt and Maple Ave Market.

The Vienna BAC developed a streamlined application form for businesses that wanted to install bike parking. They worked with the Town Council to get the form approved and then helped the two stores fill out the applications. The racks were installed today.

The racks at Red Mango are in front of the store and are mostly visible from inside. There is almost no concrete or asphalt space for the racks so they were installed in concrete in the grassy area. Mulch will eventually be put down to keep the area under the racks from getting muddy.

Behind Maple Ave Market there is one inverted U rack also installed in concrete in a parking space that is currently unusable. The rack is very close to the edge of the asphalt so that the area behind the store can be used for loading and unloading. The items to the right of the rack will be moved and mulch will likely be used where there is no asphalt.

Thanks to both of these bike-friendly shops for providing bike parking for their customers. We suggest that you check them out and at the same time purchase some of the tasty frozen yogurt at Red Mango (serve yourself and then pay by the ounce), and the fresh produce and other goodies at Maple Ave Market.

Thanks also to the hard-working folks at the Vienna BAC. They are currently working with other businesses in the Town to get more bike parking installed. Maple Ave Shopping Center recently applied for permission to install 11 inverted U racks, which should be in place by this spring.

Labels: bicycle parking, bike racks, maple ave market, red mango, town of vienna, Transurban

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:30 PM permalink

 

Town of Vienna approves bike parking application process

U rack at Vienna Town Hall

The Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) has been working with the Town of Vienna to streamline the process of getting bike racks installed. The committee developed an application form using the inverted U rack as the standard. According to Cris Janoski of the BAC, the Uniform Bike Rack Application form was approved last night by the Town Board of Architectural Review and can now be used by business owners who want to add bike parking for their customers.

Thanks to the Vienna BAC for their hard work on this application. They worked with FABB, the county bike coordinator, and several Town staff to develop the application and get approval. FABB has agreed to pay for at least two bike racks in the Town using funds from the Transurban-Fluor Community Grant Program funds that we received last year. Look for more bike parking in the Town in the near future. At least two businesses, Red Mango and Maple Ave Market, are interested in new bike racks.

Labels: bike racks, town of vienna

posted by Bruce Wright at 2:45 PM permalink

 

WMATA counts bikes and racks at Metro stations

WMATA recently conducted a bike and rack count at all Metro stations. The Vienna station racks were full (blue color in far left circle), with overflow bikes (orange color)  parked to any fixed object. Let's  hope this leads to more U racks at the Vienna station.

According to WMATA, they "counted bikes and racks at rail stations over a six-week window of peak usage from May 1 to June 15 for a “bike parking census.”  Each station was counted on a sunny, warm day typically between 9:30am and 3:00pm. We wanted to learn about the general availability of and demand for bike parking in station areas. For these counts, we specifically excluded bike lockers and the Union Station Bikestation, and focused just on racks. We wanted to know how easy it would be for a new bike-to-rail customer to easily find bike parking near a station.  We counted each U-Rack as space for 2 bikes, and used our best judgment for wave, grid, post-and-ring, and other racks.

Overall Findings

• 84 of our 86  stations have bicycle racks (all but Arlington Cemetery and Stadium-Armory)
• Bike-to-rail access seems to be up significantly over the last 5 years
• There is space to park 3,540 bicycles near Metrorail stations, and we saw 2,196 parked bicycles total
• Supply is not always matched to demand at a station-by-station level. Some stations are at or above capacity today, and additional bike-to-rail customers would be unable to find legitimate bicycle parking.  Other stations have plenty of underused space. Racks at some stations are not aligned with demand – they have unused capacity on one side of the station, but overflowing racks on the other side.
• Stations where total bikes parked exceeded 100% of rack capacity: 12
• Even though a station may show some “empty spaces,” the racks may still be crowded enough that an average bicyclist would call the rack “full” in all practicality.
• Stations where we observed at least 3 bikes tied to things other than racks: 26

Labels: bike parking, bike racks, Metro, wmata

posted by Bruce Wright at 4:30 PM permalink

 

New bike racks at Kilmer Middle School

Congressman Connolly cuts ribbon on new bike racks

Kilmer Middle School is located just south of Tysons Corner off Gallows Road. Many kids bike to the school, especially after a short bridge was constructed that links two sections of Wolftrap Road. As we mentioned in an earlier post, bike parking at the school was not sufficient for holding all the bikes. They were parked against benches, the flag pole, etc.

Today the school held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the installation of two new bike racks. The racks sit on a very nice concrete/stone pad. Congressman Connolly was present and talked about the need to provide alternatives like bicycling to ease our congestion and pollution problems, especially for short trips like trips to school. Congratulations to Kilmer and especially to Assistant Principal Larry Knighten who made it happen.

Photo by Jeff Palmer, Spokes, Etc

We would have preferred that inverted U racks were used instead of the grill racks, mainly because any bikes that have fenders or panniers don't fit into the grill slots, and it's almost impossible to use a U lock. These issues aren't a great concern with most kids bikes, so the grill racks should be OK.

See the Vienna Patch article New Bike Racks At Kilmer Draw Visit From Connolly.

Labels: bike racks, kilmer middle school

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:32 PM permalink

 

School bike racks in Vienna

John Brunow of bikes@vienna has been providing bicycle parking at two Vienna elementary schools, Cunningham Park and Wolftrap. The racks, which are event racks that we've used for bike valet parking in the past, are getting a lot of use as you can see from the photo. Many schools have no bike parking. At others kids are not even allowed to bike. It's great to see that this experiment in placing racks at these schools seems to have worked well. Let's hope it's incentive for the schools to do more to encourage kids to walk and bike to school.

Back in November of last year members of the Fairfax County School Board and Board of  Supervisors had a joint meeting to discuss in part the need to get more kids walking and biking to school. During that meeting Dean Tistadt, Chief of Facilities & Transportation Services for Fairfax schools said that if a school needs a rack he would provide one instantly. Maybe it's time to take him up on his offer.


Thanks to John for providing the racks not only here but at the Vienna Farmers Market, located next to the W&OD Trail, each Saturday. It does make a difference.

Labels: bike racks, cunningham elementary school, town of vienna, wolftrap elementary school

posted by Bruce Wright at 7:34 PM permalink

 

Another improperly installed bike rack

I needed to ride to the county courthouse yesterday. It was a beautiful day and a nice ride from Reston to Fairfax City. When I arrived I didn't notice the rack in front of the main entrance, so I parked near the front door. As I was leaving I noticed the rack on the right.

I'm not fond of the wave rack since there's only one contact point with the bike compared to the U rack, which is the standard in most places. Bikes are supposed to be parked perpendicular to the rack. As you can see, when used properly bikes end up in the flower bed. What many people do is park parallel to the rack, which turns a 5-bike rack into a 1- or 2-bike rack. In this case, the 10-bike rack becomes a 2-bike rack.

Why is it so common to see improperly installed bike racks? One reason is that Fairfax County has no bike parking guidelines. In November of 2007, nearly two and a half years ago, Supervisor Smyth The guidelines are still under development. We continue to ask about the status but have never seen draft guidelines although we've been assured they are due any day now.

Staff do work with new developments to request racks and provide guidance regarding placement, but almost every new rack that I've seen in the past couple of years is incorrectly placed and of the wrong type. The county bike program needs more resources for this type of work, and yet the county executive has proposed cutting all operating funds from the program.

Labels: bicycle parking, bike racks

posted by Bruce Wright at 3:24 PM permalink

 

Green inverted-U racks in Vienna

The Town of Vienna recently received a number of green inverted U racks that were provided by the Fairfax County bike program. The racks were purchased with CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) funds and there are several other locations around the county where they will be installed.

There is a critical need for more and better bike parking in the county. Lack of bike parking is a major factor in preventing people from biking. During the past year I've had meetings at several county offices, and most don't have visitor bike parking. The locations include the county Health Department headquarters at 10777 Main Street, Fairfax, the Department of Transportation headquarters offices at 4050 Legato Road, and Fairfax County Public School headquarters offices at 8115 Gatehouse Road.

At places where there is bike parking, racks are often incorrectly installed, like those at the City of Fairfax library and Vienna Community Center. While we're thrilled to see new racks in Vienna, from looking at the photo it appears the rack was installed incorrectly [see Update below]. There should be 36" on the curb side to allow a second bike to be parked (according to Arlington Co specs).

The sooner Fairfax has bike parking guidelines, the better off we will all be.

Thanks to John Brunow of bikes@vienna for the photo and for working with Charlie Strunk, the county bike coordinator, to help get the racks for the Town.

[Update Jan 1, 2010] We had a chance today to see the new green racks in Vienna, and from this photo, you can see that the rack is installed correctly. The concrete to the left of the rack in this picture is not the curb but part of the sidewalk, which extends to the edge of the snow. Other new racks along Maple Ave were also installed correctly. We should have verified our earlier assumption by checking out the rack ourselves. Our apologies to the Town.]

Labels: bicycle parking, bike racks

posted by Bruce Wright at 11:50 AM permalink

 

New bike racks in Vienna

Thanks to John Brunow and the Rotary Club of Vienna, there are several attractive new bike racks scattered around town. They are in the shape of a bicycle, with the words Rotary International embedded into the front wheel. John worked with the Rotary and the Town of Vienna to purchase the racks and their determine locations. I've also seen one adjacent to the Patrick Henry Library on Maple Street.

John is also responsible for the nice inverted U-racks on the Vienna Town Green which is adjacent to the W&OD Trail, and as you can see from the photo on the left, got a lot of use during ViVa! Vienna! (which is also sponsored by the Rotary Club of Vienna).

Labels: bike racks, town of vienna

posted by Bruce Wright at 1:13 PM permalink