FABB Blog

 

Bike Coordinator position funded

Today the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors made final decisions on the budget for next year. The bike coordinator position was on a list of possible budget reductions. However, the Board agreed to fully fund the position.

Thanks to everyone who contacted the Board and/or sent comments to the budget office. The coordinator position is critical to ensuring the Bicycle Master Plan is adopted and implemented over the coming years. We are glad that the Board agrees and allocated funds. We're hoping that they also fully fund the bike program and find funding for an organization similar to Bike Arlington that will encourage more people to travel by bike.

We were not overly concerned about funding for the position. We know that the majority of the Board understands the need for the bike coordinator position. We have fought this battle before. In 2010 Supervisor Herrity first raised the issue of eliminating the position. Since that time the position has appeared multiple times on the list of possible cuts proposed by the County Executive.

We plan to write to the Board thanking them for funding the position and asking them to fund the bicycle program next year and start now to search for a replacement for the current bike coordinator, who will be leaving at the end if this year.

Labels: bicycle coordinator, bicycle master plan, bikearlington

posted by Bruce Wright at 6:38 PM permalink

 

Premiere of the film "Bikeswell: Smart Movement in Arlington Virginia"

There was a great crowd at the premiere of Bikeswell last night at Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse. The movie depicts the advances Arlington has made over the past several years in creating a bicycle-friendly place. It's taken a committed County Board that has devoted the resources needed to have six staff devoted to bicycle and pedestrian issues. It's also taken an active Bicycle Advisory Committee along with an engaged community.

The film was produced by BikeArlington and Gripped Films and features Arlington staff and advocates. It's an excellent film, with many good lessons for Fairfax. Here are some photos from the premiere. We've embedded the film below which is available on YouTube.


Here are some excerpts from the film:

Chris Hamilton, Arlington Commuter Services: "It all started with the idea that if we moved people instead of cars we'll be able to build a more prosperous, dense, high performing city. We don't have any room to build more roads, and our transit capacity, although expanding, is constrained, so the good place to add more capacity is in biking and walking and so Arlington set out as a goal a few years ago under the County Board's leadership was to be the premier city on the East Coast for biking. In doing so they laid out a number of things; that we needed to build the infrastructure, and that we needed to add bike lanes, bike trails, bike parking. We also realized that we needed to build bike culture, so we started a program called BikeArlington where we have staff that do nothing but encourage people and help people to get on their bikes."

Chris Eatough, BikeArlington: "Biking is part of the solution in so many ways. It's great for our public health, it's really good for our air quality, it helps our transportation problems and our congestion, it just helps our land use. We don't have to devote as much space to roads and for parking cars... It's good for business. It keeps money local and it gives local store owners a whole new customer base... This is pretty hard. We're changing a culture that's been based around the automobile and the default that you get around by car and cars are used for every trip. We're working on changing that and it's hard work. It takes a lot of individuals, it takes a lot of groups to get behind it. You can't just have a couple of guys that work for the county that call themselves the bike guys that are doing all this work. That's not going to be enough. That feeling and that sense and that effort has to come from all departments in the county government, and from businesses and employers around the county and individuals."

Labels: bikearlington, bikeswell

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:43 PM permalink

 

Regional Bike to School Day press release

Bicycling organizations in the Greater Washington area promote

National Bike to School Day on May 8th.

April 29, 2013.

Multiple organizations in the Greater Washington area join together with schools from around the country to celebrate National Bike to School Day on May 8 2013. Thousands of students throughout the area will be riding or walking to school along with parents, teachers and community leaders.

Leaders from the Washington Area Bicycle Association, BikeArlington, Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling, TrailsforYouth, Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition and the Greater Washington DC Region Safe Routes to School Network, all encourage parents to leave their cars in the driveway and join their children in riding to school on May 8th.

To date over 70 schools in the Greater Washington DC region have signed up to participate in National Bike to School Day. More are expected as the day gets closer and are encouraged to register their school at www.walkbiketoschool.org.

Julie Childers, Executive Director for TrailsforYouth.Org who has been implementing SRTS programs locally for over 5 years has this to say, "It's fantastic to see such interest and involvement within the Metro DC communities for promoting biking to school. I hope that we see continued grow and more kids safely riding their bikes to school."

Bike to School Day encourages a nationwide bike-focused celebration for students in the month of May and builds on the popularity and success of International Walk to School Day, which is celebrated across the country – and the world – each October.

“BikeArlington and WalkArlington have been coordinating with Arlington Public Schools and the response has been tremendous. All Arlington elementary, middle and high schools will be celebrating biking and walking to school on May 8”, says Chris Eatough of BikeArlington.

Bike to School Day events raise awareness of the need to create safer routes for bicycling and walking and emphasize the importance of increasing physical activity among children, pedestrian safety, reducing traffic congestion and concern for the environment. The events build connections between families, schools and the broader community.

Christine Green of the Greater Washington DC Safe Routes to School Network say “National Bike to School Day is an opportunity for schools and families to learn how easy it is to make the trip to school active and safe. Students who are physically active are healthier and perform better academically. What a better way to start the day than with a bike ride even a few days a week!”

For additional information, please visit these websites or contact Christine Green at christine@saferoutespartnership.org.

Walk and Bike to School Day
National Center for Safe Routes to School
Greater Washington DC Region Safe Routes to School Network

Labels: bikearlington, greater washington regional network, prince william trails and streams coalition, trails for youth, waba

posted by Bruce Wright at 2:21 PM permalink

 

Fairfax County budget meetings

Fairfax County is holding budget meetings around the county over the next couple of weeks. Below is a list of all scheduled meetings to discuss the budget and allow citizens to comment.

The FY2014 Fairfax County Budget was recently released. There appear to be no operating funds for the bicycle program. There are considerable funds for bike facilities in Tysons and Reston for improving access to the new Silver Line stations.

We plan to testify at the main public hearing before the Board of Supervisors in April (9-11) to ask for funds to implement a program for reporting aggressive drivers. We will also ask for funding for BikeFairfax, modeled on BikeArlington, to encourage more people to travel by bike. See our blog post on Supervisor McKay's direction to staff to "investigate if this model would work for Fairfax County and help us achieve some of the goals of our Fairfax County Bicycle Plan."

To speak at these town hall meetings, just show up. You can sign up online to speak at the April 9-11 Board of Supervisor budget meetings.

Town Hall Meeting	Location	Date
Springfield District Budget Meeting	Springfield Governmental Center - 6140 Rolling Road, Springfield	Wednesday, March 6 - 7:00 p.m. TO BE RESCHEDULED
McLean Budget Meeting	McLean Community Center - 1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean	Tuesday, March 12 - 7:00 p.m.
Braddock District Budget Meeting	Kings Park Library, Braddock Hall - 9000 Burke Lake Rd, Burke	Wednesday, March 13 - 7:30 p.m.
Sully District Budget Meeting	Rocky Run Middle School - 4400 Stringfellow Rd., Chantilly	Wednesday, March 13 - 7:00 p.m.
Lee District Association	Franconia Governmental Center - 6121 Franconia Road, Alexandria	Thursday, March 14 - 7:00 p.m.
Braddock District Budget Meeting	Little Run Elementary School - 4511 Olley Lane, Fairfax	Monday, March 18 - 7:30 p.m.
Mason District Budget Town Meeting	Mason District Governmental Center - 6507 Columbia Pike, Annandale	Wednesday, March 20 - 7:00 p.m.
Hunter Mill District Budget Meeting	Reston Community Center - Hunter Woods -- Rooms 3 and 4 - 2310 Colts Neck Road, Reston	Wednesday, March 27 - 7:00 p.m.
Braddock District Budget Meeting	Robinson Secondary School (Lecture Hall) - 5035 Sideburn Rd., Fairfax	Tuesday, April 2 - 7:30 p.m.
Great Falls Budget Meeting	Great Falls Library - 9830 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls	Tuesday, April 2 - 7:00 p.m.
Herndon Budget Meeting	Herndon Town Council Chambers - 765 Lynn Street, Herndon	Wednesday, April 3 - 7:00 p.m.
Hunter Mill District Budget Meeting	Vienna Community Center - 120 Cherry St SE,  Vienna	Saturday, April 6 - 10:00 a.m.

Labels: bikearlington, bikefairfax, budget hearings

posted by Bruce Wright at 3:51 PM permalink

 

Virginia get together at National Bike Summit

We've been attending National Bike Summit events this week. Several FABB members attended the National Women's Bicycling Forum on Monday. For more info on the forum see the Women Bike Facebook page and impressions of the forum from SouthLakesMom. 

Later that afternoon Alta Planning hosted a get together of Virginia advocates who were in town for the summit. FABB's Fionnuala Quinn sent a note to attendees afterwards:
In the next day or so we'll summarize some of what we heard at the summit. Thanks to Reston Bike Club for their generous support that allowed us to attend the summit.

Labels: bikearlington, charlottesville, harrisonburg, national bike summit, reston bike club, virginia bicycling federation, waba

posted by Bruce Wright at 11:01 PM permalink

 

Patch article on bicycle program funding

Eric Hendry of Vienna Patch wrote a comprehensive article on funding for the bicycle program: Budget Adds More Funding, But Not For Biking. As we noted in an earlier post, there is money for bicycle projects but none for the other activities that are needed for a successful bike program such as encouraging more people to travel by bike, educating bicyclists and motorists, and outreach to employers and others.

We were very encouraged by Supervisor McKay's motion yesterday to look into using the BikeArlington model in Fairfax:
Thanks to everyone who contacted the Board. They know there is a great deal of support for better and safer conditions for cyclists in the county. We're optimistic that with the completion of the bicycle plan, and a commitment from the new Transportation Department director to doing more to help cyclists, we will make significant progress in the future.

While we're disappointed by the lack of program funding, it appears there is a renewed effort to accomplish the goals of the program through other means. It's critical that both the Tysons and the Countywide bicycle master plans be approved this year. We think county DOT is committed to that goal. Stay tuned.

Labels: bicycle master plan, bikearlington, supervisor mckay, tom biesiadny

posted by Bruce Wright at 8:33 AM permalink

 

Supervisor McKay's Board Matter on BikeArlington

Supervisor McKay

At today's Board meeting Lee District Supervisor McKay asked staff to "prepare an analysis of the BikeArlington program and that the analysis be added to a future Transportation Committee's agenda." When we met with Supervisor McKay we discussed the success of BikeArlington and that it is an excellent model for a similar effort in Fairfax County.

Supervisor McKay's earlier Board Matter on the Bicycle Master Plan kickstarted that effort.

As many of you know, BikeArlington is a very successful program that encourages more people to travel by bike. They also fund several bicyclist education classes, hold bicycle events, and conduct outreach to local employers. They produced the excellent infographic on bicycle and pedestrian safety as part of their PAL program: Predictable, Alert, and Legal.

This is an exciting development. As the Bicycle Master Plan nears completion, it will be important that Fairfax becomes more proactive in not only building an extensive bicycle network, but also changing our car culture to be more accepting of bicycling as a viable means of transportation. Having a BikeFairfax similar to BikeArlington would be a major step in the right direction.

Here is the text of Supervisor McKay's Board Matter from today's meeting:

Labels: bicycle master plan, bikearlington, supervisor mckay

posted by Bruce Wright at 8:26 PM permalink

 

Safety infographic from BikeArlington

The folks at BikeArlington recently created an excellent traffic safety graphic. It's part of their PAL campaign
I like the info about Sharrows (or Shared Lane Markings). FABB has discussed the need for educating everyone about their use. Here's how it's shown on the graphic:


We'll try to get printed copies to use at our events this year. Good job BikeArlington!

Labels: bikearlington, sharrows, traffic safety

posted by Bruce Wright at 4:27 PM permalink

 

BikeArlington is hiring

The goal of BikeArlington is "to build bike culture and make it easy for people to incorporate biking into their everyday lives." They do great work getting more people on bikes in Arlington by holding bike commuting seminars, sponsoring bicycle safety classes, hosting events, and talking to employers, employees, and residents about the benefits of bicycling.

They are looking for an Events and Outreach Coordinator. This would be a great job for someone who loves bicycling and wants to see more people using bikes to get around Northern Virginia. See the job announcement.

Labels: bikearlington

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:30 AM permalink

 

Biking in our Region on The Kojo Nnamdi Show

Be sure to catch The Kojo Nnamdi Show tomorrow at noon to hear about Biking in our Region. Shane Farthing, Executive Director of WABA,Eric Gilliland, General Manager, Capital Bikeshare, and Chris Eatough, Program Manager for Bike Arlington are the guests. Kojo is off tomorrow so Diane Vogel will be the guest host:

Labels: bikearlington, chris eatough, eric gilliland, shane farthing, waba

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:03 PM permalink

 

Standing room only at Arlington BAC-sponsored film viewing

I estimate there were over 200 people at the film viewing sponsored by the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee and BikeArlington this evening. The short documentary on bicycling in several European cities highlighted many innovative bicycle facilities being used there. The documentary was filmed during a tour of Europe by transportation professionals from the U.S. documented in Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety and Mobility in Europe and in Handy Lessons From Overseas on Walking and Bicycling.

Cycletracks, bus/bike lanes, painted bike lanes, bike boxes, bicycle-specific signals were among the facilities shown. Right on red is prohibited in some locations which helps reduce conflicts and seems to lead to better compliance by motorists and cyclists. Right on red in the U.S. has probably contributed greatly to the aggressive nature of many motorists here. We think we have a right to basically disregard traffic signals if we're turning right.

Speed limits are also much lower in most European cities. Convex mirrors (known as trixi mirrors) were used in some locations to allow motorists to see cyclists approaching on their right. These are especially useful for drivers of large vehicles that may have obstructed views. Zig-zag pavement markings similar to those on Sterling Blvd and Belmont Ridge Rd where the W&OD Trail crosses, were shown.

Traffic Garden in Winterthur, Switzerland

I especially liked the traffic garden in the town of Winterthur. School children learn how to navigate traffic in this reduced scale neighborhood of streets that includes "traffic signals, roundabouts, bike lanes at intersections, sidewalks, work zones, public benches, and other common traffic situations."

Many of the facilities shown in the film cannot be used in the U.S. Cities for Cycling, a project of the National Association of City Transportation Officials, is hoping to change that by cataloging, promoting and implementing the world's best bicycle transportation practices in American municipalities.

Labels: arlington bicycle advisory committee, bikearlington, cities for cycling, europe

posted by Bruce Wright at 11:29 PM permalink

 

European bicycle facilities film

The Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee and BikeArlington are sponsoring a viewing of a short documentary on European bicycle facilities, featuring bicycle and pedestrian safety, mobility and infrastructure. It will be followed by a public discussion. Everyone is welcome to attend.

The event will be held on Monday, March 7 at Arlington County Central Library Auditorium (1015 N. Quincy St.). The library is not far from the Custis Trail. The meeting begins at 6:30pm.

Labels: arlington bicycle advisory committee, bikearlington

posted by Bruce Wright at 11:35 AM permalink

 

Car Free Day in Crystal City

We celebrated Car Free Day today at one of the Capital Bikeshare stations in Crystal City. We had a table with copies of the Advocates Guide, county bike maps, and example drawings of road projects. The station at 23rd St and Crystal Drive is one of 14 in Crystal City (see the station map). The density is good, with stations located along Crystal Drive, several around the Crystal City metro station, two near the Pentagon station, and others scattered around the main commercial and high density residential areas.

We were there with the BikeArlington folks from 11:30-1:30 and there was a lot of lunchtime foot traffic. Several people tried out the bikes; they are so new that many people hadn't seen them before and were intrigued. While we were getting set up two people dropped off bikeshare bikes, saying they planned to use them on a daily basis to get from the Metro station. It's about 1/3 of a mile from the station and one woman is recovering from an injury and the walk is painful; the ride is a much better option. Once you're a member, any rides under 30 minutes are free.

The system is not without it's problems. One gentleman from Wisconsin, pictured on the left, wanted to try out the system. He's are regular cyclist in Madison, a Gold level Bike Friendly Community. He wanted to ride to the Mall and check out some museums. The printed map (and the Google map showing all the stations) showed two stations on the Mall and others nearby. The map of current stations tells a different story, and unless you've checked it out in advance or have a smartphone, you have no idea which stations have been installed. As of today there are no stations on or near the Mall. And the system is so new that several people he asked couldn't help find a station.

As a result, he rode all the way back to Crystal City, taking a much longer, and more expensive trip (and missing out on seeing the museums). The cost of the trip increases greatly after the first hour. That's one of the negative aspects of rolling out the system without complete coverage. The system status is changing daily, so it's difficult to post the latest maps, but there could be a better way to help users find current stations.

We talked to several people about the new advocates guide and handed out Fairfax bike maps. It looks like Capital Bikeshare will be a success. Many people were excited by the idea and once the word gets around that it's easy and inexpensive to go by bike, there will be a demand for more bikes and more stations.

Labels: advocates guide, bikearlington, capital bikeshare, crystal city

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:12 PM permalink