Monday, August 29, 2016
Help Fairfax County Count Bicyclists
Fairfax County Bicycle Program staff are looking for volunteers to help count bicyclists in locations around the county on Sept. 15 & 17. Please consider helping out on one or both of those days for 2 hours.
The county plans to install a number of automated bike counters similar to counters installed in Arlington County. Thanks to Reston Bicycle Club and FABB the county now has a moveable bicycle and pedestrian counter. But until there is a network of counters in place the county wants to collect some baseline manual counts. FABB has done volunteer counts in the past and the county will use that data to supplement their counts.
The county plans to install a number of automated bike counters similar to counters installed in Arlington County. Thanks to Reston Bicycle Club and FABB the county now has a moveable bicycle and pedestrian counter. But until there is a network of counters in place the county wants to collect some baseline manual counts. FABB has done volunteer counts in the past and the county will use that data to supplement their counts.
As the saying goes, "If you don't count bikes, bikes don't count." VDOT conducts regular motor vehicle counts, and they have estimates for the average daily traffic on most Fairfax Roads but they have almost no bicycle or pedestrian counts. It's very encouraging that the county is undertaking this project.
From Fairfax County:
From Fairfax County:
Fairfax County is participating in the annual National Bicycling and Pedestrian Documentation Project and is looking for volunteers to help out with counting bicycles and pedestrians on Thursday, September 15 from 5-7pm and on Saturday, September 17 from 12-2pm.
The intent of the count is to gather information about bicycle and pedestrian traffic in Fairfax County to better measure the positive benefits of investments in sidewalks, trails, on-street bicycle facilities and Capital Bikeshare.
Volunteers that have not previously participated in bicycle and pedestrian counts are strongly encouraged to attend a training session on September 8 at 6.30pm. Counting and training locations will be announced shortly. Training materials are also available online.
To volunteer, please sign up here.
The intent of the count is to gather information about bicycle and pedestrian traffic in Fairfax County to better measure the positive benefits of investments in sidewalks, trails, on-street bicycle facilities and Capital Bikeshare.
Volunteers that have not previously participated in bicycle and pedestrian counts are strongly encouraged to attend a training session on September 8 at 6.30pm. Counting and training locations will be announced shortly. Training materials are also available online.
To volunteer, please sign up here.
Labels: bicycle counts, national bicycle and pedestrian documentation project
Thursday, September 12, 2013
FABB bike counts at seven Fairfax locations
FABB volunteers were out counting bicyclists today at 7 locations around the county as part of the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project. We often say that based on our casual observations, we're seeing more cyclists in Fairfax, but we need some concrete data to prove that assertion. |
| Bike count volunteer |
- W&OD Trail/Maple Ave
- W&OD Trail/Gallows Rd
- W&OD Trail/Fairfax Co Pkwy
- Chain Bridge/Westmoreland St
- George Mason Blvd/University Blvd
- Sunrise Valley Dr/Soapstone Dr
- Sunrise Valley Dr/South Lakes Dr
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.
Labels: arlington county, bicycle counts, national bicycle and pedestrian documentation project, nbpdp
