FABB Blog

In the four years prior to the road diet, this part of Lawyers averaged 15 crashes per year. The literature suggested that we might see a crash reduction of 20% to 40%, but in fact, in the first two years after implementation, Lawyers averaged only 3 crashes per year, an 80% drop. Attached is a chart showing the crash history.

In addition to the crash reduction, the project also helped slow the worst speed offenders without negatively impacting travel time. Public support was mixed prior to the change, but after one year, 74% of survey respondents felt the change was an improvement to Lawyers Road.

MARCH-APRIL 2013 FABB News

A bi-monthly publication of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling

www.fabb-bikes.org

Reston bike routes from county bike map

It's been interesting watching the construction of the Wiehle Ave Metro station the past year or so. I often ride over the Toll Road bridge in the morning from my house located about a mile from the station. The trip takes less than 10 minutes. Most of Reston is located within two miles of the station, about a 15-20 minute bike ride.

Leading up to Bike to Work Day two years ago, I challenged our neighbors Del. Ken Plum and the Reston Association President Kathleen Driscoll to a commuter challenge from our neighborhood to the Reston Town Center.

I can remember waving at Ken as I passed him on the Wiehle Ave bridge; he was waiting at one of the traffic signals as I rode by on the trail. I beat Ken to the Town Center by a few minutes and we beat Kathleen, who took the connector bus, by about 20 minutes. For short trips bicycling is often faster than driving, especially when you consider the time to park and walk to your destination.

2-mile radius around Wiehle station

The Wiehle Avenue station is scheduled to begin service the end of this year. Biking to the station is one of the better options for getting there. In the massive new underground parking garage there will be 2,300 Metro parking spaces and 240 bike parking spaces in a secure bike room. Regular parking in the garage will likely be $4.75 or more per day. Cyclists can avoid that expense by paying a nominal fee for the bike parking.

What are the best bike routes to the station? The W&OD Trail is located less than one-quarter mile from the north station entrance. There is a multi-use trail that connects the W&OD Trail to the station entrance, although it needs to be repaved and widened. It also needs to be extended north to Baron Cameron. Unfortunately the shared bus/bike lanes that were recommended as part of the Reston Metro Access Group report (see chapter 3) are not being constructed on the western entrance to the station. Better bike facilities are needed in the immediate station vicinity to avoid conflicts between cyclists, pedestrians, buses, and cars.

From the south, the new bike lanes on Soapstone Dr and Lawyers Road will connect most cyclists living south of the Toll Rd and east of Reston Parkway. Those cyclists can use neighborhood streets or connecting trails to reach Lawyers or Soapstone and ride to Sunrise Valley Dr. The existing mutli-use trail along Sunrise Valley Dr will soon be upgraded. Bike lanes on Sunrise Valley Drive, recommended in the RMAG report, are a longer term travel option. Most Reston residents should be able to safely ride to the station. See the Fairfax County Bike Route map for details.

For some Metro passengers traveling to Reston, getting from the station to their destination will be a challenge. Cyclists could leave their bikes overnight in the bike parking room and retrieve them on their way to work in the morning.

Bike sharing is another possibility and is a great last-mile solution and could be implemented in Reston. The Capital Bikeshare system is very popular in DC and many people are using it as a supplement or alternative to public transit. There are also other, less costly systems like ViaCycle at George Mason University.

Bike sharing stations could be scattered around denser parts of Reston including the Village Centers, major employers, and the Town Center. Users of Capital Bikeshare pay an annual membership fee of $70. Any trips of 30 minutes or less are free. I'm a member and when I use the system I time my trips to ensure they take less than 30 minutes. Daily membership is available for $7. See the CaBi website for details.

While it's difficult for some people living here in the suburbs to consider using bicycles for transportation, there are a few of us who rely almost solely on bikes to get around. Before you say that it's not a viable solution, why not give it a try. I'm willing to ride with anyone who wants to know a safe route to the station. Contact me at chairman@fabb-bikes.org.

Or consider riding on Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 17.

Reston Community Center Hunters Woods

Consider biking to the meeting. The community center recently installed better bike parking. As you can see from the photo on the right, when the racks are used as intended, bikes overlap. We've asked RCC management to move the racks 90 degrees.

According to the EIS, "The identified needs to be addressed include: transportation capacity deficiencies, major points of congestion, limited travel mode choices, safety deficiencies, and lack of transportation predictability." All of these problems can be addressed with better bicycle connectivity. 

I-66 EIS Public Hearing
Thursday, March 14, 2013
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Luther Jackson Middle School
3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA 22042

Capital Bikeshare employs 45 people; a mix of managers, mechanics, technicians and a street team (technically they're all employed by Alta Bicycle Share, the system's operator).

Most of the staff at Capital Bikeshare is made up of what are known as "rebalancers." They're in charge of making sure there are just the right number of bikes at any one of the stations at any given time. The term "rebalance" is used because they attempt to balance out the empty and full stations so users are assured either a bike to rent or a place to dock no matter where or when they need one.

Unlike a subway or bus system, where the passenger vehicles rotate through the routes consistently, there's a finite number of vehicles in a bikeshare system and a limited number of places to park them (each bike must be secured at an electronic docking station). And depending on topography, commute patterns, and special events — mass migrations of the bicycles from one part of town to another presents a challenge. The northwest part of DC, for example, is densely populated and it's on a hill. This means in the morning, thousands of people grab bikeshare bikes and roll into downtown.

"In the morning, we try to have [downtown] stations empty," explained Gilliland, "As they fill up, we sweep up the bikes and try to catch another wave of commuters."

Thursday, March 14, 2013
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Luther Jackson Middle School
3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA 22042

The weather's warming up, and there are more reasons than ever to get on a bike, whether it's to get to work, for exercise or for fun. New, safer green bike lanes are popping up all over our region, online interactive trip planners are making it easy to plan the safest route and Bikeshare is expanding. We talk bike safety, rules of the road and the campaign to get more women on bikes.

Mark Blacknell addresses the group

Thanks to all who attended Monday evening's event at Cuba Libre. It was a lively group gathered from Chesapeake/Norfolk, Blacksburg/Roanoke, Richmond, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria. We were especially pleased at how many bike coordinators/officials from around the state were present.

Towards the end of the short evening, we held a Speed State Bike Summit with 2-minute apiece presentations (like speed dating but bikes):

• Bruce Wright, Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling Chairman, on the Fairfax Bike Summit: http://www.fabb-bikes.org/summit/
• Amanda Poncy, Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator at City of Charlottesville, on the new contraflow cycle track on 6th Street in Charlottesville (see before-after illustration)
• Thanh Dang, Public Works Planner at City of Harrisonburg, on the impact of the Advocacy Advance workshop in gaining funding support for local improvements: http://www.advocacyadvance.org/media/blog/harrisonburg-the-future-bicycle-capital-of-virginia
• Mark Blacknell, Washington Area Bicyclist Association President and Virginia Bicycle Federation board member, on the recent Virginia legislative session: http://www.vabike.org/legislation-articles-recap-2013-ga-session/
• Chris Eatough, BikeArlington Program Manager, on the PAL: Safety on Our Streets program materials (free for use by others): http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/pal-safety-on-our-streets/
• Champe Burnley, President of Virginia Bicycle Federation, on Richmond 2015 and getting the word out regarding the tourism potential for Virginia:http://richmond2015.com/about/economic-impact/

With dark-framed glasses and unassuming presence, Dombrowski looks more like a computer analyst than a world-class athlete. It wasn’t long ago that he was simply riding his bike on weekends along Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. As he kept getting faster, opportunities opened up, prompting him to leave his home near Warrenton, abandon his studies at George Mason University and uproot his life.

“It’s definitely unique when someone like that comes along because it doesn’t happen very often,” said George Hincapie, a veteran cyclist who has ridden the Tour de France 17 times.

Not long before he moved to France, Dombrowski sat in the living room of his parents’ home and explained his meteoric rise. A friend at Fauquier High School raced mountain bikes, and a teenage Dombrowski would ride trails with him for fun on weekends. When he finally entered a race, though, he was hooked. Suddenly, Dombrowski found himself on the bike every day.

“It was a dream to make it a career, but only in the sense like, you might play high school football and you’d like to play in the NFL,” he said. “You have to be realistic about it.”

FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013

W&OD Trail Announces Extended Hours

The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority is excited to announce that for the very first time, cyclists and pedestrians will now have access to the W&OD Trail beyond normal daylight hours. This extended hours program goes into affect as of today, March 1, 2013.

The new W&OD Trail hours are from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., from Shirlington in Arlington County, all the way to the western town limit of Herndon in Fairfax County. Previously, the trail was considered off limits once the sun set.

“I am happy to see that NVRPA sees the W&OD as the premiere bike route in the region,” said Allen Muchnick, a board member at the Virginia Bicycling Federation.
“This pilot program will help many cyclists that want to use their bikes for transportation and not just recreation.”

NVRPA has accordingly created a few new rules to ensure that the extended hours are as safe as possible for its users. For cyclists, riders are required to wear reflective clothing that can be easily seen from the front and rear. All bicycles must be equipped with at least one white headlight light that is visible in clear weather from a distance of at least 500 feet to the front and a red reflector visible from 600 feet to the rear. Additionally bicycles must be equipped with a taillight visible from a distance of at least 500 feet. This taillight may be affixed to the bicycle or rider and may be steady or blinking. Pedestrians, are required to wear reflective clothing that can be easily seen from the front and rear and must carry a light or wear a flashing light.

In addition, NVRPA notes that exceptional care should be taken when crossing highways including obeying all laws and posted signage. Trail users are also required to follow all existing rules and regulations governing the use the trail.

“As we all look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, and improve both our health and environment, cycling to work is one great option. We want to be part of the solution, and help make this kind of healthy choice an option,” said NVPRA Executive Director Paul Gilbert. “Making the W&OD available during commuting hours is a significant step in the movement to encourage more non-motorized transportation.”

NVRPA has posted nearly a dozen signs along the extended hours route to help make riders and pedestrians aware of the rules governing the new hours.