W&OD Trail detour between Vienna and Reston

NVRPA is having the W&OD Trail repaved between Vienna and Reston. The trail in that location was damaged this summer when work was done to reinforce the banks of the stream adjacent to the trail. There is a short detour that follows the gravel trail parallel to the paved trail.

Two days ago when I was riding through that area I noticed two cyclists on road bikes with narrow tires ignoring the detour. The detour is there for a reason. It's a work area and there are conditions that are hazardous for cyclists. Workers don't need to spend their time worrying about inconsiderate cyclists interfering with their work. It likely delays the work and prolongs the time that the rest of us have to use the detour.

When I asked one cyclist why he didn't use the detour he said he didn't want to ride on the gravel. Well, we didn't want to ride there either but we respected the signs. It's selfish and inconsiderate to ignore the detour signs.

Falls Church police ticketing W&OD cyclists

Returning home from a meeting at WABA yesterday afternoon we rode through Falls Church on the W&OD Trail and came across two Falls Church police in the process of issuing a ticket to a cyclist at the Great Falls St. crossing.

From what I was able to gather, the cyclist had rolled through the stop sign when motorists were stopped and waiting. Under normal circumstances, i.e. where there is no stop sign, this would be perfectly legal. Current VA law states that no pedestrians and bicyclists "shall enter or cross an intersection in disregard of approaching traffic." It says nothing about coming to a complete stop before entering the intersection.

Writing a ticket in this situation accomplishes nothing other than to punish cyclists. I've seen police on bicycles roll through the W&OD stop signs. The stop signs themselves are not VDOT sanctioned and VDOT has questioned their legality. There is at least one instance in which a similar ticket was thrown out because the cited law does not apply to a bicyclist on a trail. When we tried to point this out to the officer he told me to back off, that I was hindering his "investigation." If I were issued a ticket in this situation, I would fight it in court.

Speak out for bike project funding

Possible revenue sources

Fairfax County is hosting the final four meetings on transportation funding this week. Cyclists are encouraged to attend one of these meetings and speak up for the need for bicycle project funding.

The countywide Bicycle Master Plan is nearing completion and funds are needed to implement the highest priority projects. See an early draft list of countywide bike projects. This is a list of funded projects in the Next Four Year Program

Community Dialogue on Transportation Funding:

• Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. Chesterbrook Elementary School 1753 Kirby Road, McLean 
• Wednesday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. Thoreau Middle School 2505 Cedar Lane, Vienna 
• Thursday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. Mount Vernon Governmental Center 2511 Parkers Lane, Alexandria 
• Thursday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. Kings Park Library 9000 Burke Lake Road, Burke 

According to Fairfax County:

In the next 10 years, funding needs for transportation is projected to be $8.1 billion with only $5.1 billion in anticipated revenues. This leaves a total $3 billion deficit over the next 10 years or a $300 million annual deficit.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors asked the county’s Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) to work with county staff to engage county residents and businesses in a dialogue about the county transportation needs, priorities and revenue options. There are numerous sources of revenue that could be used for funding transportation. Since these potential revenue sources will have an impact on county residents, businesses, and others who make purchases or do business in the county, it is important to get feedback from the community.

The Board of Supervisors has not made any decisions about whether to pursue adding funding for transportation. The purpose of this dialogue is to gauge the community’s interest, and to determine which revenue source might be most acceptable. The results of this effort will be shared with the Board. The Board may consider taking action after it receives the results, but is not required to do so.

You can also take the transportation funding survey until October 12.

"Walkable" Mosaic District not so bike-friendly

We've been hearing about the new Mosaic District development in Merrifield that is supposed to be transforming that area into a walkable community. See the Post article "Development transforming Merrifield into more walkable community." Only the first phase is complete, or nearing complete, so we'll hold off judgement about how walkable and bikeable the development is, but we did see what's in store for cyclists who want to ride to that area and it isn't pretty.

5-foot sidewalk on Lee Hwy at Gallows Rd

The county Trails Plan indicates that major paved trails 8 feet in width are planned for each side of Lee Highway adjacent to the development. What we found were 5 foot sidewalks on the south side and 6 foot sidewalks on the north side. There are no bike facilities on the road that has 10 lanes in some sections.

When this area was being planned several years ago there were suggestions from cyclists for bike lanes on Lee Highway. I can remember now-Planning Commissioner Earl Flanagan saying to me some time afterwards that those pesky bicyclists wanted too much and they didn't get bike lanes. We'll we didn't get a paved trail either. It looks like we're stuck with a narrow sidewalk on one side and a slightly less narrow sidewalk on the other side. All the more reason to make one of the travel lanes a bike lane by taking it when riding there; but only for the more experienced riders. Shouldn't we be encouraging more people to travel by bike to places like this?

To make things interesting, VDOT placed (or approved the placement) of a large pole holding traffic signals right in the middle of where a cyclist would enter the sidewalk on a curb ramp at one of the intersections (Yates Way?).

It's depressing to see what has happened in this area. To say this area in general is a walkable place is delusional. Pedestrians will take their lives in their hands trying to cross Lee Highway and Gallows Road. As you can see in the top photo, the right turn lane was designed for maximum speed for motorists and maximum danger for pedestrians. Conditions in the interior of the development should be much better for non-motorists, but they will likely need to drive to get there.

The only consolation is that these roads were planned many years ago. It seems that the county and VDOT do not have the flexibility to modify auto-dominated road plans in what should be walkable places. The roads can be re-engineered, but it's sad that they were built this way in the first place.

As a side note, when browsing the Mosaic District site we noticed that Fresh Bikes now has a shop located there. Maybe they can help make this location more bike-friendly.

Major paved trail on Route 7 bridge across Beltway

New Route 7 wide sidewalk across Betlway

Today I had a chance to check out the new major paved trail parallel to Route 7 on the bridge across the Beltway. There is an approximately 10 foot wide concrete trail on each side of the bridge that will connect the Pimmit Hills area just east of Tysons with the greater Tysons area.

This bridge has never had adequate pedestrian facilities, much less bike facilities. As I recall, there was a very narrow concrete ledge that some people used to walk across the bridge. Those cyclists who dared to try to cross, rode in the travel lanes, with high speed exit and entrance ramps onto the Beltway. One reason that FABB started doing bike light giveaways was after a cyclists was killed while riding across the Beltway on Route 7 in Tysons.

Since 2007 a major goal of FABB has been to ensure that bike facilities are included on the bridges across the Beltway. Most Beltway bridges between I-95 and the American Legion Bridge were reconstructed as part of the HOT lanes project, now called the 495 Express Lanes. See the many blog postings on our HOT lanes advocacy. We attended public meetings, wrote a Post Outlook section article, and met with county and VDOT staff to ask that the facilities that are indicated on the county Trails Plan be included in the project.

With support from county DOT and VDOT, those facilities are close to becoming a reality. While they are far from perfect, in most cases they provide the first accommodations for pedestrians and cyclists on the Beltway bridges. As you can see from the photo above, there is still some work to be done but we expect the facilities to be open in the near future.

Trail over Beltway on Route 7 ends at exit ramp

Now that many of the bridges accommodate bikes, Fairfax Co and VDOT need to have a concerted effort to connect those facilities with bike routes on either side of the bridges. The photo on the right shows where the trail on the north side of Route 7 ends, at an exit ramp from the Beltway onto westbound Route 7, with no trail connection to the service road or sidewalk. Connecting this trail should be a high priority for Fairfax DOT and VDOT.

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:

Glen Forest Pool racks

The Glen Forest Pool in Falls Church, VA was trying to provide enticements to local pool users to get them out of their cars. Too many people who lived close to the pool were driving to and parking at the pool, which on busy days really crowded the limited parking area.

When pool members were asked about biking to the pool, many noted concerns about the absence of good bike parking. Thus the need for a bike rack was realized. With FABB's great assistance, the Glen Forest Pool now features a wonderful bike rack with space for 8 or more bikes to park.

The Pool committee will be publicizing the presence of the rack to everyone in the neighborhoods nearby, all with the intent of increasing the use of bikes by pool-goers and thus decreasing the use of cars.

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.

VDOT releases updated Bicycling in Virginia map

VDOT recently released an updated version of the state bike map, Bicycling in Virginia. The map shows major bike routes in the state, including United States Bicycle Routes (USBR) 1 & 76, Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway, the Virginia Capital Trail, and a few other major trails. There is a Northern Virginia inset showing details of USBR 1, the Fairfax Co Parkway Trail, the Cross County Trail and others.

Unfortunately there is so little road detail that the map can't be used for navigating any of these routes. The FFX Co Parkway trail is shown incorrectly in a couple of places, including showing that it crosses I-66 parallel to the Parkway. In that section there is an unsigned detour away from the Parkway.

USBR 1 on Bicycling in Virginia map

USBR 1 as shown in the NoVa inset shows the section through Ft Belvoir, that has been closed for many years, as a dashed line. On the VDOT website there is an interactive map of USBR 1 & 76 that shows the route following Route 1 for an extensive stretch, a very dangerous route. Adventure Cycling mostly follows USBR 1 and they have identified an alternative route, that could have been shown on the state map.

This is what USBR 1 looks like on the VDOT website online map. As you can see, there are major differences between the two maps:

USBR 1 on VDOT online map

One day we would like to see a state bike route map that shows the many great routes that exist on Virginia's back roads. BikeVirginia has extensive maps showing good routes throughout the state that could be used.

The map could include some of the major routes in Northern Virginia that are identified on the Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax bike maps.