November-December FABB Newsletter

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2012 FABB News

A bi-monthly publication of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling

www.fabb-bikes.org

Outstanding * A Milestone * Superb Speakers * Engaged Audience * Passion

These are some of the words people who attended our first Fairfax Bicycle Summit used during and after the October 27 event. FABB collaborated with Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) and George Mason University to put together a stellar list of speakers and local bike shops, who inspired us to redouble our efforts to make bicycling an everyday activity for the good of our communities. We heard of at least two people who visited local bike shops after the summit, looking for bikes to use for local trips.

Keynote speaker Andy Clarke, President of the League of American Bicyclists, stated the obvious: Fairfax faces many challenges for bicyclists. But he also noted that things are changing for the better. Fixing some of the challenges does not necessarily involve any grandiose ideas, specialized infrastructure, or millions of dollars. For example, simple actions such as closing gaps in our sidewalks and trails and keeping walking and bicycling paths clear of snow and debris would improve conditions for bicyclists. Although encouraging bicycling is not “rocket science” and many people want to drive less, commitment from the top is required because change does not happen by chance. Speaker Tom Biesiadny, Director of FCDOT, detailed ways that his department is working to further bicycle transportation, such as completing the county bicycle master plan, partnering with VDOT to add wide shoulders or bike lanes during road repaving projects, and conducting a trails and sidewalk condition assessment.

As the day progressed, speaker after speaker detailed ways we can bring better and safer conditions to cyclists. The more people who ride, the safer everyone is. Ideas were wide ranging:  bike stations for residential tenants in redeveloped Tysons Corner, road diets that incorporate bike lanes, kids telling their peers how much they enjoy biking to school, bike sharing, enticing recreational bikers to try riding for short trips around town, convincing people that riding 2 miles to the store doesn’t mean you need to be an endurance athlete. Closing speaker Stewart Schwartz of Coalition for Smarter Growth pointed out that bicycling makes sense in terms of energy, economics, health, and competitive growth, and biking for transportation truly contributes to our national security.

FABB presented awards to Fairfax County Bicycle Coordinator Charlie Strunk and VDOT Traffic Engineer Randy Dittberner for their work on behalf of bicyclists; both are avid transportation cyclists.

We already are tossing around ideas for our next bicycle summit, although topping this year’s program will be tough. If you missed the inaugural event, be sure to attend the next one!

Draft Bicycle Master Plan

Toole Design Group delivered the final draft of the Fairfax Countywide Bicycle Master Plan County Bike Coordinator Charlie Strunk. Staff briefed the Planning Commission on the bike plan on October 17. Meetings are currently being scheduled with staff from the Department of Planning and Zoning and the Department of Transportation's Long Range Planning Section in order to review format and comprehensive plan language compatibility.  The draft-final plan will be presented to the Planning Commission after the first of the year to seek approval of the Plan. It will then go to the County Board of Supervisors for their approval. Once a copy of the Plan is available we will post information on the FABB website.

Safe Routes to School in Fairfax

Over the past 3 years, FABB has been working with both Fairfax County government and the Fairfax County Public Schools, encouraging them to embrace a system-wide effort to get more children to walk and bike to school.  Leveraging the National Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program, Jeff Anderson has been leading the charge for FABB and recently brought national exposure to Fairfax. In May, WAMU's Metro Connection interviewed Jeff and two of his three children for the feature From A To B: Families Try To Bring Back Walking, Biking To School, which ran on NPR. In June, Nike sent a photographer to capture the Wolftrap ES Bike Train as part of a larger report, Designed to Move: A Physical Activity Action Agenda.  The SRTS section of the report (page 78) contains a photo of Wolfie's bike train. Bicycling magazine published a report on biking to school and included a picture of the Anderson peloton as representative of kids who can and do bike to school (section 7). In August, Wolfie's Bike Train was featured in the article Uphill Ride: Kids and Their Parents Show the Way to Cycle Safely to School in Landscape Architecture magazine.   

Finally, in September, Nickelodeon sent two film crews to Wolftrap ES to film the bike train and to profile Carina Anderson (6th grader at Wolftrap ES) as part of their 30 min special on I Play Because... The kids at Wolftrap ES are setting a great example for others.

FABB will continue to push for continued movement within Fairfax County to get more kids to bike and walk to school as these children are the bike commuters of tomorrow.

Bicycle Bills in 2013 Virginia Legislative Session

Delegate Alfonso Lopez (49th District) plans to reintroduce the "Exercise due care" and "Following too closely" bills again in the 2013 session. Both bills would help educate motorists about the rights of bicyclists and the need for motorists to drive carefully around them. These bills were opposed last year by Northern Virginia Delegate Barbara Comstock (34th District), who cast deciding votes in defeating them. Once the and other bike-related bills are introduced we will ask cyclists to contact their local legislators to urge them to support the bills.

First Bike Sharing System Implemented at GMU

GMU recently implemented a bike sharing system at four "stations" around campus.

Patriot Bikeshare uses bikes from viaCycle. The system is very simple. The bikes are parked at designated bike racks using an attached cable locking system. There are a couple of options for using the system:

• One-time $3 fee to check out a bike for a 12 hour time period.
• Subscription fee of $6/month available to Mason students, faculty, or staff.

Guests can also use the system. The first two hours of use are free.

New Bike/Ped Staff Person at Fairfax County

Fairfax County DOT recently hired a new bicycle (and pedestrian) staff person to work in the county bike program. Her name is Vanessa Aguayo. According to the county bike coordinator, "She has an engineering background, comes to us from the private sector, and has lots of experience in designing bike and pedestrian projects as well as traffic calming." Welcome to Vanessa; we look forward to working with her.

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 Commonwealth, 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.

495 Express Lane Bridges Now Have Bike/Ped Facilities

The 495 Express Lanes are scheduled to open on November 17 . 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 Fairfax County DOT and VDOT, those facilities are a reality. While they are far from perfect, in most cases they provide the first accommodations for pedestrians and cyclists on the Beltway bridges. The next step is to ensure that those new facilities are connected to the surrounding bicycle route network.

FABB Fact: 31% of trips in central Fairfax are less than 3 miles.

Events - For full details see the FABB Events Page.

Wednesday, November 21 - No FABB meeting in November
Thursday, December 13 - WABA Holiday Party
Wednesday, December 19, 7:30pm - FABB monthly meeting

FABB BLOG - For other news and articles of interest, visit the FABB blog.

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Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling is a grassroots initiative, affiliated with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, aiming to make bicycling an integral part of Fairfax County's transportation network. Visit us on the web, Facebook, and Twitter. Donations to FABB are tax-deductible and help us further our bicycling goals in Fairfax.

Thanksgiving Reston ride sponsored by Reston Association

Reston Association is hosting a Pre-Feast Bike Ride on Thanksgiving Day ride starting at Fountain Square at Reston Town Center. Along with the FABB Reston Social Ride on Saturday Nov. 17, there are two opportunities to check out the streets of Reston in November.

Both rides will be casual, slow-paced rides. The Reston Association ride is approximately 6 miles and the FABB ride is just over 14 miles with an optional 10 mile shorter ride. Registration is required for the FABB ride. Everyone is welcome at the Pre-Feast Bike Ride. Let's hope for good weather for both events. There are no rain/snow dates; both rides will be cancelled if there is rain, snow, or ice covering the roads.

FABB Social Ride - Reston Tour

Soapstone Dr Bike Lanes

Join FABB for a Social Ride in Reston. It will be a casual tour of various sights in the Reston area on Saturday, November 17 at 9am. The tour will start at the Reston Town Center Pavilion. Sights include bike lanes on Lawyers Road and Soapstone Drive, Walker Nature Center, Weihle Ave Metro Station, Bowman House, historic Lake Anne, and Browns Chapel. We will ride at a slow pace as a group. The tour is just over 14 miles with a shorter option of approximately 10 miles. Free online registration is required. All riders must be WABA members, wear a helmet, and sign the ride waiver. There is no rain date.

What to Bring:

• Your bicycle
• Helmet (required no exceptions)
• Lock to secure your bike when parked
• WABA membership number* 
• Water and a snack, sunscreen
• Cash for (optional) lunch or snack 

* The ride is for adult WABA Members. Children 14-18 may participate if they are accompanied by an adult WABA member.

Register online.

Court case for motorist who intentionally struck cyclist is Monday

The court case involving the motorist who is alleged to have intentionally struck a cyclist who was riding on Maple Ave. in Vienna is scheduled for Monday at 9:30am at the Vienna courthouse. The courthouse is located in Vienna Town Council chambers. See our earlier blog entry about the case that included this exerpt from the Vienna Patch article Driver Arrested After Dispute with Cyclist

Vienna Police have arrested a man for allegedly intentionally striking a cyclist with his vehicle after a dispute on Maple Avenue while both were in motion.

John Arthur Thorpe, 52, of Bristow, was arrested Aug. 18 for assault and aggressive driving and taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, said Officer Gary Lose, VPD spokesperson. He was released on recognizance, according to the General District court online database.

We attended part of the first scheduled hearing on October 15 and it was a learning experience. We learned that even the most blatant traffic offenders are often treated lightly. Those who pleaded guilty were often given relatively light penalties. In at least two cases the judge stated that he was lowering the speed of the offense which would "help you out with the DMV."

Only the worst of the worst offenders every make it to court, and yet it seemed that the judge was treating their offenses very lightly. Police almost never write speeding tickets unless motorists are driving at least 10 mph over the speed limit and yet those motorists were only given a slap on the wrist.

We plan to attend the court hearing on Monday morning and will report back on the outcome.

Update: After a couple of hours of traffic citation cases, the judge called the name of the motorist who struck the cyclist. The motorist, John Thorpe, appeared with his attorney. Unfortunately the cyclist wasn't there. Notice of the hearing was sent to the wrong address and the prosecutor was not able to contact him by phone. Three witnesses were also present. The judge agreed to one more postponement, to Monday, January 7 at 9:30am in Vienna.

Slow down, and pipe down

The Post has a good response to motorists who complain because they get caught driving at least 10 mph over the speed limit in DC: Slow down, and pipe down: Traffic scofflaws have no standing to object to candid cameras. Only the worst of the worst traffic offenders are ever caught speeding, and when they do they (and their enablers at AAA Mid Atlantic) complain about the unfairness of speed cameras (in typical Post fashion, the online headline is different that than the print headline). The Post has no sympathy for those drivers:

HERE’S AN IDEA for motorists who complain about having to pay the fines assessed by the District’s traffic cameras: Obey the laws. Driving the speed limit, stopping at red lights and not making prohibited right turns on red are the best defense against getting a ticket. More important, compliance with traffic laws—something indisputably boosted by these much-maligned cameras—enhances safety.

Economic benefits of bicycling

From the article Bicycling for Better Business on Citiwire.net

Minneapolis bike lane

“Biking is definitely part of our strategy to attract and retain businesses in order to compete in a mobile world,” says Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak as we pedal across the Mississippi River on a bike and pedestrian bridge. “We want young talent to come here and stay. And good biking is one of the least expensive ways to send that message.”

Bikes are improving the business climate beyond big cities. Austin, Texas, is ambitiously expanding its bike infrastructure; its first green lane opened last spring, one of 10 planned. CEO Tyson Tuttle relocated Silicon Labs to downtown Austin five years ago to be near the bike trail system. “Biking on the trails is something a lot of employees enjoy,” said Tuttle, who sometimes rides to work. “And when people think about joining the company it’s a big draw.”

In Memphis, Eric Matthews echoes those comments. He’s CEO of Launch Memphis, an initiative to nurture and attract new businesses to city. He says, “Biking correlates with entrepreneurs.”

Only bicycles seemed to be rolling.

That's a quote from the New York Times article on the transportation gridlock that occurred as a result of Hurricane Sandy, Long Gas Lines, Clogged Roads and Slim Hope for a Better Day. Bikes and walking were about the only means of transportation that were feasible with the clogged streets and inactive subway system:

“The gridlock was dangerous, frankly,” Mr. Cuomo said....

The storm damage had a synergy of its own. Efforts to pump floodwaters from subway and automobile tunnels were slowed by electrical shortages. Hastily arranged car pools became bogged down on highways and city streets clogged with other commuters. Many gas stations, without power to operate their pumps, could not open for business, eerily evoking the fuel crisis of the 1970s.

Only bicycles seemed to be rolling...

City buses, the only piece of the mass transit network operating in earnest on Wednesday, often bypassed waiting commuters, unable to take on more passengers. Those who did make it on board often got off well before their stop, reasoning that they could walk faster...

With no underground route from Queens to Manhattan and car traffic stalled, some crossed the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge on bike or foot. One Twitter user described cycling over the bridge as “escaping zombie apocalypse.”