Bicycle Friendly Community Sign Location Input

Where you place the sign depends on the message you want to send.

If you want to congratulate cyclists then put it on a trail where they can see it.

If you want to encourage motorists to get out of their cars, place it where they can see the MUT and the sign.

If you want to mock surrounding jurisdictions place in on the border. (Of course you’d never do that, I’m joking.)

ann

Make it 15x bigger and put it over the American Legion Bridge leaving Maryland on 495.

I think CCrew is on the right track. My first instinct is to place the sign in a prominent location where drivers will see it, an intersection where there is a lot of bike traffic. In that position it is a friendly reminder that bikes belong.

ann

I wouldn’t put it where only bike riders and walkers could see it (Custis @ W&OD). I’d put it where car drivers can see it, to set their expectations of community norms (i.e. bikes belong etc.)

Putting it on a trail does not congratulate cyclists. If anything it seems ironic and reminds me of how much farther we have to go to place it on a MUP/MUT which is not solely dedicated to bikes at least part of the time. In that case, a MUT/MUP is basically a glorified sidewalk and as a bicyclist you frequently have to slow down to a walking pace which is not at all bike friendly in my view.

I know some jurisdictions have bike only paths, hopefully Arlington will be one at some point.

@JeffC 17608 wrote:

Putting it on a trail does not congratulate cyclists. If anything it seems ironic and reminds me of how much farther we have to go to place it on a MUP/MUT which is not solely dedicated to bikes at least part of the time. In that case, a MUT/MUP is basically a glorified sidewalk and as a bicyclist you frequently have to slow down to a walking pace which is not at all bike friendly in my view.

I know some jurisdictions have bike only paths, hopefully Arlington will be one at some point.

I’m really curious about this perspective- I’m so delighted to have ANY path, especially one as long and well maintained as the NoVa trail network, that it never really occurred to me that it should be bike only. Yes, it would be nice and all, but the way MUTs get built is through compelling recreational and multistakeholder benefits plus commuting benefits. Also, given local density, where would a bike-only path run? I’d much rather advocate for near-universal bike lanes and deal with the human-slalom for the 4 months a year that it is a problem.

@GuyContinental 17639 wrote:

I’m really curious about this perspective- I’m so delighted to have ANY path, especially one as long and well maintained as the NoVa trail network, that it never really occurred to me that it should be bike only. Yes, it would be nice and all, but the way MUTs get built is through compelling recreational and multistakeholder benefits plus commuting benefits. Also, given local density, where would a bike-only path run? I’d much rather advocate for near-universal bike lanes and deal with the human-slalom for the 4 months a year that it is a problem.

I freely admit to being a bit spoiled by having spent time in places like Davis, California and Boulder, Colorado where there are bike only paths. Although I have never seen them, I undestand that Minneapolis has some too. I also spent a lot of time in Germany. As an example of German bike infrastructure, in the city of Frankfurt am Main (western one, not eastern) along most major roads lke Bockenheimer Landstrasse (say comparable to Lee Hwy or Route 50 in Virginia) there is a double side walk with one side clearly for peds and another clearly for bikers. It is clearly marked. Peds know not to use the bike one and vice versa. Granted bikers there don’t go as fast and distances are not as long. But when I think about comparing that type of German infrastructure with biking along the rutted, narrow, not repaved in 25 years and crawling with peds MVT, it’s just not even close.

I like a lot of these answers, but to me the location is simple. You need to put it where it can be a daily reminder to the political decision makers: Courthouse. Tim, you said there is a big loaded bicycle rack on ground level at courthouse? If its a visible location, put it there – facing in a way that the County Board can see it.

As PikeSpotter said in his blog piece, as great as Arlington is about bicycles, it was not part of the platform of any county board candidate this past election (Yes Garvey responded to our inquiry about being on the Board of Phoenix Bikes, and had a picture of herself bicycling on her page – put apparently it wasnt an “issue” for her.

Place it where the political decision makers (including those visiting from other jurisdictions) can see it every day.