Bicycle Friendly Community Sign Location Input

[Tim Kelley]

Arlington County is designated as a League of American Bicyclist Bicycle Friendly Community. We have a number of purple signs up around the County that you may have seen. They currently list the years as through 2011, but we’ll be updating those shortly. Here a Google Map street view perspective of it: http://g.co/maps/peh4y

The current locations are:

Custis Trail (Lynn/Lee Highway)
Four Mile Run Connector Trail (Shirlington Rd. across from the Weenie Beenie)
W&OD Trail (west of Lee Highway near the Fairfax border)

We have one more additional sign that we’d like to place that we’d like your input on. Any ideas on where to put the last one of these?

Our current ideas are:

-W&OD/Custis Intersection
-W&OD/Columbia Pike Intersection
-Four Mile Run Connector Trail by US 1. Bridges
-Near Iwo Jima
-Near Chain Bridge

So what do you think? If we get a ton of ideas maybe we can set up a poll in a thread for everyone to vote on.

Topic

[KLizotte]

+1 for putting them prominently where drivers can see them. Also at any of the major entry points to Arlington County; for instance, it would be nice to advertise our bike friendliness to folks arriving by plane at National Airport.

[MCL1981]

@KLizotte 17654 wrote:

for instance, it would be nice to advertise our bike friendliness to folks arriving by plane at National Airport.

Solution for that already suggested 😎

@pfunkallstar 17649 wrote:

Can we construct some sort of permanently-aloft, low-altitude dirigible sign? I’m just saying, the Kaiser was able to do it, so can we. USA, USA, USA!

[GuyContinental]

@JeffC 17644 wrote:

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.

It just goes to show, my bar is low. Also, I have the fortune to commute early in the morning and at around 4:30 in the PM on the WO&D so I don’t have any real ped congestion or pothole problems. I used to do ARL to Silver Spring via CC & GB which is also good until the pavement stops…

I suppose that the WO&D could be reworked with a separated lane design but it would be pretty dang expensive. Also, I suspect that the resulting narrower bike lanes could create some new and interesting congestion issues. Hypothetically, separated lanes could be incorporated on surface streets but I can’t think of many that are wide enough AND traveled enough to make it make sense. What direction is the county taking on this? More surface-street bike lanes or separated lanes?

[mstone]

@GuyContinental 17666 wrote:

I suppose that the WO&D could be reworked with a separated lane design but it would be pretty dang expensive. Also, I suspect that the resulting narrower bike lanes could create some new and interesting congestion issues. Hypothetically, separated lanes could be incorporated on surface streets but I can’t think of many that are wide enough AND traveled enough to make it make sense. What direction is the county taking on this? More surface-street bike lanes or separated lanes?

I think the right of way for W&OD is wide enough for the most part to support two good size tracks (there’s already a horse track on much of it). Money is the real issue, and you might end up with a few electric poles in the middle of the path…

[Tim Kelley]

This thread seems to have gotten a little off track, so the serious responses I’ve gotten are at Courthouse and at the W&OD/Custis intersection. (Since there is already a sign at Lynn Street, I don’t think we need a second one there).

Any other suggestions?

[Arlingtonrider]

Maybe one on the median of S. Walter Reed Drive as one comes into Arlington from Beauregard/Leesburg Pike (unless there’s one there already). It would be a good reminder to cars that come through there to be watchful in the area.

[dbb]

Might want to consider one on the northbound side of US Route 1 just north of Four Mile Run. Lot of commuters who might benefit from the nudge to consider cycling as well as the reminder we are out there with them.

[Arlingtonrider]

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see much point in putting these signs on trail intersections where only trail users would see them. I’d rather have any signage at those points provide really useful directional information.

I’d save the Bike Friendly Community signs for where drivers see them, both to remind them to be careful and as an invitation to try cycling. Since most non-cyclists on the trails also drive, they would see them on the roads as well.

[Tim Kelley]

@Arlingtonrider 17883 wrote:

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see much point in putting these signs on trail intersections where only trail users would see them. I’d rather have any signage at those points provide really useful directional information.

I’d save the Bike Friendly Community signs for where drivers see them, both to remind them to be careful and as an invitation to try cycling. Since most non-cyclists on the trails also drive, they would see them on the roads as well.

What you’ve suggested has been mentioned earlier–do you have any specific locations where you’d like to see the BFC sign so that non-cyclists could see it?

[Arlingtonrider]

Just posted one – S. Walter Reed. See above. I think any primary entry points into Arlington County are good, and also some scattered in places in places that are important but a little too fast blue-lined routes on the bike map – i.e. “aspirational” signage. I previously mentioned S. George Mason, but that might be a little too aspirational, as it is narrow and can be a very scary place to ride, which would make the sign seem a little ridiculous. Lower Army Navy drive might be a better example.

[Tim Kelley]

Okay, so we’ve got:

-Courthouse
-W&OD/Custis Intersection
-S. Walter Reed Dr (near FFX County line)
-Route 1 Northbound (near Alexandria line)

I also realized that perhaps in Crystal City somewhere near the Water Park by the connector trail to the MVT might be a potential spot.

I’ll take these ideas to the Planners/Engineers to see what they think and let you know where we go from there!

[KLizotte]

Yes, I second areas in/around Crystal City due to presence of CaBi, bike lanes, hotels, airport, and the new Long Bridge (or is it Branch?) Park near the new Boeing HQ.

South Four Mile Run intersections with: Walter Reed, Columbia Pike and George Mason.

Military Road.

[dbb]

Maybe the CC BID can help with something near the VRE station at the Crystal City Waterpark so the commuters can see.

[Tim Kelley]

Just a quick update on this:

Because it turns out that there were a number of good ideas, we’ve actually decided to have more signs made. An additional 10 signs have been ordered and will be going up around the County at some point in the next couple months!

[Author]

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