Cycling related policies?

[TwoWheelsDC]

McAuliffe is generally pro-transit (supports Silver Line, etc), and Cuccinelli generally is not, although I don’t think either candidate has really talked about anything substantive on issues like smart growth, increasing modeshare, etc (or you know, education, veterans, conservation yada yada yada)…frankly, neither candidate really has to get into those kinds of issues because this election seems to only be about those who like Cuccinelli and those that don’t. McAuliffe could propose building a roller coaster that runs from DC to Fredericksburg and it probably wouldn’t win or lose him votes, and Cuccinelli could propose turning the Virginia capitol building into a church without any affect on his polling numbers.

[chris_s]

From McCauliffe’s Transportation Policy Page: “Giving commuter options. We should focus on the investments that give Virginians choices about how they want to get around: transit systems, walking, biking, and a well maintained and uncongested system of roads.”

Also of interest to anyone who has had to deal with VDOT on a cycling issue: “Separate planning from delivery. Project selection and long term planning should be a collaboration among transportation experts, Virginia’s elected leaders, and local and regional leaders. Transportation planning in Virginia needs to support local communities as well as local, regional and statewide economic growth. VDOT must be a part of that process, but may not be best suited to understanding local land use or broad economic trends. VDOT should be in the business of managing maintenance and construction of transportation infrastructure, not setting the Commonwealth’s agenda. “

[mstone]

They’re both basically for good stuff and against bad stuff. In reality, nothing they say about transportation matters at all. (Look at the electoral rhetoric of anyone running in VA in the past decade, and compare that to their record once in office.) Both of them are mumbling about wanting more local control, but 1) will the house approve that, 2) would the house allocate funding without attaching strings to it, and 3) is it actually good for our region for, say, Loudoun & PWC to build whatever they want without a regional plan? Beyond that, cycling is so low on the list of statewide priorities that a governor would either focus on or pay attention to that if they say anything at all it would just be pandering.

[PotomacCyclist]

@TwoWheelsDC 67192 wrote:

McAuliffe is generally pro-transit (supports Silver Line, etc), and Cuccinelli generally is not, although I don’t think either candidate has really talked about anything substantive on issues like smart growth, increasing modeshare, etc (or you know, education, veterans, conservation yada yada yada)…frankly, neither candidate really has to get into those kinds of issues because this election seems to only be about those who like Cuccinelli and those that don’t. McAuliffe could propose building a roller coaster that runs from DC to Fredericksburg and it probably wouldn’t win or lose him votes, and Cuccinelli could propose turning the Virginia capitol building into a church without any affect on his polling numbers.

I would be in favor of this. Mostly because it could be used as an awesome endurance cyclocross track.

But seriously, I’m dismayed that these are the choices we have for governor. We need a viable write-in candidate. Please.

[Amalitza]

@TwoWheelsDC 67192 wrote:

McAuliffe could propose building a roller coaster that runs from DC to Fredericksburg and it probably wouldn’t win or lose him votes, and Cuccinelli could propose turning the Virginia capitol building into a church without any affect on his polling numbers.

::snort::

True, though.

The roller coaster might be fun.

[chris_s]

@mstone 67203 wrote:

In reality, nothing they say about transportation matters at all.

The legislature decides how much to spend, but the executive branch largely decides how to spend it. The Governor, for instance, appoints all members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board which determines project priority for all state transportation projects. See also head of VDOT, state appointees to the Metro board, etc.

Considering how awfully McDonnell wielded that power I shudder to think what a slate full of Cuccinelli appointees would do.

[consularrider]

@TwoWheelsDC 67192 wrote:

… propose building a roller coaster that runs from DC to Fredericksburg …

Having driven I-95 between Alexandria and Richmond several times recently and I think I would vote for anyone who could pull this off! :p

[mstone]

@chris_s 67211 wrote:

The legislature decides how much to spend, but the executive branch largely decides how to spend it. The Governor, for instance, appoints all members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board which determines project priority for all state transportation projects. See also head of VDOT, state appointees to the Metro board, etc.

Considering how awfully McDonnell wielded that power I shudder to think what a slate full of Cuccinelli appointees would do.

you trimmed the important part: the campaign rhetoric for basically all VA politicians is something along on the lines of “we need to fix traffic”. Sometimes they spit out some “plans”, but their record never has anything to do with the campaign rhetoric. While this is generally true of most politicians on most issues, the reality is that transportation generally is not enough of a core issue for the politicians to have actually thought very much about nor is it something they’re really going to focus on once elected (vs some other issue which will actually motivate people to vote). E.g., McDonnell tarred his opponent by saying he wanted to raise taxes to pay for transportation (while McDonnell wouldn’t) then got into office and…raised taxes to pay for transportation. Overall, you’d be extremely hard pressed to map is transportation strategy to any kind of pre-election roadmap. So, yeah, the governor can have a lot of influence over transportation in VA, but we are never really going to understand what a candidate is going to do on this issue as governor until after we’ve seen the appointments. (And those are going to be based on important things, like donor politics, not any kind of transportation strategy.)

[lordofthemark]

In this particular instance (Va politics the last few years, and the current campaign), transportation HAS been an important issue. IIUC the McAuliffe campaign has highlighted Cuccinelli’s opposition to the McConnel bill, and has used it to try to get endorsements from business groups usually aligned with the GOP, such as the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce. However the debate seems to be about those who support taxes for roads, and those who oppose all taxes. IE largely orthogonal to transit (though Cuccinelli did oppose the Silver Line, IIUC) and almost completely orthogonal to bike policy.

I would note that Cuccinelli has in the past had issues with respect to the scientific evidence for anthropogenic global warming. For those of us whose views on cycling are tied at least in part to the AGW issue that may be significant. I realize of course there are “avid” cyclists who have a range of opinions on enviromental issues.

I also note that in the last legislative session, votes on some of the VBF initiatives in the House of Delegates (but not the Senate, IIRC) went down party lines – but I’m not sure if that may have to do with some legislative politics unique to that session (I am too hopeful about human nature to believe that all GOP Delegates or their constituents share the views of the dooring and 3 ft passing laws that they expressed last session)

[lordofthemark]

One candidates online platform says as follows:

“c.Separate planning from delivery. Project selection and long term planning should be a collaboration among transportation experts, Virginia’s elected leaders, and local and regional leaders. Transportation planning in Virginia needs to support local communities as well as local, regional and statewide economic growth. VDOT must be a part of that process, but may not be best suited to understanding local land use or broad economic trends. VDOT should be in the business of managing maintenance and construction of transportation infrastructure, not setting the Commonwealth’s agenda. This approach to 21st century planning will:

….

v.Consider all transportation options, including pedestrian, bike, barge, rail, bus, ferry, demand management, and technology solutions

….

5.Modern land use planning for a modern Virginia
Working with local and regional partners in government, the Commonwealth should be doing much more to incentivize smart growth and modern land use planning.

…..

f.Giving commuter options. We should focus on the investments that give Virginians choices about how they want to get around: transit systems, walking, biking, and a well maintained and uncongested system of roads.”

But of course, as MStone says, there is no assurance any of that will be implemented.

I note though that the transport section of the other candidate’s platform, though it contains some good ideas, makes no reference to bikes whatsoever.

The first candidate’s enviromentalism page highlights wind power – not conservation, much less biking. The other candidate does not see fit to have an environmentalism page (at least not with equal prominence to other issues – he does have an energy page though).

The first candidate has been endorsed by both the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance AND by the League of Conservation Voters. hmmmm.

The other candidate’s web site calls the LCV a radical environmental group, because, among other things, it supports cap and trade. hmmmmm.

Apparently the notion that the LCV is “radical” has become a “thing” in certain circles.

[creadinger]

@lordofthemark 67222 wrote:

I would note that Cuccinelli has in the past had issues with respect to the scientific evidence for anthropogenic global warming. For those of us whose views on cycling are tied at least in part to the AGW issue that may be significant. I realize of course there are “avid” cyclists who have a range of opinions on enviromental issues.

Cucinelli’s complete denial of science is a close #2 behind his plans for a theocracy as reasons why I hate him and why he shouldn’t be in charge of bagging groceries let alone the state of Virginia. Maybe he can be an operator on McCauliffe’s roller coaster to Fredericksburg if he doesn’t win.

[baiskeli]

@mstone 67219 wrote:

you trimmed the important part: the campaign rhetoric for basically all VA politicians is something along on the lines of “we need to fix traffic”. Sometimes they spit out some “plans”, but their record never has anything to do with the campaign rhetoric.

Chris_s’ point is still valid though. The General Assembly just passed a tax increase for transportation funds, so something real is about to happen as that revenue comes in. The governor will have a huge impact on how that money is spent.

[PotomacCyclist]

I would point out that recent and future VDOT projects in Arlington have included accommodations for cyclists. This includes the 10th St./Rte. 50 interchange, the Washington Blvd. bridge over Columbia Pike and the recently announced Washington Blvd. bridge over Rte. 110 near the Pentagon. While VDOT is far from perfect, those projects will help improve bike travel between Columbia Pike and Court House, Pentagon City and Columbia Pike/Clarendon and Pentagon City to Memorial Bridge.

I don’t know the decision-making process or precise hierarchy in VDOT. But at least on these projects, I think it will be a positive for area cyclists. (I’m not commenting on other projects that are more car-focused, such as I-95 or the proposed Bi-County parkway near Dulles.)

[dasgeh]

@PotomacCyclist 67281 wrote:

I would point out that recent and future VDOT projects in Arlington have included accommodations for cyclists. This includes the 10th St./Rte. 50 interchange, the Washington Blvd. bridge over Columbia Pike and the recently announced Washington Blvd. bridge over Rte. 110 near the Pentagon. While VDOT is far from perfect, those projects will help improve bike travel between Columbia Pike and Court House, Pentagon City and Columbia Pike/Clarendon and Pentagon City to Memorial Bridge.

I don’t know the decision-making process or precise hierarchy in VDOT. But at least on these projects, I think it will be a positive for area cyclists. (I’m not commenting on other projects that are more car-focused, such as I-95 or the proposed Bi-County parkway near Dulles.)

While, yes, these projects do have some crumbs in them for cyclists, the ones I’m familiar with could have been so much better both in the final product and during the construction phase (e.g. Wash Blvd/Columbia Pike). I think if you assembled a list of the worst roads for bikes in the area, the majority would be VDOT controlled (Washington Blvd, Lee Hwy come to mind). VDOT has done little to help cyclists there, even with other projects going on on those roads (e.g. undergrounding on Lee Hwy).

[lordofthemark]

@PotomacCyclist 67281 wrote:

I would point out that recent and future VDOT projects in Arlington have included accommodations for cyclists. This includes the 10th St./Rte. 50 interchange, the Washington Blvd. bridge over Columbia Pike and the recently announced Washington Blvd. bridge over Rte. 110 near the Pentagon. While VDOT is far from perfect, those projects will help improve bike travel between Columbia Pike and Court House, Pentagon City and Columbia Pike/Clarendon and Pentagon City to Memorial Bridge.

I don’t know the decision-making process or precise hierarchy in VDOT. But at least on these projects, I think it will be a positive for area cyclists. (I’m not commenting on other projects that are more car-focused, such as I-95 or the proposed Bi-County parkway near Dulles.)

I am less familiar with issues with VDOT on providing suitable side trails, etc than some here are. I am concerned with VDOT policies limiting local govt control over road diets and widenings. For example its my understanding that VDOT is responsible for the additional turn lanes at the intersection of Gallows and rte 29, which interfere with walkability (at a location between the walkability oriented Mosaic District and the metro station) and that FFX cty was overriden. And that VDOT has insisted that transit only lanes will only be added where a road is being widened, and cannot be taken from existing general travel lanes – which impacts the potential for such transit lanes on Gallows, on Rte 7, on Rte 1, and other locations in Fairfax County. Most of those would not directly impact cyclists, but I tend to think a more transit and ped friendly FFX will also be more hospitable to biking.

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