Falls Church CaBi?

[Phatboing]

@americancyclo 79996 wrote:

Funny, I never see speed enforcement in Falls Church City on Broad St. between Shreve/Haycock and Washington. Everyone slows down driving through the tony neighborhoods between Washington and Seven Corners, because that’s where they enforce and ticket, but I routinely see people driving 40-50mph in front of Giant and underneath the Citizens’ Bridge with no repercussions.

I’ve seen a repercussion every once in a while. The downhill just before Giant is a great way to get people to speed accidentally.

Really, the place I want to see some serious improvement is the hellmouth that is Seven Corners. Make that so I can get from one side to the other without taking a circuitous back-route or fear of death, and that’ll make things just dandy indeed.

[mstone]

@Phatboing 80010 wrote:

Really, the place I want to see some serious improvement is the hellmouth that is Seven Corners. Make that so I can get from one side to the other without taking a circuitous back-route or fear of death, and that’ll make things just dandy indeed.

The only way to improve seven corners is with a bulldozer, and the real estate market is nowhere near bad enough for the commonwealth to afford taking that much property.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Phatboing 80010 wrote:

Really, the place I want to see some serious improvement is the hellmouth that is Seven Corners. Make that so I can get from one side to the other without taking a circuitous back-route or fear of death, and that’ll make things just dandy indeed.

Such a route doesn’t even exist for cars. Seven Corners is the worst.

[Phatboing]

@ShawnoftheDread 80019 wrote:

Such a route doesn’t even exist for cars. Seven Corners is the worst.

Indeed. My girlfriend and I experiment with routes to get there (Bangkok Golden .. mmmmm) on our bikes a lot, but all of these fall on a spectrum between possible death and certain death.

Tear it down, do it over.

[dasgeh]

@chris_s 79986 wrote:

In Arlington we call that a sidewalk.

Or the Custis Trail…

[PotomacCyclist]

@Phatboing 80010 wrote:

I’ve seen a repercussion every once in a while. The downhill just before Giant is a great way to get people to speed accidentally.

Really, the place I want to see some serious improvement is the hellmouth that is Seven Corners. Make that so I can get from one side to the other without taking a circuitous back-route or fear of death, and that’ll make things just dandy indeed.

Maybe something like the Hovenring?

http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/spectacular-new-floating-cycle-roundabout/

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5007[/ATTACH]

[DismalScientist]

Well, they have something like that for cars now. See how well that works.:rolleyes:

[PotomacCyclist]

The Hovenring seems to be working well though.

[mstone]

@DismalScientist 80088 wrote:

Well, they have something like that for cars now. See how well that works.:rolleyes:

yeah, but those are motorists, not the ELITE!

[DismalScientist]

@Phatboing 80022 wrote:

Indeed. My girlfriend and I experiment with routes to get there (Bangkok Golden .. mmmmm) on our bikes a lot, but all of these fall on a spectrum between possible death and certain death.

From the WOD, take the Ohio St. access, climb McKinley Road. At Wilson go straight across on John Marshall, turn left on Willston at the light and go straight across Route 50 at Patrick Henry. Turn right on the southern frontage road for Arlington Blvd and left on the shopping center access before the Home Depot parking lot and continue behind Home Depot to the Leesburg Pike side of the shopping center.
There is a lot of traffic after Wilson, but it is generally moving slowly.

[consularrider]

Note that there was a cyclist killed a couple of years ago on Dismal’s suggested route. I can’t find a link for details at the moment. I believe it was an elderly rider who may have pulled out in fron of traffic from the access road.

[PeteD]

Since I ride a lot in the highlighted area my observations:

1) Broad Street is still not a nice place to ride a bike. That should be the focus of any bike access and improvements.
2) The “Bike Route” is not much of a route. Ride from Maple to Oak requires you you un-mount twice, due to horrible concrete conditions, wooden bridges that are 6 inches higher than the sidewalk surface, the route is a sidewalk, not a road, and not wide enough for two people walking to pass let alone a bike. Plus the route requires you to ride across a grassy area through a private parking lot (i.e. tresspass), and then try and cross Lee Highway without a crosswalk of any sort. And the aforementioned riding on Broad Street.
3) Sharrows are redundant where they wish to put them. Park Avenue is wide and low traffic, Maple Ave is as well.
4) No sane access via bike to 7 Corners. Hillwood Ave is a nice wide route, but then you get dropped into carmageddon just past the 24 hr Fitness.

This planning lacks two major foci: Broad Street, and that there’s no route to get from the East Falls Church Metro (i.e. the W&OD) to West Falls Church Metro, or for that matter, any real route to get from the area highlighted in the planned bicycle projects to West Falls Church Metro. With the impending opening of the Silver Line, this lack of access is a real disservice to Falls Church residents.

–Pete

[Phatboing]

@PeteD 80111 wrote:

Since I ride a lot in the highlighted area my observations:

1) Broad Street is still not a nice place to ride a bike. That should be the focus of any bike access and improvements.

–Pete

This. All the businesses are on Broad St, so if you want to direct cyclists to the local businesses, duh. I’d draw a parallel to King St, but from my experience, King St is much slower than Broad St.

Maple has light traffic, but I’ve seen motorists drive rather aggressively at times. Ditto Park, but to a lesser extent.

Right now, all the bike plans offer easy routes for cyclists to get out of FC without bothering the motorists.

I’m trying not to let myself get all worked up, so I can send them some constructive feedback.

One idea I had was that maybe a group of us could take the city planner/s out for a bike ride in the city, so they can experience first-hand the challenges of getting to even the basics. How, for example, do you get to Giant to do your groceries?

[Rockford10]

I am a resident of the City of Falls Church and was unable to attend the meeting last Saturday. I did want to go – but it was not to be. I have since sent in comments on the “Transportation Plan” and I really tried to be constructive.

Reading the responses here – I’ve got a few thoughts:

– The Falls Church “Bike Path” is horrible. I’ve tried to follow it a few times and have miserably gotten lost. It’s just stupid.
– Bikes on Rt 7/Broad Street is difficult. It’s a major commercial route, WITH actual houses on the side. There is no room for a bike lane across from Chipotle and Starbucks, especially not with the new Harris Teeter going in right there.
– I have not had a problem getting anywhere I wanted to go via bike in Falls Church CITY. I simply cross Broad street and then ride on Park to get where I need to go. The crosses over Broad Street are pretty good; sometimes I take West Street, which isn’t great, but Virginia Ave. is super easy and is my main route through town.
– I have taken the “park” route to get to Pizzaria Orso and the comic book shoppe and it stinks. It’s rutted and has steep bumps up to the bridges. Last time we went that way, I was “Fred-Flinstoning” to go through a large dip and jabbed my handlebars into my ribs because I missed a rut in the pavement.
– They’ve really tried to get kids to school on bikes or walking. There are crossing guards at Haycock and they added bike racks at Thomas Jefferson.
– Both WFC Metro, EFC Metro and Shreve Rd. are outside of the City.
– The candidate for City Council who bike-commutes was the only one not elected.
– I don’t think we can blame 7 Corners on Falls Church City. Eden Center is in the City, but that’s where it stops.

I am more than happy to ride around town with the City Council.

[Phatboing]

@DismalScientist 80099 wrote:

From the WOD, take the Ohio St. access, climb McKinley Road. At Wilson go straight across on John Marshall, turn left on Willston at the light and go straight across Route 50 at Patrick Henry. Turn right on the southern frontage road for Arlington Blvd and left on the shopping center access before the Home Depot parking lot and continue behind Home Depot to the Leesburg Pike side of the shopping center.
There is a lot of traffic after Wilson, but it is generally moving slowly.

Thanks.

That, however, is way out of my way. I’m pretty close to Broad St, so we usually just take the Rt 7 sidewalk (I know, I know), and then navigate the fragments of sidewalk until we’re in the shopping center. Less than optimal, but we get there. We bike at around jogging speed, which helps in staying alert for the crazies.

I don’t really expect FC to do anything about Seven Corners – it’s just that it’s the Worst Thing Ever, and I wanted to complain.

[Author]

Posts