Observations while counting bikes and pedestrians

[KLizotte]

Sounds like the pedestrians should be wearing armor as well

Thanks for being a survey volunteer!

I think I was counted yesterday on Commonwealth Ave.

[vern]

someone was doing a similar thing at Gallows and WOD. I wonder who that was (light changed so I didn’t ask)?

[mstone]

@CaseyKane50 84775 wrote:

Less than 50% of the cars making right turns on red onto Eisenhower from Van Dorn actually come to a full stop and easily more than half of those don’t even pause.

Sounds like the makings of a TV news story to me!

[scorchedearth]

@CaseyKane50 84775 wrote:

Last night I participated in Alexandria’s Bike and Pedestrian counts, at the charming corner of Eisenhower Avenue and South Van Dorn Street. This location is right at the Alexandria and Fairfax County borders. My expectations were quite low for seeing any bicyclists, but before the official time for counting began a bicyclist went past me. I hoped that he would not be the only cyclist. Impressively, given the almost total lack of bicycle infrastructure in this area I ended up counting 12 bicyclists (all male) from 5 pm to 7 pm. Only one bicyclist approached the intersection of Eisenhower and South Van Dorn Street from Eisenhower, all the rest made their way using the sidewalk/path on Van Dorn or briefly riding south against traffic to reach the sidewalk/path.

At the intersection, there is a crosswalk across Eisenhower, but no walk signs. At no time does traffic stop moving through the crosswalk, so pedestrians and bicyclists have to wait for someone to yield to them, making it all the more impressive that bicyclists even use this route. Less than 50% of the cars making right turns on red onto Eisenhower from Van Dorn actually come to a full stop and easily more than half of those don’t even pause. Fairfax Connector buses drop off passengers on the south side of Eisenhower and most of them then dash across to the north side of Eisenhower to catch an Alexandria Dash bus.

My helmet is off to the those brave cyclists who use this route for their commute.

Thanks for counting, Casey. We appreciate your efforts. I’ll be out at Holmes Run and Ripley Street tomorrow.

[Phatboing]

@vern 84789 wrote:

someone was doing a similar thing at Gallows and WOD. I wonder who that was (light changed so I didn’t ask)?

That was Dirt. At the very least, he was at Gallows & WOD and looked pretty content on the picnic chair out in the sun. A writing implement and notebook may have been involved.

[Terpfan]

I’ve ridden up that way a few times, usually if I have to stop at the various package facilities back there en route home. It’s not as bad it looks on Eisenhower. Now, South Van Dorn, I’ve only ridden on once and prefer the sidewalk or a couple connecting roads and paths behind it.

[PotomacCyclist]

There is proposal to turn Van Dorn Street into a boulevard that is more bike and pedestrian-friendly, but I don’t know about any progress on those plans.

http://alexandriava.gov/LandmarkVanDorn

http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/planning/info/landmark-vandorn/LVD05Transweb.pdf (Pages marked 75-79 and other sections)

There was also a recent article in the Washington Business Journal about the Cameron Park development at S. Pickett St. and Cameron Station Blvd. The developer, JBG, would provide the right of way to build a planned multimodal bridge from Pickett to the Van Dorn Metro station.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2014/05/jbg-cameron-park-bridge-van-dorn-street-metro.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_national+%28Bizjournals+National+Feed%29&page=all

The bridge is in the “pre-concept phase” so don’t expect any of this to be built soon. But if the bridge and the Landmark Van Dorn Corridor Plan are implemented, perhaps that area could become a safer and nicer place to ride or walk.

I don’t live there and I’ve never biked there, so I haven’t been following up on any of this. I just happened to see the article the other day, and I looked up the plan info just now.

[CaseyKane50]

@Terpfan 84975 wrote:

I’ve ridden up that way a few times, usually if I have to stop at the various package facilities back there en route home. It’s not as bad it looks on Eisenhower. Now, South Van Dorn, I’ve only ridden on once and prefer the sidewalk or a couple connecting roads and paths behind it.

Eisenhower is the route I also take and was expecting more cyclists to be coming from that direction.

On Saturday I rode through Cameron Station and then took Pickett to Van Dorn. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, but it also wasn’t at rush hour.

[Author]

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