Speak Up for Trail Snow Clearing & Trail Lighting

[KLizotte]

Nice to see that PARKED CARS takes precedence over the safety and convenience of MUT users.

There must be a parked car lobby.

[dasgeh]

There are two ways to submit feedback:

* Email: countyboard@arlingtonva.us (CC countymanager@arlingtonva.us)
* Web-based form: https://budget.arlingtonva.us/proposed-fy18-feedback/

Any data heads out there want to do an analysis of the benefits of the clearing? You can get data on those trail counters here: http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/biking-in-arlington/counting-bikes-to-plan-for-bikes/counter-dashboard/ , which includes historical data. You can look at a snow storm from the days before trail clearing, then one with snow clearing and compare. Any analysis you could do would be helpful.

[Steve O]

@chris_s 157261 wrote:

All of the fixes to trail lighting that you’ve seen in the last two years have been DES (Shirlington Connector under 395, underpass of eternal gloom, 4MR under GW Parkway, etc)

Correction: VDOT fixed the lights under the Underpass of Eternal Gloom. ArlCo wanted nothing to do with them.

What do you mean about 4MR under GWP? The lights don’t work there. AFAIK, the only thing DES has managed to accomplish in terms of trail lighting is the underpass under 395.

On the other topic of snow clearing, I fail to see how changing the order of clearing reduces costs. If all they plan to do is clear the trails 2 days later and clear some parking lot a little sooner, doesn’t it cost the same?

[chris_s]

@Steve O 157577 wrote:

Correction: VDOT fixed the lights under the Underpass of Eternal Gloom. ArlCo wanted nothing to do with them.

Thanks for the correction – my mistake.

@Steve O 157577 wrote:

What do you mean about 4MR under GWP? The lights don’t work there. AFAIK, the only thing DES has managed to accomplish in terms of trail lighting is the underpass under 395.

It’s an active project.

@Steve O 157577 wrote:

On the other topic of snow clearing, I fail to see how changing the order of clearing reduces costs. If all they plan to do is clear the trails 2 days later and clear some parking lot a little sooner, doesn’t it cost the same?

Given that I’ve never known a jurisdiction to say “Sorry, guys – the snow clearing budget is used up. NO more plowing, we’re just going to let it all pile up.” I don’t claim to have any understanding of how “budgeting” works in regard to snow removal.

[dasgeh]

@Steve O 157577 wrote:

On the other topic of snow clearing, I fail to see how changing the order of clearing reduces costs. If all they plan to do is clear the trails 2 days later and clear some parking lot a little sooner, doesn’t it cost the same?

Got a chance to talk with DPR about this today. They don’t see this as a core service, which is why they proposed it as a cut. The cut is because right now, they use an additional person to clear the trails, so that parking lots of county facilities get cleared at the same speed (“parking lots have to be cleared in order to open County buildings”). And they account for depreciation of the equipment if it’s used for snow clearing. If it’s not used for snow clearing, they still use it for some projects, but they don’t account for depreciation.

[anomad]

How does the city budget for snow removal? If they’re hiring extra guys to sit around and wait for it to snow I would vote that down.

In municipalities I am familiar with they have a pot of money set aside for snow removal. If its a good snow year they have hungry contractors ready to supplement city resources. If its a bad snow year they have money in the bank for next winter. Of course the city fathers get greedy if there are a few back to back bad years and raid the snow funds to buy new leather sofas for the offices and then all hell breaks loose when it does snow.

I think doing any data analysis may be counter productive based on the numbers I have looked at. Cyclists represent a tiny tiny fraction if you compare cars and transit riders. Not plowing doesn’t do anything to encourage cycling, obviously. But if you do an analysis and say you get 300 bicycles across 14th street bridge if you push snow compared to tens of thousands of cars and transit riders… Its not even a drop in the bucket. The annual average DAILY traffic on 395 runs well over twice the maximum MONTHLY traffic of 14th street bridge cyclists and peds, when I looked at 2016 data. I didn’t look for bus/train ridership specifically, but VRE broke a record last summer with over 100k trips in one week. Which is still over the biggest month on 14th street bridge bike/ped counter.

[Steve O]

We’re not comparing plowing 395 with the Custis Trail. The main bike commuter corridors, even in the winter, accommodate more people going to work than many residential side streets, and every single one of those gets plowed. Prioritizing the trails below parking lots is an insult.

Additionally, several key sections of trail are also critical pedestrian corridors to Metro, particularly Rosslyn, Ballston and EFC.

[Birru]

@Steve O 157615 wrote:

We’re not comparing plowing 395 with the Custis Trail. The main bike commuter corridors, even in the winter, accommodate more people going to work than many residential side streets, and every single one of those gets plowed. Prioritizing the trails below parking lots is an insult.

Additionally, several key sections of trail are also critical pedestrian corridors to Metro, particularly Rosslyn, Ballston and EFC.

I have options and can choose to commute by car, but not everyone does. We need to keep these trails rideable in a timely manner.

[mstone]

@Steve O 157577 wrote:

On the other topic of snow clearing, I fail to see how changing the order of clearing reduces costs. If all they plan to do is clear the trails 2 days later and clear some parking lot a little sooner, doesn’t it cost the same?

If you put it off long enough, the snow will generally melt before you get around to it. (Unless it snows again, which restarts the cycle.)

[dasgeh]

@anomad 157602 wrote:

How does the city budget for snow removal? If they’re hiring extra guys to sit around and wait for it to snow I would vote that down.

In municipalities I am familiar with they have a pot of money set aside for snow removal. If its a good snow year they have hungry contractors ready to supplement city resources. If its a bad snow year they have money in the bank for next winter. Of course the city fathers get greedy if there are a few back to back bad years and raid the snow funds to buy new leather sofas for the offices and then all hell breaks loose when it does snow.

The budget is, as I understand it, to put money into that pot.

[bentbike33]

@Steve O 157577 wrote:

What do you mean about [lights on] 4MR under GWP?

There was a contractor crew there this morning working on them (or at least assessing the situation) when I went through.

[cvcalhoun]

@anomad 157602 wrote:

How does the city budget for snow removal? If they’re hiring extra guys to sit around and wait for it to snow I would vote that down.

In municipalities I am familiar with they have a pot of money set aside for snow removal. If its a good snow year they have hungry contractors ready to supplement city resources. If its a bad snow year they have money in the bank for next winter. Of course the city fathers get greedy if there are a few back to back bad years and raid the snow funds to buy new leather sofas for the offices and then all hell breaks loose when it does snow.

I think doing any data analysis may be counter productive based on the numbers I have looked at. Cyclists represent a tiny tiny fraction if you compare cars and transit riders. Not plowing doesn’t do anything to encourage cycling, obviously. But if you do an analysis and say you get 300 bicycles across 14th street bridge if you push snow compared to tens of thousands of cars and transit riders… Its not even a drop in the bucket. The annual average DAILY traffic on 395 runs well over twice the maximum MONTHLY traffic of 14th street bridge cyclists and peds, when I looked at 2016 data. I didn’t look for bus/train ridership specifically, but VRE broke a record last summer with over 100k trips in one week. Which is still over the biggest month on 14th street bridge bike/ped counter.

* Not plowing trails doesn’t actually help to plow roads. The plow used for trails is a specialty one for clearing narrow spaces, which wouldn’t work for a road. So the cost of trail clearing is getting a guy out there to operate it.
* Plowing trails helps with car traffic as well as bikes. With roads already typically narrowed by piles of snow on the sides, forcing cyclists off trails and onto roads leads to more road congestion.
* While the Beltway has more traffic than any trail, the government plows many side streets that have a lot less traffic than, say, the Capital Crescent Trail.
* A bike can often get you out of your house before a car can. In my subdivision, certain main streets are plowed early, while others may take a couple of days. Since our street is not a priority, it can take a couple of days before the car can even get TO those main streets. But I can carry my bicycle to a main street, and get out that way.

[dasgeh]

Speak up to keep snow clearing on Arlington’s Trails!

* Join us tonight 7:45-8:30pm (2100 Clarendon Blvd, 3rd floor) when we tell the County Board this is a priority. Just stand for the two minutes we speak on this, then you’re free.

* Sign and share the petition. http://www.waba.org/blog/2017/03/take-action-arlington-considers-cuts-to-trail-snow-removal-trail-lights-and-more/

— DETAILS —-

Tonight is the budget hearing for the Arlington County Board, where they will consider the manager’s proposed budget and the potential cuts. We need to speak up to ensure continued clearing of snow and ice on Arlington’s trails, and to ensure that trail lighting is adequately folded into the current street lighting maintenance plan.

1) Please come from 7:45-8:30pm tonight (2100 Clarendon Blvd, 3rd floor). The hearing starts at 7pm, but it is likely we will speak between 7:45 and 8:30pm. Just show up and stand with whomever is speaking for waba.

2) Consider speaking: I can do it, but new voices are more effective. We have the written testimony ready to go, and talking points. It’s two minutes and the Board is a friendly bunch. If you can speak, email me by 5pm to coordinate.

3) Sign and share the petition. It takes a minute to sign and tell your friends and family to sign as well. http://www.waba.org/blog/2017/03/take-action-arlington-considers-cuts-to-trail-snow-removal-trail-lights-and-more/

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