Virginia governor issues stay-at-home order

[ginacico]

FAQ from the Virginia governor’s office on outdoor recreation.

Outdoor Recreation

Can I still exercise? Take my family to the park for fresh air? Take a walk around the block?

Yes, as long as you are maintaining a safe social distance of six feet from people who are not a part of your household. Gyms, fitness centers, indoor recreation centers and indoor sports facilities must close.

Does this order affect hiking? State Parks?

No, you may still go outside so long as you practice social distancing of six feet. Virginia State Parks have closed visitor centers, but trails and outdoor spaces are still open. For information on Virginia State Parks, please see here.

[bikesnick]

@zsionakides 199832 wrote:

In Fairfax County much of Annandale, Springfield, and Mclean are largely un-bikeable …

Yes, but with much less vehicular traffic on roads now, many roads that weren’t, are now more bicycle friendly.

[matteblack]

@zsionakides 199832 wrote:

In Fairfax County much of Annandale, Springfield, and Mclean are largely un-bikeable and have limited areas to pleasantly walk outside their immediate neighborhood, unless you enjoy walking/biking on a 4ft sidewalk next to a high speed road. Prince William and Stafford County are almost entirely un-bikable and un-walkable. Reston, Herndon, Vienna, and parts of Loudoun County are manageable, but nowhere near as accessible as much of Arlington and Alexandria (City of)

I rode all over NoVA in the hunt for parks during FS2020. While I found that McLean was the worst in terms of on-road riding (or sidepaths), I didn’t have any issues with riding on the roads in any of the areas mentioned above (not including Prince William or Stafford as they’re off my radar). I’d have even fewer issues now that there’s been such a decrease in traffic!

Yes, I do realize I’m probably an outlier and not the most accurate representation of your target demographic (folks who don’t ride daily — or even monthly — on a usual basis), but it’s not that difficult to string together neighborhoods in NoVA in order to avoid riding on main roads (where many of them have side paths anyway so that riding on the road isn’t even required). Sure, it might take a while to get where they’re going, but it can definitely be done with some foresight and planning.

As an aside, my son and a few of his friends, who aren’t cyclists by any stretch of the imagination, rode from Fair Lakes to Alexandria and back the other day. They had *no* problems getting there or back. (The problems happened the next day when they paid for their youthful exuberance lol.)

[arlcxrider]

Perhaps I have a higher tolerance for risk, but there’s never been a better time to ride on the road in Northern Virginia. Every day is like Sunday morning…early Sunday morning. I’ve been riding places during “evening rush” that I would tend to avoid during normal times.

[mstone]

@zsionakides 199832 wrote:

limited areas to pleasantly walk outside their immediate neighborhood[/quote]
so walk in the neighborhood…again, it’s a pandemic and people need to make some adjustments and accept that this just isn’t the time for that epic trip

[zsionakides]

@matteblack 199845 wrote:

I rode all over NoVA in the hunt for parks during FS2020. While I found that McLean was the worst in terms of on-road riding (or sidepaths), I didn’t have any issues with riding on the roads in any of the areas mentioned above (not including Prince William or Stafford as they’re off my radar). I’d have even fewer issues now that there’s been such a decrease in traffic!

Yes, I do realize I’m probably an outlier and not the most accurate representation of your target demographic (folks who don’t ride daily — or even monthly — on a usual basis), but it’s not that difficult to string together neighborhoods in NoVA in order to avoid riding on main roads (where many of them have side paths anyway so that riding on the road isn’t even required). Sure, it might take a while to get where they’re going, but it can definitely be done with some foresight and planning.

As an aside, my son and a few of his friends, who aren’t cyclists by any stretch of the imagination, rode from Fair Lakes to Alexandria and back the other day. They had *no* problems getting there or back. (The problems happened the next day when they paid for their youthful exuberance lol.)

I’m looking at how to accommodate average cyclists who aren’t going to be comfortable dealing with most of Fairfax County’s high speed roads. While some neighborhoods can be biked from, there are a lot of apartment complexes and townhome communities that simply plug into the state highways, which I wouldn’t recommend for anyone.

PWC is much worse than Fairfax. I used to work in the county and couldn’t fathom riding much of anywhere there. That’s why you see people driving to all the parks. Shutting down parking lots simply shifts them to parking in nearby neighborhoods.

[matteblack]

I’m looking at how to accommodate average cyclists who aren’t going to be comfortable dealing with most of Fairfax County’s high speed roads. While some neighborhoods can be biked from, there are a lot of apartment complexes and townhome communities that simply plug into the state highways, which I wouldn’t recommend for anyone.

I guess you missed what I included in my original post:

As an aside, my son and a few of his friends, who aren’t cyclists by any stretch of the imagination, rode from Fair Lakes to Alexandria and back the other day. They had *no* problems getting there or back.

My son and his friends are below average cyclists; they were able to get from Fair Lakes to Old Town using side paths, sidewalks and neighborhood roads. If they can do it, your average cyclist should have no problem finding routes to ride while avoiding “high speed roads” (whatever that means).

Please provide examples of “communities that simply plug into the state highways” and I’m sure I can go to google maps and find a route for them to take.

[zsionakides]

@matteblack 199853 wrote:

I guess you missed what I included in my original post:

My son and his friends are below average cyclists; they were able to get from Fair Lakes to Old Town using side paths, sidewalks and neighborhood roads. If they can do it, your average cyclist should have no problem finding routes to ride while avoiding “high speed roads” (whatever that means).

Please provide examples of “communities that simply plug into the state highways” and I’m sure I can go to google maps and find a route for them to take.

I don’t consider sidewalks a safe way to ride, particularly if you consider needs to socially distance.

High speed road – for me any multi-lane with speed limits of 35+. Typically cars are going faster than this and accidents with bikes or pedestrians are often deadly.

Simple example is Skyline in Baileys Crossroads. Thousands live there and it’s surrounded by 4-6 lane roads.

[matteblack]

An easy eight miles from Skyline Towers

Next?

[CBGanimal]

@zsionakides 199854 wrote:

I don’t consider sidewalks a safe way to ride, particularly if you consider needs to socially distance.

High speed road – for me any multi-lane with speed limits of 35+. Typically cars are going faster than this and accidents with bikes or pedestrians are often deadly.

Simple example is Skyline in Baileys Crossroads. Thousands live there and it’s surrounded by 4-6 lane roads.

I live at skyline and know quiet a few cyclist with varying degrees of road riding comfort levels. We have navigated the 4 -6 lanes into all kinds of neighborhoods. During rush hour there maybe a little planning but now a days there are no issues just follow road rules…be predictable. Oh and check out the new bike lanes on Seminary (between Carlin spring and Columbia Pike), Carlin Springs and Glen Carlyn!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[zsionakides]

@matteblack 199859 wrote:

An easy eight miles from Skyline Towers

Next?

This is fine for a confident rider, though I doubt the general public would ride this route, let alone even discover a route like this. The general public is either going with what they know (e.g. W&OD) or what’s findable in their neighborhood.

[matteblack]

@zsionakides 199862 wrote:

This is fine for a confident rider, though I doubt the general public would ride this route, let alone even discover a route like this. The general public is either going with what they know (e.g. W&OD) or what’s findable in their neighborhood.

Why not? It only took me five minutes to create and I don’t even know the area. Is the general public not capable of finding routes near their homes? Is the general public not capable of using a map?

[bikesnick]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21453[/ATTACH]

@matteblack 199859 wrote:

An easy eight miles from Skyline Towers

Yes, these are nice streets to ride on. However, there are five, yes 5, stream crossings in Holmes Run Stream Valley Park (about mile 6 on your link). There are many stepping pillars, but it is somewhat precarious to balance while carrying a bike. On a recent ride, at one crossing the stream was about a foot deep.

[lordofthemark]

@matteblack 199863 wrote:

Why not? It only took me five minutes to create and I don’t even know the area. Is the general public not capable of finding routes near their homes? Is the general public not capable of using a map?

I ride Lacy regularly – its my direct route to Trader Joe’s and Lake Barcroft (and thence to Annandale).

Newbie riders, youngsters, etc are not going to take the lane there, with steep grades and traffic frequently on your tail and a need to carefully swerve to allow traffic to pass.

And that’s a good area where there is actually a grid of streets in a relatively low density place – most of the region either has no complete grid to make it possible to stay off arterials, or the density (and thus number of motor vehicles) is higher.

Things are fine in general for confident riders (as noted, much less traffic across the region, though reports of some drivers going faster than usual)

There are problems for the newb riders who cling to sidewalks (and pedestrians face similar issues) The policy solutions for these latter two groups would be the same (temporarily reallocating street space to create wider sidewalks to the extent feasible).

[zsionakides]

@matteblack 199863 wrote:

Why not? It only took me five minutes to create and I don’t even know the area. Is the general public not capable of finding routes near their homes? Is the general public not capable of using a map?

A 30+ turn cue sheet through windy roads with no way-finding is going to be bit much for all but the most dedicated. The rest will simply continue to overwhelm the W&OD and MVT where they can simply walk or ride without having to digest a complex turn by turn map. Maybe if there was a group ride in that area the route would work, but group rides aren’t permitted now for good reason.

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