[Bruce Wright]

FABB is aware of the proposal and the Ashgrove connection. I was a member of the Tysons task force and during our 5 years of meetings I consistently stressed the need to retain and improve that connection. It’s also included in the Tysons bike plan. I testified before the Planning Commission in favor of a much lower impact exit ramp from the Toll Road that wouldn’t destroy the stream valley park. Even if the proposed exit ramp is built, the Ashgrove connection will remain.

The most effective action you and anyone concerned about this can take is to attend the Board of Supervisors public hearing on the Tysons Transportation Funding Plan on Oct. 16 and voice your concern. Funding for the proposed ramp is included in the Funding Plan. You can also write to the Board of Supervisors.

[Bruce Wright]

There are two types of crossings on the W&OD Trail, those controlled by traffic lights and those controlled by stop signs, either just for cyclists or all way stop signs. At the crossings controlled by lights, the law is pretty clear. We’re supposed to only cross when the ped light is in the Walk phase (46.2-925). At the crossings controlled by stop signs for trail users, there’s a stop sign a crosswalk in the road. As bicyclists on a trail, legally we are treated as pedestrians (46.2-904) and motorists are supposed to yield to us in the crosswalk (46.2-924). When a motorist stops for me and waves me through, I appreciate it. That doesn’t mean I enter the crosswalk unless that motorist in is the lane nearest me. My mantra is “one lane at a time.” Once that first lane is controlled and the car is stopped, I can get into the crosswalk and wait for the next lane to be controlled until I’m across the street.

To me the worst situation is when I’m riding in the road and stop at a 4-way stop sign or get ready to turn left at midblock, and Helpy Helperton waves me through when I don’t have the right of way. That’s when I usually wave them through instead. If it saves time and it’s just the two of us, I sometimes will just go.

[Bruce Wright]

We had a great time at the Happy Hour. Thanks to all the Forum folks who attended. FABB will definitely be holding future Happy Hours. Thanks to Ann for a great job organizing the event.

[Bruce Wright]

I don’t know for sure but the contract for the Gallows Road bike lanes was let in December and the work should have started by now. Bike lanes will stretch from Idylwood Rd just north of the W&OD Trail to Old Courthouse Rd. The work includes removing the concrete lane dividers so I assume the project is underway. I’ll ask Charlie Strunk, the county bike coordinator, at the FABB meeting tonight.

[Bruce Wright]

One reason you can’t see the rack is that it’s placed on the edge of the concrete in front of the building so that if you park a bike half is in the mulch. There’s one wave rack. Just another example of an inadequate rack poorly located in Fairfax. See my photo of the bike parking in a FABB blog entry: http://fabb-bikes.blogspot.com/2010/04/another-improperly-installed-bike-rack.html

[Bruce Wright]

If a cyclist does get a ticket for running one of the W&OD stop signs I would recommend contesting it. Several years ago a cyclist was issued a ticket at the W&OD/Belmont Ridge intersection. He was in the crosswalk and was struck by a motorist. The ticket cited VA code 46.2-821 Vehicles before entering certain highways shall stop or yield right-of-way.. The cyclist hired a lawyer and fought the ticket. The judge decided that since the W&OD Trail is not a “highway,” the cited code was not applicable. See my notes about this case at the end of a bike commuting article I wrote for the RBC newsletter back in 2004.

[Bruce Wright]

@rcannon100 11796 wrote:

I am looking for the reason. I need to be able to make a better argument than: use Inverted U’s cause, well, everyone else does.

The APBP guidelines and those from the Draft AASHTO Guide for the Planning, Design, and Operation of Bicycle Facilities (http://design.transportation.org/Documents/DraftBikeGuideFeb2010.pdf) are the main sources of parking guidelines. While they may not be based on citable research, they are based on experience and recommendations from the bicycle community. They both list the requirements of good bike parking and both come to the same conclusion, that inverted U racks meet these requirements. That’s why everyone uses them as the standard. The other common theme is the suggested use of U locks:

APBP:
Support the bicycle upright by its frame in two places
Prevent the wheel of the bicycle from tipping over
Enable the frame and one or both wheels to be secured
Support bicycles without a diamond-shaped frame with a horizontal top tube (e.g. a mixte frame)
Allow front-in parking: a U-lock should be able to lock the front wheel and the down tube of an upright bicycle
Allow back-in parking: a U-lock should be able to lock the rear wheel and seat tube of the bicycle

and AASHTO:
Support the bicycle at two points above its center of gravity.
Accommodate high security U‐shaped bike locks.
Accommodate locks securing the frame and one or both wheels (preferably without removing the front wheel from the bicycle.)
Provide adequate distance [minimum 36 inches (0.9 m)] between spaces so that bicycles do not interfere with each other
Do not contain protruding elements or sharp edges.

[Bruce Wright]

bikes@vienna is planning a Luminaria ride on Christmas Eve: http://www.bikesatvienna.com/events.html. It’s a short (about 5 miles) ride through Vienna neighborhoods. The streets are lined with luminarias which are bags that contain lights placed along the curb. The ride starts and ends at the shop.

[Bruce Wright]

@rcannon100 11772 wrote:

We have been successfully working with our management about getting new bike racks.

We have reviewed the APBP recommendation on racks – and I have seen lots of places requiring or using the inverted U racks.

The APBP recommendations have some general statements about the racks like “cost: low” and comments about space efficiency. The APBP is specific that wheel benders are not recommended.

So if we have successfully reached the point were wheel benders are out, but management still says “space for parking is limited, as is funding” – is there somewhere a side-by-side comparison of different rack types comparing costs, space efficiency, etc? Or to say it another way, everyone has limited space and funds, yet I see so many people go with the top choice: the Inverted U. Where is the evidence / support for that decision that the U is the right choice (again, I know its the APBP top pick, but if space and funds are limited, how do I make the argument).

Thanks

The capacity stated for the “wheel bender” or “grill” or “school yard” racks is greatly overstated. It’s almost impossible to use a U lock. Only the wheel, often the front, is locked and the bike can easily be stolen by removing the wheel. Most people either park on the end of the rack so they can use a U lock or they park parallel to the rack, using several spaces. They are often placed against a wall so that only one side is useable, reducing the stated capacity by half.

U racks can be attached to rails and don’t take up that much more space, or cost much more, than the grill rack. There are two contact points not the bike which help to stabilize it. They grill racks are called wheel bender racks for a reason, the bike often tips over, bending the wheel.

The Bicycle Alliance of Washington has a good one-page flier called 12 Bike Parking Essentials for Retailers:

http://www.bicyclealliance.org/commute/sbbsummary.pdf

DC, Arlington, and Alexandria all use the U rack as the standard for a reason. If you visit the FABB Cyclist Resources page we’ve listed links for most of the local bike parking regulations:

http://www.fabb-bikes.org/resources.html#references

[Bruce Wright]

After checking with NVRPA, they confirmed that they have a blower, not a plow and that they “won’t plow the trail, but in case of heavy snows we would blow the trail off after some days.” It’s not clear what this means; guess we’ll find out this winter.

As for cross country skiing, people often forget that west of Vienna there is a second, unpaved trail that would be a much more interesting place to ski. The main, paved trail is usually not skiable due to foot prints and tire tracks. In my mind it’s one of the worst places to cross country ski unless you get out there immediately after the snow.

[Bruce Wright]

The only bike counts conducted in Fairfax are done by VDOT in one or two locations. Unfortunately VDOT has not summarized or analyzed the counts. We’ve offered to help and plan to work on it this winter. FABB did conduct a mini count project this summer as a test. We know that Arlington and Alexandria have both participated in the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, using volunteers to conduct counts at regular times during the year (the NBPD website appears to be down now but here’s the url: http://www.bikepeddocumentation.org/).

I counted cyclists at the intersection of the W&OD Trail and Route 123/Maple Ave. in downtown Vienna on July 7 (Thurs) and July 9 (Sat). See the FABB blog entry about the counts: http://fabb-bikes.blogspot.com/2011/08/fabb-conducts-first-volunteer-fairfax.html. VDOT had conducted a count at that location in 2008 for a 12-hour time period. The NBPD recommends doing counts for 2 hours during peak periods. The 2-hour data are extrapolated to a 24 hour period.

It’s difficult to compare VDOT’s 12-hour count with our count. On June 16, 2008 (Monday) VDOT counted 337 cyclists. On July 7, I counted for 2 time periods, 7-9am and 5-7pm. During just those two time periods I counted 447 cyclists. That’s 110 more cyclists than were counted during the entire 12 hour period in 2008. Using the NBDA formula, the daily estimate was 1661 cyclists. This shows a significant increase in cyclists in 3 years.

I’ve noticed many more cyclists than in previous years, including at night during colder weather. The problem is that it’s very difficult to prove without counts, which is why FABB is advocating for better bike counts in the county. There are recommendations for counts in the Tysons Bicycle Plan and I’m sure the same will be true for the countywide plan. However, the bike coordinator’s operating budget is now $0. He has some funds from other sources but none for doing counts. VDOT has handed over the counting effort in N. Va. to MWCOG but there are so few locations in Fairfax that those numbers aren’t very useful.

The next NBPD count period is January 10-12, 2012. We may try to conduct another test count but ideally the county will eventually step up and start a counting program.

[Bruce Wright]

Americancyclo has it right; cyclists are treated as pedestrians when in a crosswalk. The W&OD stop signs complicate the road crossings. There are almost no other places where there is a stop sign before a crosswalk.

StopMeansStop said “The NVRPA Stop signs (at least the ones in Shirlington) say they are “required by law” so I’m assuming that there is some code behind them and thus enforceable.” The W&OD trail stop signs are not VDOT signs. They were placed by NVRPA. The “enforced by law” only means that NVRPA has the authority to put stop signs in their parks. There was a case a while back in which a cyclist was struck in a crosswalk at Belmont Ridge Rd in Loudoun Co. The cyclist was ticketed for not waiting for all traffic to clear because he had a stop sign. I believe he was ticketed under VA code “46.2-821. Vehicles before entering certain highways shall stop or yield right-of-way.” The cyclist fought it in court and the case was dismissed. The judge ruled that the cyclist was on a trail and could not be ticketed under the statute because he was not on a “highway” or “road”

There are many places were trails intersect roads and there are crosswalks across the road and there are no stop signs. VA code is pretty clear; we can’t enter the crosswalk in disregard of oncoming traffic, but once in the crosswalk motorists must yield (if they have sufficient time to yield assuming the cyclists didn’t enter in disregard of oncoming traffic).

It is very discouraging to hear that cyclists are still waving motorists on when they stop at a crosswalk. Some of us who have been herr for many years know that in the past motorists often didn’t stop. In some places if we wait until all traffic has cleared, it would be a long wait. We do need to be careful when crossing. My mantra is “one lane at a time.” Never assume that if one motorist has stopped, others will also stop.

[Bruce Wright]

While the new bridge opened today, final paving won’t occur for a while (couple of weeks?). Also, the fence that is supposed to keep cyclists from dropping into the abyss isn’t in place either. Seems like the ribbon-cutting should have been delayed until the job is really complete.

The alignment isn’t good, with two turns into and out of the bridge. Everyone needs to be cautious when first using it.

[Bruce Wright]

The route that Tim showed is a good one. It uses the Oak St Beltway crossing and bypasses a long stretch of Gallows Rd although it uses a short stretch of Idylwood Rd that is usually very busy. What route you use depends on where in Tysons you are going. Tysons is a big place and there are several routes from the south that lead to different parts.

An alternative to Tim’s route is to take Gallows to head west on Wolftrap Rd where there is a new bridge that connects two sections of the road. You can then head north on one of the side streets. I prefer Lord Fairfax to Woodford as there is almost no traffic on the wide, residential street. Then you would take Old Courthouse (not Chain Bridge) either west or east depending on your destination.

[Author]

Posts