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
