September 2009 Arlington and Alexandria Pedestrian and Bicycle Citizens' Groups Joint Meeting Notes

I don't attend these, so this is from the minutes, and is probably incomplete and possibly wrong.

Existing Projects:

Four Mile Restoration Plan: The design guidelines have been approved by Alexandria and the trails should conform to AASHTO Guidelines.  A design will be developed for the proposed bridge over Four Mile Run at Eads Street, but there are no funds for the construction of the bridge.  Most participants at the meeting thought the bridge to be a low priority.  A much more important item was the connection from the Four Mile Run Trail to Potomac Yards.  This was promised by the County prior to the development approval.  It appears that this connection will be delayed indefinitely since an ADA connection can not be made without removing one of the old railroad bridges .  While bridge removal is part of the Plan, it is not known when funds will be available for the project.  Therefore this promised connection will not be made in the next few years.  Also the connection is now Alexandria's responsibility and not Arlington's.

Signage at the south end of the Shirlington overpass: The signage to the Four Mile Run Trail through Park Fairfax was discussed.  This does not appear to be a major problem since Alexandria has installed signs directing cyclists to the Trail.  At this point Dave Goodman discussed Arlington's recent wayfinding program which started out addressing cars about two years ago.  Arlington hopes to address trails and bikeways over the next year.

New Projects

Regional Bike Sharing Program Application: Virginia's Department of Rail and Public Transportation has given $200,000 to Arlington for a bike sharing program. Arlington is considering developing it's own system similar to the way Montreal did. If the federal TIGER funds are provided, the system could include Falls Church and Fairfax County. Arlington is working on setting up its program, and will proceed with that pending the larger program's development.

King and Beauregard Street intersection status: A public meeting will be scheduled for Spring of 2010 to improve this intersection for bike/ped trail connections. 

VDOT Count Cameras: VDOT has spent $12,000 for traffic cameras with video analysis services to count cars, bikes, and pedestrians.  Counts on the Memorial, Key, and 14th St. Bridges found that there were 15,000 bike/ped trips across these bridges per day, though the cameras don't work at night so that is "day" as in daylight, not 24 hours. It doesn't appear that TR or Wilson were included. VDOT  also used the cameras for adjusting traffic signals along trails, mainly the W&OD Trail where the Rt 123 crossing in Vienna will be adjusted for weekend use. For now VDOT is operating the cameras on a year by year grant, and $20,000 is remaining for video analysis services for the next year.  VDOT hopes to get 10 units in the future.

VDOT is also planning to change the traffic studies done by developers to include pedestrians and cyclists in the traffic impact studies.

Rerouting Bike Route 1: Signs will be placed and replaced as improvements are completed.  There are no signs for the route north of Fredericksburg, although VDOT has signed Rt 1 and the other national route in other parts of Virginia.  VDOT is not planning on signing any other bike routes at this time.

Bridge over Four Mile Run in Shirlington: David Goodman(Arlington County) discussed the possibility of a new bridge for bikes and pedestrians, across Four Mile Run at the terminus of the W&OD.  The current crossing at Shirlington Road has a narrow sidewalk. The group expressed concern that a more immediate concern is the new trail crossing of Shirlington Road. It needs to be better signed and improved. Users are confused and using unsafe ways to cross Shirlington Road.  Whether a bridge on Shirlington Road will improve the situation is unclear, but the safety and wayfinding of the Shirlington Road crossing should be the highest priority.

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Key Upcoming Events:

Pedestrian and Bike Awareness Week: Alexandria will have a Street Smarts Program this year during the first week of November. 

A meeting of the various bike and pedestrian groups will be planned for next year at this time.

Comments

[Contrarian]

To have VDOT include pedestrian and cyclist counts in traffic surveys is a significant shift. For too long "traffic" has meant only motor vehicles, and pedestrians and cyclists were seen not as part of traffic, but as impediments to it.

[Ian]

I'm really happy to see that they're going to try to address the King St/Beauregard intersection. You pretty much have to pass through it if you're trying to connect from Holmes Run to the Four Mile Run/W&OD trails and it's miserable as is.

[Froggie]

Not entirely true on Bike Route 1. There's at least one sign (that I just noticed this morning) on Mt. Vernon Hwy between Mt. Vernon and Ft. Belvoir.