July 2010 Arlington BAC Meeting Notes

These are from the Draft notes of a meeting I didn't attend, so usual grain of salt...

Bike Sharing Update - The Bike Sharing program has been approved by the County Board by a vote of 5 to 0.  There were a number of supporters at Saturday’s Board Meeting, which was good since very few members of the BAC were able to attend the meeting.

Paul DeMaio will manage the engineering for the system in Arlington and Chris Eatough is head of marketing. To promote the system, there will be a new, separate map showing bike sharing locations for both Arlington and DC and a number of events have been scheduled to raise awareness of the program.  These events mostly consist of rides, movies, and the Arlington Fair which is scheduled to begin on July 24.  Most of the events are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday evenings. The 110 bikes for the Arlington program are scheduled to arrive on August 14 and the system is scheduled to start in mid-September. The first 2000 people to sign up will be recognized as “Founding Members.”

Bike Friendly Businesses – Eight Arlington businesses are known to have signed up to be recognized as bike friendly businesses by LAB. There may be more that have sent their applications directly to LAB.  This is a six month cycle so business can apply in another six months.

Upcoming events and projects

• The Bike Arlington forum continues to handle questions and answers on the Internet.
• Bike education classes are going pretty well and most of them are fully booked (20/class). 
• A BAC member suggested that bike routes to the County Fair should be advertised and that the Arlington County Fair should be generally embraced as an opportunity to demonstrate the utility and convenience of transportation cycling in Arlington County.  County Staff agreed and is again trying to get an ART Bus with a bike rack to the Fair so it can be used for demonstration purposes.

Trail Update: The math equations which were chalked on the Custis Trail have been removed. There is a report of a pothole on the W&OD Trail at the Lee Highway crossing. 

Introduction of new Events and Advocacy Coordinator at Revolution Cycles: Angela Koch, who recently joined Revolution, was introduced as Revolution’s bike advocacy coordinator.  Angela is from Portland, Oregon where she worked on bike advocacy issues.  She is mainly interested in entry level riders and helping them get started in biking.  As part of this endeavor Revolution has started Ladies Night at their various stores including Rockville (7/28), Clarendon (7/29), etc.     

Staff Report and Issues:

• David Goodman reported that they are working to get a consultant to do way-finding for the trail network.  The first priority is Rosslyn where there is a need to connect on-street with off-street routes.  $50,000 is available at present for the project.
• The County plans to install 6-8 new automatic counters on the street and trails to count bikes and pedestrians, including ones on the Mt Vernon Trail and the Potomac River bridges.  This will require approval of the NPS.  The County also plans to do a major count in September at all 23 locations in the County using mostly volunteers.
• They are working on completing the Washington Blvd. Trail towards Ft. Myer.  The project is in engineering and work should be started in 2011. 
• The connecting trail to Boundary Drive from the Humpback Bridge now needs an Environmental assessment and $400,000 to pay for it.  There is $200,000 in Transportation Enhancement funds available and the County hopes to get the rest of the money next year.
• The County has determined that the eastbound Route 50 trail on the south side of the road is not feasible due to grade issues along Ford Myer’s perimeter; therefore, the County will concentrate on the north side trail. Engineering is just starting for the project.
• Columbia Pike parallel bikeways – The County is continuing work on signage and marking. Work to fix the Glebe Road crossing will continue.
• There is a $500,000 Neighborhood Conservation project to improve the trail to Randolph School in Doctors Run Park.
• Bike Parking – There is a growing list of needs for bike parking.  The Bike pit improvements at Ballston Station will proceed. Some decorative bike racks have been installed in Rosslyn.  There was a call for standards for decorative bike racks.
• Sharrows have been installed on Walter Reed Drive.
• The County plans to install a flashing yellow light at the crossing of the Four Mile Run Trail at Shirlington Road.  This would serve as a warning to motorists that pedestrians are present.  Hopefully, they will be installed this year.  One BAC member believes they are also needed at the crossings on Walter Reed Dr. and Arlington Mill Road.  These lights (or similar ones) have been installed by Alexandria on Mt. Vernon Ave. near S. Glebe Rd. and near the Braddock Rd. Metro Station (on Braddock Rd.).  
• The County is still working on the problem of bike detecting loops at lights and the lights’ timing for bicycles.
• Because Lee Highway is being repaved, it was suggested that it represented a chance to add bike lanes on a major Arlington transportation corridor. But this is not going to happen even though VDOT was notified on April 3 that there were bike lanes planned for Lee Highway and that VDOT was to install the lanes when resurfacing the road.  The project was done using Stimulus funds and there was no allowance for the lanes since they were not included in the original VDOT submission.  This represents a failure of VDOT to follow its own policy, and the BAC decided to work on a letter to VDOT with respect to this issue.
• One BAC member said that a stop sign is needed for Fairfax Drive (near the U-turn at Northside Social) to control bike traffic for the new bike lanes.  The County will investigate this issue.
• David Patton with Arlington County is investigating getting a paved shoulder to Chain Bridge on Glebe Road. Some portion of VDOT funds are reserved expressly for the purpose envisioned.
• An easement for an emergency access route through the Army Navy Country Club has been secured by the County Board as part of multiple conditions related to a zoning variance granted to the ANCC.  News coverage of some member dissatisfaction with the plan was noted.  The easement appears to really only follow a boundary of the Club and does not cut through a significant part of the property.  Estimates for actual design and construction are uncertain.

BAC Outreach:

The BAC Chair will meet with the Aurora Highlands Civic Association to discuss bike sharing, neighborhood access, and other bike infrastructure projects related to the neighborhood.

There was a significant discussion of various approaches to reducing user conflict on Arlington’s major Multi-Use Trails.  Ideas concerning enforcement, user education, etc., were explored, but no action items arose.  This discussion (with focus on action items) will be continued. 

East Falls Church Metro Station Plan: The new plan was accepted by the County Board.  If and when it is fully realized, it will result in significant changes to traffic patterns and management in the area.
 
Pedestrian Advisory Committee: The committee discussed bike sharing especially with respect to location of the bike depots. The new snow ordinance was discussed and approved by the committee with some concerns.  Also, the committee discussed National Parking Day which will occur in September.  During this day, a parking space may be used for something other than automotive parking as long as the parking fees are paid. 

Comments

[satan]

WHEN WHEN WHEN will the Mt Vernon trail be repaved from the Key Bridge to Alexandria? And when done will it be as smooth as a street? Or lumpy like little kids were in control of the asphalt and playing with?

The worst part of the news is that concerning lee Highway. I KNEW this wold happen...or not happen, re bike lanes. Pathetic. Predictable.

[Jack Wilson]

AGree with Satan. And WHEN will the Custis trail from under 66 to the Key bridge be repaved?

All the efforts of Arlington to be transporation progressive are well appreciated. but we canot let the trails get to the point that the Custis trail has deteriorated to. This undermines bicycling in so many ways.

[MB]

Satan, lend me a dollar, and maybe we'll be another dollar closer to funding a repave? The Mount Vernon Trail, alas, is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Repaving the MVT is just one of thousands of competing funding priorities. That's not an excuse for its state in some places, but I think it's helpful to consider the context of its condition.

Also, on the Lee Highway repave, please feel free to let VDOT know what you think of its not following its own policies, as described here - http://www.virginiadot.org/programs/resources/bike_ped_policy.pdf

Finally, I urge those of you unhappy with the state of the Custis trail surface to let the County Board know about it. Some Arlington County Board members and staff know quite well that the Custis has some rough sections, but like the MVT above, it's just one of many competing budget priorities. The less they hear from the public about this importance of the Custis as a transportation corridor, the easier it is to think of it as a recreational nicety, and defer maintenance.

MB
(Chair of the Arlington BAC)