Funds provided to study improvements to the W&OD, Dave Thomas Circle and elsewhere

The MWCOG's Transportation Planning Board recently approved $680,000 in funding for 13 Transportation Land-Use Connections (TLC) projects. The TLC Program provides short-term consultant services to local jurisdictions for small planning projects that promote mixed-use walkable communities and support a variety of transportation alternatives. These projects could lead to improved biking in DC, College Park, Gaithersburg, Greenbelt and elsewhere. The K Street/Water Street protected bike lane started out as a TLC project back in 2016. Here's the post on last year's approved projects, which are underway right now.

Here's a rundown of the bike projects:

District of Columbia - Public Life Study at Florida and New York Avenues ($60,000)
The District is committed to addressing the chronic mobility and safety issues at the New York and Florida intersection (Virtual Circle) but lacks existing conditions data for how pedestrians and cyclists use the space, including their use patterns and preferences. Through this project, the D.C. Office of Planning will lead a public life study of the Virtual Circle to gather observational data to better understand how people currently use and would like to use the study area both for mobility purposes and as a public space.

Greenbelt - Cherrywood Lane Complete and Green Street Retrofit Project ($80,000)
The project will provide technical assistance to develop 30% design for a complete and green street retrofit project to reconstruct a 3,500 ft segment of Cherrywood Lane. This 1.5-mile-long collector street provides direct access to the Greenbelt Metro and MARC Stations. This project will serve to provide safe and convenient access for multiple modes of transportation for pedestrians, bicycles, buses and motorists.

Arlington County - W&OD Trail East Falls Church Connection ($55,000)
The W&OD Trail is a regional pedestrian and bicycle trail with 3,000 plus daily users that is used for walking and bicycling to the East Falls Church Metrorail Station and for longer-distance bicycle commuting across the area. The only gap in the 45-mile long W&OD Trail is in East Falls Church. The trail gap leads to on-street conflicts involving trail users and area motorized traffic. This project will use technical assistance to identify conceptual alternatives for constructing an off-street connection of the trail sections in the East Falls Church area. The results of the study would contribute to the work needed to initiate the design and construction of a trail construction project.

City of Gaithersburg - Concept and Feasibility Study: Industrial Drive to West Deer Park Road – Filling in a Bicycle Gap ($45,000)
Bicycle connections in the City of Gaithersburg’s bicycle network are needed to address bicycling on heavily travelled MD 355 Frederick Road. This project will conduct a concept and feasibility study to connect Industrial Drive to West Deer Park Road. This connection would provide a low‐stress alternative route for many bicyclists.

Outside my coverage area:

Fairfax County -- Bike/Ped Spot Improvement Projects - Trail to the Van Dorn Metrorail Station
($70,000)
Fairfax County will receive technical assistance to complete 30% designs and create cost estimates for a series of projects to improve the trail connections to the Van Dorn Metrorail Station. The work will include several spot projects (i.e. path widening and neighborhood connections), as identified in the County Wide Bicycle Master Plan. These improvements will ease access to high capacity transit, creating a more continuous and viable network of bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and support multimodal travel

Frederick County - New Design Road Side Path Phase 1 ($80,000)
This project is the first of three phases for a side path along New Design Road. Phase 1 seeks design work in order to achieve thirty percent design. This side path will eventually tie the City of Frederick with the C & O Canal National Park which in turns connects to the National Capitol Trails Network on a protected path. The project is part of Frederick County’s larger goal to develop a coordinated multimodal transportation system by integrating transit, pedestrian, bicycling and ADA accessible facilities into the county’s existing roadways and communities.

City of Manassas - Wellington Road Shared-Use Path Gap Conceptual Plan Development ($60,000)
The Wellington Shared Use Path is a major connection to regional and national bike connections within Prince William County. This project will address safety, connectivity and access by providing a safe connection over the railroad tracks, improving connectivity of the overall bike network, and providing greater access throughout the City of Manassas. The project will develop a conceptual design for a 0.35-mile section of the Wellington shared-used path between Nokesville Road and Prince William Street. The City of Manassas has identified safe pedestrian and bicycle connections as a priority.

Prince William County - Safe Routes to School Planning for Regional Activity Centers ($40,000)
This project will address the pedestrian and bicycle facility gaps in three Regional Activity Centers, and identify priority routes, and potential infrastructure improvements within a one-mile radius of the schools. The project will be coordinated with Prince William’s ongoing development of Small Area Plans. As new housing and jobs are focused into Regional Activity Centers, Prince William County must plan for safe and convenient walking and biking routes to schools. Local and regional congestion, exacerbated by commuter trip-chaining that includes a school pick-up or drop-off, can be improved by shifting school trips to walking and biking on safe and protected facilities.

While I'm on the subject of MWCOG funding, there's this item from last year that I missed. The TPB approved more than $1.2 million in funding for four bicycle and pedestrian projects in Maryland through the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP).

• Expand Capital Bikeshare in Prince George’s County – $222,841
• Develop a sidewalk along Forest Glen Road to connect to the Forest Glen Metro station in Montgomery County – $248,000
• Design a trail to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists along US 40 (Golden Mile) in the City of Frederick – $686,309
• Study the feasibility of developing a path along Scott Drive and Veirs Drive in the City of Rockville – $60,000

And here's the bike projects for Virginia. 

• Arlington County: Four Mile Run Trail Connection – $241,000 - Construct a paved bicycle and pedestrian trail connection between Arlington County's Four Mile Run Trail at stream level and the street level network of Crystal City at Potomac Yards.
• City of Fairfax: Judicial Trail Connection – $174,800 - Construction of 500 linear feet of missing link of trail
• Fairfax County: Vienna Metro Bike Connection Improvement – $800,000 - Enhance bike access to the Vienna Metrorail and Metro West Town Center along Virginia Center Boulevard and Country Creek Road.
• City of Falls Church (Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority): W&OD Trail Mode Separation – $274,250 - Project will replace 0.5 mile of 10 foot wide shared use trail with 11 foot wide bicycling trail and 8 foot wide pedestrian trail separated by a 2 foot wide median. Project improves failing levels of service, mitigating trail congestion.