TheWashCycle

Strange things afoot with the Arlington BAC

Two weeks ago, Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz sent a letter to the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) announcing that he was removing  members from the BAC, assigning a new member and making him chair. This seemingly prompted one long-term member, Randy Swart, to resign. Then the January meeting was cancelled one working day before it was to occur when the BAC was locked out of their usual, and official, location.

Just FYI, the Arlington BAC has been unilaterally locked out of its usual/official @ArlingtonVA loc for tonight's previously scheduled meeting. Members and other interested parties are invited to convene at 7pm at Clarendon Presbyterian Church/1305 N Jackson St tonight. #bikeDC

— Mark Blacknell (@Blacknell) January 8, 2018

Swart didn't say the letter from Schwartz is what led him to resign, but his resignation came the next day and thanked the Manager for the letter, so it certainly seems that way.

Schwartz said that he intended to remove members who had "rarely or never attended,” which doesn't seem like an unreasonable position to take; but no one on the BAC was consulted or informed of this before hand. And the members to be removed weren't listed in the letter. This seems a little bit sloppy and treats the BAC (my opinion here) with a lack of respect - not so much as volunteer partners with the County, but as something more like contractors. 

Regardless, Schwartz isn't allowed to appoint the chair. The charter says that the members choose their own chair (this is true in DC too), though there are reports that the Manager intends to change the charter too. Again, the BAC has had no discussions with the Manager about this. 

Further complicating things is that the person Schwartz named in his letter to be appointed and made chair, Edgar Gil Rico who is well regarded by the BAC, reportedly declined the appointment. 

Almost all of this, the dismissal of half the BAC, change in chair, change in charter, cancellation of the January meeting has been done without communication before hand, without explanation after ward and without answering any of the BAC''s questions. It's all a bit odd and discouraging. 

The shocker is that I've always thought the Arlington BAC was the best run one in the area - and I run the DC one! So I'm not at all sure what is going on. The goal of getting active members who represent a diverse set of people is certainly a noble one, but I feel like the execution here is lacking. 

Hopefully this will all get squared away in short order. 

Arlington BAC leaders Megan Jones and Gillian Burgess

Arlington Bike and Walk Happy Hour - July 26th

Link

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is excited to link up with WalkArlington and BikeArlington for our July happy hour! Join us at the new Heritage Brewing Co. in Clarendon for a lovely night of socializing and chatting about we can work towards safer walking and biking, and more responsible growth in Arlington and throughout our region. 

Arlington County has earned Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community designation, from the League of American Bicyclists, and has been named a Gold Level Walk Friendly Community by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center!

Come chat with our staff, like-minded people, and Arlington's leading bike and walk advocates to learn what they're doing right in smart growth.

Arlington cyclists may not have ROW in bike lanes

At the August meeting of Arlington's Bicycle Advisory Council, there was a discussion of the legal right of cyclists to the bike lane. Lindsay Brooker, the Commonwealth's Attorney was there, and according to her

There doesn’t seem to be anything in the Arlington Code that specifically grants right of way to bicyclists in a bike lane.

The code does have this to say:

Where the County Board has by ordinance designated a bicycle lane for the exclusive use of bicycles, a motor vehicle may cross a bicycle lane for the purpose of entering or exiting adjacent property, for making a turn, or for the purpose of parking, but no person shall stop, stand or park a motor vehicle in a bicycle lane, nor shall any person drive a motor vehicle in a bicycle lane for a distance of more than one hundred (100) feet.

But it doesn't appear to me that there is any fine for driving in a bicycle lane (or even parking).  This was the case in DC until a few years ago. The Arlington BAC is going to work with the CA to come up with better language, but I don't know if this will include a fine.

Speaking of Arlington bike lanes, here's they're short term plan for painting more.

 

The future of Arlington bicycle facilities

Most readers by now know that Arlington added its first cycletrack on S. Hayes in August, and perhaps that the county plans to add another stretch to S. Eads this year (though talk was of doing it this September) between 15th and 23rd, but there is more that Arlington is working on and planning to do on top of that.

On S. Eads, the county will reduce the road from 4 lanes to 3 (one in each direction and center turning lane) to make room for the protected bike facility. This is a pilot project but if all goes well, it would become permanent.

Wilson Blvd between Rosslyn and Courthouse could also get a protected bike lane when it's repaved next year. This is in design and evaluation right now. Another project on Wilson will repave the road from N. Frederick to Manchester street in spring of 2015. That project will create bike lanes between Bluemont Park and N. Frederick Street. Sharrows will then connect those bike lanes to ones on N. George Mason Drive and the Bluemont Trail. Later those bike lanes could be converted to cycletracks. 

Construction is expected to begin in late 2015 on improvements to the Custis Trail around the "Intersection of Doom" in Rosslyn. This will include widening the trail from 10 feet to 16, improving visibility at the Holiday Inn entrance, removing a lane from Lynn Street that will shorten the crossing there and adding waiting areas at both corners. Control of right turns on red are in development. 

The County is working on a complete review of bicycle parking and planning to use an app to help them with this. Efforts include review of best practices from elsewhere, better coordination with other County agencies, installation of more bike parking in the curbside right-of-way (especially in commercial districts), changes to the zoning code to require bike parking minimums in all development and working with private property owners to add more bike parking. In addition, the County plans to start using an app called RackSpotter that will allow for crowdsourcing the location of every bike rack in the county in order to create a complete inventory as well as identify places where racks are needed. Users will also be able to see where the closest rack is, including a photo. Games to encourage use will be used. The product is currently in beta testing. 

The County has nearly completed the installation of 280 on-street wayfinding signs planned for the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and 200 more along the Custis Trail. The County plans to add another 400 signs on its trail network in the near future. 

The County now has 31 automated county devices including the Bikeometer in Rosslyn. The data from these can be viewed by anyone at this website.

Arlington does plan to clear snow from trails this winter, but maybe not from the W&OD Trail. NVRPA is concerned that the trail will be damaged during snow removal.  

One unusual problem Arlington is dealing with is that the only contractor they had to paint bike lanes green went out of business, so they're trying to work through that setback to find a replacement. 

BikeSwell, the bike-umentary of the year

BikeArlington, in partnership with the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee, presents the "bike-umentary" of the year:  BikeSwell - Smart Movement in Arlington, Virginia.  This film features local bike advocacy rock stars and highlights the triumphs and tribulations of making Arlington a premiere bicycle friendly community.  The feature presentation will be followed by a panel discussion so you can learn more from some of the people involved in Arlington's "Smart Movement":

• Chris Eatough (Panel Moderator) - BikeArlington Program Manager
• Jason Berry - Director, Gripped Films
• Mark Blacknell - President of the Board, Washington Area Bicyclist Association
• Gillian Burgess - Founder, KidicalMass Arlington
• Edgar Gil Rico - League Certified Instructor, Hispanic Marketing Specialist
• Jakob Wolf-Barnett - Chair, Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee

 

Tickets are free, but we strongly suggest donating at least $5 to the non-profit organization, Phoenix Bikes. Phoenix Bikes rebuilds and refurbishes old bikes, and supports youth by providing a safe and educational environment for them to volunteer and learn.

Doors open 7:00pm.
Movie starts 7:30pm.
Panel discussion/Q&As begins at 8pm.
Doors close 9pm. 

There will be prizes raffled off after the film, donated by BikeArlington, the League of American Bicyclists, WABA and New Belgium Brewery.  But wait, there's more!  Phoenix Bikes has generously donated a bike that will be raffled off as the Grand Prize.  Every attendee will receive one raffle ticket. Additional tickets are available for purchase ($2) with all proceeds going to Phoenix Bikes.

Saturday Morning Ride - Biker not cyclist

Good morning. I hope everyone survived thundergedden last night.

• I'm willing to call motorcyclists "bikers", but not "cyclists". Stop confusing everyone Dr. Gridlock. And isn't the Ride Across Maryland a bicycle thing? So much confusion. [scroll down at the link]
• "The Patuxent Velo Bicycle Racing Club will present the Mid-Atlantic Bicycle Racing Association’s Leonardtown Crit 2012 this Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the square"
• Arlignton BAC meeting is this Monday. "Among other topics we will discuss the recent activity related to bollard installations and removals.  And we'll debrief on Bike to Work Day, too."