TheWashCycle

Arlington's natural surface trails study; pump tracks, bike parks and mountain bike trails on the agenda

Arlington County is performing a Natural Surface Trails study this year. It kicked off in December with an RFP and a literature review and will lead to public engagement over the summer with a final set of recommendations to follow.  The study will investigate a range of options for trail management, resource protection and maintenance issues; including new trail segments and segments to close. It will include a major inventory and assessment of existing trails, and a lengthy public engagement process starting this summer. This will include community input on bike-related options including pump tracks, bike parks, and mountain-biking trails. 

The study comes out of the Public Spaces Master Plan process for which one goal is to "Explore opportunities to provide space for pump tracks and cyclocross on a temporary or permanent basis, while balancing potential impacts on natural resources and trees". Mountain biking is on more tenuous ground

prior to exploring potential locations for mountain biking, the community would need to have a more robust and broad conversation to understand the needs of the users and impacts on the natural environment.

This is being done now in part because of the pandemic.

The PSMP’s Action Plan assigned these actions medium- and long-term priority. However, due to an increase in trail usage during the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns from natural resources advocates about increased recreational use and its impacts to natural areas, and ongoing community requests to provide mountain biking opportunities, these recommendations have become a higher priority.

Right now this is just a study that may come with recommendations that may lead to some action in the future (far off future?) but this is how projects often get started - with an acorn not a tree.

DC to start universal bicycle education for 2nd graders

At a recent meeting with the Bicycle Advisory Council's Safety and Education committee chair, Jennifer Halperin, DDOT’s bicycle safety education specialist announced that DCPS, in a partnership with DDOT, will be introducing universal bicycle safety education for 2nd graders.

DDOT will provide bikes for the program and the education curriculum is being developed by DCPS for incorporation into their physical education classes.  In addition, DCPS will be adding balance bikes to their inventory of school playground equipment. 

This program will be in addition to, not in place of, the education services that WABA provides (safe routes to school, bicycle ambassadors and adult education) for DDOT. WABA currently provides bicycle safety education to 3rd graders at some schools, but the new program will cover more students and with a different curriculum. 

This was. coincidentally, one of the subjects discussed - and universally supported - in the District's recent Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Working Group meetings, so it's good to see it happening before the report from that is even out.

In addition, though somewhat unrelated, Halperin said that bicycle repair kits are being placed in Recreation Centers throughout the district by the Department of General Services with the assistance of Gearin’ Up Bicycles.

 

DC's Recreational Trails Committee is looking for members

The Mayor's office is looking to fill vacancies on the Recreational Trails Advisory Committee. The federal Recreational Trails Program (RTP) funds certain trail projects with motor fuel tax revenues generated from the sales of motor fuel for off-highway recreational purposes. But in order to spend that money, states (and in this case DC is counted as a state) must have an advisory committee who reviews and recommends expenditures.

I serve on the committee, and we'd like to see new appointments branch out from the current demographics. We'd like some members from east of the river and/or members who represent other trail users than just hikers and bikers, which is tough in DC since there are no ATV or snow-mobile trails. There are water trails though, so a canoe enthusiast would be great. It's not a terribly large amount of money - about $700,000 a year, but it can fund maintenance, studies, signage and such.

You can use this web site to apply:

http://motaboards.theresumator.com/apply

Sunday Morning Ride - Powhatan

I did the Arlington Loop for the first time in a long time. I love the new bike signage along the Custis Trail and all the bike-specific lights. It really is harder to run one of those than a regular light. But the first ramp on the MVT at the airport (going south) is looking pretty bad in the south direction. Also, one of the crosswalks on the Bluemont trail isn't marked on the road, but probably should be. 

• On being a WABA Trail Ranger.
• "Now a primary offense, the fine for texting while driving is $125 for first-time violators. The penalty increases to $250 with each subsequent offense."
• New commuter lot in Gainsville includes bike racks. I wonder how easy it is to bike to.
• Washington Times is in favor of Congress intervening to end DC's use of speed cameras, although they don't really give a reason to oppose them other than that the tickets go to the owner of the car instead of the drive and some sense of 'greed'. "An apoplectic Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s delegate in Congress, rallied the usual crowd of the green bicycle-riding elites, who hate every car but their own, with an unusual personal attack on her colleague, which hardly befits a congresswoman with neither a vote nor a sense of congressional collegiality. “If either Representative Bentivolio or his staff has received such a ticket, then they should pay it, unless he thinks that members of Congress who by law are already exempt from most ticket violations here should be excused,” she says." 
• Gov. Bob McDonnell announced funding of $50,000 to serve as seed money in developing an International Mountain Biking Association ride center at newly christened Powhatan State Park in Powhatan, VA. The park was originally part of the Beaumont Correctional Center.
• New pedicab rules take effect next week in NYC. In a sense this is a sign of success. Pedicabs have been prevalent enough and in operation long enough to catch the eye of the government. And there are probably some good, common-sense regulations that can help make the business stronger in the long run.
• Local man trains for the NYC-to-DC climate ride

Saturday Evening Ride - prom

I caught Ira David's Pedal America on PBS last night. I had a friend who worked for Discovery Channel and I used to jokingly pitch a TV show to her in which I would travel around the world riding my bike and drinking beer - all with a supermodel sidekick. Like "Wild On", but with bikes and a middle-aged, balding white guy. She never took me up on the show, and now no longer works in the TV business. Coincidence? Anyway, this show was a significantly classier version of what I proposed. 

• Another option for bicycle insurance. 
• I'm not sure if I previously linked to this WABA post that followed the Bike Party red light crash video. It's on how to make group rides better
• Two left turning strategies, the standard turn and the Copenhagen Turn. 
• "Join MORE on July 21 at the Rockburn Branch Park for our annual summer picnic"
• "Bike-share users, who in addition to having low injury rates also tend to have lower-than-average rates of helmet usage, are great proof that encasing your skull in case you crash is just one factor among many that affect bicycle safety. There are several other steps riders can take that may be more important."
• Also, bike sharing can get you to the prom. 

Monday Afternoon Commute - Orme

Good afternoon

• Why Metro wants to encourage more users to bike "64% of parking customers come from less than five miles away, and 47% come from less than three miles away." At stations where parking is tight, perhaps performance parking could help with that. 
• A rundown of Arlington bicycle shops. 
• Latest on Veitch bike lane. Also, appears there will be a bike box at Lee Highway
• Many new CaBi stations in Arlington. At Arlington at S Stafford & 34th St S,  N Pershing Dr & Wayne St in Arlington, S George Mason Dr & 13th St S, S George Mason & Four Mile Run Dr and Columbia Pike & S. Orme St. And another one moved across the street. 
• Bike thief caught on video stealing 3 bikes, seems unfazed.
• "Virginia Beach officials are considering allowing bicycle riding on the city’s beaches."
• AAA expanding into bicycle service.

Monday Morning Commute - randonnée

Good morning

• The majority of people (66%) in the DC area approve of "Washington D.C.'s effort to increase the number of bicycle lanes on major roads." Only 26% Disapporve. Oddly support was lower in DC than in Maryland and Virginia. But that may be because bike lanes had much lower support (57% as opposed to 71%) among African-Americans. Still, there wasn't a single group that didn't approve by a wide margin. In addition, local residents think 
• Post article on reduced congestion barely mentions biking "Although 75 percent of area commuters get there by car, the survey revealed that commuters are open to alternatives. By about 2 to 1, there was a preference for options other than roads. Two-thirds of those surveyed said they approve of the District’s expansion of the bike lane network."
• In April, "street markings and signs on the 9th Street S. and 12th Street S. side of the bike boulevards" that parallel Columbia Pike were to be placed in "late Spring." Now they're saying "in the next 6 weeks." 
• the Montgomery County Planning Board approved construction of the North Branch Hiker Biker Trail.  It will go from Lake Frank in Rock Creek Regional Park to Bowie Mill Park on Bowie Mill Road, connecting to the ICC Trail along the way.  Future extensions will take the trail into Olney.  A developer of a residential subdivision is building part of the trail on that land.  It will be placed on the 2015-2020 capital improvement plan, meaning that it should be built by 2020. See map below. 
• Find a bike shop, mapped, anywhere in the world. 
• "The only thing standing between where we are and the kind of infrastructure in Arlington and DC  is the will to act....But in many ways, the true highlight of the trip was our meeting with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)"
• Good article on CitiBike. I like this "could one use my iPhone’s speaker to tell me which bike stations have empty docks as I approach my destination?"
• "There's no direct translation for randonnée (pronounced ran-don-NAY) — it can mean a long outing or trip, or a ramble in the countryside. For its practitioners, called randonneurs, it's easier to define the event by what it isn't: a race. There are time limits, which means riders can't go too slowly — but they also can't go too quickly."

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - eye-opening

Good afternoon

• AME Zion Church has asked DDOT and the ANC to move the 14th Street bike lane so that members can double park during funerals. There has to be an easier way to accommodate what can only be a temporary use. 
• WABA: "Next Monday, ANC 6A and ANC 6C will host a joint public meeting to address the issue of bicycling access in the H Street NE corridor. DDOT has proposed four alternatives to improve bicycling there, specifically by making improvements on the two adjacent streets, G and I streets NE. ANC Commission Tony Goodman has explained the alternatives in detail on Greater Greater Washington."
• AAA supports an end to hands-free phone use. “This landmark study is eye-opening and sobering. It proves that hands-free is not a safety ‘silver bullet’ and that talking on a cell phone while driving is dangerous, no matter whether hand-held or hands-free,” said Lon Anderson, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Managing Director of Public and Government Affairs. But I think the article is wrong. Using hands-free is legal in DC. 
• White Flint could get bike lanes. "Plans for the street network include bike lanes in some areas, such as along Old Georgetown Road...Some meeting attendees expressed concerns about the safety of inexperienced bike riders, especially if new bikeshare stations go up in the area, and suggested bringing down some of the proposed 40-mph speed limits"
• And, from the same link, "Patricia Shepherd, the county’s new bikeways coordinator, presented plans for improvements to a 0.29 mile section of Woodglen Drive south of Nicholson Lane. The project site is on the northern end of the six-mile Bethesda Trolley Trail, which connects White Flint to Bethesda. The plan calls for a bike lane on one side of the road, two traffic lanes and a turn lane. The side of the road without a dedicated bike lane would also have space for on-street parking, but the traffic lane would be extra wide to accommodate cyclists and would have “sharrows”  to indicate that both cyclists and cars may use the lane. The proposed project also includes a shared-use sidewalk along one side of the road to accommodate both bikes and pedestrians."
• "Starost, a 16-year-old Derwood resident and student at Col. Zadok Magruder High School, worked with the Agricultural History Farm Park to establish a new hiker/mountain bike trail. Once complete, it will connect a half a mile gap in between one of the park’s Upper Rock Creek hiking trails with a bike training/obstacle course.
• Del Joe T. May lost his primary to return to the Virginia House. My only reference to him was here "NoVa Delegates Barbara Comstock, Timothy Hugo and Joe May all voted against the [3 foot passing] law in committee"
• Chicago bike sharing to be delayed by two weeks. Asked whether Alta bears responsibility for the setback, Klein said the company "is still meeting the letter of the contract." The move to "take a little extra time was a collaborative decision with the Divvy team," he said.

Cuteness Overload

Just Hanging On by Ranpuba

From Kidical Mass' “ABC’s of Family Biking”

Wednesday Evening Shelter in Place - Rastro

I suspect that most of you didn't go to work, but I did.  And I didn't bike either. So, that stinks twice.

• WABA testifies at the DDOT oversight hearing. Bike lanes and cycletracks are nice, but we need more progress on trails. 
• The new FBI building might be trail oriented development. The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail would stay outside the security perimeter, and one would hope it would involve a really great bike room. 
• Oh man, new Business idea. Buy up old vans, gut them and turn them into mobile containers. Sell them to DC residents and count your money. [The vans would have to be able to pass inspection and you'd need to register them for plates, but it still may be worth it] I can see a "Markets in Everything" post on this at Marginal Revolution. 
• Bike crashes in Fairfax County mapped out.
• Mountain biking in Rosaryville State Park. 
• Local group Black Women Bike DC takes center stage at the Bike Summit which is going on this week. Unfortunately, the snow is making it difficult to advocate.