Arlington County (as in the government) often says – in promotional posters, event sponsorships, etc. – that it is a bike-friendly place.\u00c2\u00a0 ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2411\/2181287095_ba862a4a25.jpg?v=0\")
But it’s not always clear to everyone what Arlington County actually does to be a bike-friendly environment.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To help shed some light on that, I’m passing along an Arlington County memo I received earlier today.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s from March, and discusses a number of events that have come to pass, but I think it remains relevant and will be of interest to many of you:<\/p>\n
Date:\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 March 25, 2009
\nTo:\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Dennis Leach, Transportation Director, DES
\nFrom:\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Chris Hamilton, Commuter Services Chief, DES Transportation
\nRE:\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 2009 Outreach and Education Efforts to Promote Bicycling<\/p>\nThis is to bring you up to date on the staff efforts regarding
\ncalendar year 2009 efforts to promote biking in Arlington. We’re
\ncommitted to supporting Arlington’s status as a Silver Level
\nBicycle-Friendly City and promoting bicycling as a transportation
\noption for persons of all abilities through education and outreach.
\nIn response to budget and staff constraints we’re looking at
\nreshaping some activities, including the Community Bike Ride. Here’s
\nan overview:<\/p>\nElevating Bike Culture In Arlington. On December 16, we hosted an
\ninter-departmental work-shop at which nearly 40 staff from DES
\nTransportation, CPHD Parks and Cultural Affairs, Police, ACPS, CPHD
\nand others met to discuss elevating Arlington’s bike culture. The
\nworkshop, led by Charlie Denney and a team from Alta Planning
\nprovided best practices from around the world and allowed for
\nbrainstorming on how Arlington could do the same. Next steps include:
\nsetting up a permanent County Inter-departmental Working Group for
\nBicycle Issues; prioritizing strategies that can be implemented from
\nthe Bicycle Element of the Master Transportation Plan; expanding the
\ndiscussion beyond staff to include the BAC, non-profits, businesses
\nand the general public; expanding educational and outreach efforts;
\nimplementing bikesharing; and looking into holding Sunday Cyclovia
\nand other events for 2010.<\/p>\n[more after the break]<\/em>
\n
\n2009 Arlington-Alexandria Community Bike Ride (CBR). The CBR is the
\nmost expensive and staff intensive activity the program undertakes so
\nwe’re exploring options that utilize fewer resources and allow us to
\nreallocate those resources for a more sustained effort throughout the
\nyear. As a result, this year we’re piloting a change in the date and
\noperation of the ride. Staff is discussing with Alexandria and the
\nDistrict to join the private-sector operated BikeDC ride in September
\nor October 2009 and making it a BikeDC\/Alexandria\/Arlington ride. If
\nthis doesn’t work out (because it doesn’t save resources) then we
\nwill explore less costly and staff intensive ride options for
\nSeptember that coincide with International Car-Free Week.<\/p>\nBike to Work Day. Staff is participating in the regional Bike to Work
\nDay event on Friday, May 15, 2009 and will have a pit stop in
\nRosslyn. The Arlington Pit Stop should have 1,000+ registrants and is
\nthe 2nd most attended stop, Freedom Plaza in DC being #1, in the
\nregion. Arlington Transportation Partners (ATP) is stuffing thousands
\nof fliers into its quarterly newsletter packets to local employers
\nand has a big center spread on the Bike to Work Day event. In
\naddition the bike map is also being stuffed into the packets.<\/p>\n4-Mile Trail Crossing of I-395. The construction of this trail under
\nI-395 connecting 4-Mile Run and W&OD trails is a significant capital
\nimprovement for bikers seeking a quicker, more convenient cross
\nArlington connection. With the official grand opening in May, staff
\nwill implement an outreach program to let people know this is available.<\/p>\nBikesharing. An RFP is on the street to implement a small bikesharing
\npilot project. Alexandria and Arlington are likely to provide a joint
\nprogram. Discussions are still ongoing to provide a regional program
\nthat would include Arlington\/Alexandria joining DC’s program,
\nalthough this may prove difficult. Proposals are due April 2. The
\nselection committee includes bike staff from DDOT and the City of
\nAlexandria. It is anticipated that a program will begin by the spring
\nof 2010 at the latest. Staff is still seeking additional funding to
\nprovide the small pilot a better chance for success by providing more
\nbikes from the beginning.<\/p>\nConfident City Cycling Classes. Staff is hosting free adult education
\nbicycle safety classes between April and October on the following dates:
\n4\/7: 6:00pm-9:00pm – Lee Community Center (CCC1, In-CJlass)
\n4\/18: 1:00pm-4:00pm – Shirlington Library (CCC1, In-Class)
\n5\/6: 6:00pm-9:00pm – Arlington County Offices (CCC1, In-Class)
\n5\/23-1:00pm-4:00pm – Arlington Public Schools Parking Deck Over I-66
\n(CCC2, On-Bike)
\n6\/13: 1:00pm-4:00pm – Arlington Central Library (CCC1, In-Class)
\n7\/11: 1:00pm-4:00pm- Fairlington Community Center (CCC1, In-Class)
\n9\/9: 6:00pm-9:00pm – Walter Reed Community Center (CCC1,In-Class,
\nSpanish translation provided)
\n9\/19: 1:00pm-4:00pm – Arlington Public Schools Parking Deck Over I-66
\n(CCC2, On-Bike)<\/p>\nBicycle Map. Staff will begin working in April to significantly
\nimprove the current Bicycle Map and is looking at including this in a
\nfuture issue of the Citizen.<\/p>\nSafe Bicycling in the Washington Area, which is a driver’s manual for
\ncyclists, will be reprinted this spring.<\/p>\nRegional Street Smart campaign. Staff is participating in the
\ndevelopment and marketing of the regional Street Smart pedestrian and
\nbicycle safety campaign.<\/p>\nBikeArlington.com. Staff is maintaining the BikeArlington.com Website
\nand writing content for the CommuterPageBlog around promoting bicycling.<\/p>\nLights for Bikes. Staff is coordinating the annual Lights for Bikes
\nsafety campaign in November.<\/p>\nWalk and Bike to School Day. Staff is coordinating with Arlington
\nPublic Schools for the annual event in October and will work with one
\nselect school to provide maps and kits for the kids.<\/p>\nPubic Education on Sharing Trails. Staff is producing a flyer and web
\npiece this spring on tips for sharing trails and sidewalks for
\npedestrians and bicyclists.<\/p>\nArlington’s Car-Free Diet. Biking information is included in all
\ncollateral and web promotions for Arlington’s Car-Free Diet and will
\nbe included in the Car-Free Diet direct mailer to Crystal
\nCity\/Pentagon City this spring.<\/p>\nPublicity. Articles promoting bicycling are forthcoming in The
\nCitizen, ATP Solutions newsletter\u00c2\u00a0 and ART Forum newsletter including
\narticles on on 4-Mile Ribbon cutting, Bike to Work Day and Confident
\nCity Cycling Classes.<\/p>\nBike Counts. Staff is\u00c2\u00a0 again be fielding teams of as many as 40
\nvolunteers for bicycle and pedestrian counts in May, July and September.<\/p>\nMay 2nd 4-Mile Run Event. As part of the May 2nd 4-Mile Run Ribbon
\nCutting Ceremony staff is helping the Bicycle Advisory Committee form
\nrides from Bluemont and Rosslyn to the event.<\/p>\nBicycle Facilities & TDM. The TDM planning and enforcement unit has
\nrecently inspected 42 older site plan buildings to make sure that the
\nsite plan mandated bicycle facilities were built correctly and
\nusable. As a result numerous buildings have adjusted or reconstructed
\ntheir bike facilities to function better. The unit has continued its
\nproactive program of information dissemination to developers and
\nbuilding managers to make it easier for them to build and maintain
\nthe facilities correctly. The unit provides design advice and
\npre-certificate of occupancy inspections for developers. Our research
\nhas proven that good facilities do encourage increased commuting by
\nbicycle, with showers in commercial buildings being the number one
\nreason that people decide to commute by bike, followed closely by
\nsecure bike parking. The unit has clarified that visitor bike parking
\nis to be installed exterior to the buildings thus saving County funds
\nfor other projects, while providing the public benefit of making bike
\nparking easy and convenient\u00c2\u00a0 to find, encouraging the public to use
\nbicycles for errands as well as commuting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nMany of us – myself included – wish that Arlington County would put more resources into ensuring cycling’s place as a safe and viable transportation and recreation option for citizens.\u00c2\u00a0 But as this memo shows, Arlington County is certainly not all talk when it comes to promoting a bike culture here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arlington County (as in the government) often says – in promotional posters, event sponsorships, etc. – that it is a bike-friendly place.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s not always clear to everyone what Arlington County actually does to be a bike-friendly environment.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To help shed some light on that, I’m passing along an Arlington County memo I received […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling","category-policy","category-virginia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t