Monday, April 22, 2013
As Arlington warms up, so does progress on cycling infrastructure.
Winter not only takes a lot of people off their bikes, it also put a lot of the improvements to cycling infrastructure on pause. Striping is harder to apply, new construction is harder to manage in the cold, and labor is often scarce. But spring brings back the work, and Arlington’s got a number of bike-related projects on tap. Last month, Capital Bikeshare (CaBi) finally expanded to Columbia Pike. This long-awaited expansion will help extend the range of Arlington’s existing CaBi network, providing something of a middle ground between its well-established locations in Crystal City and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. Two of the new stations are along Columbia Pike, and one is near the Gunston Community Center. As the year progresses, the …
Monday, December 31, 2012
Ride through the winter? Yes you can. Just be careful about it.
Icy roads and snowy paths. They’re not here yet, but they’re coming. We almost had them this past weekend. While riding in Arlington’s winter conditions does require a bit of extra effort and care, it’s still quite doable. There are plenty of great resources for learning more about winter riding. A couple of years ago I wrote about dealing with extended darkness, the potential for slick surfaces, and extra debris on the streets. The Washington Area Bike Forum continues to be a great place for Arlington-specific cold weather clothing and equipment advice. There’s plenty of discussion of the question of when to use studded tires (ice) or big knobby tires (snow) for the neophyte at the forums. I’m done belaboring the plowing issue — well, …
Monday, December 24, 2012
Arlington County temporarily shuts down a major walking/cycling commuter route with no detour.
No doubt many regular readers of this column will be expecting me to tee off on last week’s inexplicable and unannounced closure of a very busy part of the Custis Trail — with no detour. It sent cyclists and pedestrians onto Lee Highway against traffic. The drivers themselves had no warning that the lane in front of them would be filled with cyclists and pedestrians simply trying to get to their own destinations. It was more than half a day before the county, in response to complaints, put a detour in place. Some, quite understandably, see this as a failing of Arlington County to follow through on its promise to be a cycling- and walking-friendly community. And, I suppose, in a way it is a failure. But it’s not a failure of intent. I’m …
Monday, November 12, 2012
Now's a very good time to reassess your visibility on Arlington's streets and trails.
It's time for that semi-annual get-your-lights-out reminder. Eastern Standard Time is here, Bike Arlington is doing light-giveaways, and it's well past sunset when most of us are heading home from work. So what's the point of a reminder column? As BikeHugger recently asked — Do people not realize that it's time for lights? Well, no, they don't. Not enough of them, anyway. And by people, I mean everyone using our streets and trails. Cyclists and pedestrians are not as visible as we think we are, and this leads to unsafe situations. Ask any driver or cyclist who's happened upon a "ninja" runner — dressed all in black, save perhaps a small reflective stripe on his shoe — crossing the street or sharing the trail with them. It should go without…
Monday, October 22, 2012
The Arlington transportation chief’s response to last week’s concerns over temporary paving highlights the challenges of keeping a growing community’s streets safe.
Last week this column illustrated the dangers of a poorly maintained street construction site. The accompanying video showed a cyclist taken down by a dangerous parallel ridge cut in the pavement that was left in place and unmarked for months. Arlington Patch followed up with an interview of Dennis Leach, the county's transportation director, about Arlington’s street construction policies and practices. It was useful to hear about the systems Arlington has in place to manage street construction. But they’re clearly not working well enough. To be clear up front — Mr. Leach is to be commended for his leadership of the transportation department. Having had many conversations with him about cycling and Arlington, I think that this county is …
Ed
4:26 pm on Thursday, May 2, 2013
C.D. I must disagree...it is not so obvious..how about: 1. For Fairlington residents to be able to show of their beautiful community to family and friends while taking a leisure bike ride...unless you own and have many bikes at your disposal. 2. For Fairlington residents to ride to Shirlington bus hub and commute to work by public transportation instead of driving into D.C. - therefore preventing… more ›