Reston, VA, July 14, 2010 – Virginia bicycling advocates have a new resource to help them review and comment on public road projects. The new guide, prepared by Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) in consultation with the Virginia (VDOT) and Fairfax County departments of transportation, outlines ways bicycling proponents can get involved in the process of designing, approving, building, and retrofitting roads to ensure that bicycling accommodations are integrated into the plans where needed. Although geared for Virginia, many of the ideas contained in the report could be applied to other locations as well.

As described in the guide, planning, approving, and constructing road projects is a long process that presents many opportunities for bicycling advocates to provide input into the final outcome. Readers will find helpful tips for speaking at public hearings and meeting with engineers. The easy to read booklet covers the basics of understanding engineering plans and also outlines various roadway features (such as intersections, roundabouts, wide curb lanes, and bike lanes) that could be shown in the plans. Design standards and guidelines, design and safety issues, and a checklist for each of these features help advocates review and comment on road design plans. [continue reading…]

The Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor proposed to run from Petersburg, Virginia to Raleigh, North Carolina includes a a bike and pedestrian trail as an integral part of the project.

If completed, this 160 mile trail would connect  the towns and cities of Southside Virginia with these major metropolitan areas as well as the Tobacco Heritage Trail network.

This trail project would  be an ideal location for the East Coast Greenway and an ideal test case for implementation of a major rail-with-trail project.  Should potential federal rail-with-trail legislation pass, it might set the trend for many future rail enhancement projects.

Having the trail separated out as a standalone project, as some have suggested, might seriously threaten the likelihood that the trail would be completed.

We need your help to let officials know that we want this rail-with-trail to be included as an integral part of this rail project.

For more details on the project and a list of public hearings, see: www.sehsr.org or by by clicking here.

Click here to complete the online feedback form.  Please ask that a bike and pedestrian project be include as an integral and part of the project.

Please also sign our Rails-With-Trails Petition, and get your organization to write a letter of support for our Rails With Trails Resolution.

Organizers aim to create Action Plan for Bicycle Friendly Community

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The 2010 Bike Ballot is open for voting from Monday, June 21 through Thursday, July 15th at bikecharlottesville.org. The ballot consists of a series of simple questions that invite you to choose the most important projects to make the Charlottesville area more bicycling-friendly. The results will be presented to local officials later this summer, and an action plan will be developed to drive progress on the top-voted projects.

The options listed on the 2010 Bike Ballot are the top ideas that resulted from the 2010 Bike Summit, which was held on May 22 at CitySpace. More than 75 cyclists and community members attended, where they brainstormed dozens of ideas to make the Charlottesville area more bicycling-friendly. At the end, each participant voted for the projects they felt were the most important. Says Vince Caristo, executive director of the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation, “We had a nice turnout, had some fun, got a bunch of great ideas up on the wall, and hopefully we can turn this into a mandate for change”.

Following the first Charlottesville-area Bike Summit in 2006, over 400 people weighed in on the online survey for the most important projects. This led to a list of prioritized bicycling improvements, called the “Top 5 Priority Bicycling Projects”, which was presented to local officials. While slow, progress has been made in all areas. In January, Charlottesville trails planner Chris Gensic called this list of priority improvements “the best thing that’s ever been done for bike advocacy in the city.” This year, the effort is aimed boosting the region to a Silver rating in the League of American Bicyclists’ “Bicycling Friendly Communities” program. The League evaluates communities in the areas of engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation. In 2008, the Charlottesville area earned a Bronze rating, and is due to reapply in 2012. [continue reading…]

Virginia LTAP (Local Technical Assistance Program) is offering a workshop, “Bicyclists & Pedestrians – Effectively Meeting the Needs of Non-Motorized Transportation,” August 5 in Leesburg. We strongly recommend these workshops for all bike advocates, planners, municipality staff and elected officials. This course will be taught by Jake Helmboldt, former statewide bike-ped coordinator for VDOT.

LTAP is a technology transfer program sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, to improve the skills and knowledge of local transportation service providers.