Metro problems mean boom for DMV bike trails

Photos: Maggie Connelly, January 20, 2017

By: Maggie Connelly

On any given day hundreds of bikers use the Arlington County bike lanes and paths to commute to work, run errands, or simply go for a fun ride.  A short survey of bikers showed that the top three reasons people ride bikes are to save money, to avoid an unreliable metro, and to get exercise.

Richard Barry, a program manager at National Fisheries Institute, who rides 40 miles round trip to and from work said, “biking is the best alternative transportation (and exercise).  When I lose patience with commuter-hour traffic and metro breakdowns, I hop on the saddle and pedal along the Custis and W&OD trails, for a slightly longer but always much more rewarding A to B.  Biking to work also takes care of any need to run after work, giving joints a low-impact break and another hour back to the day.  Biking is one, perfect solution to the dual problems of getting around and staying in shape.” Barry’s path to work brings him on some of the most popular biking lanes in Arlington County.

According to Arlington County’s master plan, the county has a made a conscious effort to make biking and the safety of biking a priority, with over 50 miles of off-street trails, 40 miles of bike lanes and 80 miles of on-street bike routes.  It can be easy and safe to get around the streets of Arlington including the area around Marymount University.  The county was recently voted a Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Cyclists and soon wants to reach gold status.  To be a Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community the county had to meet certain criteria in five categories: enforcement, education, engineering, evaluation, and encouragement.  The key outcomes from these categories are ridership and eliminating bicycle crashes and fatalities.  Reaching gold status would mean greater ridership and fewer crashes.

It is not just Richard Barry who is taking advantage of the bicycle infrastructure.  Thousands of cyclists are.  Arlington County has used technology to set up systems that track the number of cyclists in a given area.  The first such “counter” in the east coast was in Rosslyn by Key Bridge.  The “bikeometer” ticks a new number as each cyclist rides by.  As of September 30 2016, the bikeometer read 309,193 for the year of 2016.  According to the sixteen “bikeometers” throughout Arlington, just this year alone there have been 4,385,510 rides.  The county expects that number to keep growing with the Metro’s Safe Track initiative.

The Metro’s Safe Track initiative, a program to make the transit safer and more reliable to Washingtonians, has affected transportation across the DC area.  At Marymount students commuting or trying to take advantage of visiting DC often find their trips severely inconvenienced.  Safe track delays trains, uses single tracking on rails, and creates crowded Metro stations.  Chris Slatt, the chair of Arlington County Transportation Commission and Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA), says Safe Track has promoted biking as an alternative to Metro.  His hope is that “once they try biking they will continue to do it” even after Safe Track is done.  Biking seems to provide a less stressful outlet for people to get to and fro while Safe Track is in place.

Expanding biking infrastructure by creating more bike lanes and paths is an important part of the effort to keep new cyclists on their bikes.  The Portland Office of Transportation published a study in 2006 categorizing the types of bikers. The study included surveys and polls of where people stood in terms of biking: strong and fearless (1%), enthused and confident (7%), interested but concerned (60%), and no way no how (33%).  The one percent (fearless) bike under any conditions, weather or road.   Enthused and confident riders rely more on good roads and good weather.  The sixty percent (interested but concerned) bikers are concerned for road safety and motorists on the same roads.  The no way no how riders are those who are not interested in biking even with protected bike lanes.

Bike Arlington is part of the Arlington Country Transportation Department under the Bureau of Arlington County Commuter services, which aims to reduce the number of car trips in the county.  Henry Dunbar, the Program Director of Bike Arlington, used the Portland Office of Transportation study as a reference to what and who Bike Arlington targets.  Dunbar said, “Bike Arlington is the education and encouragement to people to embrace active transportation.”  He embraces this Portland study and said his work aims towards the 60%; interested but concerned crowd.  He thinks this group of riders will be most impacted by educational opportunities and infrastructure development.

His goal is to educate people who feel concerned and help them feel comfortable biking on the roads of Arlington.  One of the biggest identified reasons people don’t bike is safety. People are scared of biking with motor traffic.  Bike Arlington offers free classes to improve biking skills and learn to ride classes for adults.  Bike Arlington recently published a Bicycle Comfort Level map that outlines the roads of the county in terms of biking safety.  The map is color coded with easy, medium, and difficult road biking conditions.  Also included in the map is the “Arlington Loop,” a seventeen-mile off-street loop around Arlington from Rosslyn to Crystal City, Shirlington to Arlington, passing close to Marymount University along the way.  The loop connects the Mount Vernon, Custis, W&OD and Four Mile run trails.  The map is a great tool for people beginning to bike to identify which roads are bike friendly.

As the educational and encouragement wing of County Commuter services, Bike Arlington runs classes and events throughout the year in order to teach and encourage biking around the county.  One of the biggest events is Bike to Work Day, which is held in late May.  Participants register and take a pledge to ride their bike that day.  The event has grown from about 200 people in 2001 to 17,000 in 2015.  This and other Bike Arlington events encourage people to have a reason to ride and celebrate those who already do.

However, the biking community is not without controversies.  Two years ago, there was a struggle to get the trails cleared early during snowstorms.  Some of the local communities were not happy that the biking lanes and trails were prioritized over the smaller neighborhood streets.  Arlington County’s Slatt said that some people in the community think it is a waste of money to clear the bike paths but “you can look at the counts and see 1,800 people using them.  There is no way that 1,800 people use the cul-de-sac in front of your house.”  Other complaints concern the money used for further improvements to biking infrastructure or technology.   One concern is that new technology that helps bikers may just be a fad and others think government is spending too much.  Others, Slatt said, “do not see biking as a viable mode of transportation, they think it is just pandering to rich people’s recreational hobby.”

Not everyone can commit to commuting by bike, even if they are interested.  Dunbar says “we know that getting someone to become a bike commuter is a pretty big lift if you’re not riding at all, so encouraging smaller shorter rides is what is key.  We want people to consider biking to the grocery store or running errands.”  Marymount students especially could use these smaller bike trips as a unique way to get off campus while getting exercise.  Marymount students do go to close destinations like Chipotle or CVS by hopping on a bike, eliminating waiting for the bus and Arlington traffic while on the bus.  Biking may be slower than driving but without having to wait, sit in traffic, or find parking, it may not take much longer.  Although many students don’t have bikes, soon there will be a solution.

Capital Bike Share is a bike sharing system that runs through four jurisdictions in the DMV; Arlington, Alexandria, Montgomery County, and Washington DC.  Bike Share allows one to rent a bike quickly and easily.  Two advantages of Bike Share are that there is no need to worry about locking the bikes up and a user can ride one-way and leave the bike at the destination.  Most importantly, the first thirty minutes of every ride are free with a yearlong subscription.  Dunbar mentions that Bike Share continues to normalize biking in Arlington and around Washington.

Marymount is scheduled to have a bike share station by early 2018.  This would allow students and faculty to bike to neighboring stores, the Ballston campus, and the Metro. The bike share will eliminate waiting for the bus and provide quick exercise before a Ballston class.

An informal poll of current Marymount students showed interest in a Capital Bike Share on campus.  Student Sulianys Hernandez-Leon said she would “consider biking off campus if we had a bike share.”  Three other students who said they did not have much biking experience would consider biking around the county if the bikes were easy to access and use.

Marymount University easily connects to the safe bike routes in Arlington County.  Marymount students should keep their eyes peeled for the red Capital Bike Share so they can join in the movement.

The Arlington Bicycle comfort map is available at: http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/maps-rides/