Electric bicycles with a brand-new look will dock at select Capital Bikeshare stations in Fairfax County this spring.

The rental bicycle-sharing service is rolling out 850 new e-bikes across the D.C. area, more than doubling its current stock and bringing its total fleet close to 7,000 bicycles, according to the Washington Post.

Initiated yesterday (Monday) and continuing through April, the rollout includes 45 e-bikes owned by Fairfax County, which will introduce them to five stations in Tysons, Reston and Dunn Loring:

• Tysons Metro North
• Dunn Loring Metro
• W&OD Trail/Sunset Hills Road & Isaac Newton Square
• Wiehle-Reston Metro South
• Reston Town Center Metro North

Manufactured by the ride-sharing company Lyft, the new e-bikes will be able to reach speeds of 20 mph with the electric assist, have longer-lasting batteries, provide better visibility with retroreflective paint, and eliminate the shift transmission on the older e-bikes, according to Capital Bikeshare.

The company intends to phase out the existing, black-painted model of e-bikes this August, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation previously said.

The county is working to expand its Bikeshare network with new stations in the Tysons, Franconia and Huntington areas in the works. Another 100 e-bikes will be ordered to support those stations this spring.

“In 2024 and beyond, Fairfax County plans to acquire approximately 200 additional e-bikes to support expansion around the Huntington and Innovation Metrorail Stations, Baileys Crossroads, Seven Corners, and Annandale,” FCDOT said in a news release.

While e-bikes are more expensive, the county has said the costs of the initial rollout will be covered by federal grant money and rider fees.

The bikes cost 10 cents per minute for annual Capital Bikeshare members, with a $2 fee for parking outside of a station. Non-members pay $1 to unlock the bike and 15 cents per minute. Members of the Capital Bikeshare for All program can ride e-bikes for free for up to 1 hour and don’t have to pay the $2 out-of-station fee.

The new model of e-bikes is also being added in D.C. and Arlington County.

(Updated at 1:30 p.m. on 3/20/2023) Fairfax County is in the midst of deciding where nearly $25 million in funding for pedestrian and bicyclists improvements will be allocated.

After combing through more than 2,000 possible projects, staff have develop a draft list of prioritized projects, according to Michael Guarino, head of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation’s capital projects division.

At a Board of Supervisors transportation committee meeting on Tuesday (March 14), Guarino said the county is using spatial analysis tools to help sift through roughly 2,800 unfunded projects and project requests. The list was then further pared down by examining network connectivity and trip generators.

“We’re using technology as best as we can. I think are areas where we can do it more. Overall, the process is working the way we want it to, it’s just taking longer than we want it to,” Guarino said.

The decision is part of the county’s $100 million commitment to support active or non-motorized transportation access and safety improvements.

The first $5 million in funding, approved in November 2022, included $2 million for trail maintenance, $2.7 million for crosswalk projects, and $200,000 for a safe routes project near Bush Hill Elementary School. An additional $100,000 was allocated to speed feedback signs for the Fairfax County Police Department.

As part of the next cycle, $2.3 million for crosswalk projects has already been approved, along with $400,000 to repair and replace existing rapid flashing beacons through fiscal year 2028.

Board members lauded staff for the methodology used to create the draft list.

“It was very well done the way you pulled this all together,” Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said.

The county plans to seek additional money for pedestrian intersection improvements at Blake Lane and Bushman Drive in Oakton as well as Beverly Road at Old Dominion Drive and Elm Street at Old Dominion Drive in McLean after missing out on a federal grant.

The county did not receive the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant due to a lack of needed data to back up claims for the need for the projects, along with the projects not being ready to build yet, Guarino said.

Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross noted that some projects can take years to come to fruition. She said it took nearly 37 years to install sidewalks on Sleepy Hollow Road — a project that is currently under construction.

“It wasn’t all the county’s fault,” Gross said, adding that an iterative process will ensure that projects are shovel-ready.

The proposed list of active transportation projects includes: Read More

Fairfax County officials gathered yesterday (Thursday) to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new bicycle and pedestrian bridge for the Washington & Old Dominion Trail over Wiehle Avenue in Reston.

The $6.7 million project replaces an at-grade crossing and widens Wiehle Avenue from Sunset Hills to the Reston Fire Station and Pupatella Pizza entrances, according to the county. It will also accommodate future 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes.

The project, which is managed by Allan Myers VA, will wrap up by late spring to early summer of 2024, according to the county.

It’s intended to improve transportation safety in the area by eliminating conflicts between vehicles and trail users and minimizing rear-end crashes.

Since June 2018, 11 crashes at or near the existing crossing were reported, according to state data.

“The W&OD Trail is a heavily traveled regional pedestrian and bicycle trail in Northern Virginia. We estimate the number of daily trail users at the W&OD trail crossing at Wiehle Avenue is as high as 3000,” the county said.

The project was funded by federal and state grants.

As construction continues, the asphalt trail will remain open except from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

A 6-foot-tall safety fence will be installed on the asphalt trail to separate the trail from the construction area. Meanwhile, the gravel trail will be closed on the west side from 11480 Sunset Hills Road to the east from Michael Faraday Court.

The groundbreaking for the Wiehle Ave bridge was held this morning! The estimated completion date for the project is late spring/early summer of 2024. pic.twitter.com/5kBSMFcxW9

— The W&OD Trail (@WODTrail) March 9, 2023

Great morning for groundbreaking to kick off construction on W&OD Trail Bridge over Wiehle Ave. Bridge will greatly improve pedestrian/bike safety & access to Wiehle-Reston East Metro – joining communities! @KenPlum1 @ireneshintweets @JenniferBoysko @VAbikecommuter #HunterMill pic.twitter.com/dj7PUtHLrp

— Supervisor Walter Alcorn (@WalterAlcornFFX) March 9, 2023

(Updated at 3:40 p.m.) Fairfax County hopes to get a head start on its annual street paving and restriping efforts this year, thanks to the D.C. area’s warmer-than-usual winter weather.

The county and Virginia departments of transportation program will kick off next month in Merrifield with the proposed addition of bicycle lanes on Ellenwood Drive from Route 29 to Route 50, along with crosswalks at two intersections.

“Because of the warmer winter weather, VDOT recently began repaving some streets during the winter on short notice,” an FCDOT spokesperson said. “The Ellenwood Drive project was selected for this accelerated schedule, which also helps reduce the repaving backlog.”

The street’s two travel lanes will narrow to 10 feet to make room for the 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes, which would be separated from the curb by 7-foot-wide parking lanes, according to a presentation from the Fairfax County Department of Transportation.

In addition to linking two key thoroughfares, Ellenwood Drive is a good candidate for on-road bicycle lanes, because it has wide travel lanes, on-street parking and sidewalks on both sides, and the lanes can connect to trails on both ends, FCDOT says.

The Arlington Blvd service road at the southern end of Ellenwood has a trail connection to Armistead Park. In addition, the upcoming Fairfax Landing neighborhood’s developer is constructing a 6-foot-wide asphalt trail that will extend the Armistead Park Trail north to the Route 29 service road.

Per the presentation, parking reductions will be limited to the loss of two spaces at Ellenwood and the Route 29 service road.

However, the Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling (FABB) says more parking likely needs to be sacrificed to build bicycle lanes that are actually safe and comfortable to use.

“If you keep on-street parking, your options are very limited to add safe bicycling routes,” FABB board member Shawn Newman said. “Our preferred option would be to remove the parking on one side of that street and to add in buffered bike lanes, so a bike lane with adequate space next to it in order to provide bicyclists space between them and the vehicle.” Read More

(Updated at 12:40 p.m.) The National Cherry Blossom Festival is coming to Tysons this year.

Tysons Corner Center will host a family bicycle ride on April 2 as part of D.C.’s annual celebration of its cherry trees at the Tidal Basin, the Tysons Community Alliance (TCA) announced during its official launch event yesterday (Wednesday) at Valo Park.

The alliance — a nonprofit organization replacing the now-defunct Tysons Partnership — has also acquired 20 cherry trees and is now scouting out possible locations around Tysons where they can be planted.

The bicycle ride will last from 8-10 a.m. starting in the Tysons Corner Center Plaza, where there will also be arts and crafts and other family-friendly activities, Karyn Le Blanc, TCA’s acting director of communications and marketing, told FFXnow. More details, including how to register for the ride, are expected in the coming weeks.

Though this year’s ride will stick to the mall’s footprint, future iterations could expand to other parts of Tysons as the area’s network of streets and trails gets built out.

“This will be an annual event, we hope,” Le Blanc said.

The bicycle ride is one of several events that the TCA hopes to bring to Tysons, along with a live music series at The Boro, movie nights and monthly happy hours that will bring “like-minded people together to collaborate on TCA initiatives,” according to the press release.

The alliance offered a preview of upcoming events at yesterday’s launch to highlight its goal of “establishing authentic community connections” in Tysons, a mission that it also hopes to further with a currently open survey on signage and wayfinding.

Initially funded by public investments, the TCA was created in October to promote and advocate for Tysons and help Fairfax County implement its vision for the area, picking up the work started by the Tysons Partnership.

The alliance will operate as a community improvement district (CID), which is like a business improvement district (BID) except it’s supported by both residential and commercial property owners. While BIDs have emerged in D.C. and Arlington County, the only precedent for a CID in the region is Mount Vernon Triangle, according to the TCA.

As part of its official launch, the TCA unveiled a new website at tysonsva.org with an event calendar, news, business resources, development updates and other Tysons-related information. It also shared its social media handles at Twitter and Instagram (@tysons_va), and Facebook and LinkedIn (@TysonsCommunityAlliance).

The TCA’s launch is a “milestone” for Tysons, said Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, who represents Tysons, and Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who helped develop the Tysons Comprehensive Plan in 2010 as a member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission.

“The Tysons Community Alliance really has an opportunity to shape the brand of Tysons, not just for the people who live here, but for the rest of the country and even the world,” Alcorn said, noting that Tysons is about “one generation through a three-generation plan” to have 100,000 residents and 200,000 jobs by 2050.

With 30,124 residents and 107,000 workers, Tysons is making progress toward those goals, according to a presentation shared at the launch event. The presentation noted that, like Fairfax County, Tysons has a “majority-minority” population and the D.C. area’s largest workforce outside the nation’s capital.

TCA leaders acknowledged that much work remains to be done, particularly in terms of housing affordability, accessibility and pedestrian safety. However, the organization wants to stress an overall “spirit of optimism” for Tysons now and into the future, acting CEO Rich Bradley said.

“It’s incredible to witness the momentum at which we’ve already progressed,” Palchik said. “Everyone has been working so diligently to get the TCA to where it is now, and I am confident that we will accomplish a lot in this year alone and into the future.”

(Updated at 10:45 a.m. on 2/23/2023) Fairfax County is seeking federal funds to complete a cycle track on Sunrise Valley Drive.

At a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday (Tuesday), the board unanimously approved a $13.5 million grant funding request for the project.

The county plans to reconstruct Sunrise Valley Drive to include a one-way separated bicycle lane in each direction from Carta Way to Edmund Halley Drive.

“[The] plan [is] to add raised bike lanes within the existing curb by narrowing the existing travel lanes and medians to improve bike access to Innovation Station Metro, Herndon Metro and [the Reston] Town Center Metro,” Fairfax County Department of Transportation spokesperson Robin Geiger said.

The project is expected to cost around $24 million, including roughly $10 million that has already been secured.

“Sunrise Valley Drive is a challenge for pedestrians and bicyclists due to conditions such as wide intersection and high vehicular volumes,” county staff said in a memo.

With additional traffic expected with the opening of phase two of the Silver Line late last year, the county is eyeing ways to improve safety.

The county is seeking funds through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program.

RAISE targets programs that result in major local or regional impacts, particularly passenger transportation, intermodal and road projects.

A proposed shared-use path on Haycock Road over I-66 is among several pedestrian and bicycle projects in the West Falls Church Metro station area that the McLean Citizens Association believes Fairfax County should prioritize for funding.

The organization, which routinely weighs in on issues affecting the greater McLean area, approved a resolution on Wednesday (Jan. 4) endorsing 19 projects recommended by an advisory group that the county convened to study the West Falls Church Transit Station Area’s (TSA) active transportation infrastructure.

“We believe these projects will improve access to the West Falls Church Metro station and area schools, and will likely be cost effective,” Glenn Harris, who chairs the association’s transportation committee, said.

Released in November, the advisory group’s final report backed community complaints that the area is congested and unsafe to travel for those not in cars, proposing 20 projects that could help address those issues in anticipation of future development.

In its resolution, the MCA board of directors highlighted seven pedestrian projects that it says deserve “rapid identification and allocation of funding for placement” on the county’s Transportation Priorities Plan:

• Pathway improvements along Haycock Road from Great Falls Street to the Metro Access Road
• A sidewalk along Redd Road to Idylwood Road and related improvements, including a crosswalk, to provide safe access to Lemon Road Elementary School
• A pedestrian refuge on Idylwood Road near Lemon Road Elementary
• High-visibility crosswalks at the Pimmit Drive and Leesburg Pike intersection
• A mid-block crossing on Haycock Road near Casemont Drive with flashing beacons
• Pedestrian improvements at the Westmoreland Street and Haycock Road intersection
• A crosswalk on Great Falls Street at Moly Drive

The Haycock pathway improvements would consist of a new shared-use path that’s at least 8 feet wide. To make room where it passes over I-66, the road could be reduced from two southwest travel lanes to one, according to MCA board member Bruce Jones.

“The pedestrian walkways along the bridge are woefully deficient and dangerous, in our opinion,” Harris said. “But as I understand it, there’s some consideration to narrow the lanes on the bridge to allow for a wider pedestrian infrastructure without the need to actually rebuild the bridge.”

Though estimated to be one of the more expensive proposals in the report, the project is one of two that MCA has advocated for in the past, along with the Redd Road sidewalk.

While the board gave its support to all four proposed bicycle projects, it didn’t endorse one pedestrian project that would add a pathway from Idylwood Road to the Metro station through or along the railyard.

According to Harris, county staff told the advisory group that the project could cost over $10 million, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority had “expressed considerable concern” about the path as a potential security risk for its railyard.

“Given the limited amount of funds that are currently allocated, we don’t think that it makes sense to be funding this particular project, particularly when WMATA has expressed concerns, if not outright opposition to the project,” Harris said. “The available funds should be used for the other projects.”

Launched in late 2021, the West Falls Church Active Transportation Study served as a follow-up to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ approval of a plan allowing more mixed-use development around the Metro station.

The West Falls development in Falls Church City is under construction. Plans for over 1.8 million square feet of development on the Metro station property and Virginia Tech’s nearby Northern Virginia Center are being reviewed by county staff.

The Board of Supervisors accepted the study report on Dec. 6 and directed staff to incorporate its recommendations into the county’s active transportation plan.

Image via Google Maps

(Updated at 11:25 a.m. on 1/7/2023) A collision involving a box truck and a bicyclist on Columbia Pike in Annandale last night (Thursday) sent the latter to the hospital.

The crash occurred near the John Marr Drive intersection around 6:52 p.m. It was initially reported to Fairfax County’s dispatch center as a large box truck hitting a motorcycle, but that was later corrected to “a box truck versus a bicyclist,” according to scanner traffic.

“Turns out the bicyclist drove full speed into the truck,” Fairfax County Police Department spokesperson Tara Gerhard told FFXnow.

The bicyclist suffered a head injury and was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital by an ambulance, a responder told the dispatcher.

A police road block was set up on Columbia Pike around the box truck while the scene was cleared.

While scanner traffic suggested that the bicyclist was seriously injured, Gerhardt says the injuries were not deemed life-threatening. As a result, no summary of the crash indicating what led up to the collision was available.

A cycle path to the Innovation Center Metro station is circling closer to construction.

Roughly $4 million in federal funding was secured for the project, which will include a cycle path from Sunrise Valley Drive to Innovation Metro Station, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced yesterday.

Funds were designated in the fiscal year 2023 appropriations bill, a $1.7 trillion spending package that must be adopted by midnight tomorrow (Friday) to avoid a partial federal goverment shutdown.

The upgrades are part of the county’s Active Transportation Program, which covers non-motorized methods of travel and aims to reduce vehicle traffic.

The changes to the four-lane boulevard, which also has additional turning lanes at various intersections, would connect to existing bicycle and pedestrian paths, notably the Fairfax County Parkway Trail, FFXnow previously reported.

“This project will provide significantly improved access to several Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail Stations and high-density transit-oriented development near the Metrorail Stations and activity centers,” said a statement breaking down the funds designated for Northern Virginia.

Other projects also fit the bill in Fairfax County.

Among them is a neighborhood job and entrepreneurship research center for teens and young adults in the county’s community centers. The centers will offer teens and young adults career readiness skills, job training and leadership programs, according to the release. That project is expected to cost $2.1 million.

In Springfield, the Northern Virginia Community College’s Medical Education Campus will receive $2.2 million to grow its nursing program. Funds will also go towards buying computerized manikins and other technology to supplement clinic training for nursing, respiratory therapy and EMS students.

Other cyclist-related improvements include $1 million for bicycle and pedestrians upgrades near the Vienna Metrorail Station in Oakton. The project is targeted to the area near the station and Oakton High School.

A complete list of secured funds is available online.

Much has changed in the landscape of Tysons and people’s travel habits since Capital Bikeshare first pulled into town in 2016.

As a result, Fairfax County plans to relocate some of the bicycle-sharing company’s 15 established stations in the area to new spots that better accommodate Tysons’ growing residential population and the rise of remote work accelerated by the pandemic.

“When Tysons wasn’t as urbanized as it is today…we didn’t have a lot of choice but to essentially go into office parks,” said Zachary DesJardins, the county’s acting active transportation manager. “As you might imagine, during the pandemic, those areas have not done very well. People just aren’t going to the office very much.”

As part of a larger expansion of its Bikeshare network, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation has proposed installing 14 new stations in Tysons, including three that would be relocations of existing stations.

Detailed in a virtual public meeting on Dec. 5, the sites being suggested are mostly near housing or other areas with the density to generate more trips. For instance, stations by grocery stores have done well during the pandemic, according to DesJardins, so one could go on Silver Hill Drive, down the street from The Boro’s Whole Foods.

The availability of infrastructure to support Bikeshare is also a consideration. A space has opened up at the Greensboro Metro station for the first time with the completion of a concrete pad six months ago, and FCDOT wants to put a station at Old Meadow Road and Cathy Lane to take advantage of the recently opened pedestrian bridge over I-495.

Elsewhere in the Providence District, the county plans to add four more stations in Merrifield, including one in a garage at the Mosaic District, and five in the Vienna Metro station area, which will connect to the network that Fairfax City is expected to introduce next summer.

The expansion is being funded by a federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant for 12 stations and electric bicycles and a Northern Virginia Transportation Commission grant for nine stations and classic bicycles. Local funds will be used to move the existing stations in Tysons.

Combined with plans for Bikeshare in the Franconia District, DesJardins said the county will purchase a total of 95 electric bicycles with the federal grant in anticipation of Capital Bikeshare phasing out its current black e-bikes in August 2023.

Currently provided for free, e-bikes make up 6% of the county’s network but are used for 15% of trips, according to FCDOT. Unlike Capital Bikeshare’s traditional bicycles, they can be locked into standard, public bicycle racks.

The county is eyeing new e-bikes a lock, reflective materials and GPS that could be used to track them if they’re stolen, DesJardins said. They cost four times more to buy than a traditional bicycle and are more expensive to operate, but FCDOT says the expenses will be covered by the federal grant and user fees, respectively.

“I’m personally very excited about the e-bikes,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said. “As you said, hills make difficult the use of regular bikes for most of us, so that’s a great addition.”

FCDOT is accepting public feedback on the proposed new Bikeshare stations until 5 p.m. Friday (Dec. 16).

Comments can be submitted online, by mail (FCDOT, Capital Bikeshare Program, 4050 Legato Road, Suite 400, Fairfax, VA 22033), email to bikefairfax@fairfaxcounty.gov, and by phone at 703-877-5600.