Take Action for a Better Arlington

For a variety of reasons, good and bad, Columbia Pike is being completely rebuilt without any dedicated bike facilities.  Instead, parallel routes are supposed to exist for bikes just north and just south of the Pike, the Columbia Pike Bike Boulevards.  These routes have never been fully connected, but the County is finally looking at creating a long-term cohesive plan for these routes.

Come to the upcoming Open House to see the concept designs and make sure they are complete, connected, and comfortable for all ages.

This year, Arlington implemented a cheap tactical safety intervention to prevent illegal left turns into and out of Highland Street to and from Arlington Boulevard. This cheap and easy intervention has improved safety for people driving as well as for people walking and biking.  Drivers no longer have to content with people making unsafe kamikaze turns across a major road, and people walking and biking no longer have to fear people making kamikaze left turns across their crosswalk when crossing Highland Street. Let Arlington (and VDOT!) know that we need more of this sort of cheap, commonsense safety improvement.

In its most recent high-injury network analysis, Arlington identified several high-crash sites with a commonality - right-turning cars crossing bike lanes on downhills, where people riding are likely to be going fast. In response, Arlington launched a pilot project to test tactical interventions to address these crash-causing conflicts.  At several of these sites, Arlington used tactical materials to slow turning cars, guide cars to wider turning angles, and increase visibility of those biking near these conflict points. Let Arlington know these improvements are effective and appreciated!