Virginia July Update: We’re WIEHLE close to a * sweet * new bike/ped bridge in VA!

Excuse the bad pun – I was so hoping to share with you all the great news that the W&OD Trail’s new bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Wiehle Avenue in Reston (pictured above) was open for business as reported on social media yesterday. Alas we’ll have to wait just a few more days for one final inspection. But in the meantime, you can check out the new and safer double-wide W&OD Trail crossings at N Spring St and N Oak St in Falls Church featuring medians, high-visibility pavement, and stop signs for cars (pictured below). 

Projects like these show that while the progress to build out and improve our bike network is slow and sometimes frustratingly delayed, it is undoubtedly happening all across Northern Virginia. But it doesn’t happen without community members and advocates like you continuing to speak up, take action, and, perhaps most importantly, ride!

Read on below to learn more about where we’ve been, what we’ve been up to, and things to do to support better bicycling in Virginia. 

Some things we did  

• Talked bicycling with employees at the US’s largest office building – the Pentagon – at their annual Transportation Fair.
• Joined VDOT and Arlington County leaders at the ribbon cutting for the Boundary Channel Drive connector trail (NBC covered the event, too – your Virginia Organizer bikes by at 1:06 ) 
• Tabled and handed out popsicles and swag on the W&OD Trail in Falls Church with partner organizations, part of the trail’s 50th anniversary celebrations. 

Good news

• Calling out just one exceptional bit of advocacy in this month’s newsletter. In May, I sent out a last-minute action alert calling on supporters to show up and reject staff’s recommendation for a segment of Duke Street in Alexandria and you delivered – the Traffic & Parking Board instead voted for the bike-friendly alternative. Then you showed up AGAIN en masse in June, this time in support of staff’s recommendation for the next segment of Duke Street, helping to progress a bike-friendly design on one more piece of this vital but dangerous corridor. 

Other things to do

• It’s not too late to join the chorus for a bike-friendly Duke Street, plus support 4 other key bike projects in Alexandria – easily send some emails via our friends at the Coalition for Smarter Growth, before July 18th. 
• A little deep in-the-weeds but support more complete streets (not just studies) in Arlington’s Capital Improvement Plan. If a project isn’t in the CIP, it won’t get built in the next decade – email feedback before July 17th. 
• Check out and comment on initial designs for Gateway Park in Rosslyn, before July 19th.
• Attend the Tysons Community Alliance’s Wheel Wise event next Saturday, July 20th, part of their Walk, Bike, and Roll campaign. 

I’ll be out-of-office for the next two weeks on vacation in Spain doing in-the-field research on high-speed transit, walkable downtowns, and bike-friendly street calming! But my inbox is always open for your thoughts, comments, and ideas. See you in August with some fresh events and more ways to support bicycling and our bicycling community. 

Stay cool,

—Kevin O’Brien, Virginia Organizer