WASHINGTON — Ask Washingtonians why more of them don鈥檛 take part in Bike to Work Day, or why they simply don鈥檛 ride their bikes more often, and they鈥檒l have a variety of answers. But one tops the list more than any other, says聽Greg Billing, with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association.
鈥淪afety is the number one reason that people don鈥檛 bike,鈥� he said聽flatly.
Billing says it鈥檚 not that biking is inherently unsafe, it鈥檚 that cyclists too often can鈥檛 find a safe route that will take them where they want to go — and when they do find trails that feel bike-friendly, they find those trails suddenly drop off or dump them onto busy roadways.
The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board is hoping to change that by identifying prioritized bike projects. Planner Michael Farrell presented some of those 12 聽bikeways identified by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee and explained why they should be put at the top of a list for completion at the TPB鈥檚 meeting on Wednesday.
Among the trails that make sense to head the list, Farrell says: Virginia鈥檚 Cinder Bed Bikeway and the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail.
Farrell explained that both projects link places that cyclists want and need to reach. In the case of the Rhode Island Trolley Trail Extension, the trail connects College Park and the Hyattsville Arts District to the Northwest Branch Trail system and the project allows cyclists to link to the Riverdale Park MARC commuter rail station.
The Cinder Bed Bikeway, in Fairfax County, ties Fort Belvoir to the Franconia-Springfield Metro and VRE stations, and connects with the Fairfax County Parkway Trail.
