Volunteers needed for bike/pedestrian counts in Alexandria

It's that time again! The Alexandria BPAC is asking again for volunteers to help with counting bicycle and pedestrian traffic at select locations across the city. The two dates/times involved are next Thursday the 19th from 5-7pm and Saturday the 21st from Noon-2pm. If interested, please contact Elizabeth Wright (BPAC member): ewright953 (at) yahoo.com

These counts are conducted as part of the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, and also help city staff and planners get an idea on bicycle/pedestrian flow, changes in bike/ped flow, and identify areas for potential facility improvements. First-time volunteers must attend a training session (which can be also done over the phone if necessary) and sign a waiver of liability.

I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of volumes we count next week and compare them to previous counts.

September meetings of note

Some meetings coming up in September that are of interest to Alexandria transportation advocates:

- The Transportation Commission meets the evening of the 7th at City Hall (usually starting at 7:30pm). On the agenda will be discussion of transit Corridor C, the Beauregard/Van Dorn corridor, and the recommendations made by the High Capacity Transit Corridor Work Group. This meeting will be considered the Transportation Commission's public hearing on the subject, and city residents are invited to speak on the corridor.

- On Thursday, September 15th, the High Capacity Transit Corridor Work Group will hold its next meeting, discussing Corridor A (Route 1/Potomac Yard). This meeting will be 7pm in the multi-purpose room of the Charles Houston Recreation Center at the corner of Patrick St and Wythe St.

- Following up on the Transportation Commission meeting, City Council will be holding their own public hearing on the Beauregard/Van Dorn Corridor on Saturday, the 17th, at 9:30am.

- Later in the month, City Council will be discussing bikesharing and the possibility of bringing Capital Bikeshare into the city at their meeting on September 27th.

Lastly, if anyone is interesting in helping the Alexandria BPAC take bicycle/pedestrian counts as part of the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, our next count dates are September 15th (5-7pm) and September 17th (noon-2pm). Please contact Dan McNulty at dmcnul91@gmail.com for more information.

Alexandria BPAC minutes - June 2011

(Below are the minutes from the June 2011 Alexandria BPAC meeting:)

Overview of Transportation Research Board Bicycle Transportation Committee

Dick Schaffer provided an overview of his work with the TRB committee devoted to bicycle transportation, providing insights into how this work is relevant to Alexandria. Highlights of his overview include efforts to work with the National Park Service on bicycle accommodations (e.g. Mount Vernon Trail), and road safety audits. He indicated training is available for road safety audits upon request, and the BPAC expressed interest in working with the City to conduct such audits.


City Briefing – Alexandria Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator, Carrie Sanders

• Individuals have expressed interest in the NBPDP count effort and are looking forward to seeing our data and results.
• Bike to Work Day was a great success – wonderful support from the Mayor and City Council, a great turnout, smooth operations, an on-site survey of participants (approximately 200 respondents) will provide helpful information.
• WABA Classes – classes held to date have largely been very successful and well attended; Learn to Ride and Confident City Cycling I have been more popular than Confident City Cycling II, so more of the two former classes may be held in lieu of the latter. Upcoming classes:

o Learn to Ride

- 7/9/11, 9:00AM to 12:00PM, Bike and Roll, One Wales Alley, Alexandria, VA, $10 registration fee
- 9/10/11, 9:00AM to 12:00PM, Bike and Roll, One Wales Alley, Alexandria, VA, $10 registration fee

o Confident City Cycling 1

- 6/23/11, 6:30 to 8:30PM, George Washington Middle School parking lot, 1005 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA, $10 registration fee

o Confident City Cycling 2

- 6/18/11, 1:00 to 5:00PM, George Washington Middle School parking lot, 1005 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA, $10 registration fee
- 7/16/11, 1:00 to 5:00PM, George Washington Middle School parking lot, 1005 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA, $10 registration fee

• Bike Parking – the City has installed a number of bike parking facilities in the Del Ray and King St. corridors, in some cases to respond to the removal of older parking meters that served as de facto bike parking when racks were unavailable. The
City does not have a bike parking ordinance, meaning rules on the provision of bike parking are not codified into the zoning code, though there is guidance. This is something the BPAC will consider raising to the Planning Commission. BPAC could consider inviting representatives from neighboring jurisdictions to present on their experiences with bike parking ordinances and guidelines.
• Bicycle Friendly Community – Carrie suggested the subcommittee have a conference call (tentatively Wednesday, July 13th at 12pm; volunteers include Michael, Jonathan, Jerry, and Bruce; others who are interested should contact Carrie to participate).
• Project Updates

o Eisenhower Trail: underpass is functionally complete, but still fenced off.
o Jones Point: Carrie will send the layout of the plans; concern was expressed about the routing of the Mt. Vernon Trail under the Wilson Bridge, and whether impractical (roundabout, reverse direction) routing would push travelers to use alternate routes, such as Washington Street.
o Waterfront Plans: individuals may review the plan and consider commenting (http://alexandriava.gov/Waterfront); bicycles would not be allowed on the waterfront itself due to dense pedestrian activity; bicyclists riding through the area would continue to use Union Street.
o Barrett Elementary: the project will entail adding sharrows to Valley Drive and Martha Custis Drive, and making a “Y”-intersection into a T-intersection; construction is expected to begin no earlier than the start of the school year.
o Safe Routes to School grant – the City submitted a grant application recently for several projects to improve facilities for biking and walking near schools.
o Chambliss Crossing: 90% plans are on Local Motion website; the City intends to put the project out to bid within the next couple of months.
o Telegraph Road bridge over Beltway: an update by a VDOT project official on June 1st estimated an opening one week from that time, but the bridge has still not opened.

National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project

Training conducted before and after June 20th meeting – approximately 15 volunteers to conduct counts at 9-10 locations throughout the City July 7th (5pm-7pm) and 9th (12pm-2pm).


Ride Permit and Police Support

Liability concerns and limited funds for police overtime pay have inhibited the City from holding community rides recently. BPAC would like to examine how it could find partners to hold rides (e.g., WABA, Potomac Pedalers).


Additional Committee Members

Jonathan shared a draft statement to solicit additional members prior to the meeting. Comments were solicited, and the committee expressed support for using the statement to reach out to other stakeholders (e.g. Chamber of Commerce). Please
cc’ Jonathan on any efforts to solicit new members.


Procedures for Rapid Response

• Emergency Meetings

o A procedure for calling emergency meetings was outlined: need a quorum of members, need to give at least 48 hours notice, need to give at least two options for meeting times, needs to go through an Officer (i.e. only Officers can actually solicit for the meeting).
o Passed, no dissensions

• Email Votes

o A similar procedure for holding votes via email was outlined: need a quorum of members for “approval”, need to give at least 48 hours for voting, needs to go through an Officer (i.e. only Officers can actually solicit for the vote).
o E-mail voting is approved only for situations in which a rapid response or statement is needed from BPAC.
o Passed, 1 dissension.

Minutes (Format, Approval Process)

• New procedure will be: Secretary will circulate the initial draft within 2 days of each meeting; comments are due back to the Secretary within 4 days (i.e. by 5pm on the Friday after each Monday meeting); Secretary will circulate a revised draft by 7pm on that Friday; additional comments due back by Monday 12pm; Secretary sends out final version to entire listserv by 2pm that Monday; these minutes may then be disseminated, and will be posted on the website; at each subsequent meeting, the past month’s meetings will be formally voted on for approval.
• Final version for listserv and website should be in PDF.
• Comments, suggestions, edits should be directed to the Secretary in the above-described timeline.
• Only official versions of the minutes (draft, revised or final, preferably final) should be posted to blogs.


Bicycle Friendly Business Project

• Materials were handed out to all vendors at Bike to Work Day to encourage them to apply to the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Business recognition program.
• Andrea sent emails to 4-5 business associations in the City promoting the program.
• The next applications are due July 8th, 2011. Andrea will circulate materials again, and everyone should promote it to businesses and contacts.
• Carrie will work with Alex to get a BFB page on the Local Motion website.
• Carrie will continue to work on a Bicycle Friendly Business Workshop for September; Andrea will partner with her and be BPAC point of contact.
• Carrie indicated the City could offer a gift bag to the first (or group of first) bicycle friendly business/es in the City.


VDOT Letter

• Michael is coordinating with several entities throughout the state to submit a letter to VDOT regarding greater efforts for cooperation and progress on programs for bicycle education and safety throughout Virginia. He read the text of the letter in its entirety, and then a vote was taken on whether the committee would be a signatory.
• Passed, no dissension.


Events and Equipment

• Upcoming events include:

o NBPDP Counts (July 7th and 9th)
o USA & Alexandria Birthday Celebration (July 9th)
o NBPDP Counts (September, dates TBD)
o Bike/Walk to School Day (October)

• BPAC will continue to examine possibilities for a new banner, and for popup tents. Dan participates in The Art League classes, and offered to explore the possibility of working with local artists for a new logo. Dave offered to look into popup tent prices. Michael knows a good printer in the area we can work with for the banner.
• Next Meeting: Monday, July 18th, 7pm-9pm, Durant Center (1605 Cameron Street, Alexandria VA)

Alexandria Bicyclists and Pedestrians Seek Allies

(Froggie's Note: the following letter is from the Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC). Full disclosure: I am a member of the BPAC.)

The Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) works to provide citizen input into bicycle and pedestrian improvements and to promote bicycling and walking in the city of Alexandria.

BPAC is seeking additional members to serve on its governing committee. We are particularly seeking people who represent communities or organizations that recognize the benefits of more robust bicycling and walking networks in Alexandria. Such as:

- Business associations
- Public health organizations
- Youth fitness organizations
- Elder care and quality of life organizations
- Retiree associations
- Immigrant communities
- Other civic groups and associations, especially in the West End

BPAC meets from 7-9pm on the third Monday of each month in Alexandria.

Interested? Write to alexandriabpac@gmail.com and tell us about yourself.

Thanks!

Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee

Alex CaBi and Count, Inc...

Two quick notes from tonight's Alexandria BPAC meeting:

- Alexandria has grant money available to implement 6 Capital Bikeshare stations and pay for 1 year of operations. This is in addition to $400K of FY 2013 CMAQ funding that I tweeted about last week. The first round of stations would be focused on Old Town and Carlyle. The CMAQ funding would go for additional stations, either more in Old Town/Carlyle (for more critical mass) or possibly in Del Ray and/or Potomac Yard. City staff still need to work out both site locations and contracting issues with CaBi, DC, and Arlington, but hope to begin installing stations by next spring.

- The BPAC, in coordination with city staff, is looking at doing bicycle/pedestrian counts at various locations in the city in September and possibly also in July, as part of the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project. Volunteers will count the number of bicycles and pedestrians that pass by over a 2 hour period on the count day. If you live in or near Alexandria and are interested in volunteering, please let me know.


I'll post the official meeting minutes (plus catch up from March and April) once they're available.

Catching up - Alexandria BPAC minutes from Feb. 2011

It's been a busy month, to say the least. Combine that with some procrastination, and the result is no blog updates. So in an attempt to clear out the backlog, I'm going to start with what I hope will be a monthly occurrence: posting of the Alexandria Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) minutes. This first set is from the inaugural BPAC meeting (the group being realigned from the former BikeWalk Alexandria) on February 15. A lot of this initial meeting was procedures/charter/introductions/administrative-stuff/etc etc, but there were some nuggets (at the time) in the city update. Here's the basic rundown of the minutes:

Introductions By Committee

Jerry King, former President of BikeWalk Alexandria, presided over the introductory portion of the meeting. Eight individuals were accepted for membership based on the Committee’s previous meeting, and six of those individuals were present to introduce themselves.

Nominations for Committee and Officers

Several individuals were nominated prior to the meeting for the seven additional slots available for Committee membership as well as the three Officer positions. Four Committee members were accepted by a group majority vote, and three slots will remain open at this time. Members are encouraged to seek out individuals who could potentially fill these slots, especially those representing stakeholders in the community not already represented on the Committee (e.g. senior citizens, ethnic minorities, Trails for Youth, public school system, charity organizations and shelters). Final nominations and voting occurred for the three Officer positions.

Committee Charter

The new Committee’s Charter was circulated prior to the meeting, and its acceptance was discussed. To give additional time to review the Charter, its acceptance was tabled until the next meeting. It was noted that the Charter may be amended in the future as needed.

Future Meetings

Based on previous discussions, the Committee intends to meet the third Monday of each month from 7pm-9pm. The usual meeting place will be the Durant Recreation Center, located at 1605 Cameron Street, Alexandria VA, and Carrie offered to help coordinate the periodic reserving of this space. Andrea inquired about the availability of A/V and web capabilities in the space, and indicated she would call the Durant Center to gather more information about the space. Michael offered the periodic use of his portable projector system. A suggestion was made to consider meeting periodically on the west side of the City, to reach out to all areas of the community. Members were encouraged to research potential spaces for future meetings, such as public libraries. Suggestions for agenda items for future meetings should be emailed to our Chair and Vice Chair. Draft agendas will be circulated to the listserv prior to each meeting.

A discussion arose on the Committee’s standing, and whether the City would like an advisory committee. It was agreed that the Committee is not seeking to become a Commission at this time, and hopes to have a productive relationship with the City. This related to an earlier question on whether Committee Members needed to be residents of the City. The Charter outlines requirements for membership, and the Committee seeks a diverse membership to represent the interests of bicyclists and pedestrians traveling within and through the City.

City Briefing by the Carrie Sanders, Alexandria’s Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator

Carrie began by sharing that she envisioned her contribution to the Committee could be to provide updates on key projects and issues and to serve as a facilitator for communication between the Committee and the City. She encouraged Members to bring questions for her to the meetings. She then shared updates on several projects:

- Capital Bikeshare: the City is working with Arlington, DC, and Alta Planning to understand how Alexandria could bring CaBi to the City. Carrie indicated that several neighboring jurisdictions are competing for available grant funds, so speaking up at the MWCOG’s Bike-Ped Committee on behalf of Alexandria could be helpful. (Mike Farrell, 202-962-3760; see MWCOG for more information.)
- Commercial Add-On Tax: the City has held public meetings on the proposed tax that would be solely for use on transportation projects. Members are encouraged to write to the City regarding their position on the tax.
- Charles Barrett Safety: the City held a recent meeting to hear community concerns on a proposed reconfiguration of a key intersection adjacent to this public elementary school that the City proposes would enhance the safety of children crossing the street. The project would be grant funded and would greatly reduce the crossing distance.
- Safe Routes to School: a question arose on whether we have a Bike to School Day in the community. Members expressed interest in pursuing this further, either in conjunction with Bike to Work Day in May or with the international Walk to School day in October. A suggestion was made to target lower-income areas for a Bike to School Day and to seek out police support. Megan Brooks of Trails for Youth may be a good point of contact to begin this conversation.
- Complete Streets: the City will be holding an upcoming work session with the Transportation Commission to further the ongoing consideration of a Complete Streets Policy or Ordinance for the City. See the Transportation Commission for further information.
- Bike Friendly Community: the next application will be due in June, 2011. A suggestion was made for the Committee to select a subcommittee devoted to supporting the application to renew and/or upgrade the City’s status. Michael, Jonathan, Jerry, and Bruce volunteered. Carrie will send out a summary of the City’s major accomplishments since our last application and what is currently being planned.

Notice to Media

A determination was made to generate a press release on the new organization and its related activities and online resources. Andrea volunteered to draft the press release and share it with Members prior to the next meeting. A suggestion was made to consider waiting a couple of months before releasing a press statement, to give the Committee time to settle in. Andrea will generate a brief statement for the Committee’s consideration.

Events and Meetings

A list of upcoming events was included on the agenda, and Members were encouraged to participate in public meetings on the Potomac Yard redevelopment and other community meetings of interest to the Committee.

Inaugural meeting...

So I didn't get voted in as chairman (sorry, Allen). But all in all I think it was a good start to the BPAC. Lots of issues to tackle in the upcoming months.

Will post meeting minutes once our secretary writes them up.

Alexandria BPAC meeting tonight

The "inaugural" Alexandria Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) meeting is tonight at VeloCity (on Union St) at 7pm. This is where we finalize our reorganization (from the old BikeWalk Alexandria), elect officers, and continue the business of advocating better bicycle and pedestrian transportation in Alexandria. If you read this blog post in time and can spare a little time, feel free to come on down.

BikeWalk Alexandria is becoming the BPAC

Short answer: BikeWalk Alexandria is reorganizing into the Alexandria Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC).

Longer answer: As of the beginning of the year, BikeWalk Alexandria is no longer affiliated with the larger BikeWalk Virginia. So the core of the old organization has been working over the past
few weeks with new people, the VeloCity co-op in Old Town, and Alexandria's bike/ped coordinator on a reorganization. We're becoming the BPAC.

Our role is still pretty much the same...advocacy and support of bicycle and pedestrian transportation in Alexandria, with interlinks into adjacent communities (which in part is where I come in) and working with the city's bike/ped coordinator. Our reorganization is modeled heavily on Arlington's Bicycle Advisory Committee, with a "committee" of up to 15 voting members, although all meetings will be open to the public and the public is more than welcome to provide input and comments.

Though most of the organization composes of bicyclists, we're still including pedestrians. If there's enough interest in pedestrian issues, there's the possibility of splitting pedestrians off into their own advisory committee. Arlington already does this.

We're also changing the meeting timeframe. Previously, BikeWalk Alexandria met on the first Monday of even-numbered months, while the city's Pedestrian and Bicycle Citizens Group meetings were the first Monday of odd-numbered months. We'll be incorporating both former meetings into the new structure and also changing the week. Since the city has a tendency to "frontload" city meetings into the first week of the month, we'll be having our monthly meetings sometime during the 3rd week of the month. Tentatively Monday, though that may change depending on whether that day will work with some of the other involved entities.

Not sure what we're going to do with the website, but we'll have other online presence as well...a Facebook page (and probably a Twitter account too).

"First" meeting tentatively scheduled for Feb 15. Looking forward to it. Would be remiss if I didn't mention that I've also been nominated to serve as the new Chair.