Fairfax City bicycling

Let's get bike lanes on Old Lee

Shortly after I moved to Fairfax City 5 years ago I called the planning director to ask him whether bike racks were being required as part of the Old Town redevelopment. He responded that “we don’t want to encourage bicycling in downtown.” Bicycling on its narrow streets was seen as too dangerous. Instead the city planned to install a bike parking facility on the periphery — the “park once” philosophy applied, strangely and inappropriately, to bicyclists. (Neither the bike station nor racks have yet materialized.)

Prospects are better now. Several of the City Council members elected in 2008 are bicyclists, and the city has started to take small steps toward improving bicycling. Bike racks have been installed on  the city’s CUE buses, and City Councilmember David Meyer has convened city officials and advocates to develop a comprehensive bicycle initiative. On Saturday June 6  Meyer and fellow Councilmember Dan Drummond joined the Fairfax City chapter of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling for the group’s Tour de Fairfax. Mayor Robert Lederer and his daughters also participated in the first leg of the ride.

Fairfax City’s current bike network is oriented around its parks and focused on trails, which are extensive. The Fairfax City chapter of FABB is focused on improving access to key destinations in and near the city, such as Old Town stores, offices, supermarkets, George Mason University and the Vienna Metrorail station. FABB volunteers have identified several viable bicycle routes between GMU and the Vienna station, both along University Drive and  Old Lee Highway. As the above picture of Old Lee suggests, there is excess capacity on the road that could accommodate bicycle lanes.

With transportation improvements looming for Fairfax Boulevard, FABB wants to get ahead of the curve and ensure that on-road bike lanes and other bicycle and pedestrian measures are included in the reshaping of the city’s commercial center. Recently approved widenings of Jermantown Road, where two city schools are located along with a neighborhood park and the Gainesborough Court apartment complex, will make that street harder to cross and to navigate by bicycle. We don’t want the same thing to happen with Fairfax Boulevard.

Advertisement