This text was written by Mark Blacknell, Chair of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee and is taken from Bike Arlington forum and reposted here:
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New 395 Crossing for Cyclists? Arlington County Board Needs to Hear
from You
The Issue
Arlington cyclists have been pressing for over a decade to get
bicycle-pedestrian access across a corner of the Army Navy Country Club
(ANCC) to connect Army Navy Drive on the south side of Shirley Highway
(I-395) with a street in the Arlington View neighborhood north of I-395.
Such a connection would allow cyclists heading south on the new paved
bike trail along Washington Blvd. at Route 50 to continue across
Columbia Pike, past the Hoffman-Boston school and ride on under I-395 to
the Pentagon City area. ANCC has long resisted giving an easement for
this Hoffman-Boston trail connection.
View Hoffman Boston I-395 bike/ped connector in a larger map
The Process
However, the country club is now before the County seeking a zoning
change and use permit that will allow for enlargement of its clubhouse.
As part of that process, ANCC has agreed to provide the needed
bicycle-pedestrian easement (which would also serve as an emergency
access road) as one of the conditions for approval of the use permit.
The item comes before the County Board for action this Saturday
afternoon. Approval of the club's use permit by the Board is not
certain due to a number of other issues. But from a cyclist's
perspective, this is a moment we have been waiting for for many years.
The Action
Cyclists are encouraged to contact the County Board to urge for approval
of this agenda item so that Arlington's cyclists and pedestrians can
gain a valuable new route to transit between north and south Arlington.
Email messages can be sent to the Board at countyboard@arlingtonva.us.
Note in the subject line Board Meeting item # 37 -- Army Navy Country
Club. If you prefer to call the individual board members, the County
Board's central number is 703-228-3130.
The most impact, of course, comes from direct testimony at the Board's
meeting on Saturday. This item is unlikely to come up before noon. You
can see the Board's meeting schedule here. You will find the bike-ped right of way
mentioned on pp. 5-6 of Report 37B. The web site has a hot link to the
full report.
If you have not testified at the County Board before, the first thing
you need to do is submit a speaker slip to the clerk. The slips are
available outside the Board room on the 3rd floor of Courthouse Plaza.
The clerk is seated on the left side of the Board dais at the far end of
the room. She has a box beside her in which the speaker slip should be
placed. They MUST be turned in BEFORE item 37 is taken up by the
Board--otherwise it is too late!
If Arlington is able to secure this trail right of way, we will still
have challenges in designing and obtaining the funds to build the
Hoffman-Boston connector trail. But without the initial right of way, we
have nothing.
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Steve Offutt, Arlington
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