Chris Balish: How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life
We love this book! Chris Balish provides readers with practical, every-day tips on how to go car-lite or even car-free. We wish we'd written this book ourselves, but it somehow rings much more true coming from this self-described "mainstream" guy. NOW AVAILABLE in a Special Arlington, VA Edition! (*****)
Mark Ovenden: Transit Maps of the World
If you like maps and you're a transit fan then you'll love this new collection of transit system maps from around the world. Includes rare and historic maps, diagrams and photographs. Beautiful and fun. (***)
Jeff Mapes: Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities
Chock full of useful information about how agencies and citizens across the world are re-engineering their infrastructure and re-educating the public to make their cities more bike friendly for commutes and all trips. Mr. Mapes shows when this happens it is good for economic development, the environment and quality of life. A must read for anyone who wants their own region to become more bike friendly and thus prosper in this new age. (*****)
« July 2012 | Main | September 2012 »
. . .to a get-together sponsored by the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee.
When: Wednesday, September 5 at 6:00 PM
Where: Carpool - 4000 Fairfax Drive in Ballston
Why: Why not? Actually, it's a chance for anyone who want to talk about cycling in N. Virginia to get together with others who share that interest. We'll also enjoy some food and drink and just hang out. Bring your friends and colleagues. Hopefully we can take over the outdoor deck!
Hope to see you there!!
Hot on the heels of Green Bike Lanes being installed, a new Buffered Bike Lane is being installed on Clarendon Blvd, from Garfield to Adams St (between Clarendon and Courthouse).
For more information on the lane details visit the project webpage!
BikeArlington is an initiative of Arlington County, Virginia to encourage and enable more people to go by bike more often. To stay up to date on biking in Arlington, follow BikeArlington on Twitter or visit the Washington Area Bike Forum.
County contractors have started marking the first of five new "green" bike lanes. Literally, green paint within the existing bike lanes. Check out the photos:
Click here to view more photos!
They're being installed only at specific critical locations where bike lanes and drive lanes cross each other in unusual configurations, such as at "Y" intersections or at the start of some dedicated right turn lanes. The purpose of the green markings is to reinforce the presence of the bike lane in places where the street markings might not get noticed by drivers.
The coating, called "StreetBond CL" was created to hold up well to traffic wear and tear. It is also engineered to maintain the same or higher levels of friction as the asphalt itself. This is an important safety consideration for cyclists. Particularly in wet weather. New York City has been using this product (and this color) to mark bike lanes for at least a couple of years now.
The first five locations are:
• EB Military Road at Nellie Custis split (Donaldson Run CA)
• EB Clarendon Blvd at 15th St. split (Courthouse)
• WB Wilson Blvd. at Vietch St intersection (Courthouse)
• NB Lynn St. between 19th St. and EB Lee Hwy (Rosslyn)
• WB 15th St./NB Joyce St. at Pentagon City Mall parking garage (Pentagon City)
BikeArlington is an initiative of Arlington County, Virginia to encourage and enable more people to go by bike more often. To stay up to date on biking in Arlington, follow BikeArlington on Twitter or visit the Washington Area Bike Forum.
Tour buses and visiting groups with many people in their vehicles will be banned from using the lanes, even though they would more than qualify for the HOV-3 requirement. I think this is a bad policy. Particularly here in the DC region, where there are millions of visitors every year, making it impossible for visitors and guests to use a transportation system that could make their visit here more enjoyable is a big mistake.
Making the Express lanes free for groups of three or more without a
transponder is not impossible. In fact, it is already done in numerous places (see below). For instance, in San Diego they have had HOT lanes for years. Carpoolers do not need
a transponder. This means that
out-of-towners in groups of three or more may use the HOT lanes without
ever having been to San Diego before. Good. Those with a transponder who want to drive for free
because they meet the HOV requirement on a particular trip can put their
transponder in a foil bag so it is not read.
The I-25 Express lanes in Denver allow anyone to access the lanes, with or without a transponder, and use license plate recognition to send a bill later (with about a 25% extra fee) to those without. HOV drive free without need of a transponder.
The Inter-County Connector in Maryland also has a system for billing
cars without transponders. It is not a requirement to have one to drive
the ICC, although they do add a $4 admin charge to the toll. The ICC
does not have an HOV distinction: all users pay tolls.
As currently designed, the I-495 Express users must have an E-ZPass. Those who want to travel for free with three or more people in the vehicle must have an E-ZPass Flex. The Flex pass has a switch allowing one to change between free/HOV mode and regular toll mode. It is not clear what happens to vehicles that enter the HOT lanes without a transponder, although one would presume there would be a fine. I believe I read in Dr. Gridlock that the fine would be something like $12 plus the toll. (Which raises the question, "If you had 3 or more people in the car, would the toll be zero?") It's also not clear what would happen to drivers who accidentally leave
their transponders in the wrong setting or reset it while they are on the
road.
Based on these examples and others, clearly the capability exists to allow HOV users without transponders to utilize the I-495 Express Lanes. Yet the system is designed essentially as an insider's club, for locals only: visitors, tourists and outsiders not welcome here. And if you even try to get in, we'll slap you hard and leave a bad taste in your mouth. I think this is bad policy.
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Steve Offutt, Arlington
LIST OF SOME HOT LANES THAT DO NOT REQUIRE A TRANSPONDER FOR HOV
A co-worker of ours named Elizabeth, over in Arlington Transportation Partners, recently rode her bike to work wearing a dress, complete with reflective piping, that she had made herself.
Hop on over to her blog for more pictures and to read all about how she did it. Cool stuff!
BikeArlington is an initiative of Arlington County, Virginia to encourage and enable more people to go by bike more often. To stay up to date on biking in Arlington, follow BikeArlington on Twitter or visit the Washington Area Bike Forum.
It's been six weeks since we checked in on Tri360, the new bike shop opening in western Arlington County. With construction finished, staff hired, and new product arriving every day to fill their shelves, Tri360 should be open any day now.
As mentioned in my earlier post, even through they will be focusing on the sport of triathlon as their niche, being that the shop is located so close to the W&OD trail, they will cater to commuters and recreational riders as well.
Their hours will be:
Monday - Friday, 11am - 8pm
Saturday, 10am - 6pm
Sunday, Noon-5pm
Tri360 will host group rides and runs, which will be open to everyone in the community. Group runs of approximately 45 minutes will take place on Monday evenings, and group rides will be about an hour on Thursday evenings. They'll also be hosting longer group rides (40-60 miles) outside of the DC Metro area one weekend day per month, TBD.
Follow them on Twitter at @Tri_360 for the lastest on their opening date, and visit the BikeArlington Facebook page for more sneak-peek photos from inside their shop.
BikeArlington is an initiative of Arlington County, Virginia to encourage and enable more people to go by bike more often. To stay up to date on biking in Arlington, follow BikeArlington on Twitter or visit the Washington Area Bike Forum.
Here at WalkArlington, our mission is to get “more people walking more of the time.” Apparently, part of WalkArlington’s mission is also being carried out in other parts of the U.S.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published their new Vital Signs report that revealed more Americans are incorporating walking into their lives than in years past. According to the report, more than 6 in 10 people walk for transportation; for fun, relaxation, or exercise; or for activities such as walking the dog. The percentage of people who report walking for 10 minutes or more at least once in the previous week increased from 56 percent in 2005 to 62 percent in 2010.
The report compiled statistics from across the nation. In the West, around 68 percent of people engage in walking in their daily lives. The South experienced the largest bump in the number of people walking, with an uptick of about 8 percentage points from 2005 (49 percent) to 2010 (57 percent). In addition, adults with arthritis or hypertension were among those who reported participating in more walking.
But Still Not Often Enough
Despite the encouraging news, experts conclude that far too many people are still not getting enough exercise to improve their health – less than half of U.S. adults get the recommended amount of physical activity of 2.5 hours a week. The CDC says that walkable, pedestrian-inclusive communities are key to encouraging Americans to travel by foot.
The report encourages employers and state and local governments to support walkability – and fitness— by developing new sidewalks, paths, and other safe places that encourage people to walk for work, errands, and recreation.
For more information about how you can start “walking more, more of the time” and resources to help make Arlington a better place to walk, visit WalkArlington.com.
WalkArlington, an initiative of Arlington County Commuter Services within the Department of Environmental Services, gets "more people walking more of the time" by promoting the health, environmental, community-building, and commuting benefits of walking.
May 1st marked the first day of the VERY first national movement for people across the country to "Get Up & Ride" through the National Bike Challenge, organized by Kimberly-Clark Corporation. This initiative aims to encourage more people to bike more often...hey, that sounds familiar! Oh wait, that's because it's exactly what BikeArlington's mission is! So for the past 3 months, Endomondo (an online social fitness network) has been helping track hundreds of thousands of miles ridden by citizens in the whole DC Metropolitan region!
The National Bike Challenge is in its final month now, with only 3 weeks left to get your bike riding miles tracked for your team or your community. For all you data lovers out there, here are some wonderful statistics from the past 3 months (and one week) of tracked bike miles in the DC region:
What stands out to you? The whopping 283,322 miles logged? If you love the environment it's probably the 259,348 lbs of CO2 saved. Of if you're an exercise fanatic the 5,335,990 calories burned looks amazing. But if you're into saving deniro dinero (let's face it, who isn't?), then the $64,962 saved is like a love song. Either way, these numbers mean that everytime you ride your bike, you're benefiting in more ways than one.
And not like we're competitive or anything but, it just so happens that the top 3 teams in the DC region are all "BikeArlington" teams! This includes not only the BikeArlington staff, but also fans, supporters, and/or residents of Arlington County. We are proud and happy to represent so many people riding their bikes. We get a little choked up just thinking about it!
If you haven't logged your miles this month, you still have 3 weeks left! Now go outside and "Get up and ride!"
Zanna is the Events and Outreach Coordinator for BikeArlington. She is currently ranked at 16 for the entire period in the National Bike Challenge (for Riders). Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or visit the Washington Area Bike Forum.
Join WalkArlington on August 12 for a Family-Friendly Mini-Walkabout, then Catch the Shuttle to the Thomas Jefferson Community Center for the Final Day of the 2012 Arlington County Fair!
WalkArlington invites Arlingtonians of all ages to join our Pike Hike II Junior Walkabout, a shortened, family-friendly version of our Columbia Pike Town Center West Walkabout, on Sunday, August 12, the closing day of the Arlington County Fair. Kicking off at 10:00 a.m., the four-stop guided walking tour highlights neighborhood attractions for kids of all ages, from tasty treats at the Sunday Farmer’s Market to family screenings at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse to storytimes at Columbia Pike Branch Library.
The Junior Walkabout begins and ends at the Columbia Pike Library/Arlington Career Center complex, 816 South Walter Reed Drive. The route covers less than one mile and the tour will last less than an hour. The Walkabout is free of charge and will take place rain or shine!
After the Walkabout, walkers will cool off with refreshments courtesy of Giant Food. Also as a bonus, Pike Hike II Junior walkers will receive a FREE one-way ticket for a shuttle ride from the Career Center to the Arlington County Fairgrounds at Thomas Jefferson Community Center on August 12, the final day of the 2012 Fair, courtesy of WalkArlington and our partners at the Arlington County Fair!
For more information on the Pike Hike II Junior Walkabout, visit WalkArlington.com.
