CommuterPageBlog

Biking to Tyson's via W&OD Link

Many people would consider trying to bike to Tyson's Corner to be a fool's errand. A couple of years ago, though, I discovered an unmarked, unpaved little trail through the woods from the W&OD trail to the residential areas south of Tyson's Corner that made it easy to ride to Tyson's without dealing with much traffic. I was out on the trail this morning and noticed that this link is now paved and connects directly, making this link to Tyson's no longer an insider's secret.

The link is about 100 yards west of milepost 10 on the W&OD, which is a little after crossing Cedar Lane when traveling westward on the trail. Here's a map of the route (starting at the Beltway) I would generally take to get to the Eastern part of Tyson's Corner (click here). During less trafficked times I'm liable to take Gallows Road, because it's a little shorter, but this route is more pleasant.

Here are some photos of the new link (click to enlarge):

Milepost 10 on the W&OD looking westward

Approaching the link, which can be seen going off to the right. 

The link connecting with Malraux Drive

The link looking towards the W&OD

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Steve Offutt, Arlington

Finally. . . the Seven Corners Pedestrian Overpass!

It's almost done; ribbon cutting scheduled for May 20.  Even before I moved to a part of Arlington that is not far from Seven Corners, I was aware of the significant number of pedestrian deaths that were occurring along the stretch of Route 50 (Arlington Boulevard) near Patrick Henry Drive and Seven Corners (right by the Home Depot to point out a familiar landmark).  Here's a map of the area (one detail: the actual location of the bridge is somewhat west of what is shown. This is taken from the official VDOT site):

I've also included a number of photos below, which you can expand by clicking.  There's also a great article in the Falls Church News Press by Penny Gross describing the placement of the main bridge section a couple of weeks ago.

I don't know the exact statistics, but since I started paying attention I would guess at least 12-15 people have been killed by cars in that area.  This bridge should have been built 20 years ago.  There is no good way to cross route 50.  I know that at least one of the pedestrians was killed crossing at the walk signal at the Patrick Henry intersection; there really is no safe way.  There are homes, apartments and significant commerce on both sides of the highway, so there are lots of reasons for people to cross.  One would think that the businesses would have an interest in making it easier for people to reach their establishments, too.  I don't know how strong a role they played in helping make it happen, however.

So hooray.  As usual, though, I have opinions about this project.  Here they are:
- Way, way overdue, as mentioned above.
- It took a long time.  This project was started in the fall of 2007.  Originally it was supposed to be complete last November.  Unfortunately, the original truss that was delivered was cracked, which caused a several-months delay.
- Why does the north side empty out inside the frontage road, so people still have to cross another lane of traffic to get to the sidewalk (see photos)?  If the frontage road had been shifted a little southward, the bridge would need to be somewhat longer, but not much.  They completely rebuilt this entire area, so it could have been designed that way.  I often wonder why--when we're building a piece of infrastructure that will be there for 40 years or more--that more thought isn't put into these details.
- Pedestrian access on both sides should be improved now that the bridge is complete
- It probably cost too much.  Although it appears to be an excellent facility, Fairfax County is not known for its willingness to invest in bike/ped facilities.  I suspect that the next time someone suggests an improvement, the county will say, "But that one at 7 Corners cost so much; we can't afford to spend that kind of money willy nilly on pedestrians."

Taken in February from the Barnes & Noble parking lot prior to installation of the bridge (click to enlarge)

Looking east from Seven Corners.  Home Depot is behind the bridge to the right (click to enlarge).

Looking West along Route 50.  You can see the ramp pedestrians will come down and then have to cross the frontage road on the right to get to the sidewalk.  Dumb.  (Click to enlarge)

 

At the top of the ramp looking south across the bridge.  Still a little work being finished up.

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Steve Offutt, Arlingtonian and future Seven Corners bike/pedestrian bridge user

Efficiency Good: Hyperbole Bad

The Monday, April 20 Washington Post included an 8-page "advertorial" insert called Environmental Leadership--presumably in anticipation of Earth Day (not available on-line). It included about a dozen guest articles on a wide array of environmental topics. Great! (although one of the advertising supporters is the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which promotes the oxymoron "clean coal." You can read more about my opinion of carbon capture and storage here.)

One of the guest writers is Nancy Sutley, the new Obama administation Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Her column, "Now is the Time to Switch to a Clean Energy Economy" runs the gamut, touching on a wide array of environmental issues--the normal rhetoric one would expect.  But I stopped when I read this line: "We plan to put a million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road, dramatically increasing the fuel efficiency of our nation's fleet of vehicles with batteries built in the U.S."

"Dramatically increasing?" Let's do a quick back of the envelope. In 2006 there were 234 million cars and light trucks on the road representing an average fuel economy of 20.30 mpg.

Let's make some optimistic assumptions:
- Plug-in hybrids are the equivalent of 100 mpg
- All 1,000,000 new hybrids replace SUVs (average 18 mpg)

If we use 2006 as a proxy, replacing 1,000,000 SUVs with plug-in hybrids, then the new fleet economy rises to 20.38 mpg, an minuscule increase of .08 miles per gallon. Or put another way, an increase of about 425 feet per gallon.  Another way to achieve the exact same reduction in fuel consumption would be to reduce the distance each car drives by about 50 miles per year--a 0.4% decrease.

Now don't get me wrong: I am totally in favor of transforming our economy to more environmentally sustainable technologies and systems, but I think a hyperbolic statement like this sugarcoats the magnitude of the challenge in front of us and overstates the benefits.

Let's put those million vehicles out there, but it's just a down payment. I think it would have been much better to say, ""We plan to put a million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road, a small but important first step in transforming our nation's fleet of automobiles"
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Steve Offutt - Arlington

Increasing Capacity on Metro

Metro ridership has been steadily rising for years. The Orange Line in Arlington and Fairfax, the "Orange Crush," has the worst crowding. In 1994, when I lived near Court House Metro, I could get a seat on my commute into DC. By 2000, I would only occasionally get a seat living two stops further out at Virginia Square. Now East Falls Church is my closest station, and most mornings it's unlikely I'll get a seat. There is no way someone at Court House ever gets one.

Metro has added some 8-car trains, which help. There is a fairly simple operational change that I believe can add capacity at no extra cost. Philadelphia has used this since 1956, and call it A and B trains. New York City called it "skip-stop" until they recently ended the practice.

Here's how it works. During rush hour each train is either an "A" train or a "B" train. Each train skips some stops. "A" trains start at Vienna and skip Dunn Loring and Virginia Square. "B" trains also start at Vienna and skip East Falls Church and Clarendon. (Skipped stops should be the least used stops, and should come in pairs, to balance ridership between the A and B trains).

The trip from Vienna to, say, Farragut West becomes 24 minutes instead of 27, a 10% time savings. The entire trip from Vienna to New Carrollton shrinks from 57 minutes to 54, saving 5%.

That time savings could allow Metro to save cars and run longer trains. There are more than 20 trains operating on the Orange Line during rush hour. Freeing up one train will allow 3 6-car trains to be extended to 8-car trains, thereby increasing the capacity.

The shorter runs could also allow more trains. Right now, Metro can't fit more actual trains through Rosslyn, but one day that might change if they send Blue Line trains up the Yellow Line, change signal technology, or build new river crossings. If it does, or if they try this on a different, less constrained line, Metro could run the same number of physical trains more frequently. Instead of 360 second headways, for example, they can reduce to 342 second headways, increasing the capacity of a line by 5%.

How does this affect passengers? Most will benefit, but some will be inconvenienced. Here are outcomes for commuters to DC from Virginia stations:

• Vienna to DC: 2 stations reduced ride time (BIG WIN!)
• Dunn Loring to DC: Increased waiting time and 2 stations reduced ride time (about a wash)
• West Falls Church to DC: Either 1 or 2 stations reduced ride time (WIN!)
• East Falls Church to DC: Increased wait and 1 station reduced ride time (slightly negative)
• Ballston to DC: 1 station reduced ride time (WIN!)
• VA Square to DC: Increased average wait and 1 station reduced ride time (slightly negative)
• Clarendon to DC: Increased average wait; no time savings (lose)
• Court House/Rosslyn to DC: No change

A small minority of riders traveling to one of the skipped stations also experience increased times waiting for their train. In a few cases, they may actually have to change trains if both their boarding and deboarding stations are served by different trains.

Vienna, WFC and Ballston riders all benefit, Clarendon riders lose about 3 minutes average waiting time, and Dunn Loring and EFC riders may be slightly negative or about even. The three benefiting stations represent roughly two-thirds of the ridership of these 7 stations, while Clarendon represents about 8% of the ridership. Therefore, two-thirds of the riders benefit directly. And everyone benefits from reduced crowding on the trains because of the increased capacity afforded by longer trains.

Plus, this same system could work on the other lines, too, including ones not at maximum capacity. It's probably easiest on the Red Line, since it does not have to merge with another line like the Orange does with the Blue and the Yellow does with Green.

They've been doing it for more than 50 years in Philadelphia. When I lived there (near a "B" station), it was just considered normal operating procedure. If it can work there, why not here?

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Steve Offutt, Arlington Orange Line rider

(This post is cross-posted at steveoffutt.com and Greater Greater Washington, along with almost 50 comments.)

If You Want to Go There, You Have to Have Gone There Before

One frustration that works against more people making new transportation choices is that the information being provided is directed at insiders--regulars--and is either not helpful or outright confusing to newbies.

I had this experience last summer on a trip to New York City.  It has always been an interest of mine to ride on the Staten Island Ferry, just for the experience.  The opportunity presented itself when I coordinated a drop off of my daughter and another pre-teen girl to a family in New York City, who would then take them to a camp out on Long Island.  Part of the logistics included seeing The Lion King in New York, which was terrific.

The plan was to have the other girl's father drive us to the ferry; we would take the ferry to Manhattan and the subway up to the theater where we would meet our friends.  All well and good.

We found the ferry terminal without incident and were pleased to find a subway card machine at the terminal, so that we could get our farecards before we boarded--a nice convenience.  After our 20-minute wait we hear announced, "Now boarding: the 12:30 ferry to Whitehall at dock number 2."  Whitehall?  I've never heard of Whitehall.  Where's that?  I glance around the waiting area and see throngs of people heading over to board and about 10 others like me with uncertain looks on their faces.  My daughter, with an anxious tone in her voice asks, "Are we getting on the right boat, Daddy?"  Now I'm pretty sure that the Staten Island Ferry just runs between Staten Island and Manhattan, but I'm not 100% certain of that--especially right then.  I look all around for some clue about Whitehall and finally spot on the large schedule board the words "(Whitehall Terminal)" in parentheses.  My anxiety level goes down, we get on the boat and everything goes smoothly from then on.

Now I don't think that the ferry is deliberately trying to confuse passengers or create angst, but that was the unintended consequence of the announcement for me and a dozen others (and probably almost every trip for at least a couple of new riders).  The "insiders" do not need anything more than, "12:30 ferry now boarding."  We newbies would benefit from something like, "The 12:30 ferry to Manhattan now boarding."  Mentioning Whitehall provides no useful travel information to anyone: insiders already know where the ferry is going and we rookies are only confused by it.  It also sends a signal--not so much that we newbies are not welcome--but that they just haven't given any consideration to thinking about us.

Those who provide transportation services need to constantly be putting themselves in the shoes of a brand-new user and trying to forget everything they already know.  How can they make that experience simpler and the information clear and useful to that brand-new user?

For more on transportation on Staten Island, they have their own blog here.

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Steve Offutt, Arlington (and now a veteran of the Staten Island Ferry)

Obama's Task Force Goes Car Free (well, some, anyway)

I'm not certain  if they're familiar with the Car-Free Diet, but a couple of Obama's key appointees do not own cars as reported in this article in the Washington Post, which was also picked up by some blogs, including  DemConWatch and Kicking Tires.  Carol Browner, President Obama's Energy and Environment Czarina and Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, were reported to not own cars at all.  That's two out of the six high level appointees this article reported on.  Also, one of the ten aides on the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry also reported not owning a car.  That's three out of sixteen.  Clearly these individuals are making a conscious choice not to own a car, since I presume they could afford one if they wanted.  The article did not go into the reasons why they choose not to own a car, but one might guess that they just find it more convenient and cost effective to not have one--same as Arlington's Car-Free Diet.

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Steve Offutt, Arlington

Stupidest Bike Lane

I recently came across this video, even though it was made last year.  It's a fun one of bad bike lanes.  The winner was in Silver Spring!  After seeing the video, I thought I would nominate one of my own:

Ever since I have moved to the DC area, I have loved this sign on the Roosevelt Bridge, but I've never gotten a photo of it.  The way I was able to get this photo was because the Roosevelt Bridge was closed to automobile traffic for the pre-inauguration concert on Sunday, January 18, and I was walking across the bridge to get there.  There is actually no way to reach this "Beginning" of the bike route from Virginia.  It is located on the downstream side of the bridge about where the bridge starts to cross Roosevelt Island itself.  Below I have attached a satellite photo that shows where the sign is and the "beginning" of the potential route--smack in the middle of a grove of trees positioned inside a tangle of highways (click on photos for larger view).

I guess if you are used to starting your bike rides via helicopter drop, then this would work for you!

Good luck!!
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Steve Offutt, Arlington

Our Camry Hybrid: The Latest Update

We purchased our 2007 Toyota Hybrid Camry in March of 2007 and I have previously written about it four times (first, second, third, fourth postings).  I want to re-emphasize what I highlighted in my most recent post: if you live in Arlington and are shopping for a new car, there are significant tax advantages to buying a hybrid--significant enough to potentially pay for the entire incremental cost.

Back in October we paid our 2008 personal property taxes on our car.  In Virginia, as you may know, we have what is called the "car tax."  The car tax is a 5% tax on the value of your personal vehicle. Arlington has reduced this tax for owners of hybrid vehicles by exempting the first $20,000 of value from the tax.  So for 2008 instead of paying $1068 personal property tax, we paid just $68.  That's a lot of savings!

In fact, since we purchased the car, we have saved $3050 in taxes: a federal tax break of $1300 (more information on the federal tax break here), a 2007 Arlington County personal property tax reduction of $750 and this year's $1000 reduction (more on the Arlington tax break here).  Wow, that was enough to pretty much pay for our entire summer vacation to Yellowstone this past year: flights, hotels, rental car, food. . . .  Or thinking another way, in a couple more years, the tax breaks will have completely paid the extra amount we paid to get the hybrid instead of the regular Camry.  All the gas savings are gravy.  One caveat, though, the Arlington break is dependent on an annual approval process by the county, so it may go away in the future.

Want to learn more about hybrids?  Here are some links:

Hybrid Cars site

Green Hybrid

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Steve Offutt, Arlington resident and proud hybrid Camry owner

Fitting the Pieces Together

The efforts of the transportation professionals working to make it easier and easier to get around this region are working, as demonstrated by this experience I had recently.

Not long ago I purchased my new "toodler" bike, for toodling around.  It's an old, rehabilitated 3-speed with a basket on front that I use to run errands and make short trips.  I had a doctor's appointment in Falls Church the other morning, which is about a 10-12 minute toodle on the bike.  I left early to go to the post office and mail a package.  While at the post office, the weather took a turn for the worse and it started to rain pretty steadily.  I didn't mind riding in the very light drizzle I encountered going to the post office, but this was a lot harder.  It would be a real drag to ride all the way to the Dr.'s in this rain.  What to do?

My first thought was to lock up my bike and catch a bus (if one was coming); I could pick up my bike later.  But when was the bus?  Well, as it turns out, I had bookmarked the mobile services site on my Blackberry a month or two ago .  It's a great service for your handheld device, and it's free.  It tells you when the next bus is coming based on what time it is right now (it doesn't know where you are yet; you have to enter that yourself).  Next bus, 6 minutes.  That would get me to the Dr. right on time.

And then--BING!-- I remembered that all the Metrobuses have bike racks mounted on them.  I could take my bike with me.  If it stopped raining, then I could ride home; if not, I'd figure out something else.  I was a bit anxious, because I had never used the bike racks before.  It turned out to be a cinch, even without any experience.  The instructions were right on the rack, and I loaded my bike in about 5 seconds.  I also have a SmarTrip card, so I didn't have to worry about exact change or fumbling for money.

When I was done, it was still raining.  I did the same exercise in reverse: checked the schedule on my Blackberry, caught the bus, loaded my bike, touched my SmarTrip and got most of the way home.  I still had to ride a few blocks from the closest stop to my house, but that was a lot more pleasant than if I had had to ride the entire two miles in the rain.

So all the pieces fit together to make this trip work: Mobile information, bike racks on buses, SmarTrip.  Thanks, everyone.
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Steve Offutt, Arlington bike toodler
Here's a video on how to use the bike racks.  I couldn't find a WMATA one, but this is the same type of rack

The Smartest Kids in School

I was walking past Swanson Middle School in Arlington shortly after school started in the fall and took note of the bike racks and bikes.  There were thirteen bicycles parked on the bike racks, which could potentially hold a maximum of twenty.

I think these are the smartest kids (and teachers) in the school.  In Arlington, students who live within 1.5 miles of a Middle School are in the walking zone; outside that zone they are provided bus service.  A student who lives 1-1.5 miles away will take 15-30 minutes to walk, depending on pace and distance.  On a bike, though, it shouldn't take more than 10 minutes max to ride a mile and a half--providing that much extra sleep time in the morning.

Looking at the boundary map, it appears that one-third to one-half of the households in the Swanson District are within 1/2 mile of the Custis Trail and W&OD trails, which bring you within a block or two of the school.  Kids who would have to catch the bus from 2-4 miles away and 45 minutes before school starts can save themselves as much as 30 minutes by riding over to school instead of taking the bus.  By utilizing the trails, they can ride almost the whole way separated from traffic.  At the end of the day they can be halfway home or to their friend's house (or wherever they go after school) before the bus is even loaded!

I hope these and many other students participated in Bike and Walk to School Day back in October.  Let's give these bike riders an A for riding every day.  They're smart.
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Steve Offutt is an Arlington resident and cyclist
Visit BikeArlington.com for more info on cycling in Arlington