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Area is on the path to better bike trails

August 22, 2010 12:35 am

By KELLY HANNON

When it comes to walking and biking to work, the Fredericksburg area is below the national average.

Just over three in 100 Americans--3.3 percent--reported biking or walking to work in the 2000 U.S. census.

Isolate numbers for the Fredericksburg region, and just 2 percent of the population biked or walked to work, according to the census.

A devoted crowd of cyclists, pedestrians and transportation planners are trying to change the numbers by changing the landscape.

There is no lack of planning or interest in building bike lanes, trails, sidewalks and crosswalks in the Fredericksburg area.

As part of any new or renovated road project since 2004, a Virginia Department of Transportation policy requires it to examine ways to provide facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.

"The way the policy works is every project that comes through is eligible. It's sort of 'prove why it can't be done,' as opposed to 'prove why it could be done,'" said Liz McAdory, VDOT policy and planning specialist.

Also, a multi-year planning effort at the Fredericksburg regional level calls for bike lanes, trails, sidewalks, and pedestrian crosswalks in every locality: Caroline, Fredericksburg, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford.

It identifies the specific street corners where projects should go, and estimates prices. The entire plan is online at fampo.gwregion .org/bikeandpedestrianplan .html.

Called the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, it was part of the area's 2035 Long Range Plan for transportation, a federally-required study. The document was adopted by the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization in 2009.

Projects were identified by an advisory group that included planners from local governments, VDOT, school districts and the National Park Service, and representatives from the Sierra Club, Fredericksburg Pathway Partners, Fredericksburg Cycling Club and the Potomac National Scenic Heritage Trail Association. Residents also joined as individuals.

Committee members identified where bike and pedestrian facilities already existed in the Fredericksburg area, and tried to expand them, said Andy Waple, a FAMPO principal planner.

Next, the group tried to close gaps between trails or facilities that are missing a link, Waple said.

Members highlighted "activity centers," such as ballfields and employment zones, where people would be likely to want to travel on bike or foot.

Finally, they looked at locations where people are already biking, walking and running, such as along Lafayette Boulevard in Fredericksburg, Waple said.

"There are worn paths along the side of the roads," Waple said. "We look at those areas."

A lot of the research was gathered in the field, by visiting potential sites.

"We're not just sitting behind the computer and looking at data," he said.

PUTTING SAFETY FIRST

Bike lanes cannot be recommended on every street. For instance, VDOT would not build bike lanes on an interstate, where high-speed traffic creates a safety hazard, McAdory said.

The region's Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan does not forecast building bike lanes along U.S. 17 in Stafford or State Route 3 because of safety concerns.

Heavy traffic on U.S. 17, particularly truck traffic, and the high number of commercial entrances through which bike lanes would have to pass present hazards, Waple said.

But area bicyclists, walkers and runners can look forward to some upcoming or existing new projects.

A current trail project under way is the 1.5-mile Rappahannock River Heritage Trail in Fredericksburg. Funded in May with $900,000 in federal congestion mitigation and air quality funds, the trail will start near Old Mill Park on Caroline Street, continue under the Falmouth Bridge to Riverside Drive and Fall Hill Avenue, where it will end near the Rappahannock Canal. The new trail will turn the city's canal path into a 3.2-mile loop.

The community group Spotsylvania Greenways Initiative and Luck Development Partners opened a 1.75-mile dirt trail in June, the Salamander Loop, on the west side of U.S. 1 across from Massaponax High School. Spotsylvania Greenways plans to extend the trail 3 miles along the Ni River to the county's Patriot Park over the next 16 months, and is working with the county on a trail plan.

Also, $120,000 was awarded through FAMPO in May for the design of a Virginia Central Rail Trail in Spotsylvania. Waple, the FAMPO planner, is in the information-gathering stage for that trail. It is envisioned to eventually be as long as 17 miles, running from the county border near Interstate 95 to Orange, he said.

The trail would meet a 3.5-mile section of the Virginia Central Rail Trail in Fredericksburg, which is supposed to originate at the downtown train station, continue along Lafayette Boulevard across Route 3, skirt Alum Spring Park and end near Interstate 95 and the Idlewild subdivision.

SEEKING PUBLIC INPUT

Anyone interested in planning the location of bike lanes, trails and crosswalks should contact their local government or metropolitan planning organization, such as FAMPO, where plans are made, McAdory said.

Waple said residents interested in working on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee can contact him at
Email: waple@gwregion.org.

The region's Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan must be updated every four years.

McAdory was pleased to see the U.S. Department of Transportation issue a policy in March 2010 that directs transportation departments to include pedestrian and bicycle facilities in all projects, and to go beyond minimum standards.

She said it shows VDOT's policy to include bike and pedestrian projects is on the right track.

"It's like they're hearing us," McAdory said. "We're already doing it."

Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436
Email: khannon@freelancestar.com