In an effort to highlight its Bicycle Friendly America program, the League of American Bicyclists staff asked if BikeArlington could arrange a tour for the National Bike Summit & Women’s Forum to allow attendees to see and experience some of the infrastructure and programming that makes us a Silver-Level Bicycle Friendly Community. We couldn’t have been happier, and using new Capital Bikeshare bikes, we led roughly 75 attendees over three separate tours to bike lanes, protected bike parking, fixit stations and real-time bike counters among other features in Arlington and Washington, D.C. Along the 10-mile route that included a variety of bike lane styles, BikeArlington staff also posted county transportation planners and engineers to answer more detailed questions about how Arlington planned and implemented many of the following features.
1. UPGRADING BIKE LANES
Protected Bike Lanes
Protected bike lanes provide physical separation between people on bikes and motor vehicles, and are relatively new in Arlington. We traveled through a few protected bike lanes in D.C., including a two-way lane.
Green Lanes
Green lanes help increase bike lane visibility in places where the street markings might not get noticed by drivers, and Arlington County has started using them 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.
Buffered Lanes
Buffered bicycle lanes have a marked buffer space on one or both sides of the lane. Depending on the location there may be buffers provided between the bicycle lane and the travel lane, between the bicycle lane and on-street parking, or both. They help to eliminate the “door zone” problem that can exist with traditional bike lanes and can make riding next to car traffic feel safer.
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