Bicycling in Fairfax County, Virginia

Members of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling and Fairfax County officials pause after crossing Route 7. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)

Washcycle has an entry, "Fairfax Taking Biking Seriously," about how Fairfax County's broadening greening agenda includes the embracing of bicycling--adding bike racks to Fairfax Connector buses, buying bikes for government workers to travel between buildings at the sprawling government center, creating bike maps and paths, etc.

Somehow I missed this Post story, "Braving Tysons Corner on a Bicycle Seat," subtitled "Officials Mount Up to Help Make 2-Wheeling More Appealing," which Washcycle references. Clearly there are some brave bicyclists in Fairfax. I ride between lanes of cars on K Street sure. And I don't mind riding on Florida Avenue which has narrow lanes and lots of traffic. And on Route 1 to and from College Park. But I wionder if I am brave enough for Leesburg Pike.

From the article:

"I never see bikers," said Eric Somuah, 29, a salesman at HBL of Tysons, a car dealer that sells Audis, Porsches, Aston Martins and Mercedes-Benzes along Leesburg Pike. Somuah was preparing for the day by tying a bunch of bright balloons to the front grille of a Porsche when the bicycles streamed by.

Speaking of never seeing bikers, that's just the way it is on many busy streets. The average bicyclist isn't comfortable jostling with (many) (very heavy) (easily able to kill) cars (driven by people who don't pay all that much attention to anything that isn't a car on the road).

Maybe the people who push separated bicycle lanes are right.

Work trips in the region by bicycle

DC, 1.16%
Arlington, 0.69%
Fairfax, 0.13%
Loudoun, 0.12%
Prince William, 0.08%
Montgomery, 0.27%
Prince Georges, 0.19%
Baltimore, 0.33%
Baltimore County, 0.12%

Image from the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership website.