1) How you and your household get around the City and nearby, what do you like and not like about that experience, and what role does biking and walking play in that if any?
My husband and I selected Falls Church as our home in 1995 because of bike access on the W&OD trail from Falls Church to Washington, DC. He has been a bike commuter to DC for his whole career in government service. Access to the W&OD trail made this possible, and it has been a good home for a bike commuter. However, getting to and from the W&OD trail from our home is the most difficult part of the commute. Biking is one of the ways that we get around Falls Church - but not as often as we would like to. We also drive and walk. Many residential roads are comfortable and easy to bike on, and busier roads are less comfortable. From our house in Greenway Downs, we joke that it is uphill both ways. I’d like to bike more often than I do, but carrying groceries and other things on a bike isn’t as easy as plopping numerous bags into a car.
During family vacations in Cape May, NY, we love that bikes are everywhere. Roads are shared among cars, bikes, pedestrians and golf carts. It is flat, and people are on vacation so there isn’t as much commuting stress. There are still a lot of cars, but the expectation is that the roads are shared.
2) Are Falls Church City streets safe and comfortable for everyone to use, regardless of transportation mode, age, or ability? If they fall short, what should we do about it?
Some streets are better than others. It is hard to cobble together a bike route through Falls Church that feels 100% safe. Thinking about the length of the City, I occasionally ride my bike to the high school, and it is a challenge - partly because it is uphill, and partly because of all the traffic, without protected lanes. I ride on sidewalks and cut through parking lots, or cross W. Broad Street to reach the W&OD entrance along Shreve Road. I have never ridden a bike to Eden Center, because there is no route that feels safe to do that. In the middle, except for Broad & Washington, most roads are bikeable for seasoned riders, but not for all ages and abilities. It is a joy to see families biking together, and parents teaching children the rules of the road.
I am excited about the traffic garden coming to Mt. Daniel Elementary School - which will be a great addition to the school and community. However, getting to Mt. Daniel by bike on the weekends for families to practice includes the uphill challenge as well. The proposed bike garden at Lincoln Park will be a welcome addition.
I love the stories of Paris and Amsterdam where the government intentionally closed roads to cars and trucks, making bicycles the preferred method of transportation. While this exact approach won’t work in Falls Church, these are models that we can learn from to improve the bikeability of our roads. Another model we have is next door in Arlington County. It is easy to know when you’ve entered Arlington along Lincoln Ave. because the marked bike lanes appear at the border. Our Council and staff need to have a biking mindset, and there should be more protected bike lanes where possible, along with a commitment to look at everything through a bicycle lens when redesigning roads.
This fall we will be taking up Vision Zero as a way to make our streets safer. It includes a toolkit for communities to address their traffic safety for all modes. Additionally, volunteer work from groups like Bike Falls Church, and individual citizens is effective in keeping safety for all modes at the top of mind for the City staff and Council.
3) How are we going to deal with a growing regional population and expectations for a growing Falls Church population without being mired in traffic and spending millions on parking garages?
Falls Church is an oasis in the midst of a busy region, and we are not immune to the traffic. Even if we had decided 25 years ago not to build any mixed use in Falls Church, the traffic would still be streaming through.
Have you ever heard of Falls Church Time? We always think it will take 5 minutes to get anywhere within the City in a car, but it actually takes 10-15 minutes, which means drivers are always running behind and rushing. Additionally drivers who are passing through the City to another destination are often in a hurry. One solution is to reduce speeds. As we work on traffic calming, many of the features (bulb outs, speed tables and humps, narrowing lanes), are designed to slow drivers down so that the road is safer for all modes of transportation. We can do more here, and I would like to see a community campaign that announces the expectation that drivers should slow down in Falls Church.
The Council has taken many steps to make Falls Church a more walkable & bikeable community, but there are many steps to go. Density along Broad & Washington Streets contributes to the sense of walkability, but it doesn’t make it easier to bike.
We need regional collaboration and the City has partnered with Fairfax County in several ways to improve the bike access. One example is improvements connecting the W&OD trail along Shreve and Haycock. This is coming soon.
4) DPW has been sounding the alarm about failing roadways due to under-funding maintenance for 15+ years, our 2012 ADA transition plan has seen little progress on sidewalk obstructions, and our 6-month old Bike Master Plan is already looking at a 20-year delay in implementation. At the same time the last two community surveys found traffic, roads, and sidewalks at the top of residents’ concerns. Tax bills on like-for-like homes (excluding tear downs/remodels) have grown slower than construction inflation. The problem keeps getting bigger. What should we do?
As a small city, Falls Church struggles to do everything at the same time. Streets are one of many areas that need work. This includes stormwater, schools, streets, parks, public safety, environmental stewardship, affordable housing. Every year the building of the budget is a balancing act, and some areas are better funded than others. I am very proud of the track record of Council over the past 12 years that I have served. Through thoughtful investment, we’ve been able to improve school facilities, complete stormwater projects, set aside funds for affordable housing, improve and add parks.
Staff have done an amazing job obtaining grants to fund a lot of the big transportation needs. Some roads and sidewalks have improved in those 12 years, but not all of them. We need to keep up with the rate of growth. Unfortunately I don’t think there is a magic solution to fixing everything all at once. The nature of being a small city means that we need to keep chipping away at it, one street at a time.