Notes from the August BAC meeting -- and draft BAC-PAC legislative priorities letter
Cynthia Palmer
Participants:
Elwyn Gonzalez, David Patton, Cynthia Palmer, Dana Bres, Mike Hanna, Eliot FB, Eric Goodman, Lauren Hassel, Pamela Van Hine, Steve Offutt, Gillian Burgess, Leslie Tierstein
NOTES
7:00 – 7:10 pm - Welcome from the Chair and Introductions
Cynthia Palmer, BAC Chair
Participants introduced themselves and answered the following:
What is a specific example of bicycle (or pedestrian) infrastructure in Arlington or surrounding jurisdictions that makes you happy (and that you wish we had more of)
Responses included:
· W&OD bridge over Langston Blvd/Fairfax Drive/I-66 (the Pete Biers bridge) …multiple votes
· Rock Creek Park zoo bridge
· Bike lane on N Quincy
· Bike racks
· All of the shaved sidewalks
· Falls Church W&OD bike lanes
· Bus islands e.g. at the top of Clarendon near Courthouse, with the stormwater pipe beneath (Vision Zero did a floating bus stop tour!)
· Protected Bike Lanes
· ADA-compliant pedestrian ramps aligning the landing with the crosswalks
· Bridges near the airport on the MVT
· The path under 395
· The MBT
7:10 – 7:20 pm Arlington Eco-Counter Dashboard
David Patton, Transportation Planner, DES
Summary: David unveiled the County’s new bike/ped counter website to the BAC and solicited assistance to capture new photographs of each counter site at approximately 40 locations.
David is asking the BAC and the PAC to submit photos of areas surrounding the new bike/ped counters. Pictures could include the trail, roadways, park, nearby shops.
We don’t want to call too much attention to the gadgets themselves, but rather to the areas in which they are located. [The bike-o-meter in Rosslyn was vandalized last year, requiring a $5000 repair job. Another of the devices was smashed and thrown into the window of a rental car.]
The counter data is useful for grant applications, safety studies, planning exercises, etc. For example, it’s useful when arguing that trail traffic needs a way to get across a busy road…. It enables us to make data-supported decisions and to support capital projects that improve safety.
7:20 – 8:00 pm Arlington’s Transportation Future – Master Transportation Plan (MTP) Refresh
Mike Hanna, BAC Member and Cynthia Palmer, BAC Chair
In particular, there was huge emphasis by staff on how many voices county staff heard from… the extent of the engagement. But it is unclear how the ATF leaders are translating public input into actual draft language…that seems to be the weak link. The significant changes to the draft language in the lead-up to the Board meeting suggest that the connection between public input, advisory committee recommendations, and proposed MTP language is slight, at best.
The revised MTP vision and goals do not keep up with the road safety dangers, let alone strive to turn Arlington into a leader among jurisdictions. They do not direct staff to create a transportation system where car travel is actually optional.
The BAC discussed weaknesses in the transportation modelling and scenario planning that is underway. It is not clear to what extent staff are considering induced demand and the question of interventions leading to modal shifts.
It is not clear that staff are taking advantage of the data collected by Arlington County and other sources, including the extensive bike and ped counter data discussed above.
There are also significant process concerns in how these MTP meetings are organized. New information is NOT presented to committee members beforehand. Rather there is an expectation that participants will view the info in the slides DURING the meetings and react on the fly, rather than allowing for prior review and serious analysis.
The MTP staff say there will be no design standards in the plan…rather it will be a conceptual-philosophical document. This raises a lot of questions.
In March, County Manager Schwartz said he’d like the BAC and PAC to be policy-making bodies – we should suggest road safety standards that Arlington could implement.
Is the MTP / ArlCo staff open to collaboration with our committees to develop bike and ped safety standards, perhaps something that could be updated annually and would focus on intersection safety?
There would need to be a process for exceptions from the design standards.
Gillian suggested that the Open Spaces Master Plan advisory group has had some success and could be a model for such an effort.
Should we push for an implementation group that’s focused on developing design standards?
At the moment, non-vehicular travel is the lowest priority, so there is a lot of work to be done.
The MTP refresh is needed to deal with…
--transparency and evaluation
--mode share of cars and other types of transportation
--creating a singular transportation network for all modes together
--curbside pickup/dropoff
There will be a consolidated map of some sort.
8:00 – 8:40 pm Vision Zero Action Plan Update
Dana Bres, BAC Vice Chair
Summary: In anticipation of next month’s discussion with Arlington’s Vision Zero team kicking off the launch of the fall 2025 Vision Zero Action Plan update, Dana discussed issues relating to the following survey questions:
“What changes has your organization noticed in Arlington since the adoption of the Vision Zero Action Plan in 2021? (ex. changes in communications, street design, public attitudes/behaviors)”
“What's missing from the current Action Plan or Vision Zero implementation?”
The committee discussed aspects of VZ that ought to be bolstered or implemented more systematically.
This includes red light cameras. The county has only 12 but is allowed 23.
Most of the cameras are in the north part of the county rather than dealing with safety hotspots in the middle and south of Arlington.
Main weaknesses in the VZ document:
--we need systemic implementation
--we need enforcement including red light cameras
--we need transparency… some evaluations are taking place but VZ does not always share the results (or, at least, BAC does not see them … where are they posted?)
The police are not the partners we had hoped for.
They are understaffed and do not serve in the role envisioned in the current action plan.
Pickup/dropoff has zero enforcement and is essentially free parking.
Systemic critical crash analyses are not shared with the public at all. These may be brilliant write-ups, but they ought to be completed and socialized so we can all benefit from them.
8:40 – 8:50pm 2026 Legislative Priorities
Cynthia Palmer, BAC Chair
Summary: The CMO is soliciting legislative priorities from the BAC as part of the upcoming legislative package for the 2026 State General Assembly session.
We’ve updated last year’s legislative letter, which we will circulate to the BAC and PAC.
Top priorities include such things as
--red light cameras
--dedicated crossing times for bikes and peds
--safe routes to school
We will keep the Idaho stop low on the list, as Gov Youngkin does not favor even tho VDOT is now more open to this possibility.
Allowing bikers to cross on Walk signal died in the past legislative session. ALX has signs specifying that bikes may cross at the Walk. Please see attached letter.
8:50 pm – 9:00 pm BAC Business and Announcements -- County fair (it was fun!)
9:00pm: Adjourn