Route 1 Side Trail Dangerous for Bicyclists, Pedestrians
Local bicyclist involved in accident advocates for better bicycling conditions on Route 1.
Photos
Belle View resident Mark Murphy bikes to and from work. Every day, he rides through a side trail where Richmond Highway crosses the Capital Beltway at the gateway to southern Fairfax County.
On Jan. 4, Murphy was hit by a car entering the Hampton Inn parking lot on his ride home from work.
“The driver didn’t see me riding along the trail, although I had on a reflective vest and two headlights. I didn’t see his turn signal, if it was on,” Murphy said in a blog post on the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) blog. “When his car turned towards me, I slammed on my brakes but couldn’t get out of his way in time and when he hit me, I flipped up onto his car’s hood.”
Murphy suffered minor injuries as a result. He was frustrated by the way local police, VDOT, and Fairfax County failed to alert drivers that they are crossing over a bicycle and pedestrian trail. Murphy believes that educating local police and the public about the trail is the first step.
“It was frustrating to have a police officer who handled it who was not aware of my rights as a bicyclist,” Murphy explained. “He told me I shouldn’t be riding on the sidewalk and I told him it wasn’t a sidewalk.”
The side trail crosses an entrance to the Hampton Inn parking lot and continues through the entrance to Fort Hunt Road. It was constructed a few years ago as part of the Wilson Bridge Project and opened in 2008.
“It was nice they had built the trail as part of the Wilson Bridge project,” Murphy told Patch.
This particular portion of the trail is dangerous to pedestrians and bicyclists who are heading south on the trail.
“Soon after it opened, I found that cars making the right on red at Fort Hunt Road and cars exiting the parking lot at the Hampton Inn routinely drove across the side path, looking to their left to turn into northbound Richmond Highway traffic but never looking to their right for bicycles or pedestrians coming southbound on the trail,” Murphy said on the FABB blog. “So as you come to these crossings, even with the right of way or the green light, you never know if a driver will pull out and hit you.”
Murphy asked Fairfax County Police to monitor the Fort Hunt Road and Richmond Highway intersection during one day in 2011. The police saw a “constant flow” of motorists running the red light to make a right onto Richmond Highway. With that knowledge, Murphy met with VDOT and a staff member from Supervisor Gerry Hyland’s office to brainstorm solutions.
According to Murphy, VDOT and Supervisor Hyland’s office offered to make three changes: move the "Yield to Pedestrians - $200 Fine" sign on Fort Hunt closer to the intersection in a more visible spot; paint the crosswalk with stripes; and install another "Yield to Pedestrians" sign at the Hampton Inn entrance. These changes never happened, according to Murphy, because Fairfax County decided they couldn’t implement these changes.
“What I failed to do before is to get the county to take it on as its own problem,” Murphy told Patch. “If the county and VDOT accept the problem here and figure out some sort of solution they could do. They need to take the initiative and try to solve it instead of rejecting the ideas residents have.”
Brett Kenney, Supervisor Hyland’s Chief of Staff, told Patch there are a number of efforts to improve conditions for bicyclists in the Mount Vernon District.
“We’re looking at potentially putting in bike lanes on Mulligan Road and on Fort Hunt Road if it’s improved,” Kenney told Patch. “We’re promoting Bike to Work Day on May 18.”
Murphy will continue to push for better bicycling conditions on Route 1 and says the accident was a learning experience for him.
“I didn’t believe how fast (the accident) happened,” Murphy said. “I’m really grateful I am ok. It was a lesson.”
DA
9:01 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Kudos to Murphy for pushing this issue!
Currently, there is major redevelopment planned along N. Kings Hwy. I've been trying to get bike lanes incorporated into the plans since it's a natural bike commuting route to the Metro. Sadly, Fairfax County (including both Supervisors Hyland and McKay) don't seem to see the value in this road improvement and are not supporting this improvement.
capitol5555
9:19 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Here we go again, another battle between the small minority of bilke riders and the tens of thousands of automobiles and trucks. With a large amount of motorized vehicles on the local roads and highways, especially during rush hour, how can we make so many drastic changes to our current clogged streets that are in need of repair?
To really solve the problem, a major education plan would have to be implemented for all drivers/bike riders in the area. The funding of this project would be very costly to the taxpayers of FFX county.
Try riding down Fort Hunt Road, with all of its pot holes and narrow sections of road and then come upon a single bike rider, who has no place to pull over onto a paved birm of the road to let traffic flow in a legal manner. This creates a definite safety hazard, as the speed limit is 35mph on Fort Hunt Road.
Drivers of cars and trucks do not follow all the rules of the road, but at least they stop at a red light and obey most basic traffic laws. I have noticed bicycle riders who run red lights, weave in and out of stopped traffic, and other traffice violations. Rarely do they even use hand signals when making a turn. Do not put all of the blame on the drivers of motorized vehicles.
I pity a bike rider who opts to ride his bike to and from work. For the recreational bike rider, such as me. I ride my bike on the back streets of the Mt. Vernon area. This is very safe. The streets are wide and I encounter little traffic.
Roger C.
9:24 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Gerry Hyland is useless. As an example: What happened to the hiker/biker path along Fort Hunt Road next to the country club? When the club grew, he assured us that would happen. It didn't. I am not at all surprised that the cyclist's meeting with him led to nothing. He likes to talk, and then he likes to do... nothing. From what I've experienced, this seems to be his standard operating procedure.
Jen Russell
10:10 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
I find it extremely hilarious that the guy stated the motorist did not use his turn signal. Do you know how often that happens while driving in this and pretty much any area of the country? The police don't even use their signals, just like a boatload of bicyclists who do not signal & cut you off. I drive all over the Mount Vernon area daily and have been cut off by people on bicycles because they believe they have more "right of way" than a person in a car or they are not paying attention. If you can not go the speed limit on major road ways.. the solution is to stay off of them! Plain and simple, problem solved. Use the bike path, complain about the upkeep of that instead of "I was riding 4 mph on Richmond Hwy during rush hour and cry cry cry". I do agree that Hyland is a useless human to this area, but what can you do? Find a replacement for him, someone who is more qualified and does not talk out the side of his you know what. We complain so much about everything.. why not change what we are complaining about or if it can not be changed, then stop whining and shut it. Bicycles do not belong on major roads... they belong on the bike paths, the reason we have them... Surprise!
Lansing Cookson
11:58 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
The person was on a trail. It's just unfortunate that it happens to be very hazardous in this particular section. I bike to work along this route, and it's always felt very dangerous at portions where cars are quickly trying to get on or off route 1. Going North it's hard to see if someone behind me has their signal on, or looks like the might be turning. Going south, driver's are generally only looking at Northbound traffic, so they aren't likely to see me if they suddenly try to enter route 1.
I don't think this is a cyclists vs motorist thing, it's just poor transportation design.
Dave in VA
2:32 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
>>it's always felt very dangerous at portions where cars are quickly trying to get on or off route 1.<
Sounds to me like a good reason not to ride a bicycle there, but then, I'm still resisting the common societal urge to insist that every environment be altered--at nevermind the cost--to acccomodate their lifestyle 24/7.
Roger C.
3:39 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Dave - As an automobile driver, you have no greater right to be using a public right-of-way than anyone else. And if you are implying the ramping of curbs, most of the curbs you see being 'altered in the environment' are being done so that Fairfax County is ADA compliant. I hope you are not so that selfish to think the disabled have any less right to use this man-made environment than you do in your automobile. (Which, by the way, does not pay its own way in taxes.)
elf
11:57 am on Saturday, February 23, 2013
Lansing Cookson is correct. I don't know him but the Supervisor and Mount Vernon Community have been trying for years to close curb cuts on Rt. 1 so that all commercial establishments have access to Rt. 1 at safe signalized intersections. In this case the curb cut at fault could be closed and the commercial uses at that location use the signalized intersections on Fort Hunt Road or Huntington Avenue. Hyland did support that design during the Woodrow Bridge improvements but was overruled by the Federal and Virginia Transportation Departments.
cubiking
10:20 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
This is also my bike commuting route. This is a "bike at your own risk area" and I make sure motorist see me, somehow. I've been lucky and not had an accident in this area. On a side note - along this route and especially the walk/bike path from Rt.1 to GW parkway, there are broken bottles/glass lining this route. Anyway to get this cleaned up?
Michalle Baird
9:56 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Gee, reading this article and then the comments that follow makes me wonder if all the folks making a comment read what I read. Where the person was hit it is a bike/ped trail -- not a road or highway. Sure there are some bicylcist who don't signal and some who weave through traffic -- just like there are people driving cars who don't signal, speed, look both ways or maintain brake lights, head lights...whatever. BUT a car can kill a bicylcist or ped -- not the other way around, so it is that much more important that drivers of cars actually pay attention when crossing a bike/ped trail and take into consideration that an error in driving a car could kill or seriously hurt someone who is riding their bike or walking. As much as drivers here and in other parts of the US hate to share the road --- you have too -- it's the law -- and to say that bicyclists should only use trails or bike routes is crazy and backward thinking. In this time, yes it's now 2013, people care about getting in shape, saving the environment, using less fossil fuels...finding alternatives to driving a car to work everyday. You might say that I'm a leaning on the bicyclists side, well you'd be right. Because that bicyclist isn't just a faceless name -- it happens to be my husband.