Council Approves Signage For Six Bike Routes

The Vienna Town Council approved a series of signage Monday that will more clearly direct cyclists to six bike routes in town, a move officials hope will better facilitate travel between the town and Tysons — and, with luck, take the cars they would have used off the road in the process.

The town , marking it with signs from the town boundary — the dog park west of Nutley Street — to the intersection of Locust and Center Streets.

The six routes that earned signage at Monday night's meeting are already marked on regional bicycling maps, and have been since 2008, Transportation Safety Commission chair Sharon Baum said. The TSC and the town's Bicyle Advisory Committee recommended formally recognizing the roads as bicycle routes as a way to help cyclists unfamiliar with Vienna, or those wanting to give more regular bike commuting a try, more and better information about getting around without a car, particularly between the Vienna Metro and Tysons Corner as the area continues to develop.

With the approval, Department of Public Works employees will begin producing and installing about 65 white and green signs with the town's logo across the six routes, at a cost of about $6,800. The cost includes materials and labor, according to town documents.

The routes include:

• Tapawingo Road SW and SE from Nottoway Park SW to the W&OD
• Glyndon Street SE from Adahi Road SE to Talahi Road SE
• Talahi Road SE from Glyndon Street SE to the W&OD
• Echols Street SE from Branch Avenue SE to Wolftrap Rd SE including Branch Avenue SE from Valley Drive SE to Echols Street SE and Niblick Drive SE between the offset intersection points of Echols Street SE with Niblick Drive SE.
• Cottage Street SW from Locust Street SW to Cedar Lane
• Center Street N and S from Mill Street NE to Locust Street including Mill Street between Center Street N and W&OD.

For a map, click on the PDF in the media player above.

While bicyclists are not limited to the selected streets, "it's probably a good idea to put signs out there to funnel them into more established routes," she said.

Property owners will not lose parking, Baum said; the routes are not dedicated bike lanes.

Part of the agreement also included a promise to leave the signs in place for a year before adding more, so the town can adequately address and react to any issues. 

Baum said the signs are a key step toward the town's certification as a bike-friendly community under the League of American Bicyclists, who wondered why Vienna hadn't marked many of the routes already shown on area maps.

In a memo to the town council, Department of Public Works staff said safe bicycle facilities should be considered for current and future transportation needs of the town.

Baum said cyclists can continue to find resources on the BAC website. In the future, the organizations hope to add features that will allow cyclists to map their options or gauge how challenging their routes might be.

The town could also add a key or color marking to signs to mark routes as easy or challenging, depending on how the route is graded, she said.