City of Manassas Installs Dangerous and Unnecessary Trail Bollards

 

March 15, 2021 Update:  I have  been informed by the City’s Director of Public Works that many of the bollards shown above have been removed.  The City is now installing a single rigid bollard on the trail centerline, with additional bollards placed six feet apart at some locations.  In addition, reflective tape will be installed near the top and the bottom of each bollard.  While these changes significantly reduce the severity of the trail-bollard hazard, the users of these paths will still remain at some risk for serious and permanently debilitating and even fatal injuries from crashing into the remaining bollards.  I urge all public agencies to follow the AASHTO guidance and FHWA recommendation (both cited below) to end the routine use of even single rigid bollards as its default design treatment to discourage motor vehicle incursions on shared-use paths.

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I sent the following notice to multiple City of Manassas officials on February 7, 2021:

I was pleased to see the lead article in the January 2021 issue of City Connection newsletter, featuring several newly built asphalt shared-use paths around Manassas.  I commend City staff for working inter-departmentally to quickly fund, design, and build these valuable neighborhood connections.

However, my initial joy over these new connections was soon marred by disappointment and dread upon seeing the four photos of dangerous, unnecessary, and closely placed rigid trail bollards on Slides 20 and 21 of the Manassas Public Works annual report.

While intended to prevent both intentional and accidental intrusions by motor vehicles--and occasionally needed to prevent costly damage to fragile infrastructure, such as foot bridges--hard, rigid bollards installed within the traveled way of shared-use paths have been widely recognized for decades as a substantial hazard for people riding bicycles, causing many severe and permanent injuries and even deaths.   An extensive bicyclist critique of trail bollards is posted here.

For that reason, nationally recognized guidance for the design and construction of shared-use paths have long cautioned against installing hard, rigid bollards on shared-use paths.   A variety of simple and cost-effective alternative design treatments—starting with signs prohibiting entry by motor vehicles—are quite effective at preventing motor vehicle intrusions and vastly safer than trail bollards.

Although NOVA Parks’ 45-mile Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail includes scores of at-grade road crossings, NOVA Parks removed all of its former bollards and fences along that trail more than 20 years ago, in recognition of the significant danger that such obstructions pose to trail users.  NOVA Parks has not seen any need to reinstall trail bollards since.

Where the risks and consequences of unwanted motor vehicle entry is significant and demonstrated, trail bollards should be installed only on the centerline of two-way shared-use paths, and flexible bollards should be used if feasible.  If multiple bollards must be used, they should be used in sets of three (never two or four, to reduce head-on collisions) and spaced at least five feet apart to allow safe passage by bicycle trailers.

The Federal Highway Administration has long warned against installing bollards on recreational trails.  The first bullet point states:  "Even "properly" installed bollards constitute a serious and potentially fatal safety hazard to unwary trail users. In addition, no bollard layout that admits bicycles, tricycles, and bicycle trailers can exclude single-track motor vehicles such as motorcycles and mopeds. For these reasons, bollards should never be a default treatment, and should not be used unless there is a documented history of intrusion by unauthorized cars, trucks, or other unauthorized vehicles."

Similarly, the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities (4^th Edition, 2012) contains extensive guidance on trail bollards on pages 5-46 and 5-47, including these paragraphs:

Since the above-referenced newly installed trail bollards are a well-recognized defective and unreasonably dangerous property condition for people riding bicycles, scooters, skate boards, and other devices, I ask that these trail bollards be removed immediately from the paths at Kinsley Mill Park, Tudor Lane, Oakenshaw Park, and Bartow Street and that none be installed along the still-unfinished path along the southern perimeter of the Metz Middle School property.

I’m confident the City of Manassas would never install a rigid bollard within a few feet of any vehicular travel lane, although such obstructions would mostly endanger vehicle exteriors, not human bodies.  So, how can it be considered acceptable to expose non-encapsulated people traveling on balanced bicycles (or simply walking) to such dangerous obstructions?

Sincerely,

Allen Muchnick, City of Manassas resident

 

Advocacy for Bicycle-Related Legislation in the 2021 Virginia General Assembly

 

Statement to the Prince William Delegation to the Virginia General Assembly January 9, 2021, by Allen Muchnick, Manassas Resident

I'm Allen Muchnick, a City of Manassas resident. I’ve been a board member of the Virginia Bicycling Federation since 1994 and co-founded Active Prince William five years ago.

Both organizations seek safer and more pleasant walking and bicycling and improved justice for pedestrians and bicyclists injured by negligent motorists.

Thank you for passing a wide range of long-delayed progressive legislation in 2020.  We sincerely appreciate the just-implemented ban on using handheld electronic communication devices while driving a motor vehicle, requiring motorists to stop—not merely yield—to persons in crosswalks, establishing a traffic infraction for motorists who negligently injure a pedestrian or bicyclist, and authorizing automated speed cameras at schools and highway work zones.

Legislative changes that we support for the 2021 session include 1) expanding the authorization for automated speed cameras to include residential and business districts, 2) allowing localities to impose urban speed limits below 25 MPH in residential and business districts, and 3) lessening contributory negligence limitations for pedestrians and bicyclists injured in traffic crashes.

We also seek three changes to Virginia’s bicycling laws to increase the safety, comfort, and ease of bicycling.   The bicyclist safety stop would allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs as long as they yield to all closely approaching cross-traffic.   Stop signs are often installed in lieu of yield signs due to the danger of rolling stops by motorists and as a neighborhood traffic-calming measure. Because bicyclists are generally slower and not inside a vehicle, they can more readily observe and yield to cross-traffic without fully stopping. When bicyclists fully stop their balance is unstable, their effort is greater, and they take longer to clear intersections.  Thus, bicycling injuries have been found to decrease after states have implemented the bicyclist safety stop.

Two related changes would allow bicyclists to ride two abreast at all times and prohibit motorists from passing bicyclists within the same travel lane.  Motorists rear-ending or side-swiping bicyclists is a major cause (ca. 40%) of bicycling fatalities.  Bicyclists riding two-abreast are much more visible to following motorists.  Requiring motorists to execute a full lane change before passing a bicyclist is more understandable to drivers and much easier for police to enforce.

Please ensure that state-funded Potomac River crossing expansions at the American Legion Bridge and at the Long Bridge include substantial bicycle and pedestrian elements, that standalone bicycling and walking improvements are fully eligible for all relevant state and regional transportation funding programs, and that the ban on Sunday hunting on public lands is preserved.  

Thank you for your service and best wishes for a productive legislative session.

 

Reject NoVA Parks' Proposal to Widen The W&OD Trail in Arlington

 NoVA Parks' concept plan for widening its W&OD Trail in Bon Air and Bluemont Parks

 (Arlington County's closely parallel Four Mile Run Trail is not visible in this image)

Below is my May 24, 2020 public comment to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) regarding a $5.6 million project funding application from the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (aka NoVA Parks) to widen two miles of the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail in western Arlington County VA (from N. Carlin Springs Rd to N. Roosevelt St) with 6 to 10 added feet of  pavement.

This segment of the 45-mile W&OD Trail, which runs from Shirlington to Purcellville in Northern Virginia, lies just a few feet away from Four Mile Run, a 9.4-mile long suburban/urban stream that flows into the Potomac River at the southern end of Reagan National Airport and thereby connects to the Chesapeake Bay.  For a variety of reasons, the Four Mile Run stream has become increasingly subject to recurrent and often violent flooding and storm water surges in recent years.

Currently, this segment of Four Mile Run has two closely parallel asphalt-paved paths, typically along opposite sides of this stream: the W&OD Trail (a fairly straight long-distance regional rail-trail, generally 10-12 feet wide, plus gravel shoulders) and the Four Mile Run Trail (a more meandering stream valley park trail with more local connections, generally 8 to 10 feet wide).  Thus, this segment of Four Mile Run is already fairly closely flanked with about 20 feet of impervious asphalt trail pavement.

To alleviate alleged "trail congestion" on the W&OD Trail in Arlington, NoVA Parks proposes approximately six feet of added pavement along a western one-mile segment along I-66, where the space between Four Mile Run and the I-66 noise wall is fairly narrow, and approximately 10 feet of added pavement (a 2-foot painted buffer and 8 feet marked for pedestrians) along a one-mile segment through two Arlington County parks (Bon Air and Bluemont) to the east of I-66.

Arlington's adopted Bicycle Transportation Plan and Open Space Master Plan both recommend unspecified trail widening and mode separation for this trail; however, no community-based planning study has been conducted to determine an optional package and configuration for conceptual trail improvements.  NoVA Parks' funding application does not seek any money to conduct any such study, which should have been a prerequisite for a construction-funding application.  Instead, it only seeks $650,000 for "design, engineering, and environmental work" and $5.0 million for the actual construction.

As background, I lived about one block away from this proposed project for more than two decades, and I also led the citizen campaign in the 1990s to finally build the last missing W&OD Trail segment through Arlington’s Bluemont Park.  

I'm certainly not deadset against any widening of the W&OD Trail along Four Mile Run; however, seeking construction funds before developing a community-based concept plan for this corridor is just plain wrong and will strongly prejudice project development, the evaluation of project alternatives, and the assessment of adverse environmental impacts.

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Dear Members of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA):

I urge the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to reject NoVA Parks' funding application (NOV-002) to widen two miles of the W&OD Trail in western Arlington County for the following reasons:

1) This proposed project application is highly premature and very controversial.   Many capable and diverse Arlingtonians, who reside throughout the County, vehemently oppose this project, which they view as unnecessary, unlikely to yield substantial (or any) transportation (or recreational) benefits, and certain to have significant adverse environmental impacts that have not been properly evaluated, much less prudently avoided and adequately mitigated.

2) No community-based planning process, alternatives analysis, or environmental assessment has ever been conducted for this proposed project.  If funding is awarded, the project opponents will likely pressure the Arlington County Board and NoVA Parks to conduct those studies in a full, fair, and transparent manner.  Thus, NVTA can have no assurance that this project will ever be constructed, especially as described in the funding application.

 

3) The transportation benefits asserted in the project application are speculative and unsubstantiated, at best.   The project application assumes—without a shred of meaningful scientific evidence—that:  a) active transportation trips along the existing W&OD trail were ever depressed due to inadequate trail width and/or an absence of mode separation and b) constructing a new parallel pathway for pedestrians—without any physical barrier—would make the trail safer.

4) The project proposal is scoped much too narrowly and omits much-needed and important trail enhancements that could significantly increase active transportation trips to the East Falls Church Metrorail station; namely: 

• a) building a new grade-separated pedestrian and bicycle crossing of N. Sycamore St, to directly access the Metrorail station, 
• b) upgrading the existing trail lighting along the I-66 segment of the proposed project and extending that trail lighting east of I-66 to N. Carlin Springs Rd, 
• c) re-aligning the W&OD Trail to eliminate or reduce the unnecessary steep hill and dangerous sharp blind curve at the Brandymore Castle hill, and 
• d) making Arlington’s existing and closely parallel Four Mile Run Trail better suited as a separated facility for walking, jogging, and casual bicycling by i) re-paving flood-prone  trail segments, possibly with flood-resistant concrete, ii) constructing short missing trail segments (e.g., immediately west of Wilson Blvd), and installing wayfinding signs, which are sorely needed by visitors and new users.

5)  As noted by several others, this project proposal would have significant adverse environmental impacts on storm water runoff and natural habitat that are unlikely to be adequately mitigated.  Adding 6 to 10 feet of new imperious pavement to a two-mile stretch of the W&OD Trail that closely abuts the flood-prone Four Mile Run stream would seriously exacerbate the stream’s current storm water runoff and flooding problems and remove a rare linear urban meadow habitat.  Furthermore, storm water runoff and flooding would become even worse if any of the understory trees between the W&OD Trail and Four Mile Run are removed to install the widened trail.

6) This proposed project is largely or completely unnecessary because, as noted above, Arlington's existing Four Mile Run Trail could readily serve as a superior separated facility for pedestrians and casual bicyclists--at very low cost and with minimal adverse impacts--compared to the new adjacent pedestrian path proposed by NoVA Parks.

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Comments on the Manassas Comprehensive Plan Final Draft, January 27, 2020

Manassas City Council Public Hearing on Draft 2020 Comprehensive Plan

Statement of Allen Muchnick, January 27, 2020

I’m Allen Muchnick.  I live in the City of Manassas on Park St.

Regarding the controversy over building heights in the historic downtown, I generally support the language in the Land Use chapter and within the section on the historic downtown in particular.

That said, the Messenger Place project has significant flaws, most notably the provision of resident parking in a surface lot across Church St, rather than beneath the residential units.

I recommend the development of a form-based-code zoning overlay for the downtown area—and ultimately for the Mathis and Sudley Medical sectors—to promote the forms of mixed-use development, building heights and densities, building facades and setbacks, and public amenities that the community desires.

A general weakness of the proposed Comp Plan is inadequate emphasis on energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, and addressing our looming climate crisis.  The City, including its electrical utility department, should develop and adopt a comprehensive energy plan with measurable strategic objectives to lower carbon dioxide emissions and energy costs.

A weakness of the Land Use and Mobility chapters is the lack of specific objectives to break up the superblocks that inhibit access and mobility in our city.  In particular, the superblock bounded by Fairview Ave, Wellington Rd, Main St, and Prince William St should be broken up when the current police station is vacated.

Some of the transportation projects listed in Table 6.1 are not well described, especially in relation to the transportation projects in the current Capital Improvement Program.   For example, Project #10 is described as “Add bike facilities on Sudley Rd from Godwin Dr to Grant Ave” for $4.88 million, but there is no mention of the Sudley Rd Third Lane project.

Finally, regarding the Pedestrian Element of the Transportation Master Plan, last spring I recommended that the plan include missing sidewalks on Nelson Ln and Robnel Ave between Stonewall Rd and Peabody St, to provide east-west pedestrian access just north of the Judicial Center.  Staff rejected that recommendation on the grounds that a missing sidewalk is proposed one block farther north on Beauregard Ave.  However, that proposed sidewalk is farther from the Judicial Center, originates at the bottom of a steep hill on Stonewall Rd, and does not directly connect to the Owens Wood neighborhood west of Stonewall Rd.  Thus, I recommend including the missing sidewalk along Nelson Ln and Robnel Ave in the final Transportation Master Plan.

Thank you for your consideration.

Advocacy Statement to Prince William-Area State Legislators on January 4, 2020

Statement to the Prince William Delegation to the Virginia General Assembly January 4, 2020, by Allen Muchnick, Manassas Resident

I’m Allen Muchnick, a City of Manassas resident. I’ve been a board member of the Virginia Bicycling Federation since 1994 and helped found Active Prince William four years ago.

Both organizations seek safer and more pleasant walking and bicycling and improved justice for pedestrians and bicyclists injured by negligent motorists.  We support requiring motorists to stop--not merely yield--to persons in crosswalks; establishing a traffic infraction for motorists who fail to exercise due care to prevent a collision with a pedestrian or bicyclist; increased penalties for law-breaking motorists who severely injure pedestrians (HB 247); introducing speed cameras near schools; and lessening contributory negligence limitations for injured pedestrians and bicyclists.

To reduce the current epidemic of distracted driving, please ban all use of handheld electronic communication devices while driving a motor vehicle (SB 136, SB 160).

Please ensure that state-funded Potomac River crossing expansions at the American Legion Bridge and at the Long Bridge include substantial bicycle and pedestrian elements and that standalone bicycling and walking improvements are fully eligible for all relevant state and regional transportation funding programs.   Also, do not remove land-use considerations from the CTB’s SMART SCALE project evaluation process or restrict the use of congestion-priced tolls on limited-access highways, an effective congestion-reduction tool and valuable new funding source for multimodal transportation projects and services.

The following remarks are my own and should not be attributed to any specific organization:

Congratulations on your recent election.  The 2020 Legislative Session should allow many important but long-delayed progressive changes to finally become law: increasing the minimum wage, ratifying the ERA, common-sense gun controls, expanded and easier voting, redistricting and campaign-finance reforms, banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, reversing anti-abortion restrictions and delays, decriminalizing marijuana possession, curtailing plastic bags and Styrofoam, and increasing the affordable housing supply.  

However, effectively addressing our looming climate crisis is paramount.  Please support the Green New Deal Act (HB 77), the Virginia Alternative Energy and Coastal Protection Act (HB 20), and the Virginia Energy Plan (SB 94), abolish the 1% cap on solar net metering by Virginia electric utilities, and expand opportunities for community solar projects.

Thank you for your service and best wishes for a productive legislative session.