There were several purposes for the tour. Primarily we wanted to show people that many of the streets in Tysons are very bikeable. There was very little traffic on most of the roads. Granted it was on a Saturday morning, but we've done the ride during the week, once on a summer day from 9-10:30 a.m. and you can see from photos at http://www.restondigital.com/tysons/tysonstour.html, there was very little traffic even then.

Yes, Routes 7 and 123 were congested, but we used two little-traveled bridges to avoid crossing them at grade at two locations. According to traffic studies, the average speed of traffic on these roads during rush hour is about the speed of a good cyclist, 14-18 mph. With bike lanes cyclists could pass all of the stopped cars and probably make better time.

There are several low-traffic roads that cyclists now use to ride into Tysons. I do it on a regular basis and enjoy a relatively stress-free ride until hitting some of the more congested Tysons roads. And on the major roads, bike lanes can easily be added to several. Old Courthouse, Gallows Road, and Jones Branch Dr. are wide with wide turn lanes. These lanes could easily become narrower by repainting the lane markings and adding bike lanes.

Bruce Wright
Chairman, Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling
www.fabb-bikes.org

I hope there is a future for bicycling in Tysons. Although I bike many places now and prefer it both for exercise and for environmental reaons, Tysons is not on my personal ride list right now. I drive there... if I have to go there at all ... and I try very, very hard not to have to go there at all. Tysons is an awful place. It's the closest major mall to my house, but I've discovered the joys of online shopping and I never have to set foot in it.

To me, one thing that will kill the potential bikeability and walkability of Tysons is above ground rail. A tunnel will make it much easier to have a walkable/bikeable community and to incorporate good transit related design features that don't look like after thoughts. I don't know how much hope there still is (realistically) for a tunnel, but I'm still holding out some hope.