Category: Advocacy (Page 1 of 14)

VDOT’s Support of Active Mobility Has Improved. Here’s What’s Still Lacking.

December 14, 2025 / Allen Muchnick

We submitted the following public statement in conjunction with Northern Virginia’s annual joint transportation agency public hearing held on October 20, 2025. It’s our succinct assessment of VDOT’s support for active mobility in 2025.

Northern Virginia Joint Transportation Annual Public Hearing
Held on October 20, 2025 with a November 3, 2025 Deadline for Written Comments
Statement of Allen Muchnick, Member, Virginia Bicycling Federation and Active Prince William Boards of Directors

The Introduction to VDOT’s 2004 Policy for Integrating Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodations states:

Bicycling and walking are fundamental travel modes and integral components of an efficient transportation network. Appropriate bicycle and pedestrian accommodations provide the public, including the disabled community, with access to the transportation network; connectivity with other modes of transportation; and independent mobility regardless of age, physical constraints, or income. Effective bicycle and pedestrian accommodations enhance the quality of life and health, strengthen communities, increase safety for all highway users, reduce congestion, and can benefit the environment. Bicycling and walking are successfully accommodated when travel by these modes is efficient, safe, and comfortable for the public. A strategic approach will consistently incorporate the consideration and provision of bicycling and walking accommodations into the decision-making process for Virginia’s transportation network.

We commend VDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program for several recent efforts to better implement this policy.

1) Last December, VDOT’s Northern Virginia (NoVA) District Office published its study of planned-but-unfunded active mobility infrastructure listed in the Transportation and Comprehensive Plans adopted by NoVA localities. That report identified 4,981 lane miles of planned-but-unfunded active mobility infrastructure throughout NoVA (see Table 5 on p. 17), the bulk of which (4,140 lane miles)–if built as standalone construction projects in 2022–would require a total of between $9.3 billion and $19.2 billion in funding (see Table 21 on p. 47).

2) VDOT’s statewide bicycle and pedestrian program is now tracking the completion of new bicycling accommodations on an annual basis. VDOT’s FY2025 Bicycle Facilities Metric Report identified 52 separate projects that added a total of 31.13 lane miles of new bicycle facilities within NoVA in the last fiscal year, with 10 lane miles in non-VDOT localities and 21 lane miles
on the VDOT road network (see Appendices G and H). Of those 52 projects, 16 projects collectively added 13.66 miles of shared-use paths, whereas 36 projects (including 13 roadway recongfigurations) added a total of 14.47 lane miles of bike lanes and 3.0 lane miles of shared-lane markings.

While those 31.13 lane miles of newly completed bicycle facilities within NoVA comprised 38% of the statewide total for FY2025, they equate to less than 1% of the roughly 4,000 lane-miles of the planned-but-unfunded bicycle facilities identified in NoVA locality planning documents. Such a low documented completion rate calls for both a) increased funding and implementation of NoVA bikeway projects and b) expanded opportunities for VDOT roadway reconfigurations beyond Fairfax County.

3) VDOT’s statewide bicycle and pedestrian program has been progressively tracking Virginia’s statewide inventory of existing bicycle facilities and is now in the process of developing a statewide inventory of sidewalks and crosswalks that is expected to be completed by April 2026.

As VDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program reported in its July 2025 newsletter, “the bicycle facility inventory map displays 1,614 miles of shared-use path facilities, 986 lane miles of bicycle lanes…, 484 lane miles of shared lane markings and locally designated routes, and 7.5 miles of sidewalk connectors…”

It’s long past time, however, for VDOT’s Maintenance Division to establish a strategic and proactive asset management program for those active transportation assets under VDOT ownership–especially asphalt shared-use paths–to ensure safe and comfortable bicycling conditions for the traveling public.

Thank you for considering these comments.

Nine NoVA Advocacy Groups Seek Better Active Mobility Funding

October 1, 2025 / Allen Muchnick

“Regional Active Transportation Stakeholder Meeting” at the NVTA office on July 31, 2025 (Photo courtesy of NVTA)

In March 2025, the Virginia House and Senate Transportation Committee Chairs asked the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) to review the findings from the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) 2024 Northern Virginia Bicycle and Pedestrian Network Study and recommend regional funding strategies for infrastructure identified in the study. VDOT’s study identified nearly 5,000 miles of planned but unfunded active transportation infrastructure throughout Northern Virginia.

In July and August 2025, NVTA, with the aid of a consultant, convened two “Regional Stakeholder Meetings” for this study, to solicit the input of local and regional transportation agency staff and local, regional, and statewide active mobility advocacy organizations. In reaction to the content and format of those two exploratory meetings, the nine active mobility advocacy organizations identified below sent the following joint letter to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, to recommend a more ambitious and comprehensive study scope.

The October 2025 draft of this study report was later released for public comment through October 22. Feedback on that draft report can be submitted to NVTA on this Google form.

September 25, 2025

Ms. Monica Blackmon, CEO
Northern Virginia Transportation Authority
2600 Park Tower Dr, Suite 601
Vienna, VA 22180

Re: A Regional Approach to Funding Northern Virginia’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure

Dear Ms. Backmon:

We, the undersigned advocates and community members invited to participate in recent regional coordination meetings organized by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) to study and discuss ways to expand funding for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in Northern Virginia, are writing to provide general comments on the process thus far. In summary, we underscore the need and opportunity for a broader study scope than what has been presented and further work to ensure a successful outcome.

We appreciate this timely and regionally important study

Firstly, we are deeply appreciative of the opportunity to share our perspectives as bicyclists, smart growth advocates, and users and supporters of the region’s active transportation network and to contribute to NVTA’s important work. As with regional transit funding, identifying and securing sufficient, stable, and sustainable funding to support continued active transportation investments is a critical challenge as our region faces the growing pressures of congestion, unsafe roads, and climate change. We are confronted by the shortcomings in our current built environment every time we walk out of our homes or destinations—sometimes quite literally, in the form of incomplete sidewalks and impossible-to-cross corridors. And the consequences go beyond time lost and productivity, with death and serious injury all too common in our transportation headlines.

We have long championed a safer and more efficient alternative transportation vision centered on walking, biking, and transit, and are therefore encouraged by NVTA and affiliated agencies taking meaningful steps in support, including with this study. To wit, we recognize the growing number of member applications for Six-Year Program (SYP) funding for pedestrian and bicyclist projects—almost half of the applications submitted this past summer and one fifth of the total funds requested.

Proposed study scope of funding options needs to be broadened…but still focused on local empowerment

We are, however, disappointed by the narrow scope of NVTA’s study, particularly its apparent sole focus on exploring and expanding locally-controlled funding sources. The Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Northern Virginia Bicycle and Pedestrian Network Study Report identified nearly 5,000 miles of planned and unfunded bicycle and pedestrian facilities estimated to cost between $9.2B and $30.8B to build; these eye-popping figures will most certainly require a funding paradigm that goes beyond tapping or expanding local general funds. We therefore strongly encourage NVTA via this study and forthcoming report to, at a minimum, contemplate those mechanisms outside its direct control but nonetheless crucial to achieving its mission.

As one example, this study could explore and expound on the feasibility of Senator Scott Surovell’s proposal to establish an annual local tax on privately owned parking spaces that could be dedicated to expanding active transportation infrastructure.

It should be noted that unlike transit investments—the scope of which befits a coordinated, regional approach—active transportation investments are best managed by localities able to adapt designs to fit local contexts. So even as we look to regional, state, and even federal sources for funding, the end goal should be to effectively and efficiently funnel such resources to empower our counties and cities.

Include existing statewide funding sources that can contribute more to active transportation

We also believe NVTA is particularly well-positioned to comment on major statewide funding programs, including Virginia’s SMART SCALE and HSIP; it could well utilize its expertise to provide insight to its constituent jurisdictions and elected leaders on how those mechanisms might be modified administratively or legislatively to better deliver on our active transportation priorities. VDOT has large sums of federal funding at its disposal (about $4 billion in highway capital expenditures every year), much of which could be flexed to better prioritize critical safety needs and underfunded travel modes.

Identify ways that localities can flexibly apply and manage funding

NVTA should also look internally at ways to continue to adjust how it solicits, evaluates, scores, allocates, and tracks project submissions for NVTA, CMAQ, and RSTP funds—and improve transparency around such processes—to better deliver on these shared priorities. Key to that is viewing active transportation not as a separate category of project but as an integral part of the overall transportation network, with meaningful consideration of layering walking and bicycling into every transportation project big or small. Development, adoption, and implementation of an NVTA Complete Streets policy and program would be an impactful first step.

Include maintenance, roadway reconfiguration and quick-build projects

This study should also consider the need for VDOT to adequately and proactively maintain its existing active mobility assets and how VDOT’s annual roadway surfacing program—a critical but underused mechanism to expand active mobility infrastructure through roadway reconfigurations and quick-build projects—might be more effectively and widely utilized. The high per-mile network cost estimates in VDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Network Study Report were predicated on exclusive implementation via standalone construction projects rather than a more realistic (and far less costly) mix of implementation strategies including improvements as part of ongoing upkeep.

Establish a regional mechanism to track needs and progress

Last but not least, a key outcome of this study should be to identify an effective regional mechanism that complements or builds on NVTA’s nascent efforts to continuously and comprehensively track and annually report on the actual implementation of active transportation infrastructure, via all funding sources, throughout Northern Virginia. Without such a mechanism, our region can’t reliably track its progress toward an effective active transportation network. For example, if the region is found to expand active mobility infrastructure at an average annual rate of 50 lane-miles, it should take roughly a century to complete the currently identified network.

Conclusion

While we acknowledge that it may not be NVTA’s role in policy or practice to offer explicit recommendations—particularly regarding legislation—or to upend established norms, this study should be an opportunity to introduce as broad a universe of ideas as possible to constituent jurisdictions and elected leaders for their careful consideration.

The core question undergirding this study—how to begin chipping away at a $10B+ backlog of needed investments—is challenging. Narrowing the focus may therefore seem sensible on its face, but our collective concern is that a limited study will inevitably leave us under-equipped to develop the robust policies and strategies needed to implement needed active transportation infrastructure and safety improvements. Therefore we encourage you once more to seize the opportunity presented by this study to explore broadly and deeply, to make full use of the gathered agency staff and advocates, for the benefit of our Northern Virginia communities now and into the future.

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth Kiker, Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Allen Muchnick, Active Prince William
Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth
Ken Notis, Alexandria Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee
Jim Durham, Virginia Bicycling Federation
Lisa Campbell, Bike Loudoun
Joy Faunce, Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling
Andrew Olesen, Bike Falls Church
Chris Slatt, Sustainable Mobility for Arlington County

Our Statement at the CTB’s 2025 NoVA District Pre-Allocation Hearing

May 12, 2025 / Allen Muchnick

On May 8, 2025, Active Prince William’s co-chair, Allen Muchnick, delivered the following statement at the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s spring 2025 Six-Year Improvement Program public hearing for VDOT’s Northern Virginia District:

Commonwealth Transportation Board’s Pre-Allocation Public Hearing for the Northern Virginia District, May 8, 2025, Statement of Allen Muchnick, Co-Chair, Active Prince William

Good evening. I’m Allen Muchnick, co-chair of Active Prince William. We advocate for improved active mobility and public transportation throughout greater Prince William, for healthy, livable, equitable, and sustainable communities.

Last December, VDOT’s NoVA District office released an analysis of the roughly 5,000 miles of locally planned but currently unfunded active transportation facilities throughout the District. That non-exhaustive analysis estimated the present-dollar (2022) cost to create those already planned active mobility facilities to total roughly 14 billion dollars.

At the present rate at which standalone active mobility projects are funded, it would take hundreds of years to complete those already planned active mobility facilities. The NoVA region needs a study to figure out how to more effectively fund active mobility infrastructure.

Since 2010, VDOT’s roadway reconfiguration program has wisely reallocated excess travel lane space in Fairfax County, to cost-effectively retrofit bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements on many dozens of roadways during scheduled resurfacing, while also reducing speeding. However, Prince William and Loudoun Counties have largely been excluded from this program, because their local transportation planners were not notified early enough of the candidate road resurfacing projects. We urge VDOT’s maintenance division to extend this earlier notification of repaving candidates to all Virginia counties.

The alignment of US Bicycle Route 1 through Prince William County is a prime example where retrofitted bike lanes or paved shoulders are desperately needed. Although AASHTO and VDOT established this route more than 40 years ago and a VDOT consultant re-evaluated the route’s alignment through NoVA more than a decade ago, the bicycling conditions on several Prince William route segments just get worse. The County’s online Bicycle Skill Level Map labels Old Bridge Road, part of Minnieville Rd, Aden Rd, and Fleetwood Dr—all lacking bicycle facilities and posted at 45-MPH–as “Roads to Avoid” and tags Hoadly Rd and Tanyard Hill Rd as “Low Comfort”. VDOT’s 2015 Bicycle Level of Service Map for the NoVA District rated those segments similarly. It’s long past time for VDOT and the County to fix those embarrassing and potentially deadly deficiencies.

Despite the hundreds of miles of VDOT-owned shared-use paths and sidewalks throughout the NoVA District, VDOT still performs little maintenance and repair of such assets, except in response to reported complaints. After construction, the pavement is left to deteriorate for decades and is fixed only after repeated complaints. VDOT still has no annual budget or established policies and procedures to adequately and proactively assess and maintain its active mobility assets. As a first step, the Virginia Transportation Research Council might be asked to study how to best accomplish this perpetual maintenance.

Thank you for this opportunity to comment.

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Our Recommendations for PWC’s Traffic Safety Action Plan

May 6, 2025 / Allen Muchnick

On May 5, 2025, Active Prince William submitted the following recommended programmatic actions for Prince William County’s Comprehensive Traffic Safety Action Plan that is now under development. We look forward to seeing our recommendations incorporated in the adopted plan and implemented by PWCDOT and VDOT in the years to come. View our official comment letter.

Active Prince William’s Recommended Programmatic Actions for Prince William County’s Safe Streets and Roads for All Action Plan

1) Reduce the design speed for all commercial arterial roadways (e.g., Richmond Highway, Sudley Road, Centreville Road, Dale Boulevard) to 35 MPH or less. Speed kills. If VDOT is willing to reduce the posted speed limit on parts of US-1 to 35 MPH in Fairfax County and to 25 MPH in Arlington County (with the local governing body’s concurrence), it will do the same in Prince William County.

2) Avoid and eliminate right-turn-only lanes on commercial arterial roadways, to shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians, lower vehicle speeds and improve yielding behavior at intersections, and reduce traffic crashes.

3) Eliminate overly wide (e.g., all 12-ft) travel lanes and excess roadway capacity through roadway reconfigurations (e.g., lane diets and road diets). Wide and unwarranted travel lanes promote speeding and consume valuable public street space that could be reallocated to better accommodate non-vehicular travel modes and/or turning or parked vehicles.

4) Establish a robust roadway reconfiguration program–in conjunction with scheduled VDOT roadway resurfacing projects–to retrofit bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements, at little or no cost to Prince William County, through lane diets and road diets. As Fairfax County DOT has accomplished for well over a decade, roadway reconfigurations during scheduled VDOT resurfacing projects can substantially and cost effectively expand a locality’s bikeway network and improve pedestrian comfort and safety.

5) Improve intersection safety for pedestrians, where warranted, by installing pedestrian crossing signals with Leading Pedestrian Intervals, high-visibility (and raised) crosswalks, and improved street lighting. Reduce pedestrian crossing distances with lane reductions, bike lanes, pedestrian refuges, and/or curb extensions (aka bulb outs), and slow turning vehicles by reducing curb- return radii.

6) Add signalized pedestrian crossings of commercial arterials where the existing signalized crossings are too widely spaced.

7) Improve sidewalk safety and comfort for pedestrians and reduce mid-block traffic crashes by consolidating commercial driveway entrances and by installing raised medians during road reconstruction and rehabilitation projects. Meanwhile, all existing driveway aprons on sidewalks should receive high-visibility crosswalk markings until such driveway aprons are eventually removed.

8) Grade separate all trail crossings of multilane roadways, especially as part of interchange construction projects. Install raised crosswalks at at-grade sidewalk and trail crossings to enhance the visibility and reinforce the right-of-way of crosswalk users and to slow approaching traffic.

9) Ensure that all roadway crossings of streams are planned, designed, and effectively inventoried by VDOT to accommodate existing and future stream valley trails beneath the roadway or within the steam culvert.

10) Avoid and eliminate all at-grade sidewalk and trail crossings of multilane turn lanes or highway ramps, to preclude dual-threat or multi-threat crossing situations, where the drivers in every lane must stop for (or yield to) vulnerable road users and already-stopped vehicles may block the view of crossing pedestrians.

11) Install signs, pavement markings, and flashing beacons, as appropriate, to alert turning drivers to crossing vulnerable road users at free-flow right-turn lanes (aka slip lanes).

12) Ensure that all segments of US Bicycle Route 1 within Prince William County attain an acceptable Bicycle Level of Service (BLOS) of C or better, through roadway reconfigurations, route realignments, paved shoulder retrofits, and/or shared-use path construction or reconstruction, following up on this circa 2013 route evaluation. The deficient route segments currently include Fleetwood Dr, Aden Rd, Joplin Rd, Bristow Rd, Hoadly Rd, Minnieville Rd, Old Bridge Rd, and Tanyard Hill Rd.

13) Establish Prince William County procedures for snow and ice removal from sidewalks and shared-use paths, especially along bus routes. VDOT, by established policy, does not remove snow or ice from its sidewalks or shared-use paths, but after the roads have been cleared, sidewalks, paths, and bus stops may be blocked for many days and even weeks by mounds of plowed snow and ice, forcing pedestrians and bus riders to walk in the roadway. Do Prince William County and its four towns have and enforce snow-removal ordinances? Could volunteers be enlisted to adopt a road segment for snow clearing? Are both the County and PWCS equipped and mandated to remove snow and ice on sidewalks and paths that front PWC- or PWCS-owned parcels?

14) Establish and enforce Prince William County procedures to ensure the maintenance of traffic (MOT) for people using sidewalks or shared-use paths during nearby construction projects.

15) Establish programs to identify, inspect, prioritize, and annually fund the construction, repair, replacement, and upgrade of sidewalks and shared-use paths, by the County and by VDOT.

16) Establish a program to identify, prioritize, fund, build, and maintain neighborhood cut-through paths that connect low-traffic subdivision streets.

17) Develop and promote a bicycle comfort level (level of traffic stress) map for Prince William County, building upon a previous effort.

18) Establish a PWC quick-build program to test road reconfiguration concepts in a cost-effective and timely manner.

19) Implement a strategic and data-driven program of automated traffic law enforcement to the fullest extent allowed by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

20) Continuously track and report annually on traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities to identify their leading causes and locations and to monitor progress.

21) Develop a strategic and comprehensive active transportation master plan for Prince William County, guided by an expert team of outside consultants.

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Our Comments on PWC’s Proposed Route 1 Widening

January 21, 2025 / Allen Muchnick

A bus priority lane on University Boulevard in Montgomery County, MD

On January 16, 2025, Active Prince William sent the following comments to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) in response to a new funding request by County staff to initiate the widening of a new segment of U.S. Route 1 (between Cardinal Dr and Dumfries Rd), to create a high-speed arterial roadway with six through travel lanes for personal motor vehicles.

PWC BOCS,

After reviewing Agenda Item 8A on the 1/21/25 PWC BOCS Agenda, we are disappointed there was no public announcement and input opportunity for these priorities/plans before the agenda’s release.

While we acknowledge that the Route 123/Old Bridge Rd flyover, Sudley Manor Dr/Route 234 Interchange, and Clover Hill Rd/Route 234 Intersection are active projects, we are disappointed that the Route 1 widening project is part of this agenda item.

This Route 1 corridor segment, which includes the highest ridership Omniride local route (53 | Dumfries Connector), provides an opportunity to scope a major transit project by adding bus lanes or business access and transit (BAT) lanes.

Route 1 should be designed as a walkable and livable mixed-use regional activity center, not as a mini I-95. The county should reject the long-discredited mindset that widening commercial roadways is a viable long-term strategy that improves resident quality of life.

Such widening projects induce an even-higher vehicle mode share, burden families with increased vehicle ownership costs, render active mobility unsafe and miserable, and generate negative environmental externalities, such as noise, air, and water pollution. This project would depress transit ridership in favor of increased vehicle speeds, reduced safety, and more traffic congestion for future generations. These outcomes are in direct conflict with many proposed strategic plan goal elements.

While PWC transportation staff is proposing widening Route 1 this week, Arlington County and VDOT are recommending removing interchanges from their section of Route 1 and lowering the speed limit to 25 MPH, to reconnect the community as part of major economic development initiative, while Fairfax County and VDOT are advancing a major Bus Rapid Transit initiative along Route 1.

Prince William County is no longer a rural/exurban county with 200,000 people like Stafford County; it’s an increasingly urban county of almost 500,000 people that must significantly diversify its transportation mode share to improve quality of life for its residents.

We need to prioritize affordable housing AND affordable transportation.

We recommend the PWC BOCS:

Gather resident input on more sustainable alternatives for this Route 1 segment
Initiate a Citizen Transportation Advisory Commission, to vet transportation project priorities in a public forum before they reach the BOCS agenda
Prioritize projects that reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled

Thank you for considering this feedback.

Mark Scheufler & Allen Muchnick, Co-Chairs

Active Prince William

Advancing active mobility for a more livable, equitable, & sustainable greater Prince William, Virginia

Email: Active.PrinceWilliam@gmail.com

Website: www.activepw.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ActivePW

Twitter: @Active_PW https://twitter.com/Active_PW