Advancing active mobility in greater Prince William, Virginia

Tag: Town Hall Meeting

Virginia Bicycling Federation’s 2025 Legislative Asks Presented to Prince William Legislators

On December 19, 2024, the nine members of Prince William’s state legislative delegation depicted above held a pre-session town hall meeting to discuss their individual priorities for the coming legislative session and to hear from their constituents.  Active Prince William Co-Chair Allen Muchnick, who has also served on the Virginia Bicycling Federation’s board of directors since 1994, presented the statement below to summarize the Federation’s current state legislative priorities.


Prince William State Legislative Delegation Pre-Session Virtual Town Hall, December 19, 2024, Statement of Allen Muchnick, Virginia Bicycling Federation

Good evening.  I’m Allen Muchnick.  I live in the City of Manassas, and I’m a long-time board member of the Virginia Bicycling Federation.

In recent years, the Virginia Bicycling Federation has focused on reforming Virginia’s traffic laws to improve the safety and comfort of people bicycling on Virginia’s roadways.  Specifically, we have sought to remove dangerous and needless restrictions on bicycling two-abreast within a standard travel lane, to allow bike riders to treat stop signs as yield signs under limited circumstances, and to allow bike riders to start crossing a signalized intersection with the pedestrian Walk signal.  Between legislative sessions, we met with VDOT and State Police representatives to find common ground and iron out bill language, and our bills have been well supported by the House and Senate Democrats.   However, due to strong opposition emanating from the current Secretary of Transportation near the end of the 2024 session, we are not seeking such legislation for the coming Session.

Expanding the local authority for automated speed enforcement would be an effective way to reduce our current epidemic of traffic violence, especially pedestrian fatalities.  With the increased use of speed cameras in school zones across Virginia, support has grown to allow automated speed enforcement at any high-crash location.  We hope this expanded authority is enacted in 2025.

For the 2025 Session, the Virginia Bicycling Federation is currently seeking patrons to carry three pre-filed bills:

  • A bill to establish point-of-sale rebates for electric-assisted bicycle purchases has been pre-filed by Delegate Thomas, who patroned a similar bill in 2024.  E-bike rebates are currently in place in 10 states, and this bill, like others, would focus the rebate on low-income individuals.  E-bikes have been found to effectively replace many local motor vehicle trips and to expand mobility options for low-income households.
  • A second bill would tweak Virginia’s bicycling laws to overcome VDOT’s current objection to installing bicycle signals on two-way cycle tracks and shared-use paths.
  • Finally, we seek an authoritative study by JLARC (or possibly the Virginia Transportation Research Council) to prompt VDOT to adequately and proactively maintain its pedestrian and bicycle facilities. To this day, VDOT has no dedicated funding or asset management program to adequately maintain its pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and it’s been 22 years since JLARC last completed a comprehensive assessment of VDOT’s highway maintenance and operations programs.

Thank you for your consideration and for this public comment opportunity.

 

Occoquan District Transportation Town Hall, March 10, 6:30-8 PM

From https://occoquandistrict.net/event/mobility-matters-transportation-projects-in-the-occoquan-district/:

A number of projects are in the works to improve mobility in the Occoquan District, making it faster and safer to get where you are going, whether by car, by bike, or on foot. Supervisor Kenny Boddye has invited representatives from Prince William County Department of Transportation to provide residents with updates and answer questions on projects such as:

  • Old Bridge Road/Occoquan Road Realignment (Funded; Design Public Hearing on Feb. 3)
  • Summit School Road Extension (Funded)
  • Old Bridge Road Sidewalk – Tackett’s to Minnieville (Funded)
  • 123/Old Bridge Road Interchange (Under Study)

Click here to register for this Virtual Town Hall and to submit questions in advance. By logging into YouTube during the event, you can also participate in a live, moderated chat. After registering, please let others know about this community conversation!

Pre-Session State Legislative Town Hall for Greater Prince William, Saturday, December 18, 2021, 9:00-11:30 AM

The Virginia General Assembly delegation for greater Prince William will host a Pre-Session Legislative Town Hall this Saturday, December 18, 2021 from 9:00-11:30 am at the McCoart Building, 1 County Complex Ct., Woodbridge, VA 22192You can register at bit.ly/pwc1218 .  Questions will be answered in the order they are received. Accommodation requests can be sent via email to [email protected] .

Virginia Legislative Town Hall Meeting, Sunday, January 27, 2-4 PM, in Woodbridge

Join State Senators Scott Surovell and Jeremy McPike and State Delegates Luke Torian and Jennifer Carroll Foy for a town hall meeting to discuss the 46-day 2019 session of the Virginia General Assembly, which is now well underway.

The meeting will be held on Sunday, January 27, from 2-4 PM, at the Ferlazzo Building, 15941 Donald Curtis Dr, Woodbridge, Virginia 22191

The legislators will present updates on the 2019 General Assembly Session and listen to citizens’ questions and priorities.

Find these legislators on Twitter at @JCarrollFoy, @ssurovell, @DelegateTorian and @JeremyMcPike

Legislative Town Hall with Senator McPike & Lieutenant Governor Northam, Thursday, April 6, 7 PM to 8:30 PM, at GMU Manassas Campus

Post Veto-Session Legislative Town Hall Meeting
with Senator Jeremy McPike and Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam
Thursday, April 6, 2017
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

George Mason University Science and Technology Campus
Verizon Auditorium in Colgan Hall, 10900 University Blvd, Manassas VA 20110 Please park in the Occoquan Parking Lot

WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK:  Please join Senator McPike and Lieutenant Governor Northam to discuss legislative and policy matters that affect the 29th Senate District and the Commonwealth of Virginia.  This is not a campaign event.

Please use this Google Form to RSVP and/or to sign up in advance to ask questions at the forum

Questions?  Contact Devon Cabot at 571-316-0581 or [email protected]