All BikeWalk Virginia members and friends are urged to attend to the first annual BikeWalk Virginia Board/Member Retreat to be held on Friday and Saturday, February 24-25. Your voice and input are needed to develop a strategic plan for the coming years. Come and share your hopes for a better Virginia for bicyclists, pedestrians, hikers, equestrians, and paddlers. Working together, what can we accomplish now? What are your specific suggestions? What should BikeWalk Virginia’s plan for the future be? How can we best realize our common vision?

The retreat will be held at the scenic Roslyn Center off River Road in the west end. There is no cost for BikeWalk Virginia members, partners, and friends to attend other than your bed and breakfast if you spend Friday night. BWV will provide lunch on Saturday.

A BWV Board strategic planning session will be held during the day on Friday. Member involvement will commence Friday evening. A complete schedule and further details are found on the BWV website.

All members are encouraged to attend all, or part, of our Retreat. Reserve a seat by returning the 2006 Retreat Registration Form. Bike Walk Virginia Board members and staff look forward to meeting you and working with you to identify and then achieve our mutual goals. See you in February!

Congratulations and welcome to the members of BikeWalk Alexandria, the first official local chapter of BikeWalk Virginia. Members of BWA and any other future local chapters are automatically BikeWalk Virginia members, helping to grow a larger and more powerful statewide constituency of cyclists, walkers, paddlers, and equestrians.

President of BWA Jerry King says the group hopes to increase its membership “so we can provide a better environment for pedestrians and cyclists." Bike Walk Virginia Executive Director Allen Turnbull notes, “Developing local chapters focused on local issues is critical to getting our message out across the state. Local officials can be champions and send a strong message to Richmond.”

Both the Senate and the House have bills in the 2006 General Assembly session that will improve pedestrian safety by strengthening Virginia's crosswalk laws. The bill would require motorists to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks; they are currently only required to yield to them.

The SB233 bill is on the agenda of the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday, January 26 at 2 p.m. Once the bills clear their respective committees, BWV will issue an Action Alert with further information on contacting representatives. Text of HB1211 .

8th Annual BikeWalk Virginia Conference
April 30 - May 3, 2006
Lynchburg, VA

The 8th Annual Virginia Bike Walk Conference will bring together a powerful mix of citizen advocates, community leaders, city engineers and planners, and safety officials to develop "best practices" Virginia can use to promote safety for all street users, focusing on the most vulnerable--pedestrians.

General sessions and breakout groups planned for Sunday evening and Monday will explore what is being done and what can be done to make Virginia communities safer and more accessible from a pedestrian standpoint. There will also be opportunities to explore our host city, Lynchburg.

The keynote speaker will be Charlie Zegeer, international expert in highway safety and director of the Pedestrian Bicycle Information Center. His presentation will highlight what’s being done around the world to make the streets safer for all. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Charlie Zegeer will team up with Michael Ronkin, Oregon's bike/ped coordinator, to lead a two-day technical workshop, Designing for Pedestrian Safety. Alia Anderson, executive director for ACCT and a nationally-certified Safe Routes to School trainer, will lead a one-day workshop on Safe Routes to School. For workshop details, click here.

A Virginia Bike Map should be available this summer for Virginians and visitors alike. Leading the project is state VDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator David Patton, who has brought together BikeWalk Virginia and other agencies, biking organizations, and individual experts to create a “Gateway Map.” This Gateway Map will show the locations of Bike Route 76, Bike Route 1, and major trails.

Special emphasis will be given to 12-15 selected trails or areas through large scale inserts. Web links will be provided so that cyclists will have all the information they need to “hit the road” or “the off-road”. The map will be similar in size to VDOT’s road map and map of scenic roads, and will be distributed free of charge. DMV is partially funding the project.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is seeking a Coordinator to administer the new Safe Routes to School program. The right person for the job of SRTS Coordinator will be a “proactive safety- minded engineer” who can enable and encourage walking or biking to school; make walking/biking to school a safer and more appealing alternative; encourage healthy, safer lifestyles, and facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities to improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution. February 3rd is the application deadline.

Led by the Save the Trail committee, a campaign is being mounted by concerned citizens to protect the lush tree canopy of the Washington & Old Dominion Trail. The canopy will be destroyed if Dominion Virginia Power (DVP) opts to erect 120-foot high powered transmission lines in the trail easement it owns along the last 11 miles of the trail. As the only nonprofit, preservation organization dedicated to preserving the W&OD trail, Save the Trail is currently focused on preventing the erection of these towers.

“DVP has now proposed other routes, but the State Corporation Commission, the administrative body that will decide where the towers will go, has recently ordered DVP to notify the public that the Trail will be considered along with all other routes,” explains Barbara Notar, President of the Board of Directors of Save the Trail, Inc. The organization has hired an attorney to represent it in the State Corporation Commission proceedings.

“This representation is essential, as other groups have petitioned the SCC to use the Trail rather than routes they may live near,” says Barbara. “Save the Trail is currently fundraising in order to pay the legal fees incurred by this litigation."

The State Corporation Commission public hearings are being held on February 8th and 9th. Friends of the trail are urged to attend and speak out in support of the preservation of the last 11 miles of the W&OD Trail.

The Williamsburg Community Health Foundation has awarded the Active Williamsburg Alliance (AWA) a grant of $6,775 to establish a Safe Routes to School program in the Williamsburg area. Funds will be used to educate the community on this vibrant national initiative and to identify schools that would be "good candidates" for a Safe Routes to School program. The goal is to make it safe for school children to walk or bike to school through a number of measures, particularly the “four E’s”: education, enforcement, engineering, and encouragement.

AWA is also set to become the second official chapter of BikeWalk Virginia. BWV’s Board has approved its application and the required paperwork is now being filed. Watch this space for the official announcement!

If you are interested in participating in or learning more about AWA's Safe Routes to School program, please contact Stephanie Smith at BikeWalk Virginia (danderson@bikewalkvirginia.org).

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) has given the top marks to Virginia and Scotland in their 2005 Report Card for outstanding mountain biking and successful bicycle advocacy.

IMBA’s state representative Chris Scott attributes Virginia’s high marks to its well-organized mountain biking community, and its ability to negotiate and reach agreement with wilderness advocates, as it did this year in regard to the multi-use trails in Jefferson National Forest. Other factors include the partnership agreement that IMBA signed with the VA Department of Conservation and Recreation in 2005, and the leadership provided by Virginia's network of clubs.

Williamsburg Buses Get Bike Racks
Williamsburg Area Transport received an $11,000 grant to install bike racks on its buses. The racks are capable of holding up to two bicycles and will make it easier for cyclists to use public transportation. The grant was obtained through the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.

D.C. Targets Rising Pedestrian Deaths
To reduce the rising number of pedestrian fatalities, the District of Colombia has begun airing radio commercials that emphasize pedestrian safety and is participating with Maryland and Virginia in a regional “Street Smart” education initiative. The District has also hired a full-time pedestrian-safety coordinator, made improvements to 20 of the most dangerous intersections and installed 1,200 countdown pedestrian signals since 2003, the most of any city, according to District officials. The city is also paying police overtime to watch for traffic violations.

The District had 16 pedestrian fatalities this year, up from an average of 12 annually during the past three years. About 3,000 pedestrians a year are hit by cars in the region, and pedestrian fatalities account for 22 percent of total traffic deaths in the District, Virginia and Maryland, according to the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Boards.

2006 Helmet Reviews
The 2006 review of helmets, including new safety features.

State Without a Plan Says Auditor
“The Commonwealth Lacks a Coordinated Transportation Plan,” stated the December report of the VA auditor of Public Accounts. Key findings can be found on pages 2 and 11-15. The report provides a useful tool for tracking VDOT’s budget as well.

Chesterfield’s Green Report Available On- Line
The latest report from Chesterfield County’s Committee on the Future, entitled Green Infrastructure: Protecting Resources for Future Generations explores the concept of developing a green infrastructure plan and incorporating it into the county’s strategic plan. It was presented and accepted by the Board of Supervisors in November. Hard copies are available from Mary Kruse at 804- 796-7079.

Environmental Must Read
Grassroots, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s quarterly, is aimed at friends of Virginia's natural and recreational resources. View the online version or call (804) 786-1712 or email grassroots@dcr.virginia.gov for hard copies.

Active Living Research Conference in February
Active Living Research will host its third annual conference February 16-18 in Coronado, California, featuring findings from top scholars in the interdisciplinary field of active living.