Comments for “WINCHESTER-FREDERICK COUNTY MPO BIKE-PED PLAN”
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I ride my bike into town frequently, usually to run errands or to work out at Jim Burnette Park. I wish there were bike lanes throughout Winchester. I appreciate the existing bike lanes and the work on the Green Circle, but feel many more lanes are needed and feel lanes should be separated from traffic. I had some trouble with the map so I'll mention that I live south of town and enter on Middle Rd. or Rt. 11. Thank you for your efforts,
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FCPS is very interested in making neighborhoods more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Where schools are located in densely developed areas with sufficient walking/bicycling facilities, we can operate a walk to school program. We have three objectives with such programs. First, we want our walkers and bicyclers to be safe. Second, walking and bicycling to school begin to form habits in children that will help them lead healthier adult lives. Third, as families walk and bicycle to school together, they have the opportunity to interact and become a closer-knit community. Unfortunately, only one of our schools is in a dense neighborhood with good sidewalks - Greenwood Mill ES. We have other schools in dense neighborhoods, but various hazards and obstacles exist to implementing a walk to school program at these schools. Any and all improvements are welcome. Schools in areas that need pedestrian/bicyclist facility improvements include Millbrook HS, Sherando HS, Aylor MS, Bass-Hoover ES, and Redbud Run ES. In all of these cases, the biggest obstacle we face is getting students across heavily traveled roads.
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It would be great if we made the effort to become a bike friendly town and incorporated this activity into our school PE programs. Students could also bike to school if the majority of our streets had bike lanes. This area is beautiful and it would be great to enjoy it more. However, I don't feel safe out on the roads because they are so narrow and have no shoulders.
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Again, safe options for schools and shopping. Also a safe option to access the county roads for cycling. VDOT recently closed the crossover from Rt. 7 East to access Morgan Mill Rd. This one event made it almost impossible for someone on a bicycle to safely transition from Greenwood Rd. to the North side of Rt. 7 to gain access to Frederick and Clarke County roads. Rt. 7 East from the Honda Motorcycle dealership to the crossover at Woods Mill Rd has NO shoulder and anyone brave enough to ride a bicycle on it will be in the travel lane.
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I believe the key is to create a safe option for biking or walking to schools and shopping. Valley Mill Rd has NO safe option.
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Path is needed from Forest Lake Estates to 277, or at least to Sherando Park, on Hudson Hollow Road. Walking or biking on Hudson Hollow Road is extremely hazardous. Students could walk to Sherando High School and citizens could walk to the park. This path could potentially reach to the Shenandoah development on 522 South.
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I have not indicated any specific route as the solution seems pretty obvious... 1. start requiring any new construction add trail as they build like they do in NVa. 2. Pick a road every year (such as Senseny) and add trail. Build it. We will use it!
3. I understand there have been grants given to Win-FredCo and the money sits untouched or given back to the source because we can't decide what to do. DO SOMETHING... we will use it! -
Quite frankly, I do not know why you want citizen comments when there are so many obvious places to start. So I just clicked on the map enough to bring up the comment box. I'm going to be specific in my wondering what will come of this survey, not in where I want bike paths and sidewalks. The City should be congratulated for the sidewalks built in the past year. There are lots of sidewalk-free areas though. Comments mention some already, but the large, wealthy western subdivisions are the glaringly bad examples, as there was plenty of money to start them out with sidewalks. The streets are wide enough to stripe for bicycle lanes, so that's easy. My hat is off to the previous commenter who commutes through the bicycle-unfriendly intersection of US 11, Va 37 and I-81to FEMA. I also go that way and have always been glad I did not have to get beyond the 35 mph part of US 11. Widen it enough for a bike lane in each direction. Valley Ave. had a very narrow bike lane added when it was redone a few years ago. I wonder why there are so few bikes on it - maybe no feeder bicycle lanes, and maybe because one's handlebars are about as wide as the lane. There was no bike lane to the bicycle shop added when S. Loudoun/Papermill was improved about the same time. That was frustrating. There's another bicycle shop along S. Pleasant Valley. I'll ride on S. Loudoun, I avoid S. Pleasant Valley. Cut into the stores' parking lots enough for sidewalks and bike lanes and require that they install bike racks. Is all this obvious enough? If not, there are websites showing what is done in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Portland, Oregon. New York is changing it's car culture as I write, and we can follow them, too. What will it take to make Winchester attractive to bicyclists - Tim Youmans is right that it will take eliminating parking on one side of many "constrained rights of way." Do you really want more bicycling? That's the kind of change required. Are the City and County serious? When I moved to Winchester over 25 years ago, I rode the Cedar Creek Grade-Middle Road circuit. I won't now. Would the County even consider widening them enough for a bike lane each way? Not when they're cutting teachers, right? Has the county ever considered paving the shoulders of Rte. 50 East so one does not have to ride in the driving lane? And you think I know more than you about what to do to encourage bicycling and walking? All you planners are too smart to miss all the right in front of your noses places. City Council and the Board of Supervisors aren't dumb either. So just take any roadway you like, put sidewalks along it, put a bike lane or a wide enough shoulder to ride on. Next year do another. It's not hard, except to tolerate the howls of folks who will not be allowed to park in front of their houses, or who will wonder why you're spending money for sidewalks and shoulders on S. Pleasant Valley instead of a third lane for cars, etc. So if you want sidewalks and bicycle lanes, put them in. You don't need any help. You just need to start the change you'd like to see. The walkers and bicyclists will follow. I will be glad to stand up in front of City Council and the Board of Supervisors and say the same thing: Start somewhere, another study is not required. Have I made myself clear?
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Path along 522 to connect south county to winchester. There is no other possible connection now and 522 is unsafe for the current pedestrians and bikers.
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A loop that goes from Clearbrook park to Sherando park it could follow 37 on the west side, and when 37 is done on the east side it could follow it. Most counties in Northern VA have nice paths that follow their main road.
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I am very happy with what has been provided in sthe stephens city area. There are many, major developments in stephens city betw Rt 277 and 37. If there were a bike path along tasker road that connected to Rt 11 @ 37/81 and also extended over to Sherando Park, many residents could comute into Winchester.
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How great would it be to be able to ride a bike from Stephens City to Winchester! Would be a huge project I'm sure, but for commuters and just to ride into town safely on a bike would be pretty great.
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This is a beautiful entryway and exit from Winchester through Frederick County and is heavily used by cyclists, but is narrow, lacks a shoulder in most places and is pretty dangerous. Like Senseny Road,the Cedar Creek Grade corridor should only increase development (therefore traffic) with some kind of plan for widening and improving the main road that connects the development with the city.
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Can a deal be struck with Shenandoah to keep a pedestrian/cyclist gateway open at all times through here so that there is an alternative to crossing the Route 50 & I-81 intersection?
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There are now too many intersections, such as this one, in downtown Winchester that have car-triggered traffic lights, leaving cyclists stranded indefinitely without a green light unless a car finally comes up behind. Cyclists are left with the choice of waiting a long time (even at a busy intersection such as this at certain times of day) or crossing through red lights. Cyclists in Winchester are terrible at obeying traffic laws, so forcing the only ones who do obey traffic laws to choose between indefinite delays and crossing against red lights is an ill-advised transportation strategy.
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The intersection at Piccadilly and Loudoun is one of the most used by pedestrians in Winchester, and certainly one of the most used by families and out of town visitors, yet there is no pedestrian crossing without cars having a green light. Pushing the button to cross does what exactly? If there is one place that pedestrians deserve a break it is here.
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As another cyclist has indicated, the southbound cyclist on Route 11 is faced with one of the most dangerous road crossings in the city and there is no alternative. Development of both shopping and work areas on the northern edge of Winchester makes this a desirable area to go and there would be great connectedness between the city, FEMA, the Third Battle of Winchester, existing and future businesses, and the very nice country roads to the east of Route 11. A good solution will likely require an alternative connection to Redbud Rd from Amoco Ln or from Welltown Rd to Rutherford Crossing.
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Merrimans Lane provides a strategic link between the recreational path through Meadow Branch and the one under development along Amherst. It is quite busy, very narrow, and a really bad road for cyclists and pedestrians alike. It will take an expansion of this road or a route through the neighborhood of Wayland Drive and Westside Station to turn disparate recreational paths into a real network. The difference between having a neighborhood recreation area and a network is huge.
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The Senseny Road/Cork Street corridor is a key roadway from downtown to the area east of Winchester for pedestrians and bicyclists, yet much of it lacks sidewalks or a paved shoulder. Pedestrians on Senseny are regularly forced into the roadside shrubbery to avoid cars, and cyclists, without any alternative roadway exiting that side of the city, ride precariously at the edge of a busy, fast roadway with a crumbling pavement edge. If Winchester and Frederick County are going to provide any kind of infrastructure to support non automotive transportation between downtown and both the Senseny Road developments, as well as outlying Berryville, this corridor needs to be prioritized for alternative transportation. A paved lined shoulder the whole way should be the minimum support with sidewalks connecting neighborhoods to business areas.
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I am very surprised to see the roads the MPO is even considering biking/walking friendly. In many cases, there are no sidewalks nor are there designated cycling lanes. I would never use some of these roads to cycle or walk.
Perhaps, MPO should create sidewalks/cycling lanes AND use signs to alert the public that the road is part of the MPO bicycle/pedestrian circuit.
I can imagine the MPO creating/issuing bicycle/pedestrian maps to the community and visitors. What a great way to get the community active! What a great attraction to our area!
(I think the Green Circle is a great first step in the right direction. I can't wait for it to be completed!)
This initiative by the MPO is fantastic! Creating a "green city" and "fitness-oriented city" can only increase the value of Winchester to prospective employeers, employees, & current residents.
I am excited at the initiative of the MPO! (Perhaps the MPO can utilize our current local fitness groups, including the Winchester Wheelmen and the Shenandoah Valley Runners for additional feedback and/or high visibility for use.) Thank you!
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It would be wonderful if there was a walking and biking path from Senseney Glen all the way into the downtown area.
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Sorry, the map wasn't very user friendly. I live near Handley High School and bike to work most days. I work at the Rutherford Crossing at the FEMA building. I'm fine with the ride through Winchester, but where it gets really tough is the section on 11 (Martinsburg Pike) heading north out of town. The side of the paved road is very small and dangerous to ride on, and it would be two slow to try to ride in the gravel beside the pavement. Cars go 40 mph and have to drive around me. The really crappy part is the section from 37 to the on ramp for I-81, the only way to do that part is to get out there in traffic. FEMA's building is a LEED buiding, environmentally friendly that encourages biking with front row bike racks and showers. If the route out here from
Winchester was easier to bike on, I'm sure more folks would bike to work. Thanks for what you guys are doing and feel free to contact me if you have any questions. -
I would like to see a bike lane on all of the roads around downtown. Most of the sidewalks are warped by tree roots and are better suited for pedestrians not cyclists.
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This is a great initiative! I have been very frustrated on the lack of bike paths and lanes around Winchester. I live off of Senseny Road and have been scared to death attempting to ride my bike to work at Shenandoah University. Please make Winchester a bike-friendly town all around!!!
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This is the Stephens Landing Shared Use Path. Our CIP plans to have this paved and incorporated into the bike/ped shared use path system in Stephens City.