Alexandria Bicycle Count (2016)

The act of creating a performance metric shows people that what is measured matters. Performance metrics have worked their way into much of what we do, from audit cycle time to counting bicycles and pedestrians. I bike to work every day and to me, walking and biking matters a great deal. However, while there is a lot of data on driving and mass transit, there is far less data on who, when, and why people bike and walk.

A few weeks ago, I spent a few hours counting people those people in Alexandria as part of the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project. For two hours on Thursday and Saturday, I counted people biking and walking along Glebe Rd and Commonwealth Ave. I observed that almost no one bikes along Glebe Rd and not many people walk either. While Glebe Rd has one newly installed bike lane, it only goes one-way, is too narrow, has a lot of cars, and lacks some of the shops and restaurants which attract people who walk and bike in other neighborhoods.

I also observed that some drivers forgot their manners when they drove in the bike lane, failing to yield to people in the crosswalk or ran the red light. I was pleasantly surprised to see that most people on bikes obeyed the traffic light, contradicting a common stereotype. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience and this data will hopefully foment improvements.

Below are some of the results. Check out BikeArlington for data from Alexandria's automated counters.