Similar to many cities in the early 1970’s bike boom, Alexandria residents created a bike plan which would connect the entire city. Some of the projects have been built while others languish. Special thanks to Casey Kane for sharing the map from his FOIA request!
By the late 1960’s, bicycling was relegated to a children’s hobby. Few adults rode bikes and few bike shops even existed as most bikes were sold in children’s toy stores or department stores. But by the early 1970’s, biking boomed, in part responding to congestion and the 1973 oil crisis. Similar to many cities around the country, Alexandria officials created the first bicycle master plan in 1974.
Overall, the 1974 plan was ambitious with the goal of putting bike infrastructure within 3,000’ of every resident. While modern bike plans are usually written by consultants, this plan was created by the Committee on Bicycle Lanes and Storage Facilities, led by chairperson Barbara Lynch. Mrs. Lynch had played a pivotal role in building the Mt Vernon Trail in the early 1970’s. While the plan lacked the fancy graphics and crowd-sourced maps, the details and projects were reasonably well-defined. In fact, city staff even proposed separating bike lanes from traffic using physical barriers or pylons in addition to paint. While the plan incorporated previous city plans for recreational cycling, it was the first plan to include commuter cyclists too.
The plan proposed loop bikeways connecting to three areas; the future Van Dorn Metro station (Blue), the future King St/Braddock Rd Metro stations (Green), and along the waterfront in Old Town (Red). However, the 1970’s bike boom gradually faded and vehicular cycling took over city traffic departments. Some trails were built across the city but it took until the middle of the 2000’s for the city’s first on-street bike lanes to appear. Over time, many of the 1974’s planned routes have been partially built. The Holmes Run Trail, the Eisenhower Trail and the Four Mile Run Trail link diverse neighborhoods together. Pitt St was the main north-south route linking two parts of the Mt Vernon Trail but now Union St hosts the most cyclists. Added to the 1974 plan by city staff, the King St bike lanes were built out to the high school in 2014 and 2016 despite intense opposition from a vocal minority although a compromise gap remains.
While some great infrastructure has been built, many areas lack low-stress connections to other parts of the city. There is no low-stress connection between the West End and Old Town as people must ride along wide, multi-lane streets in between. Even on Commonwealth Ave has a half-mile gap despite going through neighborhoods with a high rate of bike commuters. While the 1974 plan called for an on-street bike route via Seminary Rd, buffered bike lanes were only recently proposed and would be the first low-stress connection between the east and west. Still, a vocal minority opposes any changes to the street.
Some connections are informal or not designed for bikes such as the Ivy Hill Cemetery connection where the gates are left open and the Fort Williams Park footbridge. At some point, the city banned people biking from using the waterfront trail and even as that trail is gradually being built out, people biking are relegated to unimproved Union St.
Other connections are likely impossible to restore. While the 1974 plan proposed using the W&OD right of way as a trail, only a quarter-mile segment was built and even after an upcoming extension to Richmond Highway, the 1.4 mile segment to Arlington has mostly been obliviated. There no low-stress connections to the Van Dorn Metro and only a handful in the West End.
Some neat infrastructure has built that was incomprehensible in 1974. The Wilkes St Railroad Tunnel was still in service until 1975 and only opened as a trail in 2008. Potomac Yard was an integral part of the freight rail network but we now have the Potomac Yard Trail. In the 1970’s, few new bridges had bike paths but in 2009, the new Wilson Bridge included one, allowing Alexandrians to walk and bike to Maryland for the first time.
While some outstanding infrastructure has been built since 1974, a lot of work remains. Filling in the gaps will go a long way towards improving cycling.
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