Mapping bike routes for Northern Virginia

On the W&OD Trail (photo by Tracy A Woodward/Washington Post)

Since my bike accident six years ago, I've been really sensitive about riding on the open road, even if surrounded by a phalanx of fellow riders. When it comes down to it, cars (in my case, it was a van that clipped my rear wheel, sending me flying) are bigger and faster than bikes. And most people drive as though they were encased in a suit of armour. Cars can make bright people stupid, especially when they see a bicycle in front of them in busy urban areas like Northern Virginia, where I live.

I only live four miles from George Mason University, where I work. I'd seriously consider riding to campus, but given the traffic in this area, there's no question in my mind that someone would eventually get me.

And as this Washington Post story explains, cycling in this area "has been described as more dangerous than traveling from the Baghdad airport to the Green Zone: "Along Braddock Road, Lee Highway, Huntsman Boulevard and many other thoroughfares, cyclists put their lives in jeopardy trying to share the road with fast-moving traffic." I would have to cross Lee Highway and Braddock Road to get to campus.

So now, area cycling leaders have created a bicycling map of Fairfax County to develop safe and straightforward routes crisscrossing Fairfax. "What it's going to do is allow people to find routes that allow them to get around the county," said Bruce Wright, who heads Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling. I got to know Bruce, by the way, during my court case when the Loudoun County police ticketed me for failure to yield following my accident. I won the case when the court determined that I was entitled to the same rights as a pedestrian in a crosswalk that was part of a cycling path (the W&OD Trail in this case).

The new map features two types of bicycle routes: preferred and not preferred. It plots a route, for example, from the Braddock District to Fairfax City without requiring a ride along busy Little River Turnpike. Similarly, it plots a route from the Vienna-Fairfax Metro station to George Mason University that takes advantage of a paved path connecting Five Oaks Road and Plantation Parkway.

I commend Bruce for his hard work. But devoted cyclists are like that, right?