To the Editor:
The subject of managing bicycle traffic in Old Town is a complex one, but a key element is the effect of such traffic on the quality of life for residents.
Old Town must be a walkable city, something it seemed to emphasize a few years ago but now has taken a back seat to other interests. It is evident that Old Town residents have complained about bicyclists not stopping at stop signs and not yielding to pedestrians, and added to this peril is the recent declaration by City Council that bicycles may travel on the city sidewalks. How can all of this be interpreted as anything but placing pedestrian safety, and pedestrian access, second to bicycle traffic?
Clearly Old Town must come to grips over bicycle traffic, both because it is a fact of life in the city and because City Council has determined we should be a "bicycle friendly" city. The concern to us is that in accomplishing this Old Town will become a city unfriendly and unsafe for pedestrians.
A year ago Alexandria had proposed making Union Street a bicycle corridor. This made sense as the Mount Vernon trail leads onto Union Street at both ends of Old Town. Now there is talk of a "Bicycle Boulevard" along Royal Street. Why has this changed?
Royal is a particularly bad choice for such a boulevard. A bicycle boulevard is intended to offer bicyclists a route less traveled by automobiles and trucks to reduce the riders' exposure to exhaust fumes and to avoid competing with the motorized vehicles as well as not compete with pedestrian traffic. Such a boulevard should feature minimal amounts of vehicles and cross traffic. Royal Street, by contrast, carries a significant traffic load during the morning rush with the St. Mary's school cars, the private and public school buses, Dash buses and the cars stopping at Safeway, collectively making challenges for pedestrians. Commuter car traffic crosses Royal at several points as does pedestrian traffic in the form of school children walking to the schools in the area: Lyles-Crouch, St. Mary's and St. Paul's. The afternoon rush hour is similar, although with less traffic from St. Mary's School but much more crossing traffic from cars leaving Old Town.
And throughout the day, cars and pedestrians are going to and from the Safeway, not to mention Royal Street being an important thoroughfare for emergency vehicles.
It is already unsafe for pedestrians to cross South Royal at intersections during the commuting hours and removing stop signs on any of the streets will make this worse. As noted earlier, among these pedestrians are children, the elderly as well as handicapped people visiting the Safeway.
Pedestrians in Old Town are its residents, its children, its elderly and the many tourists that visit us. While many of us who live in Old Town are also bicyclists, the very large number of bicyclists who commute through the city do not live here and should not imperil the safety of our communities or the quality of life we enjoy by living here. Being "bicycle friendly" should not result in our city become pedestrian unfriendly and by that diminishing an important aspect of the quality of life in Old Town.
Arnold Miller and Ayne Furman
Alexandria