Pedaling forward

From the Spandex set to the more casual intra-city bicyclist, Waynesboro city planners are working to put in place a bicycle-use plan to account for all types of riders.

It’s part of an update to the transportation component to the city’s comprehensive plan.

Harry Colman, a member of the Milepost Zero Bicycle Club of Waynesboro – and a member of the Planning Commission – is one of the serious riders. He regularly rides long distances but said he doesn’t do a lot of his riding in the city.

“As to cycling in Waynesboro, you don’t do that,” Colman said. “You start out in Waynesboro, but end up in other places.”

The local bicycle club has about 100 active members who regularly go on distance rides of 20 miles or longer, with its big event being the Tour de Valley Century, a 62-mile ride that winds through parts of Augusta and Rockbridge counties. A separate, non-affiliated cycling event, the Waynesboro Grand Prix, was held on city streets in April.

Another Planning Commission member, Terry Short, said he represents a more casual bike rider, using his bike to ride from his home in the Tree Streets to Short and Sweet Bakery, a new business he and his wife started on Wayne Avenue.

“My goal is to do whatever I can to make Waynesboro the most bicycle-friendly city in Virginia,” Short said. “You’ve got to start somewhere.”

Short said the city is not very bicycle-friendly – yet.

“I would probably score it very low,” Short said. “It’s not so much that we have roads that can’t accommodate bike facilities, or that we’re constrained on right-of-way. ... It’s kind of adapting our culture to embrace this urban environment that’s a little bit different.”

Short said he wants to see key routes designated on the city’s capital improvements plan.

Josh Levin, a bicycle and pedestrian planner for the National Center for Bicycling and Walking, based in Washington, D.C., said it’s a delicate balance to cater to the casual and hard-core bike rider.

“If the city is willing to approach the project to accommodate those riders equally, you really need to do it in a poignant manner, not to create a bicycle system that nobody’s going to use,” Levin said. “To put something out is not enough. It’s got to be a system that people are going to use.”

City Planner Michael Barnes, along with Associate Planner Sunny Yang, outlined during Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting preparations the city is making to better accommodate the different kinds of riders – the Spandex set and everybody else.

Yang said the city is considering the idea of assigning bike routes on main roads, with “Share the Road” signs on more quite neighborhood streets.

However, Colman noted that there are not enough riders in the city to put designated bike lanes on city roads.

The city’s 2008 land use plan says that pedestrian and bike travel “appears to be an issue that has generated significant interest or concern up to this point.”

The report says that while there is a desire by a number of residents to have bike lanes on major roads, “to date, there has been very little retrofitting of existing roads to accommodate bike lanes and bike travel.”

However, with additions in crosswalks and signals, those things have calmed traffic and allowed for safer crossings, according to the report.

The Lew Dewitt Access Management Plan, done in 2006, called for bike lanes on Rosser Avenue and Lew Dewitt Boulevard.

Barnes said the plan will be presented at an upcoming public meeting before the Planning Commission, and then the City Council, take up the proposal later this year.

Levin said having a quality bicycle system in place could be a potential economic boon for the city.

“To build a great bike system, it can funnel development that springs up,” Levin said, adding that, “working with other communities can get a lot of attention and bring in scores of tourism dollars because they want to take advantage of safe bike trails.”