New River Valley Times

Build it and they will bike: Urban planning students advise Falls Church on cyclist-friendly practices

Biking enhances our health and our planet’s health. So why don’t more of us bike to work or school?

“For many people, the principal barrier to biking is a concern for safety,” said Ralph Buehler, a professor of urban affairs and planning in Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs. “To decide to share roads with cars, cyclists must feel safe throughout the route, from point of origin to ultimate destination. Often, cities provide only a patchwork of routes, and the transitions between them can feel risky.”

Safety was one of several key issues that Buehler’s graduate students considered when city planners for Falls Church — which has fewer people cycling than other communities in Northern Virginia — recently requested a review of the city’s biking landscape.

“The city has had a bike plan since 2015, and while planners have tried to promote bicycling, their efforts have fallen a bit flat,” Buehler said. “So they asked whether my students could reinvigorate those efforts by providing their own strategic approach.”

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