Local Bike Group Expands to Meet Bicycling Demand
0
Votes

Local Bike Group Expands to Meet Bicycling Demand

FABB brings on a variety of volunteer directors.

By Mike Salmon

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

To meet the growing demand for bicycling facilities in Northern Virginia, the Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling recently brought on three directors to expand FABB’s impact for bicycling as a form of exercise and commuting.

The three new directors are Kevin Romance, Joy Faunce and Taylor Jones.

Romance started his biking career as a newspaper delivery person in this area before 

Kevin Romance

 

moving to California, where he continued biking in a few mountainous rides. He now lives in the Herndon area and rides the trail along the Fairfax County Parkway and the Washington and Old Dominion trail. As part of FABB, he wants to focus on accessibility for underserved communities and on cycling infrastructure. "Cycling safety, and how we can keep cars, bicycles, and pedestrians functioning safely alongside each other is an important part of where I hope to make an impact," Romance said.

Faunce is a native of Fairfax County and has been riding the trails around the county for years. She would like to see the biking infrastructure around the county continue to improve. Faunce lives in North Springfield and likes the trail around Lake Accotink and the W&OD trail as well. "It has 

Joy Fuance

 

been nice to see how much the biking infrastructure has grown in the last couple of decades. Being on the board gives me an opportunity to give back,," she said.

Jones works in Rockville, Maryland, as the Executive Director of Bikes for the World, which rescues unused bikes and rehabilitates them for others who want to bike. He also has experience in bikeshare organizations. Jones is a Maryland resident but has been involved in the area's biking infrastructure before with Capital Bikeshare. He looks forward to improving the biking infrastructure and connectivity. "FABB has become a respected voice advocating for a more connected County and I want to be a part of creating more connections and getting more people engaged in their surroundings," he said.

With the advent of E-Bikes, FABB has seen the number of bicyclists in the area 

Taylor Jones

 

increase, and they are meeting the increased numbers with more emphasis on bikes as a form of transportation. “Given the size of our county and the increase in biking, the FABB board felt it was necessary to increase our board membership from 8 to 11 directors,” said FABB president Bruce Wright.


Biking Options Expand

A significant part of biking in the eastern part of the county is the Mount Vernon Trail along the Potomac River. FABB Board member Jeff Gauger, commented on some recent actions on the Mt Vernon Trail: "Arlington and the City of Alexandria successfully applied for SMART SCALE funding to improve and reconstruct approximately 6.5 miles of the northern section of the MVT, from Roosevelt Island to near Jones Point Park. In the not-too-distant future, this section of the trail will be repaved and widened to 11 feet, where feasible,” he said.

The southern portion of the trail has received funding for specific projects.  For example, bridge 12 near Waynewood was recently replaced thanks to a $2 million Transportation Alternative Program grant. And just this month, the National Park Service announced a contract to replace bridge 23 that goes over Dyke Marsh and bridge 24. Still, we're going to end up with a nice, new northern MVT in Arlington and Alexandria, and possibly continuing with a narrower and bumpy southern MVT in Fairfax County.

FABB is part of a coalition to advocate for funding for the southern section of the MVT. The coalition includes the East Coast Greenway, the Capital Trails Coalition, the Coalition for Smarter Growth, and the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail. 

More like this story