- FABB needs a dedicated volunteer to promote bicycling in regional transportation planning.
- Interested in being our NVTA rep? Contact us at [email protected].
FABB is looking for a volunteer interested in bicycle advocacy to represent our organization with a new Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) Stakeholder Group. The nascent Stakeholder Group includes more than 50 organizations representing advocacy groups, citizen associations, chambers of commerce, and business associations from throughout our area.
The Stakeholder Group will share their ideas, experiences, and needs to help shape NVTA’s primary responsibilities – long range transportation planning, as seen in its TransAction Program, and its Six-Year Funding Program. Most important, its members will provide valuable feedback on transportation issues and the priorities that affect all northern Virginians, businesses, and other interested organizations. The group will complement other NVTA engagement efforts with northern Virginians.
Help shape a better transportation future as FABB’s rep.
The level of effort for FABB’s representative will be kept to a reasonable minimum. The Stakeholder Group intends to conduct about three to four virtual and in-person meetings each year. Some meetings might require preparation to become familiar with brief read-ahead materials. FABB’s directors will hold a brief pre-meeting with our representative to develop agreed advocacy positions for the Stakeholder Group meeting topic.
Formed by the General Assembly in 2002, the NVTA serves the region encompassing the Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William, and the Cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park. It is responsible for long-range transportation planning for regional transportation projects and can set regional transportation policies and priorities.
Legislation directs that NVTA should be guided by performance-based criteria such as the ability to improve travel times, reduce delays, connect regional activity centers, improve safety, improve air quality and move the most people in the most cost-effective manner. While these are good criteria, FABB wants our representative to advocate for greater emphasis on expanded biking infrastructure as a proven means to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality, especially for short neighborhood trips. In addition, when combined with mass transit to create a safe and reliable means for longer daily commutes, biking can make a great difference in moving more people in a cost-effective manner.
You can learn more about the NVTA, its activities, and its funding authorities here.
The first meeting has not been scheduled, but NVTA tentatively expects it to occur in October. FABB would like to identify a volunteer by the end of September.
This is a great opportunity for a volunteer to make a difference in local transportation—and help save the planet—by becoming more involved in bicycle advocacy to support the expansion of active and multimodal transportation options in our region.
Interested? Please contact us at [email protected].
