As part of our commitment to helping Fairfax County residents make informed choices about local leadership, FABB invited all three candidates in the Braddock District special election to respond to our bicycling and active transportation questionnaire. Here are Republican Ken Balbuena’s responses:
Do you own a bicycle? What is your Fairfax County cycling experience (commuting, recreation, errands, etc.)?
Yes, I have a crossover bike that I use for recreational purposes, primarily to exercise through my North Springfield neighborhood. I have ridden it on secondary roads on occasion as well.
How do you plan to support the continued implementation of the Active Transportation Plan?
The Active Transportation Plan provides a good pathway to increasing multimodal options, particularly bicycles. I would support primarily low/no-cost options such as the Safe Routes to School program among elementary schools primarily. Many of the elementary schools are within residential settings, so it makes transportation easier than middle schools or high schools, which tend to be along busier streets. Part of this would include standardizing a bicycling unit into the physical education curriculum to encourage students to ride their bikes to school. This unit seems to be dependent on the individual school and does not seem to be consistent whether it’s a topic for elementary or middle schools. Costs would be an implementation factor, so I would encourage schools to partner with their PTAs to help offset the cost of equipment and maintenance.
I would also support the Bike Share program, which does not have a significant presence in the Braddock District. Public-private partnerships with shopping center operators would permit the infrastructure to be built in unused parking spaces, so the footprint of stations would not need to impede on sidewalks or street parking. This would be similar to how Tesla charging stations are located on the last row of parking spots at Springfield Town Center.
What percentage of County transportation funds do you think appropriate to earmark specifically for multimodal transportation (on street bike lanes, separated multi-use trails, etc.) What percentage of County maintenance funds do you think appropriate to earmark specifically for existing multimodal infrastructure maintenance?
Ideally, a significant portion of the funds would come from VDOT grants based on Smart Scale scoring criteria and, since every project is different, I do not think there is a specific percentage of the budget that I can allocate towards funding or maintaining these projects.
The Safe Routes to School program in Fairfax County has experienced staffing turnover and currently has approximately 3 staffers (including part time). Do you think the Safe Routes to School program is currently effective, and if not, how would you change it?
As previously referenced, there are a lot of inconsistencies in the program, including a lack of standardization for if and when bicycle instruction is taught as part of the physical education curriculum. In addition to consistency in this area, I would love to see the program staff developing a community outreach program that includes fact sheets and videos geared towards students and parents. These resources would inform them up front of the benefits of biking to school, a calendar of Bike to School days throughout the year, bike safety and maintenance, and popular locations for children to ride bikes outside of the school route. This outreach effort could also be supported by the Fairfax County Bicycle and Pedestrian Ambassador Program.
Please rate (with letter grade A thru F) the current state of repair of County multimodal infrastructure (bike lanes, signage, safe crosswalks/intersections, multi-use trails). “A” rating signifying Fairfax County exceeds your standards, “F” rating signifying Fairfax County fails to meet any of your standards). If you rated the current state below “A”, what are your plans for improvement?
I would give the County a B. There are a lot of concurrent projects, but the listing of all projects on the Fairfax County Department of Transportation’s website is not as helpful as it could be. Each project listing refers to the project’s dedicated webpage.
I would encourage FCDOT to develop a Tableau kind of dashboard that allows the public to see a snapshot of where projects are, each project’s status, funding outlays/shortfalls, and any kind of relevant data to show the overall health of the program. Since these metrics are not publicly available, it is difficult to see how successful the overall program is.
There should also be greater coordination with civic associations during neighborhood repaving/restriping efforts. When I was the North Springfield Civic Association president, I worked with VDOT to shift lanes on a section of one of the main streets because there were only houses on one side of the street with street parking. The other side was the 495 soundwall. We were able to shift the lanes closer to the soundwall, so that the lane did not run down the middle of the street, providing a more narrow area on the housing-side that made roadshare more difficult and dangerous.
What policies will you recommend to ensure cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists can all travel safely in the county?
A specific policy I would recommend is greater law enforcement of cyclists who disregard stop signs, especially during the spring and summer seasons. That is a particular danger in my neighborhood for both cyclists as well as vehicles. It also sets a bad example for younger cyclists who are learning the rules of the road.
I would also look for opportunities to provide greater connectivity to the cross-County trails. Additionally, since a key part of my platform is focused on commercial redevelopment into mixed use properties, I would push for relevant incentives for developers to include bike storage areas beyond bike racks to provide greater security and open green spaces and sidewalks for pedestrians.
Is there anything else you would like us to know about your views of bicycling in Virginia?
Cyclists should work with Visit Fairfax to encourage tourism for bicycle enthusiasts. When I was on the board of Visit Fairfax for six years, we frequently developed marketing plans geared towards niche audiences such as birders and business travelers for “bleisure” extended stay trips. Targeted cyclists would be a revenue generator from sales tax, hotel occupancy tax, and meals tax. It could also build Fairfax County’s reputation as a bike-friendly area.
