Virginia is deciding how to spend billions of dollars on transportation—and bicyclists have an opportunity to tell state officials that safer streets, better bicycling and walking connections, transit, and maintenance of the infrastructure we already have should come before another round of highway expansion. You have two opportunities on October 8 and by November 30 to Speak Up! in support of better bicycling.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) is seeking public input on Virginia’s transportation priorities and its Six-Year Improvement Program. FABB encourages Northern Virginia bicyclists to join the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) in calling for a transportation program that puts safety, maintenance, and transportation choices ahead of simply building wider and faster roads.
Northern Virginia residents can participate in an in-person listening session on Thursday, October 8, at 2 p.m. Officials from the CTB, Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, and other agencies will be on hand to discuss transportation initiatives and hear from the public.
Written comments for the CTB are due November 30, 2026, and CSG has made it easy to participate with an online comment form. Try to personalize your message with an example from your own community—a dangerous intersection, a missing bike connection, an arterial that is difficult to cross, or a road project where safety improvements for people walking and biking should receive greater priority.
Why This Matters to Us
This matters enormously in Northern Virginia. Many of our most difficult bicycling environments are wide state-maintained arterial roads that divide neighborhoods and make even short bicycle trips unnecessarily stressful or dangerous. CSG and its partners—including FABB—have repeatedly called for redesigning these roads to make them safer for people walking, bicycling, taking transit, and driving.
At the same time, Virginia faces substantial maintenance needs. CSG recently highlighted a $200 million road-repaving deficit, arguing that scarce transportation dollars should first maintain existing roads, bridges, transit, and bicycling and walking facilities rather than continually emphasizing expansion.
CSG is asking Virginia to adopt several commonsense priorities: give Virginians more alternatives to driving; follow a “fix-it-first” policy for roads, transit, and rail; provide transit funding that keeps pace with inflation; help communities redesign dangerous arterials for safety, transit, bicycling, walking, housing, and mixed-use development; and ensure that transportation investments are consistent with the Commonwealth’s climate and resilience goals.
For bicyclists, the connection among these policies is especially important. A transportation system that gives people realistic alternatives to driving requires more than isolated trails and bike lanes. It requires connected networks, safer crossings, streets designed for appropriate speeds, and comfortable routes that allow people to reach jobs, schools, stores, transit stations, parks, and neighboring communities by bicycle.
Virginia has made worthwhile investments in passenger and freight rail and transit, and those efforts deserve continued support. But the Commonwealth also needs to reconsider a transportation philosophy that too often treats moving automobiles quickly as the overriding objective. Transportation investments should instead help move people safely and efficiently while strengthening the communities through which our roads pass.
Two Ways to Speak Up!
- Speak directly to transportation officials on October 8.
The meeting will be held at the VDOT Northern Virginia District, Potomac Conference Room, 4975 Alliance Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030. - Submit a comment by November 30.
Use CSG’s convenient form and tell state officials why Virginia should prioritize safety, maintenance, bicycling, walking, and transit. A short, personalized comment about a road or transportation problem in your community can be particularly valuable. Use CSG’s transportation priorities comment form.
FABB members know from experience that decisions made at the state level can determine whether our roads become safer and more welcoming for bicycling—or remain barriers that discourage people from riding at all.
This is an opportunity to tell Virginia transportation officials what you see every day on our roads.Take a few minutes to submit a comment, personalize it with an example from your community, and ask Virginia to make safety, maintenance, and genuine transportation choices the priorities they should be.
