VII. the final stretch (1988-1992)

WABA's 15th anniversary year, 1987, began a new era. The organization was strong and solvent, it had a competent and outspoken Director in Lisa Gurney, a dedicated and experienced Board, and the longevity in the community to be a respected voice in regional transportational planning.

WABA also had a new address. Leaving Southeast D.C., WABA sublet a room from the National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) at 1015 31st Street, N.W., in Georgetown.

The new office was definitely a move "uptown." NPCA had just constructed the building, which was equipped with Kastle Cards and motion detectors. Co-tenants in the building included the upscale dating service Great Expectations, as well as the haughty (but now-defunct) Dossier Magazine. While a bit far from a Metro stop, the office was very convenient for the many Virginia commuters who used Key Bridge.

WABA's Arlington activists continued their string of successes. Arlington County set up a 24-hour bicycle facility hotline to report hazards on the county's bike paths, agreed to widen the planned (and long-awaited) Bluemont Trail to 12 feet, began construction of the bicycle bridge from Rosslyn Circle over the George Washington Memorial Parkway to Theodore Roosevelt Island, increased bicycle parking at the East Falls Church Metro stop (the most popular bicycle destination on the Metrorail system), and improved bicycle access to National Airport.

While Arlington was the home and focus of many active members, Charlie Martin emerged as the spiritual leader in Arlington affairs, combining quiet competence, keen political intuition, and unstoppable dedication. Martin was a physicist by training and a bicycle advocate through and through. He had a gift for using WABA's resources to advance the agenda for Arlingon's bicyclists. "Charlie remains one of the most influential non-Board members in WABA's history," said President Bill Silverman. "He had an uncanny ability to address major bicycle facilities and planning issues in the County while remaining valuable to and respected by County staff and politicians. He never got anyone angry, or left anyone with the impression that our demands were unreasonable. 'Honey tastes better than vinegar,' he once told me, and that lesson served me and WABA well."

Elsewhere in Virginia, WABA waged a protracted but successful battle with the City of Alexandria after officials installed barrier gates on the Mount Vernon Trail at the Porto Vecchio condominiums. Pressure by WABA eventually resulted in a summit meeting between WABA, Porto Vecchio residents, and Mayor James P. Moran. The gates were quietly removed in 1989 as part of a WABA-suggested engineering solution to the problems of the intersection. Moran would later prove to be a valuable proponent of bicycling after becoming elected to the House of Representatives from Virginia's eighth district in 1990.

Creation of the Capital Crescent Trail from Silver Spring to Georgetown remained WABA's highest priority. A founding member of the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail, WABA co-sponsored a hike and rally, and successfully pressed Montgomery County to rewrite its initially weak assessment of projected trail use in the corridor. In December 1987, National Park Service Director William Penn Mott led a second hike and declared his strong enthusiasm for the trail.

WABA President Bill Silverman embarked on a campaign to compel advertisers who use bicycling themes to show riders wearing helmets. Silverman wrote to advertising associations, syndicated newspaper columns, national magazines, and Fortune 500 firms such as Chrysler, Stanley Tools, Sears, and MCI.

The WABA Annual Meeting in 1987 featured Washington Post transportation writer Dr. Gridlock (Deputy Metro Editor Ron Shaffer). Awards were given to Hank Hulme, Arlington County Director of Public Works; D.C. Bicycle Coordinator Tom Pendleton, the D.C. Department of Recreation, the Bottle Bill Initiative Campaign, outdoor store Recreational Equipment, Inc., of College Park, and former U.S. EPA bicycle coordinator Dianne Rowe.

1988 was also a year of major new facilities, critical advocacy victories, effective helmet safety promotion, and unprecedented government and press relations. In June, Arlington County dedicated the Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge over the George Washington Memorial Parkway from Rosslyn Circle to Theodore Roosevelt Island. In November, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority paved the W&OD Trail from Leesburg to Purcellville in Loudoun County. And in December, the National Park Service opened a 1.6-mile extension of the Mount Vernon Trail from Memorial Bridge north to the new bicycle bridge. The Rosslyn bridge and Mount Vernon Trail extension in particular were critical to the regional trail network, linking two of Northern Virginia's most strategically placed bicycle facilities. Now, bicycle commuters bound for Washington's central business district and Foggy Bottom areas could use the Roosevelt Bridge or Memorial Bridge and the Mall to avoid Key Bridge and busy Georgetown.

In Montgomery County, the first hurdle to establish the Capital Crescent Trail was crossed in December when the County Council approved purchasing the right-of-way by a 7-0 vote.

In 1987, National Park Service began a study of the region's trails on NPS land. Badly understaffed and eager for citizen input, NPS approached WABA for help. In July 1988, WABA submitted to the National Park Service a lengthy report entitled National Capital Region Bicycle Trails: Evaluation and Recommendations. Compiled by Board members Kevin Hein, Sharon Gang, Bert Glenn and many other volunteers, this report recommended site-specific improvements to all existing NPS trails and proposed that NPS create new trails and connections. The report was a major reference for the regional internal NPS study, which was published in 1990 and still dictates priorities for NPS trail improvements.

In Arlington, the Bluemont Trail opened in August 1988. Built on an abandoned railroad right-of-way, this trail was the first to conform to Arlington's new 12-foot trail width standard, which was negotiated by Charlie Martin.

• A February Alert concerned the proposed reconstruction of National Airport. As a result, WABA obtained promises of airport bicycle parking, uninterrupted access to the
  Mount Vernon Trail, and separated grade crossings of the Mount Vernon Trail at airport access roads.  Governor Linwood  Holton, Chairman  of the Washington
  Metropolitan Airports Authority, stated that the bicyclists were the group that most effectively made their wishes known, exceeding even the anti-noise lobby.
• The Montgomery County Inter-County Connector (ICC) Alert also produced many supporting  letters,  but was  deflected  by  Maryland  DOT on the  grounds that
  Montgomery County had not included the ICC as a bicycle facility in its Master Transportation Plan. This was one of the few failures of the Bicyclist Alert.
• The Taft Bridge Alert was instrumental in obtaining sidewalks significantly wider than originally planned.
• The Union Station Alert was one weapon used in a protracted battle led by Linda Keenan and David Albright for secure and convenient bicycle parking at the renovated facility. With the welcome but unexpected help of Senator Robert T. Stafford (R-Vermont), ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, the developers agreed to many of WABA's demands. On December 29,
  Union Station installed high-security Rack HI devices.
• The Porto Vecchio Alert, mailed in December, targeted the Alexandria's installation of barrier gates on the Mount Vernon Trail.

WABA handled issues in nearly all local jurisdictions concerning the entire spectrum of bicycling. Among them were removal of a tree (which literally bore scars of bicycle accidents) from the middle of the Route 110 bike path near Arlington Cemetery; persuading Sovran Bank to open its drive-through windows to bicyclists; persuading the manager of the Pavilion at the Old Post Office to consider secure employee bicycle parking; persuading the Architect of the Capitol to install ribbon racks on the House side of the Capitol; asking Virginia DOT to consider paving shoulders on all new and reconstructed roads; and persuading Metro to increase the amount of bicycle parking facilities at many Northern Virginia stations.

WABA director Lisa Gurney left WABA to join a firm specializing in constructing embassies for the U.S. Department of State. Gurney's tenure, though relatively short, was extremely important to WABA. "She was unbelievably organized," remembered President Bill Silverman. "Everything important could be reached from her desk. To Lisa, the computer was a time-saver, not a word processor, and on Lisa's watch, WABA's office management support systems began to evolve from simply keeping track of members to increasing the Director's productivity." Gurney was temporarily replaced by April Moore, a former Board member who was four months pregnant yet still commuting by bicycle from Takoma Park to the Georgetown office. A few months later, WABA hired Jim Peck as the new Director.

The 1988 Annual Meeting took place in November. Peter Nye, author of Hearts of Lions, a history of bicycle racing in the United States, was the keynote speaker. Awards were given to Ritch Viola, Arlington County Bicycle Coordinator; Chris Brown, Chairman of the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail; James Wilding, General Manager of the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority; George M. White, Architect of the Capitol; John Byrne, Superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway; and Randy Howes and Bob Lewis from Metro. A special award went to Peter Harnik, who retired from the WABA Board after nine years of service, including one year as President and most of the others as Vice President.

Some years earlier, Linda Keenan observed that Harnik's contributions to WABA were extraordinary. At the time he left the board, her remarks were still relevant: "Of all the people I know in WABA, one of Peter's greatest abilities is to make suggestions or steer things in a certain direction based on his knowledge and interest without antagonizing people. He's able to do that at the same time. If things get really intransigent, he knows when to start banging the pots and calling people to action."

The Eighties ended with a banner year for bicycling.

In Maryland, the Capital Crescent Trail inched ever closer to reality in October 1989 when Congress approved a $4 million line-item appropriation for the federal purchase of the D.C. portion. In Virginia, WABA spearheaded an effort to include a bicycle overpass for the W&OD Trail at West Broad Street in the City of Falls Church. (During the 1989 legislative session in Richmond, the General Assembly appropriated $200,000 for the bridge, matching $200,000 raised from the City and the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.)

In the District, the proposed Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) led the year's news. CSX Corporation tore out several railroad tracks on its Metropolitan Branch Line in preparation for real estate development. (The B&O Railroad—now CSX—built the Metropolitan Branch in the 1870s; it was the Metropolitan Branch that gave B&O the dome on its distinctive logo.) In a September 24,1989, Washington Post op-ed piece, WABA member Pat Hare pointed out that a rails-to-trails conversion was viable from the Brookland/Catholic University Metro station south to near Union Station, and possibly north to Fort Totten. Grade separation already existed at most intersections including Florida, Rhode Island and New York Avenues, N.E. North of Fort Totten, nearly all the property to the Takoma Park border was under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, making possible a Takoma-to-Capitol Hill off-street bicycle/pedestrian path. The Post also provided excellent press coverage in a detailed article in the "D.C. Weekly" section on November 23. At the end of the year, with the enthusiastic support of Reverend William Byron, President of Catholic University, WABA convened the first community meeting to establish the MBT in November 1989. The Metropolitan Branch Trail remained a priority in 1990. WABA founded the Coalition for the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which immediately began work to make the Metropolitan Branch Trail a reality.

In Montgomery County, WABA suffered a setback when the Maryland Department of Transportation deleted from the capital budget a $550,000 project to improve bicycle access to and bicycle parking at several Red Line Metro stations. A Bicyclist Alert generated some protest mail, and WABA received excellent coverage in the Montgomery Journal. However, in the end, the transportation department prevailed. (WABA had worked hard to get this project funded beginning in 1985.)

 

In June 1989, the Council of Governments (COG) released a study evaluating measures that would influence non-automotive access to Metrorail in Virginia. The accompanying survey suggested that one in seven Metrorail commuters living within three miles of Orange Line Metro stations were potential bike-to-Metro candidates. The report generated considerable press. (WABA had long used the previously unpublished survey results in arguments for better bicycle access to Metro.)

In October, WABA became closely involved in what was to become one of the most important and visible bicycling issues of the 1990s and beyond: placing bicycle lanes across the Potomac River on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Due to a persistent WABA advocacy effort, spearheaded by Arlington County activist John Gable, the Wilson Bridge Reconstruction Project design specifications incorporated a requirement for a bicycle/pedestrian lane. In November at the first public hearings on the project, WABA led the chorus of groups and individuals that testified in support of such a bicycle facility.

In March 1989, WABA hired Aron Livingston, a Lawrence University graduate working as a legal assistant at Arnold & Porter. Livingston quickly proved to be a dedicated and tireless worker, an articulate spokesperson, a talented writer and a spirited organizer. Livingston was also a skilled and devoted bicyclist, and had never owned a car.

"Aron really believed in our cause—he lived his life around his cycling habits. He not only biked to work—he biked on his vacations. He was an inspiration to our members," said WABA board member Sharon Gang. Livingston was also very computer-literate, and specified dozens of improvements to WABA's systems, procedures and recordkeeping.

The WABA Office grew into a whirlwind of activity. WABA upgraded its computer hardware in June. Ride On! underwent several editorial changes during the year but stabilized when Ginny Morton became editor in March. Board member and desktop publishing expert Todd Wallace became editor after Morton gave birth to a baby boy.

In many ways, it was the little things that kept WABA at the forefront in our communities in 1989:

• WABA wrote to Rack III and Kryptonite concerning deficiencies in bicycle security devices.
• WABA wrote to Landmark Apartments, Union Station, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Kennedy Center, and Alexandria about bicycle parking.
• WABA successfully urged the Washington Post to move a newspaper box off of a bike path.
• WABA wrote to Montgomery County, the Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, and the Virginia Department of Transportation about bicycle lanes and paved shoulders.
• WABA wrote to MARC and Virginia Railway Express about providing bicycle parking at commuter rail stations. WABA also asked for bicycle storage facilities on commuter rail cars.
• WABA wrote to the Park Service about the unfinished Crystal City Connector. Representatives of WABA were well received when Representative Frank R. Wolf
  (R-Va.) met on this and other bicycling matters.
• WABA commented on the Metroview project in New Carrollton (Prince George's County), the D.C. Courier bill, and dozens of other public works, legislation and
  community projects. WABA even went national, supporting a national bottle bill and a New York City law requiring helmet use for young children in bike seats.

The issue of traffic congestion in Northern Virginia was a dominant political topic in 1989. When Virginia Governor Gerald Baliles convened a far-reaching citizen- and municipality-oriented transportation policy initiative called the "Northern Virginia Sub-Regional Transportation Task Force," WABA jumped in to participate. At first, the Task Force made no mention of any form of transportation except the omnipresent automobile. But after several meetings attended by WABA member John Gable, the Task Force began to include bicycle and pedestrian access in its deliberations. WABA's work here also had a dramatic impact at the Wilson Bridge hearings.

At the end of 1989, WABA advocate Peter Harnik and Potomac Pedalers Touring Club (PPTC) Legislative Committee Chairman Chuck Montange initiated a far-reaching program to obtain a multi-year Congressional appropriation to the National Park Service for bicycle facilities in the National Capital Region. This proposed $1.5 million appropriation included funds for completing the Crystal City Connector, building the Fort Circle Trail system, renovating the Porter Street bridge in Rock Creek and the Canal Road bridge for the Capital Crescent Trail, and widening the Rock Creek Trail and the Mount Vernon Trail. WABA President Bill Silverman testified before the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on the Interior on March 7, 1990. The House-passed Appropriations Bill ended up funding $600,000 of WABA's request. At WABA's request, the entire House and Senate regional delegation signed "Dear Colleague" letters to House and Senate members supporting the appropriation.

In December 1988, WABA formed the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute (BHSI) under the directorship of Randy Swart with technical advice from Ron Brown and fundraising support from Susan Matson. BHSI had a busy first year looking for space and funding while compiling helmet literature and investigating testing facilities. Swart and Brown represented WABA at a meeting of the ANSI 290.4 Standards Committee in New York which was developing a revised and tougher bicycle helmet standard. BHSI established a Documentation Center and sent pounds of information on helmets to the press, students, researchers, and government officials. BHSI began regular quarterly publication of the WABA Helmet Update and more than tripled its mailing list. BHSI's Consumer's Guide to Bicycle Helmets pamphlet was updated and widely circulated.

Several major planning documents were published in 1990. Most notably, the National Park Service's Paved Recreation Trails of the National Capital Region and the Council of Government's Bicycle Element for the regional Transportation Plan both provide blueprints for the incorporation of bicycling into transportation decision-making throughout the 1990s. Already these two documents have had a tremendous impact locally, regionally, and at the federal level with regard to transportation issues and bicycling.

WABA's Capital Motion Bike-a-Thon continued, still with co-sponsor American Cancer Society. Under the leadership of Sharon Gang and Aron Livingston, the 1990 event brought in $17,000 for WABA (from 250 riders) despite torrential rain.

Earth Day 1990 was a tremendous event. WABA's Bike-to-Work Day had over 1200 participants including four U.S. Representatives.

Also in 1990, WABA members founded Friends of the W&OD Trail, an independent fundraising organization dedicated to financing improvements to the W&OD Trail. The Friends immediately began raising money from trail users to complete the proposed West Broad Street overpass in the City of Falls Church.

In August 1990, WABA Director Aron Livingston took a bicycle vacation in northern California. There, he met an old girlfriend, and within a week returned to Washington, packed up, and moved west to be with her. He then became a transportation consultant in Sacramento.

Livingston's legacy of excellence and dedication continued when WABA hired Bonnie Nevel as his successor. Bonnie's background and credentials were almost perfect. Nevel had joined WABA from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, where she had worked for several years for Peter Harnik. A forestry major from University of Michigan, Nevel brought strong skills to WABA, including computer science, writing and dedicated environmental activism. She also was a leading volunteer for WABA's successful Earth Day Bike-to-Work Day and Bike-a-Thon. And, while Livingston had never owned a car, Nevel didn't even have a driver's license!

"Bonnie was fascinated with efficiency," said President Bill Silverman. "As much as Aron improved our systems, Bonnie went further. She used to time tasks performed several different ways before specifying how she wanted me to improve the membership program." Nevel upgraded WABA's computer systems again, adding a state-of-the-art laser printer and a modem to facilitate compilation of the newsletter and dissemination of draft documents.

In September 1990, the Pro Bike Conference of the Bicycle Federation—a biannual international symposium on bicycle transportation—came to Washington for the first time. WABA cosponsored Pro Bike, and was proud to welcome the world's bicycle professionals to its back yard.

From bicycle lockers at the Dupont Circle Metro station to the Master Plan in the North Bethesda and Garrett Park portions of Montgomery County to the widening of North Quincy Street in Arlington to the Sligo Creek Park trail in Prince Georges County, WABA got the facts, marshalled its membership, and made a difference in 1991. WABA petitioned Congress to appropriate $1.63 million for improvements to bicycle facilities administered by the National Capital Region of the National Park Service; Congress approved $600,000.

In the District, the Coalition for the Metropolitan Branch Trail began a string of successes with a $1.5 million Congressional appropriation to begin right-of-way acqusition. Betty Ann Kane, formerly a D.C. Councilmember, joined the Coalition as an unpaid Executive Director.

1991 began with yet another move—this time from the 10th floor to the 6th floor of 1819 H Street NW. At least WABA didn't have to change the phone number!

While Todd Wallace stepped down from the WABA Board in 1991, he continued his able editing and typesetting of Ride On!. WABA's automated bulk mail system improved, even after the Postal Service completely rewrote its third class mail regulations. Ride On! never suffered from low content; most issues in 1991 numbered six or eight pages.

WABA membership grew slightly in 1991. WABA's two-year membership, pioneered in late 1990, proved to be quite popular and reduced administrative expenses.

After back-to-back rain-soaked Bike-a-Thons in 1989 and 1990, the 1991 event took place on a glorious fall day. While the day was successful, the WABA Board voted in December to sever ties with its longtime co-beneficiary, the American Cancer Society.

WABA testified before: the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments on bicycle safety, bicycle planning and land use; Arlington County concerning the extension of North Quincy Street and development of the Twin Bridges Marriott site plan; Montgomery County concerning trails and parks; the D.C. Zoning Commission concerning proposed rezoning for a "Living Downtown"; the Maryland legislature concerning Maryland's Greenways program; D.C. Council on the Capital Crescent Trail; and many more governing bodies. WABA also wrote hundreds of letters on dozens of subjects, including charges for checking bicycles onto airplanes; bike parking at the U.S. Department of Agriculture; showers at day care centers to be built on Metro land; bike access through the new Kennedy Center parking lot; hunting along the Potomac near the Mount Vernon Trail; safety improvements to the W&OD Trail; shoulders on all reconstructed and new Maryland roads; establishing a trail in the Dulles Toll Road corridor; bridging Route 7 on the W&OD Trail in Falls Church; proposed improvements to the Bike-on-Metro program; the planned massive "Potomac Yards" development in Alexandria and Arlington; area commuter railroads concerning Bike-to-Commuter Rail and Bike-on-Commuter Rail issues; and much more.

At 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 3,1992, the W&OD Trail's worst at-grade separation was eliminated when the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority dedicated a $1 million bridge over West Broad Street.

At the same time in the District, officials broke ground on the construction of the Capital Crescent Trail. Both events occured in celebration of National Rail-Trail Day, The W&OD Trail bridge played a prominent role in late October when WABA sponsored a two-wheeled tour of Northern Virginia bicycle facilities (complete with bicycle-mounted police escort from Arlington County) for transportation and planning officials from Prince Georges County. The tour resulted in a dramatic change in views about bicycle transportation on the part of the Prince Georges officials present.

Late in the year, District officials began the contracting process to develop detailed engineering diagrams for the Metropolitan Branch Trail.

In the office, Nevel resigned to circumnavigate the Earth, mostly by bicycle. She will attend graduate school in wetlands ecology beginning in September 1993. Bonnie was replaced by Ellen Jones, a former Board member and Bike-a-Thon Coordinator. Jones and her husband Jim McCarthy also do not own a car, following the rich tradition of most of the WABA directors. They have two small children who refer to the family bicycle trailer as "the station wagon."

The year—and WABA's second decade—ended with an emotional Annual Meeting as Bill Silverman stepped down from the WABA Presidency after six consecutive years. Silverman was succeeded by Linda Keenan, who since 1982 had held every other WABA position on and off the Board including Director, Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice-President. Award recipients included Recycle Bicycles, the Metropolitan Police Department Bicycle Patrol, MARC, Maryland Department of Transportation, Maryland Delegate James Rosapepe, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and American Management Systems, Inc.

 

 

I. At the Starting Line (1972) 

II. First Lap (1973-1975) 

III. Falling Off...And Getting Back On (1976-1978) 

IV. Drafting (1979-1981) 

V. Breaking Away (1982-1984) 

VI. Rounding the Bend (1985-1987)

VII. The Final Stretch (1988-1992)

Prepared for the WABA 15th Anniversary Banquet Rayburn House Office Building October 15, 1987 by Michael Gessel