The completion of a 50,000-mile U.S. Bicycle Route System throughout the lower 48 states may be years away, but for Virginia the future is now.
The state currently has the most miles of designated U.S. Bicycle Routes in the nation — 838 miles.
The commonwealth got a head start when Bike Routes 1 and 76 were designated for bicycling more than 20 years ago.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials recently approved a National Corridor Plan that sets guidelines and framework for establishing a nationwide bike route network.
Bike Routes 1 and 76
With the help of Adventure Cycling Association, a task force identified and mapped 50,000 miles of corridors for bicycle routes (see below), as well as a route numbering system. Next the states can choose the exact routes through those corridors, install road signs, create maps, and work with neighboring states to decide where those routes can cross borders.
Jakob Helmboldt, Virginia's bicycle and pedestrian program coordinator, told me that Virginia is further down the road than other states, due partly to the designation of two routes that were conceived more than 20 years ago.
USBR 1 runs the length of the East Coast from Maine to Florida. However, Virginia and North Carolina are the only states where the route is officially designated by the AASHTO. From the north, the USBR 1 enters Virginia in the DC suburbs, heads south to Fredericksburg, Richmond, then veers to the southwest through Burkeville and Victoria.
USBR 76 is the old Bikecentennial Route, now called the TransAmerica Route. It runs east-west from Yorktown, Virginia, to Astoria, Oregon, although portions are not designated by AASHTO.
More work
Helmboldt says a third route — USBR 15 — has been proposed to run down the Shenandoah Valley.
“I surmise that we will likely designate something for that in the future once the details from AASHTO are hammered out. It will fit well with our pending efforts to establish a network of statewide bike routes.”
Just because Virginia is ahead of the other states doesn't mean its work is done. Helmboldt anticipates that some roads will have to be changed because of increased traffic.
“We are also developing our first state bike plan which will help us identify areas of the USBR system that need to consider realignment to better corridors (i.e. those with less suburban sprawl development) as well as roadway improvements.
“Much of the USBR routing is along rural secondaries which means low-volume (traffic) roads, but which also typically lack shoulders. Coupled with a high-growth state there are segments of the routes that are getting more traffic and which need some better bike accommodations.”
Other states
The Adventure Cycling Association says Florida and Michigan also have started laying the groundwork for their portions of the U.S. Bicycle Route, and 11 other states have shown some interest.
A Virginia bicycle map showing USBR 1 and 76, as well as the Heart of Appalachia, Virginia Creeper, Tobacco Heritage, and Washington & Old Dominion Trail, among others, is available for a free download at the Virginia Bicycle Map website.
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