Arlington: A Walker’s Paradise
In addition to Arlington’s wide variety of transportation options, its extensive bike and walking trails make it easy to get around. In fact, Arlington has been labeled a “Walker’s Paradise” on the Walk Score website. Living or working in an area with high walkability benefits everyone. Walkable neighborhoods encourage active lifestyles by making it easier to access stores, jobs, and other destinations on foot, contributing to better individual and public health. They can also foster social connections and a sense of community by encouraging face-to-face interactions during everyday activities.1
Walk Score measures the walkability of any address by analyzing walking routes to nearby amenities, awarding points for those within a 5-minute walk and fewer points as distance increases. It also evaluates pedestrian friendliness using factors including population density, block length, intersection density, and data from sources like Google, OpenStreetMap, and the U.S. Census.2 All of Arlington’s neighborhoods, or “Urban Villages”, scored 84 or higher, with Ballston, Clarendon, and Court House obtaining an impressive Walk score of 98!
Arlington is also designated as a Platinum-level Walk Friendly Community by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center for its “success in transit-oriented planning, remarkable promotion and outreach, and educational offerings for staff and residents.”3 The Walk Friendly Communities program recognizes communities working to improve a wide range of conditions related to walking: including safety, mobility, access and comfort.
Arlington's pedestrian-friendly initiatives are driven by a dedicated team, including a pedestrian and bicycle planner, a WalkArlington program manager, an active transportation director, and an outreach and events coordinator, all focused on improving conditions for walkers. If you’d like to know more about exploring Arlington on foot, head over to the WalkArlington website for maps and other great resources.
Bike Options
Arlington’s numerous bike trails and street bike lanes make it a great place to get around for cyclists of all levels. In 2024, Arlington was named a Gold Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.4 Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) awards reflect local leaders’ ongoing work to build better places to bike and evaluate those efforts as part of a national movement. Some key programs and a dedication to make bicycling safe, comfortable, and accessible to all played a part in Arlington’s move from a Silver BFC to a Gold BFC.
In the press release, Marlee Townsend describes those efforts. “Since their last Silver-level application in 2019, Arlington has permanently reduced speed limits on key streets, adopted a Vision Zero Action Plan, and published their Vision Zero Multimodal Safety Engineering Toolbox with engineering strategies for speed and traffic management. The County has also worked with local partners to steadily increase bike education for all ages. One hundred percent of Arlington Public Schools (APS) elementary schools provide on-bike education, reaching approximately 2,000 students annually. APS provides a fleet of bikes to schools, including adaptive cycles for children with disabilities, to ensure that every student has access to on-bike learning.”5
Living or working in Arlington means you can enjoy the area’s extensive bike routes without even owning a bike. There are over 100 Capital Bikeshare stations in Arlington, making it easy to rent a classic bike or e-bike when needed. For some Arlington residents, The Capital Bikeshare for All program offers a $5 annual membership to those who qualify for certain state or federal assistance programs. To learn more about eligibility requirements, visit Capital Bikeshare for All.
If using a bike to get around still seems intimidating, don’t worry. BikeArlington has just released Arlington County’s brand-new Bicycle Comfort Level Map. This map highlights the least stressful and most comfortable routes to get around Arlington using a data-driven rating system.
Number One in Fitness
With all the walking and biking possibilities in Arlington, it’s no wonder it was named the “Fittest City in America” for the seventh straight year by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).6 One of the main indicators described by the ACSM is that Arlington is designed for physical activity and active transportation. Whether you’re going to work, the store, dinner, or a park, Arlington makes it easy to get there without a car. In fact, 99 percent of the county is within a 10-minute walk of a park!
Navigate Arlington with ATP
Living or working in an area with high walkability and that is also bike-friendly benefits everyone. It promotes health through physical activity, supports equity by having inclusive travel options, benefits the environment by reducing pollution, and boosts the economy by attracting residents, businesses, and tourists to these communities.7
At ATP, we offer a wide variety of resources to help you get around Arlington. We have recently updated our Urban Village Quick Glance Guides with the latest transportation services, benefits, and resources in and around your neighborhood. For more information about biking, walking, carsharing, regional transit and more, visit our website and download the guides you need. ATP can also create custom Quick Glances for properties and employers displaying all transit options immediately surrounding your property or business.
Sources:
2. https://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml
6. https://www.arlnow.com/2024/07/23/arlington-named-fittest-city-in-america-for-seventh-straight-year/
7. https://www.walkfriendly.org/benefits/
Photo Credit: Sam Kittner/kittner.com for Arlington Transportation Partners