Good route from Potomac MD to Georgetown Law Center?

@bluejaitucker 3313 wrote:

Hello everyone! I am moving to the area in June and will be commuting from Potomac (Brickyard Rd & MacArthur Blvd) to Georgetown Law Center. I would love any advice you can give on the best routes to use. Do people commute on the C&O Trail? Is there a bike lane on MacArthur Blvd? I want to minimize my time battling with cars. Many thanks in advance!

Hi BJT,

Welcome to the area. What kind of bike? That will matter for the C&O. After a few miles you might wish you were on a bike with wide tires and a suspension. It would certainly be a great route for avoiding traffic.

@consularrider 3328 wrote:

No bike lane on MacArthur Blvd. There is a bi-directional sidepath that runs from the Anglers Inn to the Brookes Lane intersection (I think).

You might be able to work the capital crescent trail in there as an alternate path instead of the C&O, unless it takes you too far out of the way. Alternately, you could ride the C&O for a shorter distance and then move over to the now-parallel capital crescent trail for the remainder of the ride. Google bike directions is infuriating in that it makes it difficult to remove clara barton parkway (not a good idea for most folks) and c&o canal (not a good idea for skinny tires or clothing you don’t mind getting filthy) from the route.

Adding a couple of middle-of-the-ride destinations, I kind of massaged it into giving a semi-useful route here, which follows macarthur down to the MD/DC border and then jumps over to the capital crescent trail…

http://goo.gl/maps/TLNm

Brendan

PS – when passing through the lincoln memorial / washington monument corridor, I prefer to take the southerly route on the memorial, the reflecting pool and the monument on the paths. Seems somewhat less complex to get to the eastern side of the monument.