Crossing the Gallows Road Bridge over I-495

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  • February 14, 2013 at 10:36 am #962485
    JimF22003
    Participant

    The crossing is much better, but where would would you go once you get across? I think you can take the frontage roads in front of the apartments, or Woodburn, if your destination is the hospital. But if you’re heading further down Gallows in either direction, good luck. I just don’t have what it takes to want to ride down Gallows between the beltway and past the metro where the bike lane begins.

    I feel sorry for the guys at the new Freshbikes in Merrifield. Even with the new wider road on Gallows through there, it seems pretty poor for biking. They now have three lanes in either direction, but they didn’t have room to stripe in a bike lane?

    Fortunately my destination for crossing 495 is either to the the W&OD or to go to Tysons. For the latter I cross at Oak Street. I think that’s the best crossing point on the whole beltway :)

    February 14, 2013 at 3:14 pm #962507
    Dirt
    Participant

    Woodburn leads down to the CCT which gives great access to Mosaic District (formerly known as Merrifield) to the North, Fairfax to the north/west and Springfield, Lorton, Occoquan to the south. Woodburn –> Tobin –> gravel path –> CCT

    I use that crossing all the time. I’m a person that tends to take to the road most of the time, rather than take off-street bike paths, and I will agree that the new crossing is a huge improvement. There’s shoulder most of the way across and good visibility. Long turning/merging lanes for getting onto and off of 495 are kind of tough, but the lines of site are so clear that I haven’t had a problem.

    I use a little different way to get there. I go a little further on the W&OD and head up through the neighborhoods to get there. Here’s the route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1214820

    Thanks for a great post!

    Pete

    February 14, 2013 at 5:19 pm #962540
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    thanks for this post, I will try it one day – access to the CCT heading west would be useful.

    March 3, 2013 at 10:43 pm #963789
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    I did this today. I agree with the OP, the south path is doable. Note the western crossing has a 90 degree turn adjacent to the curb cut – I’m more comfortable dismounting than riding through. I will definitely use this for access to the CCT heading west.

    It looks on a map like you can go west around the hospital and avoid Gallows up to Williams south of rte 50. I wonder if this would make a good route to Mosaic and Dunn Loring?

    March 4, 2013 at 12:43 am #963794
    ShawnoftheDread
    Participant

    @lordofthemark 45231 wrote:

    It looks on a map like you can go west around the hospital and avoid Gallows up to Williams south of rte 50. I wonder if this would make a good route to Mosaic and Dunn Loring?

    Depends in how you plan to get to Williams. If you mean take the CCT to Prosperity to Highland, you won’t like it. The block or two you have to ride on Prosperity is hilly, narrow, and fast.

    If you want to use the sidewalks and parking lots adjacent to the hospital to cut over to Williams, then it works pretty well.

    March 4, 2013 at 1:11 am #963795
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    @ShawnoftheDread 45237 wrote:

    Depends in how you plan to get to Williams. If you mean take the CCT to Prosperity to Highland, you won’t like it. The block or two you have to ride on Prosperity is hilly, narrow, and fast.

    If you want to use the sidewalks and parking lots adjacent to the hospital to cut over to Williams, then it works pretty well.

    The latter. Lafayette Village to Trammel to Aston (today I went up Hummer but that’s force of habit because I take Hummer when I go south or east or to the busstop on LRT) to Gallows, to the crossing, and thence on whatever way around the hospital is easiest.

    March 4, 2013 at 2:04 am #963796
    ShawnoftheDread
    Participant

    @lordofthemark 45238 wrote:

    The latter. Lafayette Village to Trammel to Aston (today I went up Hummer but that’s force of habit because I take Hummer when I go south or east or to the busstop on LRT) to Gallows, to the crossing, and thence on whatever way around the hospital is easiest.

    The sidewalk in front of the hospital is usually pretty empty. Take that to Adenlee (or Sydenham if you don’t want to salmon), then to Willow Oaks Corporate Dr, then to Williams. After you cross Arlington Blvd, I think Williams and Eskridge connect now.

    March 9, 2013 at 7:30 pm #964181
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    I did Woodburn to Wellness blvd to the right by the mental health institute (not sure what that road is called) up by ronald mcdonald village to Willows Oaks Corp. Most of the way riding in the lanes was fine. Thats basically around the south and west sides of the hospital, instead of the east and north sides.

    Williams and Eskridge DO connect, right near the Williams/Javier intersection. That connection is one of the public benefits of the Mosaic project (for auto as well as bike traffic) Unfortunately on Eskrdige construction equipment working on an upper floor of one of the new townhouses blocked the northbound travel lane this AM while other construction stuff blocked the sidewalk – but traffic was so light that passing into the opposite traffic lane momentarily appeared safe.

    So it turns out this is definitely a bikeable route from Annandale to Mosaic.

    March 10, 2013 at 1:28 am #964208
    JimF22003
    Participant

    @lordofthemark 45689 wrote:

    So it turns out this is definitely a bikeable route from Annandale to Mosaic.

    Nice. And if you can get to Mosaic it’s pretty safe to get past the metro where the bike lanes begin on Gallows.

    Speaking of which…. why with THREE traffic lanes in each direction in front of the Mosaic District was there not room for actual bike lanes?

    March 10, 2013 at 3:48 am #964209
    bobco85
    Participant

    Went on the Gallows bridge today on a bit of Merrifield exploration by taking Custis -> W&OD -> Shreve -> Lee Hwy -> Gallows. I must say, the Lee Hwy bridge over I-495, though not having a wide paved path like some of the other I-495 bridges, is a lot nicer in that the north side has no exit ramps to deal with (basically it’s a T-intersection with the third part on the south side) so you can ride in the travel lane without trouble.

    @JimF22003 45720 wrote:

    Speaking of which…. why with THREE traffic lanes in each direction in front of the Mosaic District was there not room for actual bike lanes?

    On my trip I passed by the Mosaic District, and not knowing it is called the Mosaic District (had to Google it to see what you were talking about), passed right by there (I’ve been to the Noodles & Co once, but didn’t know the area had a name)! I remember before that area was built up, and the cinema multiplex was in back of that area (saw my first movie there).

    Okay, tangent over, but I do like the paved “sidewalk” that is on the west side of Gallows through that area. After using the sidepath, service road, and hospital sidewalk, I took the travel lane going over the Gallows Rd/I-495 bridge. I don’t think I’d want to do that during rush hour due to the required lane change into the middle lane since the right lane becomes the exit ramp.

    Personally, I would prefer to have a wide paved path/sidewalk on the side of 3+ lane highways that have 35+ mph speeds like Gallows Rd, Columbia Pike, Leesburg Pike, Glebe Rd, Braddock Rd, and Fairfax Co Pkwy. I think there’s some usefulness in having side paths for higher speed multi-lane highways to keep cyclists safer than they would be in the travel lanes over bike lanes/sharrows that would work in these instances. Of course, the paths should also be well-maintained (I’m looking at you two, Braddock Rd and Fairfax Co Pkwy sidepaths!).

    To sum it up, when you have 1 or 2 lanes, I think bike lanes/sharrows are excellent, but with 3 or more lanes I think it’s better to have cycletracks/sidepaths.

    March 10, 2013 at 4:37 pm #964227
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    I am hesitant to start the bike infrastructure debate – (greater seperation from traffic vs better positioning at intersections, etc)

    I personally am comfortable riding on the side path there – I’ve ridden on the bike lane on Gallows n of I66 and didn’t find it that intimidating. There are already issues of conflict with pedestrians on the side path by Mosaic, at least on a nice weekend day. If things there thrive as the County intends, pedestrian use will increase and the side path will become increasingly difficult for cyclists. Also IIRC there’s nothing comparable on the east side, if you are trying to access businesses on that side.

    March 10, 2013 at 9:40 pm #964191
    JimF22003
    Participant

    The “sidepath” in front of the shops at Mosaic is really just a wide sidewalk as far as I’m concerned. Too many curb cuts. Too many pedestrian intersections to compete with peds for. Just because it is wide and partially blacktopped doesn’t make it a good place to ride a bike. It’s the same reason I no longer take the old sidepath on Gallows where we now have actual bike lanes, or why I usually ride on Virginia Lane instead of the W&OD where it crosses over I66.

    March 11, 2013 at 12:53 am #964213
    Steve O
    Participant

    @Dirt 43852 wrote:

    I use a little different way to get there. I go a little further on the W&OD and head up through the neighborhoods to get there. Here’s the route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1214820

    Pete

    If I can avoid crossing the beltway at an interchange, I will. Here’s another alternative to Pete’s: http://goo.gl/maps/bKaBN

    March 11, 2013 at 1:18 am #964214
    ShawnoftheDread
    Participant

    @Steve O 45778 wrote:

    If I can avoid crossing the beltway at an interchange, I will. Here’s another alternative to Pete’s: http://goo.gl/maps/bKaBN

    That one’s not bad, but getting from Cedar to Barkley can be just as difficult as any of the beltway crossings.

    March 23, 2013 at 11:31 pm #965568
    rek
    Participant

    bobco85,

    Thanks for doing the legwork and for sharing your research both here and for the LRT bridge! I’ll have to try the Gallows-to-CCT connection sometime.

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