New to Town – Route Courthouse to Metro Center (Key, Roosevelt, Memorial, 14th?)

The route I would suggest depends on your comfort level in traffic.
You have two choices to get to the Key/Roosevelt bridges. The fastest is to take Clarendon and turn left on Lynn. The other is to take Veitch across Lee Hwy and go straight on 21st/Scott. This curves back to Lee Hwy, where you can take the Custis sidewalk. If you are using the Key Bridge, I would take the West sidewalk as this avoids the Lee/Lynn intersection.

The fastest and shortest overall route is taking the Key Bridge and M through Georgetown and then Pennsylvania and G Street. This probably has the most traffic.
My recommendation would be to take the Roosevelt Bridge because it puts you into Washington to the east of Georgetown. I would then take H to Pennsylvania and go across town on G. The Roosevelt bridge has a low railing between the sidewalk and traffic, which bothers some people, but not me.
You may find the L/M bike lanes preferable when going across town east of Georgetown from either the Key or Roosevelt bridges.

The route across Memorial Bridge (discussed below) has least car traffic, but pedestrians can be frustrating on the mall. You will have to cross the “parkway” at least once.

Check out the Strava heat map on the National Bike challenge website. The potential routes are all clearly delineated.

@Gems 114843 wrote:

How do I best get from Key to K street or to what I think is the C&O? What is the best bet after that? I hear Penn ave is traffic heavy. Not sure how else to get to the 13 and G.
How is the transfer from Vernon trail to Memorial bridge across parkway traffic?
What about biking through Arlington Cemetery. I can only bike east and not back home again?
If I take Memorial Bridge, is it best to follow the mall?

1) I don’t think the C&O towpath through Georgetown is particularly suited for commuting. It’s a narrow dirt path. To get to K Street from the bridge, take M to the first right and go down the dead end and carry your bike over the steps and pedestrian bridge over the canal. Or, take M and turn right on Wisconsin. Traffic on M can be heavy so your choice is dependent on your comfort level in traffic.
2) You cannot get from the Mount Vernon trail to Memorial Bridge w/o crossing the “parkway” twice. If you are going to/from Courthouse, I would suggest taking 15/14th Street and cross Arlington Blvd and Queen/Rhodes bridge. Take the south frontage road to Meade, turn right on Meade, left on John Marshall (or go through Iwo Jima Memorial). Halfway down the hill, take the 110 trail to the Arlington Cemetery entrance. Turn left and get on the south sidewalk. This crosses the “parkway” once. Turn left onto the South sidewalk of the Memorial Bridge.
3) That is my understanding, although it is not clear to me whether it makes sense for you to go through given the route above.
4) If you take Memorial Bridge, I would take the mall and Jefferson to 7th. North of Pennsylvania, the right lane on 7th is supposed to be buses and bikes only, but this is not enforced and, in practice, is untrue.

Based on what you wrote, and assuming you don’t love traffic, I’d recommend this route, using the Memorial Bridge.

What I would do (less traffic, but yes, you have to deal with the TR Bridge and occasionally seeing Dismal): this route via the TR Bridge. Note you would come back on G Street.

3) Sticking with Key Bridge, I’d use this route. Traffic on from the bridge to 23rd is sucky, especially in the afternoon, but doable.

The Cemetery doesn’t help you — you can only enter the Base at 2nd Street South, Southgate Road or Marshall Drive, and there are new access restrictions making it even more complicated.

@dasgeh 114888 wrote:

Note you would come back on G Street.

Keep in mind that your morning commute and your afternoon commute do not have to be the same. In fact, it’s often the case they are not.
I worked for years at 13th & L. I took the Key/Whitehurst in (not recommended for you…yet) and G Street to Roosevelt Bridge out in the afternoon. G Street is very comfortable riding from the White House west–reasonably wide, very little traffic and slow moving by and large. But it’s 1-way westbound.

For your inbound I think I would recommend Memorial and the mall. Mornings on the mall are much better than afternoons, because the tourists aren’t out and about yet. And in terms of getting across town with the most “pleasantness,” the mall would be it.

Oh, and on Fridays you will need to stop at 17th and G for coffee at Swing’s. It’s required.

@Tania 114934 wrote:

Stay on G til you reach Virigina Avenue, make a right on to Va Ave […]

Most cyclists cross Virginia there and take the sidewalk (which is a bike path there) along the south side of Virginia and to curve around onto 25th and onto the TR Bridge. Much more comfortable than some of the drivers there in the evening.

Another option that worked well for me (albeit before the change in light timing) was to turn right from G onto 22nd, then left onto H, left onto New Hampshire which puts you into the traffic circle put with traffic from New Hampshire. The way the lights worked out, I wouldn’t have to stop to do this, and didn’t have to fight with cars unless they were backed up on 25th turning on to I-66.

@Tania 114939 wrote:

I’ve tried that but unless I’m missing something, you’re not crossing at a light or making a legal turn and I try to think “WWPD?” (What Would Pete/Dirt Do?) in those situations. Honestly though, taking the lane around the circle isn’t bad at all. It’s my routine now so I have a level of comfort with it. (This amazes even me because the idea of biking in city was terrifying…before I actually DID it.) My first couple of trips in were with Dirt and dcv and this is the route they took me and Dirt was awesome at giving me city biking tips and etiquette pointers. I credit them for my ease in biking that route.

No, you’re crossing with a crosswalk onto a sidewalk (that’s a bike route). It’s west of 23rd so all legal. I bike there everyday and traffic isn’t bad (on my current commute I’m on virginia and turn left).