Route Recommendations: EFC to Farragut

If Georgetown bothers you, try to take the TR bridge instead. From the Kennedy Center, just take New Hampshire to where you want to go. The TR has the advantage of putting you into the city east of Georgetown.

When I worked at 18th and M, I would come in on the TR, New Hampshire, and L. Outbound, I would take M and the Key Bridge.

(At other times, I would take 18th or 19th and cross at Memorial Bridge.)

Here’s what I wrote a couple of years ago to the same question:

@wewo 46366 wrote:

Hi All,

I am starting to commute to L Street and am looking for suggestions for a (relatively) safe connection between the Key Bridge and L Street NW. Sharing a lane with agressive BMW drivers on M Street and Pennsylvania Ave scares the dickens out of me.

Thanks!

Werner

@Steve O 46422 wrote:

Okay, I’m sure you will think I am even crazier, but I commuted across Key to a final destination at 1310 L St. This was my route:

Key Bridge
Whitehurst expressway. I know this seems crazy, but I think it’s actually safer than M St. No intersections, good sightlines for the cars, downhill start to get speed, traffic often stopped anyway towards the end–so it’s not like they are zooming by.

Then straight and UNDER Washington Circle. Also seems crazy, but if you wait just shy of the tunnel until the light on K turns red, then you get your very own, private tunnel to ride through. All by your lonesome. Nice. Here’s where you wait ( in the faded triangle):http://goo.gl/maps/hRksN

Then at the next light (21st St) I would go left on the sidewalk one block to L (it’s 1-way the wrong way, so you have to ride the sidewalk against traffic. Illegal in that part of the district, but what the hey.)

Then right on L and fly to my office. About 50% of the time I could hit every light green from 20th to 14th; sweet. Using this route I once made it from my house near 7 Corners in Arlington to 1310 L Street in under 22 minutes.

Outbound I would take G Street to the Kennedy Center and the Roosevelt Bridge. Don’t take the Whitehurst westbound. That actually IS crazy.

@zellerac 115796 wrote:

I feel like it will be packed with cabs and cars that don’t know how to navigate bikers. Considered going up to N for a bit until Penn Ave and then L. Any tried and tested routes?

The cabs, cars, and everything else are pretty good about navigating with bikers…I ride the route every day (well…when I’m not going on a longer ride) and even in the coldest weather this winter there was always another bike out on M.

I don’t know about the return route, but in the mornings heading on east on M St off the Key Bridge isn’t too bad. Then again, I only take it about two blocks until I can go up 33rd. Coming off the bridge’s sidewalks you’ll notice that M is 2 lanes and then splits to 3 right there at 34th I think it is. Either way, it’s an easy opportunity to grab the right lane to hold as many cars don’t move into it. The only issue you’ll have is buses.

I’m not a big fan of M at night and have really only ridden it eastbound. Even that, the cabs comment is quite true.

There are probably a lot of beginners and new forumites asking the questions. I think it’s OK if there’s some duplication. They may not know if one route mirrors that of another. Before I started biking, I only knew a few of the major neighborhoods in the area. Now I know the lay of the land in much more detail. I wouldn’t know most of those details if I weren’t biking (or running).

I had never ridden near Georgetown in the morning rush hour before. Since I decided to check out a few stations this year, I headed up to Crystal City, then the (falsely advertised and absent) Columbia Island Marina non-pit stop, and Rosslyn. After I crossed Key Bridge, I rode along M St. for a block or two. I thought the conditions were perfectly fine. The right lane was completely open with no cars or trucks at all. I turned right on 33rd St.

I won’t lie. It was a bit of a struggle holding onto the heavy CaBi bike as I went down the stairs at the end of the pedestrian bridge. (They really do need to add a bike ramp there in the near future.) But I managed it without any major problems. I think it would be easier with a lighter road or hybrid bike.

After that, the trip through Georgetown was very easy. I rode down to Water St. and over to the Georgetown pit stop. It was still going on even though I arrived right around 9 am. The food was all gone. There were a couple tents with information about sponsors. I don’t remember which ones. Revolution Cycles had a bike maintenance station.

I continued onto K St. I took the lane. The traffic was very light and it wasn’t particularly fast. I felt comfortable riding on the big and slow CaBi bike. After crossing 27th St. in the park area, I got onto the sidewalk. I could have moved over to the K St. service lane after that, but I didn’t feel like it. I was moving slowly so the sidewalk was fine. In the future though, I would probably get onto the K St. service lane. There’s almost no traffic there at all, unlike the center K St. lanes.

I turned onto Washington Circle in the road lanes, which was calmer than I expected. A right onto 23rd St. and a left on I St., which is two-way. Minimal traffic there as well. That took me to Pennsylvania Ave. I was surprised to see only moderate car traffic there too. I took that over to the pedestrian plaza in front of the White House. The biggest obstacle I faced was the many pedestrians who insisted on jaywalking through their red light. (I had the green light and they could clearly see me. But they just kept walking across the street. “Busy people,” I guess. Can’t be bothered by traffic signals. It wasn’t just one or two people. It was about twenty and they were all adults, in business dress, not little kids.)

That takes you to within a couple blocks of Farragut Square.

I didn’t find any of it intimidating at all. The only issue (other than all the jaywalking pedestrians in business dress) was the stairs on the 33rd St. pedestrian bridge. I’m not super strong, although I do include strength training in my fitness routine from time to time. (Only a few times a month. I’m far from being a meathead.) I could see where many people would have a problem rolling a CaBi bike down those stairs. But with a lighter bike, it might not be as difficult. If you can carry your personal bike down stairs already, then these stairs shouldn’t be a problem. Just be careful about it.

The 33rd St., Water St., K St., 23rd St., I St. route doesn’t add too much distance to the straighter M St./Pennsylvania Ave. route. I’d guess a couple blocks at most. In return, you avoid the traffic on M St. other than the short stretch between Key Bridge and 33rd St.

I think I took that other pedestrian bridge back in November for the Cranksgiving Ride, which started in Georgetown. That’s a little better than the 33rd St. path, but I still found that bike gutter to be unwieldy with a CaBi bike. I think I ended up bouncing the bike down the stairs and skipping the gutter.

Wisconsin Ave. sounds like a better plan, if the next block or two of M St. is similar to the section between 33rd and 35th Streets.