July 2016 – Road and Trail Conditions

@consularrider 142389 wrote:

Time for big spiders and snakes?

Are you trying to tell us your assignment is changing to Australia or something?

Arlington, VA: The repaving on Walter Reed Dr between King St/Route 7 and Arlington Mill Dr is now complete. It is nice and smooth but lacks any markings other than small dashed lane separators. This stretch has only sharrows except for the intersection of Walter Reed Dr/Arlington Mill Dr which has bike lanes.

@bobco85 142441 wrote:

Arlington, VA: The repaving on Walter Reed Dr between King St/Route 7 and Arlington Mill Dr is now complete. It is nice and smooth but lacks any markings other than small dashed lane separators. This stretch has only sharrows except for the intersection of Walter Reed Dr/Arlington Mill Dr which has bike lanes.

When the markings are repainted, I hope they move the sharrows further to the left. The sharrows were too close to the gutter, which weakened the message conveyed by the BMUFL signs.

@KLizotte 142463 wrote:

Scaffolding and various machinery are still clogging up the Case Bridge but it is passable so long as you don’t have a very wide load (like a Burley trailer). The stuff gets moved around every day so you can never be sure what you’re gonna get. Workers are installing pretty lights under the bridge in association with the waterfront redevelopment.

I rode through there with my 36″ wide handlebars. They fit past all the scaffolding that was properly pushed up against the rail of the bridge. However, when I went through, one scaffolding had one corner sticking out. That was tough. I go through and told some workers about it, and they sounded like they’d fix.

TL:DR – anything 36″ wider or less should fit.

I noticed lots of bananas taped to things on the Custis this morning. Be careful it might be slippery out there.

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The issue of the construction boxes on the Rosslyn Hill on the Custis trail was raised here earlier (can’t find the thread, though). It was brought up at the BAC meeting on Monday. I took a closer look at the locations today, and I believe these light posts present a potential safety hazard to people riding bikes down the hill. I sent the following email to Larry Marcus at the county:

Hi Larry,
The lightposts that are going up along Lee Highway are a problem. They are being placed where they will be a hazard to the people riding bikes down the hill.

The one at Quinn St. will unquestionably cause crashes in the future. It must be moved off the trail. Truthfully, none should be placed on the trail, but that one’s the worst.

These locations seem to have been selected without any consultation with county bike staff, either the bicycle advisory committee nor the pedestrian advisory committee. When they got mentioned at the BAC meeting Monday, the Daves had no idea this was going on.

Please go take a look and then instruct your staff to identify locations that do not constitute hazards. I think that whoever is determining placements is thinking that it is just a regular old sidewalk and not a highly used commuter route that at times is so busy it actually becomes congested with bikes. You wouldn’t put the lightposts out on Lee Highway–even along the shoulder. Where they are located now is the equivalent of that for the bike highway.

Thanks for your attention to this.

I received this reply

Got it, will assess locations today. Thx for your help.
Larry Marcus
Bureau Chief, Transportation Engineering & Ops.
Arlington County, Va

Arlington, VA: Heading eastbound on Walter Reed Dr across the bridge over Four Mile Run, there was some road work this morning going on in the bike lane. About 50-100 before it, there is a road work sign in the bike lane. Be prepared to merge into the main lane of traffic as you approach the bridge.

The final lane markings on Walter Reed Dr between Arlington Mill Dr and Route 7 have still not yet been applied (only temporary dashes are there). I will have an update when they complete this, but I haven’t seen any progress all week.

Alexandria, VA: As part of the Van Dorn St road diet between Menokin Dr and Braddock Rd, the pedestrian refuge islands for the crosswalks are being constructed. Right now, the construction area set off by cones around these is encroaching into the traffic lane which is forcing drivers into the bike lane. For the time being, act like the bike lane does not exist in these spots.