Memorial Bridge lane closures will be "permanent" through 2021

I finally had the opportunity to ride the Memorial Bridge detour. My assessment is that I won’t be using Memorial Bridge again until the downstream side reopens and I’d recommend against it for anyone else unless it’s your only option. On 3 of the 6 highway crossings I had to roll my bike into the lane in front of me to get any cars to stop, peak around the stopped car and then give the wild, “Stop or you are going to run me over” hand wave to cars in the other lanes.

In one crossing, I jumped in front of a car that was not indicating that it was going to yield for a family of four already in crosswalk (much less me, who was also already in the crosswalk).

At the third intersection, I was tempted to throw an orange flag at a car that came nowhere close to yielding.

Here’s a video I shot of two cyclists trying to cross the road with several cars not yielding and the last car barely coming to a stop in the middle lane, thus obscuring the pedestrians in front of it in the other lane. With the number of crossings here, there needs to be some speed calming device coming off the bridge in combination with at the very least an RFB, but preferably a HAWK and signage alerting motorists to be prepared to stop.
[video=youtube_share;V9jfdKMODNc]https://youtu.be/V9jfdKMODNc[/video]

I really wanted to ride to work today. But between the effing Memorial Bridge abomination, the 14th St bridge clusterf#ck, and the Four Mile Run atrocity (which prohibits even getting from my neighborhood to the trail easily, even before the unforeseen detours and hazards around the sewer pipe install and the Berkeley apartment construction) I gave up. Whatever might be gained from a nice ride would be negated by all that frustration. The “year of the detour” is a total fail.

@SpaceJockey 182157 wrote:

To pour gas on the fire, it’s not enough that the drivers are enraged at the bottlenecks on Memorial Bridge, I DROVE my car last night from the cemetery to the rotary and noticed that the road dips just enough that as I driver I was completely unable to see the crosswalk (due West of the rotary) I knew was there until I was almost right over the top of it. As a driver if I saw a bike there I would assume I had right-of-way until the last second. The crosswalk needs to be moved further West.

As much as I dislike that crossing and agree with your assessment of enraged drivers, there is no reason that a dip in the road there should cause any driver to miss the crosswalk. While you might not see the markings on the road itself, how could you miss the neon-yellow pedestrian signs on both sides of the road with arrows pointing at the crosswalk, each now sporting a bucketful of bright orange flags on their posts? Moving the crosswalk further west would visually jumble the crosswalk signs with the wayfinding signs for 395 and 50. That would also give vehicles more time to accelerate after coming around the curve from the bridge.

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@Subby 182144 wrote:

Just to piggyback on Judd (RAAAAAAWR) I had to go through this effing abomination this morning and was nearly peace-outed at least twice. Drivers are already pissed (what else is new) about this bottleneck and not only do they not give af, they just don’t expect you.

Someone is going to die during this closure and it’s not going to be a motorist.

I should also add in the 5-10 minutes that I was taking pictures of Memorial Bridge construction and crossing on the upriver side, I saw two people on bikes taking a lane into DC. I’m on the fence whether that’s the rational decision based on how double plus ungood the detour is.

@dbb 182177 wrote:

It occurred to me that we might be able to link Mayor Bowser’s recent Vision Zero initiatives with the Memorial Bridge issues at Memorial Circle. Memorial Circle is in the District after all.

Just say’n.

I’ve had this thought, though it’s NPS land. It’s worth adding to the conversation.

@phog 182243 wrote:

Now that I know what’s happening there , it looks as if Lincoln Memorial, to the Rock Creek Parkway headed North, to Memorial Bridge, to the Mount Vernon Trail would have been the better option than taking Memorial Bridge.

Huh?

@phog 182247 wrote:

Sorry- I meant Rock Creek Pkwy to Roosevelt bridge. I’ll make the edit.

Yeah, maybe that’s better, though the Roosevelt Bridge path is super narrow. It’s basically a “pick your poison” situation.