2-Wk Custis Trail Detour, Aug 24-Sep 6

@ursus 202263 wrote:

Agreed. If they want those who want to follow the rules but don’t go there daily to go on the correct side, they will have to put up several signs.

They could use this as a template–for clarity.[ATTACH]21672[/ATTACH]

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@consularrider 202273 wrote:

There’s been the W&OD mm0 traffic circle forever, hardly anyone follows traffic circle etiquette there.

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I had no idea that was actually supposed to be a traffic circle. I thought it was just for decoration.

That being said I rode through this new traffic circle on the Custis trail yesterday and can pretty much guarantee people going eastbound will cut the circle if it’s open.

@consularrider 202273 wrote:

There’s been the W&OD mm0 traffic circle forever, hardly anyone follows traffic circle etiquette there.

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Oh that one? I always treated it as the trail terminus, largely because of the major intersection just beyond, which dominates the path of travel. Custis @ Bluemont is more like a roadgoing traffic circle. I will ride it soon enough and will report back…

Rode through the Custis/Bon Air traffic circle yesterday.

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First pic is approaching westbound from the detour. While I was here, a couple of serious cyclists passed through eastbound and navigated the circle as we should, without drama. Second shot is from where you would approach from the Custis underpass. This really isn’t going to be a big problem…

How do I signal coming up to a little circle like this one? If you’re eastbound and want to go through the underpass (when it opens), I think it’ll be best to signal a left turn as before–and then go counterclockwise around the island.

There’s the chance that some may think you’re going to cut left before the center island, but I don’t think that can be helped. It might make other trail users more cautious, because the intentions aren’t totally clear. That could be a good thing.

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After seeing this, I’d prefer they just go back to the T intersection with the stop sign on the Custis trail part. Moving the intersection away from the overpass fixed the sight line problem, but adding this circle in creates a whole new set of problems that didn’t exist before. This isn’t really a high traffic location that benefits from such a traffic device.

How many laps of the new traffic circle do you guys think I can do in a single day? #NewHainsPoint

@Steve O 202308 wrote:

I’ll have to check it out, but I think a circle seems like a round peg in a slightly ovalized hole or something.

I can imagine something that functions like the circle but is not shaped like it, more like an elongated triangle. What the designers missed was that 90%+ of the traffic is the Custis and only a small fraction will use the south-side detour route. That’s just a neighborhood connector, really.

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Steve’s sketch would have allowed eastbound riders to make a fairly clean left turn to go under the interstate. The installed circle abandons that 90 degree opportunity and instead gives something closer to 135 degrees. Alas, we have something else.

I fear that most westbound riders will just salmon that short segment. Great chances for chaos.

It will be interesting to look at the corner of the exit heading to the current detour route. The mud there will show the number of riders that didn’t stay on the asphalt.