Amazon HQ2 – impact on cycling in the area?

[lordofthemark]

Connectivity – it means biking in your suit, and riding with your helmet in your basket. Or something. #Failedatthiswholeadvertisingmarketingthing

https://hqnova.com/connectivity.html

[lordofthemark]

Also

500 miles of bike lanes, shared bike routes, and shared use paths, expected to double by 2040

Now can we stop ragging on the planners for adding miles of mediocre door zone bike lanes, allegedly to just get the number of miles up? When its landed us a class A1 economic opportunity! Hail to thee southbound Crystal Drive lane, you kept us out of war!

[trailrunner]

@lordofthemark 182752 wrote:

Also

500 miles of bike lanes, shared bike routes, and shared use paths, expected to double by 2040

My hope is that this extends to Fairfax County. The best part of my commute to the Pentagon is when I reach Potomac Yards and then go through Crystal City and Pentagon City. Time for FFX County to catch up to Arlington and Alexandria.

[ginacico]

@accordioneur 182738 wrote:

Gee, look, there’s already a National Landing web site!”

So. Many. Names.

Gonna need a map with overlays or something. I feel like I could stand on a street corner and legitimately be in numerous places at once. Arlington should stay out of the naming business (she says, from the corner of S Glebe and W Glebe, where S Glebe is to the north), historically they suck at it.

[AFHokie]

@sjclaeys 182749 wrote:

The beginning of the video shows a heavy four-engine jet taking off from DCA. No heavy jets can take off from DCA’s short runways, plus they’d probably violate noise limits. On the upside, I saw at least two bicycle shops in the video.

The way some of the articles discussing the Amazon announcement read, you’d think they’ve already begun lengthening the runways

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930AZ using Tapatalk

[bobco85]

@buschwacker 182743 wrote:

0:43 of the utopian video on that page features an off-screen collision between a car and a bicycle taking the lane down Crystal Drive.

Give that cyclist some credit, they’re doing a perfect trackstand with no motion or wobbling whatsoever!

@accordioneur 182744 wrote:

While I wouldn’t take the video too literally, the animators neglected to include any of the the existing bike lanes! The cyclists on 15th St. (1:34) are riding in a traffic lane of what has become a three lane street, and the protected lane in front of the WTFCC Whole Foods is gone (2:15). Plus, they’re flying a delivery drone within the FAA no drone zone around the airport & DC (1:21).

+1000 on noticing the blatant FAA drone violation. Also, what happened to all of the protected bike lanes?

Other interesting things noticed (I’m really sleepy, so pedantry will run wild):

• No Metro buses (especially Metroway which runs on Crystal Dr) or stations shown
• No CaBi’s or bike racks seem to be there
• At 0:12, this isn’t New York City, so why are there so many yellow cabs here?
• At 0:25, 3 cars heading southbound go straight from the left turn only lane
• Also at 0:25, everyone on Crystal Dr is running the red at 20th St (look where the stoplight is, how could anyone on Crystal Dr see it?)
• At 0:43, SB driver driving in the striped median
• 0:47-0:54, world’s longest yellow light (over 7 seconds, it might still be yellow!)
• Good detail work on having the Carlyle street lights and the curved Metro entrances
• At 2:32, that car-free public space looks really nice
• At 3:01, building at lower right corner of screen has its solar panels facing the wrong way (facing east, should be south)
• National Landing is a dumb name

[sjclaeys]

@bobco85 182756 wrote:

[*]National Landing is a dumb name
[/LIST]

Is Crystal City really better? You know, there was a time when Crystal City wasn’t Crystal City and then some development project decided that it needed a new name.

[accordioneur]

Bobco, great catches. Some poor animator with a limited budget at an A&E firm made this thing to show the concept and now we’re nitpicking it to pieces.

One thing that’s probably accurate – the preponderance of luxury cars. I noticed Porsches (Macan and Panamera), Range Rovers, Audis (A6 and R8), Lexus, BMWs, at least two Aston Martins, a Maserati, Mercedes, some exotic sports cars I couldn’t identify, Jaguars, and for the eco-minded, a Chevy Bolt.

[bentbike33]

@bobco85 182756 wrote:

• At 0:25, 3 cars heading southbound go straight from the left turn only lane
• Also at 0:25, everyone on Crystal Dr is running the red at 20th St (look where the stoplight is, how could anyone on Crystal Dr see it?)
• At 0:43, SB driver driving in the striped median

Are you saying this is an inaccurate depiction of Washington-area drivers (insufficient resolution to determine if cars had MD War of 1812 plates)?

[rcannon100]

Both Crystal City and National Landing are dumb names. Return it to its original name: Jackson City.

[Starduster]

@bobco85 182756 wrote:

Give that cyclist some credit, they’re doing a perfect trackstand with no motion or wobbling whatsoever!

+1000 on noticing the blatant FAA drone violation. Also, what happened to all of the protected bike lanes?

Other interesting things noticed (I’m really sleepy, so pedantry will run wild):

• No Metro buses (especially Metroway which runs on Crystal Dr) or stations shown
• No CaBi’s or bike racks seem to be there
• At 0:12, this isn’t New York City, so why are there so many yellow cabs here?
• At 0:25, 3 cars heading southbound go straight from the left turn only lane
• Also at 0:25, everyone on Crystal Dr is running the red at 20th St (look where the stoplight is, how could anyone on Crystal Dr see it?)
• At 0:43, SB driver driving in the striped median
• 0:47-0:54, world’s longest yellow light (over 7 seconds, it might still be yellow!)
• Good detail work on having the Carlyle street lights and the curved Metro entrances
• At 2:32, that car-free public space looks really nice
• At 3:01, building at lower right corner of screen has its solar panels facing the wrong way (facing east, should be south)
• National Landing is a dumb name

Well I can nit-pick too. I was looking for familiar names (besides the blatantly obvious Whole Foods) and feeling like my city was gone. Where were Spike Mendelsohn’s two restaurants? No Jaleo? No Commonwealth Joes?

[Starduster]

@accordioneur 182759 wrote:

Bobco, great catches. Some poor animator with a limited budget at an A&E firm made this thing to show the concept and now we’re nitpicking it to pieces.

One thing that’s probably accurate – the preponderance of luxury cars. I noticed Porsches (Macan and Panamera), Range Rovers, Audis (A6 and R8), Lexus, BMWs, at least two Aston Martins, a Maserati, Mercedes, some exotic sports cars I couldn’t identify, Jaguars, and for the eco-minded, a Chevy Bolt.

Not to mention, they crossed Route 1 like it wasn’t even there! (Behold the invisible overpass!)

[creadinger]

@ginacico 182754 wrote:

…from the corner of S Glebe and W Glebe, where S Glebe is to the north

I always assumed that was the center of the universe, where time and space and reason have no meaning.

[ginacico]

@creadinger 182778 wrote:

I always assumed that was the center of the universe, where time and space and reason have no meaning.

And you would be absolutely correct. :p

[bobco85]

Just for fun, here are some historical map images of the Pentagon City-Crystal City-Potomac Yard area which have some interesting details:

Part of a 1907 map that shows Luna Park, Arlington Junction (current spot is just SE of Eads St/Army-Navy Dr), the full path of the Southern Railroad Bluemont Branch (later becoming the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad), and the fact that Alexandria County was split into 2 districts (Jefferson District and Arlington District) before it became Arlington County and the City of Alexandria.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18585[/ATTACH]

Parts of maps from 1942 showing Crystal City and the Alexandria Canal which ran along Eads St in Arlington and Commonwealth Ave in Alexandria (Eads St and Commonwealth Ave were formerly used for the Washington, Alexandria, & Mount Vernon Railway which was built on top of the Alexandria Canal towpath)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18587[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18586[/ATTACH]

@ginacico 182754 wrote:

…from the corner of S Glebe and W Glebe, where S Glebe is to the north

@creadinger 182778 wrote:

I always assumed that was the center of the universe, where time and space and reason have no meaning.

Well, it used to have a more coherent name. On this map from 1942, there is a Glebe Rd and an Old Glebe Rd. I’m guessing that Alexandria for whatever reason didn’t want to have “Old Glebe Rd” as one of their streets.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18584[/ATTACH]

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