April – 3 Police Activity at Roosevelt Island Parking Lot- 8 am

[consularrider]

Anyone know what was going on? As I was riding north through the parking lot, there was a road bike down on the pavement behind a police car with its flashers on, but no one around. I started up the GW PKWY overpass ramp and an officer was coming down wadding up yellow caution tape. He was talking with another rider who was pushing his bike along by one foot. Where the ramp takes a sharp turn, there was yellow caution tape strung from railing to railing – right at throat height. I asked the other cyclist if he knew what was going on, and he said no. He said the officer originally tried to get him to turn around, but let him go through after realizing we would have to go all the way back to Memorial Bridge to cross the Parkway. I raised the caution tape as two cyclists came down the ramp, they said there was nothing up above either.

Topic

[baiskeli]

I got there right after that. I looked for dead bodies – nothing. Took Key Bridge in to work.

[pfunkallstar]

I was there right when the police officer was initially setting up the cones and tape. I think it was partially due to the spilled mulch at the bottom of the bridge, but I can’t be sure. I don’t think he entirely understood the impact of shutting down that ramp.

[consularrider]

@pfunkallstar 17488 wrote:

I was there right when the police officer was initially setting up the cones and tape. I think it was partially due to the spilled mulch at the bottom of the bridge, but I can’t be sure. I don’t think he entirely understood the impact of shutting down that ramp.

May if the NPS just sent a couple of guys with brooms?

[rtdonato]

There was a pretty gruesome wreck at the foot of the bridge earlier in the morning. When I came through at around 7:20am, there was a wrecked bike and a cyclist motionless on the ground with a lot of blood, with a few cyclists trying to divert traffic around him and get help. It looked like he wiped out on gravel, mulch, and dirt that had been spread across the trail at the bottom of the bridge. I stopped and shielded them from traffic until the paramedics got there. It was pretty grisly. I don’t think I ever saw him move.

[baiskeli]

@rtdonato 17500 wrote:

There was a pretty gruesome wreck at the foot of the bridge earlier in the morning. When I came through at around 7:20am, there was a wrecked bike and a cyclist motionless on the ground with a lot of blood, with a few cyclists trying to divert traffic around him and get help. It looked like he wiped out on gravel, mulch, and dirt that had been spread across the trail at the bottom of the bridge. I stopped and shielded them from traffic until the paramedics got there. It was pretty grisly. I don’t think I ever saw him move.

Sorry to hear that. I was afraid something bad had happened to somebody.

[americancyclo]

I rolled through around 7:35, and I’ve been shaken ever since. there was a LOT of blood, and it looked like tree petals or something that was pretty slippery at the base of the ramp. There were alrady four people there (I’m assuming rtdonato was one of them), and one on the phone. I rode really slowly and carefully the rest of the way in. Helmet didn’t seem to do much good in this case. Hoping the cyclist is ok and recovering. If there was mulch and gravel, I hope that gets addressed by NPS.

[KLizotte]

I’m really keeping my fingers crossed for the downed cyclist. Sounds awful but it should be kept in mind that superficial head wounds bleed a lot, more so than other parts of the body so it may not be as bad as it looked. On the other hand, if he wasn’t moving at all….

Scary to think the mulch/dirt pile at the end of the ramp was probably there all night.

[eminva]

Just for clarification, this happened at the base of the ramp, just where the trail intersects with the parking lot for Roosevelt Island?

Very sorry to hear this and I join all others posting here in expressing best wishes for the cyclist’s recovery. Thanks to all who stopped and rendered aid.

Liz

[americancyclo]

Liz-
Yes, where there is a yellow plastic bollard. As you are coming down the ramp, it is just where the trail turns left before becoming the sidewalk of the parking lot.

[PotomacCyclist]

@americancyclo 17516 wrote:

I rolled through around 7:35, and I’ve been shaken ever since. there was a LOT of blood, and it looked like tree petals or something that was pretty slippery at the base of the ramp. There were alrady four people there (I’m assuming rtdonato was one of them), and one on the phone. I rode really slowly and carefully the rest of the way in. Helmet didn’t seem to do much good in this case. Hoping the cyclist is ok and recovering. If there was mulch and gravel, I hope that gets addressed by NPS.

Someone should email them about the trail conditions. I don’t know the email address but maybe it’s listed in one of the pinned threads on the Trail Conditions forum.

[PotomacCyclist]

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?868-W-amp-OD-Trail-and-NVRPA-Contact-Information

[Rootchopper]

Last night on the way down the hill, I encountered the aftermath of an apparent vehicle crash which left the base of the Rosslyn bridge treacherous:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rootchopper/6894334688/in/photostream

I would guess that the accident did not involve police or that they simply took no steps to clean up after it.

I agree that a broom would have worked wonders.

I used to encounter this on a regular basis on the Case Bridge over near L’Enfant Plaza. An accident would happen on I-395 and someone would toss the accident debris out of the roadway and onto the side path.

Sorry to hear that someone was injured. I fell, albeit for different reasons, about 100 feet from this spot late last week.

[americancyclo]

@Rootchopper 17534 wrote:

Last night on the way down the hill, I encountered the aftermath of an apparent vehicle crash which left the base of the Rosslyn bridge treacherous:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rootchopper/6894334688/in/photostream

I would guess that the accident did not involve police or that they simply took no steps to clean up after it.

That would have done it.

[KLizotte]

I guess this proves that NPS doesn’t patrol that area much.

[consularrider]

@KLizotte 17523 wrote:

I’m really keeping my fingers crossed for the downed cyclist. Sounds awful but it should be kept in mind that superficial head wounds bleed a lot, more so than other parts of the body so it may not be as bad as it looked. On the other hand, if he wasn’t moving at all….

Scary to think the mulch/dirt pile at the end of the ramp was probably there all night.

The crud’s been there since at least Saturday morning.

[Author]

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