ART by Navy Yard has dangerous grooves in pavement! Beware!

[KLizotte]

Last night while heading westbound on the Anacostia River Trail by the Navy Yard I hit the pavement groove shown below with my front wheel (back wheel too?), lost control and hit a brick wall protrusion with a good amount of force. I know to look for grooves but wasn’t paying attention this time. Damn. As a result I now have a wrist/lower arm that is extremely painful and swollen and I have an appt with the ortho tomorrow to see how much damage I inflicted. Right now I’m hoping and praying I can avoid surgery.

Be careful along this stretch! Also, always wear gloves! Other than a scratch on my thumb my hands suffered no abrasions/road rash. I was wearing a helmet but did not hit my head.

I believe this part of the ART is Navy property and I think there is a sign telling cyclists to walk their bikes so am torn as to whether I should write to the base to ask them to fill in the grooves. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt but I don’t want them to close off access either if they deem it a risk.

Thoughts? Anyone know who I can contact?

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[Judd]

@KLizotte 142746 wrote:

Yeah, but I’m a cyborg now! Plus I can play baseball without a bat. And I’m learning how to be ambidextrous. Gotta look on the bright side.

My first thought looking at the picture on my phone was that it was kind of Darth Vader looking, which is pretty bad ass.

[KLizotte]

FYI: Action seems to be underway at the Navy Yard to fix the groove problem on their patch of the Anacostia River Trail. The bottom line is they are scared of lawsuits (one of their lawyers has contacted me today). I have no intention of suing; I just want to see the grooves filled in. If anyone else has fallen along the Navy portion of the ART, either riding or walking, please send the details to the following person:

LT Luke J. Adams
Officer-in-Charge, Port Operations (N31)
Naval Support Activity Washington
Office: 202-433-2556
Cell: 202-246-2546
luke.j.adams@navy.mil

There seems to be some momentum to take this situation seriously and I don’t want things to stall. So, if you have seen or experienced an accident please contact Luke asap. The Navy personnel have been very professional and responsive thus far.

[Author]

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