August 2019 – Road and Trail Conditions

[Tania]

@huskerdont 192689 wrote:

PA Ave. at the WH to be closed for seven months, starting Wednesday. They say you can still cycle through on the sidewalk, but it’s not really worth it with the pedestrian traffic. I’ve never found a westbound alternative I especially like, although the Ellipse is passable when it’s open. Eye Street is a cluster, and Constitution is okay-ish on a once-and-a-while basis. H Street is good eastbound.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pennsylvania-avenue-in-front-of-the-white-house-to-close-for-fence-construction/2019/08/20/77105e82-c357-11e9-b72f-b31dfaa77212_story.html

Uggggggh. I don’t mind riding through the park but the bottlenecks to get up onto the sidewalk to then get on the grass and around everyone will suck. Guess I’ll take my longboard fenders off so I can jump up outside of a curb cut. Let’s hope for a really cold winter to cut down on tourists.

[bentbike33]

@huskerdont 192689 wrote:

PA Ave. at the WH to be closed for seven months, starting Wednesday. They say you can still cycle through on the sidewalk, but it’s not really worth it with the pedestrian traffic. I’ve never found a westbound alternative I especially like, although the Ellipse is passable when it’s open. Eye Street is a cluster, and Constitution is okay-ish on a once-and-a-while basis. H Street is good eastbound.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pennsylvania-avenue-in-front-of-the-white-house-to-close-for-fence-construction/2019/08/20/77105e82-c357-11e9-b72f-b31dfaa77212_story.html

Geez, they need the whole entire width of Pennsylvania Avenue to replace the White House fence? Must be the same contractor as the one doing the Memorial Bridge restoration where they keep squeezing down the width of the MVT between the plastic jersey barriers because they need more room to park equipment.

[huskerdont]

@bentbike33 192691 wrote:

Geez, they need the whole entire width of Pennsylvania Avenue to replace the White House fence? Must be the same contractor as the one doing the Memorial Bridge restoration where they keep squeezing down the width of the MVT between the plastic jersey barriers because they need more room to park equipment.

They already have about three quarters of the width fenced off, such that you really have to slow down or even stop to not hit tourists at the bottleneck. Not that I’m complaining if it keeps the riff-raff contained within 1600. That’s what this is for, right?

BTW, I noticed that with the Memorial Bridge construction–they put the Jersey barriers inside the width of the trail, rather than at the outer edges. I try not to take these things personally, but jeez.

[KWL]

Really? I will obey this sign when I see one that tells the drivers on Mt. Vernon Avenue to get out and push their cars over the bridge.

[Steve O]

@huskerdont 192692 wrote:

BTW, I noticed that with the Memorial Bridge construction–they put the Jersey barriers inside the width of the trail, rather than at the outer edges. I try not to take these things personally, but jeez.

lum-ber-jack

verb

1. move or remove or otherwise change a human-created, absurd trail/sidewalk/road obstruction in order to convenience fellow non-car users

noun

1. tallish dude known for advocating improved bicycling facilities and culture, featured in the back pocket of certain custom-designed cycling jerseys

[bentbike33]

@huskerdont 192692 wrote:

They already have about three quarters of the width fenced off, such that you really have to slow down or even stop to not hit tourists at the bottleneck. Not that I’m complaining if it keeps the riff-raff contained within 1600. That’s what this is for, right?

BTW, I noticed that with the Memorial Bridge construction–they put the Jersey barriers inside the width of the trail, rather than at the outer edges. I try not to take these things personally, but jeez.

Duh! It just occurred to me the reason they will use all of Pennsylvania Avenue for the project is that it won’t inconvenience any cars! If PA Ave was still open to cars they would have done it all by closing just the sidewalk and bike lane exactly like every other construction project in DC.

[notinthe18]

@KWL 192695 wrote:

Really? I will obey this sign when I see one that tells the drivers on Mt. Vernon Avenue to get out and push their cars over the bridge.

I ride through there fairly often and, like you, I had not seen any reason to dismount and was wondering what the deal was… until the middle of the day the other day when there were suddenly a lot of workers under there blocking most of the trail doing construction of some sort (unclear what). And then, a few hours later… gone again!

[KWL]

@notinthe18 192704 wrote:

I ride through there fairly often and, like you, I had not seen any reason to dismount and was wondering what the deal was… until the middle of the day the other day when there were suddenly a lot of workers under there blocking most of the trail doing construction of some sort (unclear what). And then, a few hours later… gone again!

Perhaps the workers could put the signs out only when they are working under the bridge? BTW, someone Lumberjacked the east sign.

[KWL]

Tree down blocking the spur to the trail that goes under the Humpback Bridge. The loop off of Humpback can be used to get around it. I guess the desire path is currently undesirable.

[ginacico]

@notinthe18 192704 wrote:

I ride through there fairly often and, like you, I had not seen any reason to dismount and was wondering what the deal was… until the middle of the day the other day when there were suddenly a lot of workers under there blocking most of the trail doing construction of some sort (unclear what). And then, a few hours later… gone again!

Ditto. When the crew is on site (at unpredictable times) they tend to be all over the trail. Sightlines under the bridge are limited anyway, and with reduced space and people moving around, the warning is fair.

Literally nobody obeys the signs and dismounts, but it does warrant slowing down. If workers are there, they’ll happily wave you through.

Agree, it would be nice if the signs were turned away when not relevant.

[huskerdont]

@Steve O 192696 wrote:

lum-ber-jack

verb

1. move or remove or otherwise change a human-created, absurd trail/sidewalk/road obstruction in order to convenience fellow non-car users

Riding to the DC United game last night, it looked like someone already moved them a bit. You can see the dead grass where they sat for so long, and the linking mechanisms for some of them had been lifted but not reattached.

[mrhappy_onabike]

huskerdont;192725 wrote:

riding to the dc united game last night, it looked like “someone” already moved them a bit. You can see the dead grass where they sat for so long, and the linking mechanisms for some of them had been lifted but not reattached.

ftfy

[Judd]

@huskerdont 192725 wrote:

@Steve O 192696 wrote:

lum-ber-jack

verb

1. move or remove or otherwise change a human-created, absurd trail/sidewalk/road obstruction in order to convenience fellow non-car users

Riding to the DC United game last night, it looked like someone already moved them a bit. You can see the dead grass where they sat for so long, and the linking mechanisms for some of them had been lifted but not reattached.

I miss the elite button.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[huskerdont]

@mrhappy_onabike 192730 wrote:

ftfy

Mr. Happy must be very strong for his size because those Jersey barriers are completely gone now.

[ginacico]

@huskerdont 192781 wrote:

Mr. Happy must be very strong for his size

He’s been working out.

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