Beach Drive Block Party – Sunday, Aug 20 1pm-4pm

[zsionakides]

@elbows 163764 wrote:

https://www.nps.gov/rocr/planyourvisit/event-details.htm?event=A03C554A-1DD8-B71B-0B96C3463BC84C76

On Sunday, August 20, Rock Creek Park and Rock Creek Conservancy are hosting a block party for residents and neighbors to experience the brand new Beach Drive before anyone else. Featured programs include a hike and a ranger-led bike tour, hands-on activities for kids, and information booths.

The party will begin at 1 p.m. at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo entrance on Beach Drive (by Harvard Street NW) and last until 4 p.m. During the party, guests will be invited to walk, as well as ride bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles, on the fully reconstructed roadway and the wider, smoother multi-use trail.

It would be great if they would close down that part of Beach Drive and have a biking/walking “party” every weekend like they do on the northern section.

[Judd]

@elbows 163764 wrote:

…ride bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles…

Pointing this out for trolling purposes.

[BrettVA]

Mostly riding the road for my evening commute after the 7 PM closure at the zoo. A question and an observation.

Does anyone know if the park serviced has bailed on the promise to build a bridge for bikes and peds across the creek south of the tunnel? I have seen no work on abutments and I can’t believe they could build it before the 20th.

They seemed to have spent a lot of time and effort hand paving the center line in the tunnel with white bricks. Maybe that is what they spent the bridge money on?

I have been having recurring conflicts with runners on the existing trail on the bridge. With the construction barriers up one cannot step into the road to pass another user on the bridge’s sidewalk. While I regularly wait for runners/walkers on the bridge to clear before I start over, they rarely return the courtesy. When I point out their rudeness, I am inevitably told that I should be walking my bike. So now when a runner enters the bridge I immediately dismount. I have a fat veranda and me and my bike take up the entire width of the path making it impossible for the runner to pass.

I think this issue will be further amplified by the design of the path through the tunnel. The new path will be the width of the path on the bridge. A guardrail will prevent folks from easily stepping into the road to pass–as was past custom. The Park Service’s “solution” to this problem is to require bikers to walk through the tunnel. I can see me and another biker walking through the tunnel in opposite directions. We meet somewhere in the middle. With our fat verandas and bikes at our side, no one can get by. A major choke point.

I’m thinking new lyrics to the song “Charlie on the M.T.A”

Did they ever return?
No they never returned.
Their fate is still unlearned
They are stuck forever ‘neath the Rock Creek Tunnel.
They are the bikers who never returned.

[DCAKen]

The new bridge project is separate from the Beach Drive rehabilitation project. From the meetings I attended last year, work wasn’t planned to start on it until sometime this year. That said, I’m not sure how they plan to do a lot of the construction on it without closing Beach Drive for periods of time.

[Author]

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