Columbia Pike

[PotomacCyclist]

Arlington is planning to build/designate “bike boulevards” on a couple streets that are parallel to Columbia Pike. But that probably won’t happen right away.

Central Arlington isn’t as bike-friendly as FMR and Custis/Wilson/Clarendon Blvd. I haven’t even found any good north-south routes through that area, between Pentagon City and Clarendon/Court House. I’d be interested to hear if other people know about good routes.

[JustinW]

Where are you on Columbia Pike? Can you pop up to Rt 50 and use that eastbound?

[5555624]

@PotomacCyclist 4784 wrote:

Arlington is planning to build/designate “bike boulevards” on a couple streets that are parallel to Columbia Pike. But that probably won’t happen right away.

Even when they are done, traveling east, once you get to South Courthouse Road — if you’re using S 9th St — you’re back on Columbia Pike. I take that stretch, down to the Pentagon, every morning, but I am lucky enough to be riding while virtually everyone else is still asleep.

@PotomacCyclist 4784 wrote:

Central Arlington isn’t as bike-friendly as FMR and Custis/Wilson/Clarendon Blvd. I haven’t even found any good north-south routes through that area, between Pentagon City and Clarendon/Court House. I’d be interested to here if other people know about good routes.

I’d argue that once you get off designated trails, Arlington is not bike friendly at all. I have far more “problems” — inattentive drivers, scooters in bike lanes, etc. — riding in Arlington, than I do in D.C. To go north-south, I take a winding course through neighborhood streets, resigning myself to a trip that is longer than it needs to be.

[5555624]

To echo JustinW, where are you on Columbia Pike? Another option might be S 2nd St and through Fort Myer. While I don’t go that way (and did not when I lived on S 2nd St), I know some people who do.

[donkeybike]

Columbia Pike will never be bike friendly. I rather like meandering north through neighborhood streets, up Irving usually, but it is time-consuming. It is once I get to 10th St N and Clarendon blvd that I have probs, but anyway…my husband rides through Ft Myer and loves it.

[elbows]

Agree with everything everyone’s said. After 8 years of being car-less in various parts of Arlington, I think the Columbia Pike area is the worst for cyclists in Arlington. I wish the County cared.

The bike blvds are fine but they won’t help with the worst sections.

Still haven’t tried Ft Myer. I’m dreading the summer ending and traffic on the Pike picking up again. Among other things, the County school buses are a bit of a monster. In my opinion, the Pentagon isn’t the end of the scary part, it’s really just 27 where things get better.

[americancyclo]

I’m not super familiar with that area, but what about 18th st S to Army Navy Country Club Access Rd between S Glebe and Army Navy Dr? will that help at all or is that still too far out of the way?

[elbows]

Are cyclists allowed to ride on the Army Navy Access Road? That would help me avoid the worst part of Columbia Pike.

[DaveK]

@elbows 7666 wrote:

Are cyclists allowed to ride on the Army Navy Access Road? That would help me avoid the worst part of Columbia Pike.

Technically it’s a private road that doesn’t allow through traffic, but I’ve done it. It all depends who you do or don’t run into on the way. It’s a great shortcut.

[paytonc]

@JustinW 4789 wrote:

Where are you on Columbia Pike? Can you pop up to Rt 50 and use that eastbound?

50 just dead-ends into the cemetery, though, with its weird access restrictions.

For all intents and purposes, there are three ways to bike into Arlington from the east (never mind the Potomac bridges): Custis Trail, Rosslyn streets, and the Four Mile Run trail. Otherwise, the cemetery and I-395 are insurmountable barriers. In the next few years, the new Washington Blvd/Columbia Pike interchange will have wider sidewalks and won’t be quite so awful for bikes.

In the very long term, a combination of the Country Club Bypass and a fully linked-up 12th St. S. (as shown in the Columbia Pike area plan) will create a low-traffic east-west link paralleling Columbia Pike over to Pentagon City, and by that time Long Bridge Park will connect to a new Potomac bridge, and perhaps pigs will fly.

[acorn]

It’s actually pretty easy to go through Fort Myer and the cemetery, I do it every day. Just show the guard an ID. If you have a federal ID they wave you though, otherwise they will log you in. One of the main entrances is on South 2nd St.

The cemetery gates inside Fort Myer don’t open until 8 am but then you can just sail through. If you come before 8, you can just go down McNair Drive (I think that is the name) and out Wright Gate.

You can’t go through the cemetery going back up, but you can go back up through Wright Gate.

[Steve]

I’ve done the ride through ANCC a number of timed and never been bothered.

One good thing about the Ft. Meyer cut through is that going eastbound you can go through Arlington National Cemetary downhill which is a really cool ride. It is one-way, but for the morning commute it would be great.

Woops! Didn’t see that acorn already provided this.

[off2ride]

I rode once ON Columbia Pike to go to Performance Baileys from 4MR Trail. It reminded me of Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon dodging asteroids with Chewy. Kinda sketchy.

@MBernier 4774 wrote:

I live off Columbia Pike and have started biking to work downtown, but have to schlep over to N. Arlington and catch the Custis Trail, or over to the Four Mile Run trail to Mt. Vernon. Columbia Pike is simply not bike friendly, although once I get to the Pentagon, it’s fine. Anyone have suggestions on how to cut THROUGH central Arlington, without having to go around the edges? It would be great to have bike lanes on Columbia Pike….

[paytonc]

Well, for someone like me who doesn’t use the route frequently, having to remember:
– hours that the Fort part is open
– hours that the Cemetery part is open
– proper credentials
– weird place names like “such and such gate”
– unmarked street names
– proper directionality (which still leaves someone climbing Columbia Pike westbound)
– Will I Be Stopped By Someone Heavily Armed?
…all qualify as “weird access restrictions” = “might as well not go there.”

Distance-wise, it also doesn’t help someone on Columbia Pike to go north around the cemetery and into Rosslyn, not when in theory it’s almost a straight shot to the 14th St. bridges.

[dasgeh]

I find that you can get to George Mason pretty easily on side streets just north and south of 50. I rarely got West of George Mason, but pretty quickly you end up at the W&OD trail. You can also use Fort Myer to bypass the Columbia Pike/Washington Blvd interchange — go through the 2nd Street gate, then head to Henderson Hall — follow the main road from the gate straight through the 3 way stop and around to the right. Take a left at the T, and that will take you around to a gate that will put you on Southgate Road, South of the cemetery. From there you can take the Washington Blvd trail to Memorial Bridge, or cut through the Pentagon the Marina to get to the 14th Street Bridge. (Complicated, but not far).

[Author]

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