Courts at Huntingon Station To MVT

[ShawnoftheDread]

Yeah, that route is fine. But you might prefer going left on Huntington and getting the new overpass to Eisenhower Ave. There are a couple of more turns involved, but it’s a nice route.

Ike to Jamieson, right on West through the townhouses, left on Wilkes and then over to Union.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@ShawnoftheDread 85839 wrote:

Yeah, that route is fine. But you might prefer going left on Huntington and getting the new overpass to Eisenhower Ave. There are a couple of more turns involved, but it’s a nice route.

Ike to Jamieson, right on West through the townhouses, left on Wilkes and then over to Union.

Oh, and Courts at HS is on top of a hill on the south end of the metro station. You’ll love the return trip.

[Anonymous]

Huntington avenue is fine to ride on. The side path along rt.1 to washington st./mvt in old town is handy. The intersection with Rt. 1 and Fort Hunt Road is annoying as all get-out if you are on that side path, though… and there is always plenty of right-turning traffic from fort hunt onto route 1 who are mostly not looking for people on the path. If I took the route you’re describing (when I go through there, it’s not quite the same travel direction, so I haven’t done this exact thing, it might not work as well in real life as it does in my head), I’d at least try taking Huntington all the way to Fort Hunt, cross Fort Hunt to the access road and take the access road to the side path. Down side of that is the stop light at Huntington/Fort Hunt/access road is at least part of the time on a sensor that doesn’t recognize bikes…

[lordofthemark]

@ShawnoftheDread 85840 wrote:

Oh, and Courts at HS is on top of a hill on the south end of the metro station. You’ll love the return trip.

How would you compare it to the hill up 31st street from Shirlington, if you know that one?

[ShawnoftheDread]

I’d say it’s bigger than that, but I guess it depends on where you end up tackling it. N. Kings is long and steep, but if you can cut through the metro parking areas it should be less so.

[lordofthemark]

@ShawnoftheDread 85941 wrote:

I’d say it’s bigger than that, but I guess it depends on where you end up tackling it. N. Kings is long and steep, but if you can cut through the metro parking areas it should be less so.

Google suggests bypassing N Kings highway and the metro lots by using a path from Biscayne to Blair – I am not clear on the quality of that path.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I think it’s a dirt path through the park. Also, Blaine has a decent hill too.

[lordofthemark]

So – are we talking A. Bike commuters (with known problems on hills, but getting better) living there should just ride metro and get a CaBi membership so they can ride from someplace more decent or B. Rule number 5?

[Anonymous]

@lordofthemark 85977 wrote:

So – are we talking A. Bike commuters (with known problems on hills, but getting better) living there should just ride metro and get a CaBi membership so they can ride from someplace more decent or B. Rule number 5?

B.

The hill isn’t exactly avoidable, you will be at the top of it regardless, but it’s not *that* bad and there are a variety of ways to approach it. You can explore and find your preference for climb vs. length vs. traffic but it’s totally doable. I’d say for pure climbing straight up N. Kings is probably the worst (fairly long, steep stretch) even if it’s the most direct. I cut from Huntington up through the metro once and if I’m not misremembering it was pretty steep but not too long a slog. There are some longer roundabout ways that would give a longer but less steep route up (follow either rt. 1 or telegraph rd a bit then cut through some side streets).

[ShawnoftheDread]

B. you can always walk up the hill coming home.

[Terpfan]

I didn’t recognize the name of the complex, but it shows as those apartments right at the top of the hill by the metro. If that’s it, then yah you could do those paths although I echo the thought that they’re dirt. Or at least the only one I’ve ever seen from Huntington is dirt.

I’ve also taken that sidewalk down Rt 1 to Huntington Ave. It’s doable although people don’t pay a lot of attention to you so have the front blinky on full blast. That and there is like a 30 foot stretch of no sidewalk and worn dirt. I actually, I took that route on BTWD since I figured the MVT would be pretty flooded from Dyke Marsh up to OT. And it was fine for me save for the actual little overpass next to 495, which had like 7″ of water on it somehow.

As for the hill, there is no real way to avoid it. It continues all the way down to Hybla Valley and no matter where you enter, you have to go up. And no shame in walking it at first. I still watch some of the folks here in awe go flying past me up Beacon Hill. I think they’ve just been doing it for years versus me for one year.

[GovernorSilver]

@lordofthemark 85951 wrote:

Google suggests bypassing N Kings highway and the metro lots by using a path from Biscayne to Blair – I am not clear on the quality of that path.

Zombie thread, but I’m a few weeks new to the WABA forums, live near Courts at Huntington, and have been exploring the same question (how to get to MVT from the neighborhood). I really should have been posting in this thread instead of in the Commuting forum.

The Biscayne to Blair path is asphalt. As you can see in Google Maps it winds left and right. I’m not that good at climbing, having learned how to ride early May 2015. I can climb from Huntington Ave. up Blair to that path but not up the path itself because of the combination of grade and winding. I couldn’t climb MVT to Mt. Vernon Estate without taking a couple of breaks. Descending is also beyond my skill level, though I saw a neighborhood kid descend on a mountain bike, with his buddy loudly claiming credit for teaching him “the trick”. The kid appeared to be standing on one pedal.

Mt. Eagle Park is not gated and has the asphalt paths running through it. Going through the park, then down to that winding path to Blaine is probably your best bet, coming from Courts. The park technically closes at sundown, but there’s no gate anywhere. You’ll probably want a light if you think it’s going to be night time when you come back from MVT, because I didn’t notice any lights in the park.

Once you’re down on Huntington Ave, just take the right lane to the Rt. 1 intersection. I have tried both options to get to the pedestrian bridge leading to MVT:

1. Stay on Huntington, wait for all the cars to pass, then switch to left lane, then turn left on Ft. Hunt and right onto the access road in the direction of the pedestrian bridge. Pro: You avoid more of the car traffic pulling out of Ft. Hunt onto Rt. 1. Cons: You have no control over the traffic light unless you stay in the right lane to get at the pedestrian traffic light button – which is hazardous for cyclists as car drivers tend to be in aggressive competition to see who can get to the right turn lane first.

2. At stoplight, switch to pedestrian crosswalk to cross Rt. 1. Wait for the light and cross Huntington. Take sidewalk all the way to pedestrian bridge. Pros: You avoid the Huntington-Ft. Hunt stoplight mess and it’s a more straightforward route to MVT. Cons: Drivers coming out of Ft. Hunt may have a tendency to merge into Rt. 1 aggressively, especially the ones that try to cheat on the red light. My first time riding to MVT, there was a truck that stopped and blocked the pedestrian walkway – I think he was thinking of cheating the red light to merge ahead of oncoming traffic, then realized he was too late.

Personally, between the two I prefer the better control over traffic lights in option 2, because option 1 leaves you at the mercy of cars coming out of the country club to trigger the traffic light.

Coming back from MVT is tricky as you can’t do the reverse of 1 or 2 above. Well, I tried to do the reverse of 1 but was stuck waiting for a car to trigger the light. Anyway, the next time I come back from MVT, I’m going to try pulling a left onto Ft. Hunt, then making a right onto Huntington Ave for the ride back to the neighborhood. I’m nervous about switching to the left lane on Huntington to turn back onto Blair – I can turn my head to look but I don’t think I can see far enough back to tell if there’s a car approaching at high speed. I had a mirror but it kept slipping on my handlebar. What I did last time was pull to the right somewhere then walk my bike across.

On the other forum, the Metro parking area was mentioned as an alternative to climbing the hill. There are two parking structures, one on each side of the station. I believe there is an access road or path that can be used to go from the lower structure to the one uphill but I haven’t tried it.

[GovernorSilver]

I found another way to get from MVT back to Huntington that I really like, while riding to and from the Saturday farmer’s market. Check this out:

https://goo.gl/maps/b01Ua

I’m guessing S. Royal St. has a lot less traffic than the “other half” of the MVT in Old Town, S. Union St. where at this time of year there’s a steady stream of tourists and other pedestrians crossing at King St. and a bunch of cars too.

Wilkes St. seems to be bike friendly. You just have to switch to one of the pedestrian walkways when you get to Columbus St, so you can press the button to trigger the traffic light. Note that when you get to Rt. 1, the crosswalk and the button to trigger the traffic light is on the left side. After you cross Rt. 1, you’ll see bike route signs that are easy to follow, although the route will take you through an apartment parking lot.

Jamieson Ave is where you may find the first of Google Maps’ mistakes. It says you can bike straight through the John Carlyle St. traffic oval – I didn’t really see a way to go straight through safely – I simply went around the oval.

The other potential Google Map bug is the recommendation of Stovall St. to get to the Eisenhower overpass. I think it’s safer to take Andrews Ln from Jameison to Eisenhower, or take Mandeville Ln + Swamp Fox Rd. Of course once you’re over the overpass you’re on Huntington Ave and you can make a right turn into the Metro station, or onto Blair if you don’t mind the climb.

I think I’m settled on the Wilkes-Jamieson-etc. route to get back to Huntington from MVT. It’s not that much out of the way, and it avoids me having to take a left turn from Huntington Ave to get back into my neighborhood.

[Author]

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