Crossing the beltway south of Telegraph Rd.

[omahorst]

Hi all — We are planning to move to the area south of the beltway, potentially near Huntington Metro station or Groveton. The plan is drop off the kids (via trailer) at Jefferson Manor Park in the morning and then head north to Crystal City to work myself. We’re moving from the Van Ness area of DC, so I’m not familiar with Southern Alexandria at all. I’ve done a bit of map and field research and it appears that one of the major chokepoints down there is actually finding a way to cross the beltway. Telegraph Road is out of the question, from what I can gather, and heading east to catch the Mt. Vernon trail would be doable, but would lead me further far east than I would like. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?
Thanks,
omahorst

Topic

[jopamora]

This post has two suggestions. And the thread has some more info, like Telegraph having a new trail over the Beltway.

[dbb]

I think TheCyclingEconomist looked at that location. Look at those posts from the past year or so

[dbb]

From that part of Fairfax, the MVT is pretty close. Because there are only a few beltway crossings for cars between Route 1 and Van Dorn (and, therefore fewer bike crossings), your route choices may be limited. The Huntington Metro stop is only about a mile from the MVT.

[TwoWheelsDC]

There’s a path over 495 at Telegraph Rd/Huntington Ave. ( http://goo.gl/maps/pSnjZ ) Also, there’s a sidewalk along Telegraph that’s pretty easy to ride on, and then you can cut through the neighborhood between Telegraph and King’s Highway to avoid the major intersection of Telegraph/Huntington/495/Kings Hwy. Once you hit Eisenhower, it’s pretty easy from there.

Basically, the reverse of this:

http://app.strava.com/activities/11540525

[ShawnoftheDread]

Telegraph’s not out of the question, but you’d probably want to take the sidewalk in the morning from Jefferson Manor Park to the new pedestrian overpass to Eisenhower Ave. It’s not great, but the troublesome section is short.

Or you could hang a right on Huntington and take the new trail at Rt. 1 over to the MVT. Another option is to go up Jefferson Dr in the Manor, make a left on N. Kings by the metro, cut through the condos on the right, and come out on Huntington to get to the trailhead at Rt. 1.

The hillier route is to cut through Jefferson Manor: Edgehill to Fort, Fairhaven to Quander, left on Harvard and down to Belle Haven Rd. But that puts you further south than you need to be.

I’m not sure what you mean by further east than you want, since Crystal City is so close to the MVT.

[bobco85]

@omahorst 50922 wrote:

Hi all — We are planning to move to the area south of the beltway, potentially near Huntington Metro station or Groveton. The plan is drop off the kids (via trailer) at Jefferson Manor Park in the morning and then head north to Crystal City to work myself. We’re moving from the Van Ness area of DC, so I’m not familiar with Southern Alexandria at all. I’ve done a bit of map and field research and it appears that one of the major chokepoints down there is actually finding a way to cross the beltway. Telegraph Road is out of the question, from what I can gather, and heading east to catch the Mt. Vernon trail would be doable, but would lead me further far east than I would like. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?
Thanks,
omahorst

I recommend this route: http://goo.gl/maps/E8pBV

Some notes on this route:

• The first 2 blocks would have to be done on-road/sidewalk on Telegraph, but the sidewalk turns into a wide paved trail before passing under Kings Hwy
• There is a connecting bridge (trail is separate from traffic) you can take to get from Telegraph/Huntington to Eisenhower
• The area around the King Street Metro station can be slow, but traffic tends to be well-directed due to all the stoplights
• The streets you will take are mostly one lane with low speed limits
• Commonwealth Ave varies between bike lanes and sharrows
• Eisenhower Ave has wide sidewalks if you choose to use it as part of your route

[omahorst]

Wow. Thanks, everyone, for your fantastic tips! The situation is not nearly as grim as I had feared, given that there is, in fact, a ramp across 495 near Telegraph. Again, thanks for those great recommendations!

[Author]

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