December 2020 Road & Trail Conditions

[Smitty2k1]

I got out for my “once in a blue moon because newborns are hard” ride yesterday and looked at the section of the Anacostia trail that was closed by the Gov in the last thread.

It’s still closed on the north side, by the fields, but enough brush has been cleared that it’s easy to walk your bike around the barriers.

The southern end, near the trash/recycling center, remains open.

Also, further north on the Northeast Branch Trail near Lake Artemesia there’s a really steep wooden bridge that I’ve fallen on more than once becausey read tire lost traction. The bridge has been painted over in some sort of rough/grippy paint. No idea of it works, but it can’t be worse than it was!

[drevil]

@Smitty2k1 202938 wrote:

I got out for my “once in a blue moon because newborns are hard” ride yesterday and looked at the section of the Anacostia trail that was closed by the Gov in the last thread.

It’s still closed on the north side, by the fields, but enough brush has been cleared that it’s easy to walk your bike around the barriers.

The southern end, near the trash/recycling center, remains open.

Also, further north on the Northeast Branch Trail near Lake Artemesia there’s a really steep wooden bridge that I’ve fallen on more than once becausey read tire lost traction. The bridge has been painted over in some sort of rough/grippy paint. No idea of it works, but it can’t be worse than it was!

That bridge is 3 minutes away from me, and yes, the rough paint works very well. Glad you were able to get out for a spin!

[DCAKen]

Beware of some closures around the IOD on Sunday morning. The Holiday Inn at Ft. Myer and Lee Highway is going to be imploded at 8 am (conditions permitting).

https://www.arlnow.com/2020/12/07/implosion-to-fell-rosslyn-hotel-tower-this-weekend/

[smb9600]

There was patches of ice on the WOD today between Columbia Pike & the Custis Trail – its winter indeed!

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[DrP]

@smb9600 202949 wrote:

There was patches of ice on the WOD today between Columbia Pike & the Custis Trail – its winter indeed!

Ice flows are coming!
Columbia Island is leaking like it was a couple of winters ago (south of Trollheim to a little south of Memorial Bridge). The past two mornings there was ice on the MVT where the water flows across the trail – likely melting once it warms, for now. If we get a spell of frigid temperatures like we did two winters ago, and it continues to be damp again, these will likely be big ice flows for a while.

[Judd]

From the inbox of the Friends of Mount Vernon Trail:

“For your awareness, from Monday, December 14th to Friday, December 18th, there will be construction equipment and workers on the Mount Vernon Trail between Waynewood Boulevard and Fort Hunt Road. Workers will be drilling bore holes to test the ground from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. The trail will not close, but workers will occasionally direct trail traffic and move equipment on the trail. Signage will also be posted to alert trail user of the work.”

I believe this is engineering work for the Bridge 12 replacement. Awaiting confirmation from NPS.

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[Judd]

Confirmed that this work is part of the engineering for the Bridge 12 replacement.

@Judd 202956 wrote:

From the inbox of the Friends of Mount Vernon Trail:

“For your awareness, from Monday, December 14th to Friday, December 18th, there will be construction equipment and workers on the Mount Vernon Trail between Waynewood Boulevard and Fort Hunt Road. Workers will be drilling bore holes to test the ground from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. The trail will not close, but workers will occasionally direct trail traffic and move equipment on the trail. Signage will also be posted to alert trail user of the work.”

I believe this is engineering work for the Bridge 12 replacement. Awaiting confirmation from NPS.

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[zsionakides]

I hadn’t been down on the southern part of the MVT in a few months, but one of the bridges just north of Ft Hunt now has orange flex(?) posts at both ends of the bridge. This is a bad treatment in general, but going northbound it’s challenging to navigate around due to the curve there and I couldn’t imagine trying to do it on a longer bike (tandem, longtail).

[arlcxrider]

There are also newish and closely spaced white “flexi” bollards athwart the MVT where the trail transitions from that short section of street north of Alexandria Ave., approx. mile marker 5. Flexi or not, hitting one of those would entail a high suck factor.

As for why NPS installs these things, it’s probably to keep drivers from inattentively wandering onto the trails and boardwalks, like this award-winning driver who made it to Chain Bridge on the C&O towpath before ending up in the drink.

https://wtop.com/dc/2020/05/crash-leaves-vehicle-partially-submerged-in-co-canal-in-dc/

[Judd]

@zsionakides 203020 wrote:

I hadn’t been down on the southern part of the MVT in a few months, but one of the bridges just north of Ft Hunt now has orange flex(?) posts at both ends of the bridge. This is a bad treatment in general, but going northbound it’s challenging to navigate around due to the curve there and I couldn’t imagine trying to do it on a longer bike (tandem, longtail).

I’ll check it out sometime this week and check with the Park to determine the intent of its placement and see if we can adjust. There are a few places on the trail that have posts or barrels up right now and I believe the intention of all of them are short term interventions to for places where people may inadvertently bike off trail. If you’re talking about the bridge pictured below, it’s possible that it’s placed as part of the engineering work being done this week to replace Bridge 12.

[Judd]

@arlcxrider 203023 wrote:

There are also newish and closely spaced white “flexi” bollards athwart the MVT where the trail transitions from that short section of street north of Alexandria Ave., approx. mile marker 5. Flexi or not, hitting one of those would entail a high suck factor.

As for why NPS installs these things, it’s probably to keep drivers from inattentively wandering onto the trails and boardwalks, like this award-winning driver who made it to Chain Bridge on the C&O towpath before ending up in the drink.

https://wtop.com/dc/2020/05/crash-leaves-vehicle-partially-submerged-in-co-canal-in-dc/

This is only list of least favorite parts of the trail since the trail is also a short access road for one of the house’s driveways. Do you have any thoughts on a different treatment here that would help discourage cars from driving down the trail?

[Steve O]

@Judd 203025 wrote:

This is only list of least favorite parts of the trail since the trail is also a short access road for one of the house’s driveways. Do you have any thoughts on a different treatment here that would help discourage cars from driving down the trail?

A big-ass sign?

[Judd]

@Steve O 203039 wrote:

A big-ass sign?

Quit trying to destroy the viewshed. [emoji1787]

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[arlcxrider]

@Judd 203025 wrote:

This is only list of least favorite parts of the trail since the trail is also a short access road for one of the house’s driveways. Do you have any thoughts on a different treatment here that would help discourage cars from driving down the trail?

Who says there has to be an answer? Sometimes doing nothing is the best course. Certainly that’s preferable to the haphazard use of bollards.

[zsionakides]

@Judd 203024 wrote:

I’ll check it out sometime this week and check with the Park to determine the intent of its placement and see if we can adjust. There are a few places on the trail that have posts or barrels up right now and I believe the intention of all of them are short term interventions to for places where people may inadvertently bike off trail. If you’re talking about the bridge pictured below, it’s possible that it’s placed as part of the engineering work being done this week to replace Bridge 12.

The barrels are being used where there are roots coming through and the trail is unsafe, which is fine. This is big flex posts in the center of each end of the bridge, which seem to be for deterring usage of the bridges. The problem is that the bridge isn’t that wide to begin with and there are sharp turns entering/exiting the south side making it less safe to bike through there.

[Author]

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