Escape from DC

[americancyclo]

I still get frustrated sometimes trying to bike from Capitol Hill to Virginia. I have some routes that I favor, but I’d love to hear if others have a tricky way to get through DC, as quickly as possible. I’m not really concerned about traffic, just how to get west as quickly as possible. Here’s my two most common approaches.

Option 1: Independence Ave
http://bit.ly/qh1R3Y

Option 2: Penn Ave to G St.
http://bit.ly/qbTNsV

Topic

[CCrew]

From your start points you’ve pretty much got it. I do M to the Key Bridge, but that would be out of the way for you. People that care about me have some issues with my splitting traffic on M in Georgetown though.

[Tim Kelley]

I’m glad to see that you’re prepared for the impending Zombie Apocalypse.

[americancyclo]

@CCrew 5377 wrote:

I do M to the Key Bridge, but that would be out of the way for you. People that care about me have some issues with my splitting traffic on M in Georgetown though.

That’s the way I used to go, but even with splitting traffic, M St seems to bog me down too much. It also shot the nerves of my commute buddy, so we started going the G St. route.

Anyone else find Penn Ave westbound extremely frustrating with the timing of lights?

[eminva]

I find Penn Ave generally extremely frustrating with the timing of lights. I am only on it in the morning, from M to L, and I can never get the timing of the lights right at the intersections of 25th and 26th. By that point I am in the left center lane so I can turn on L, and it’s uphill to boot. I doubt it is any easier for drivers — sometimes I think they have a computer program that randomly times the lights to keep us all off balance.

By the way, I wander up to N Street on the westbound in the afternoon. Sometimes it is quite fast, other times, not so good, but it gives the illusion of movement.

Liz

[americancyclo]

Eastbound in the morning, I don’t really have too many gripes, M St is timed well, and Penn from 26 to 15th is pretty good. at 26th, when Penn ave turns red, southbound 26th st goes first, then northbound 26th goes afterwards. since they’re both one way, you can safely cross if you can see the traffic lights. I think going to L from Penn at 25th, you always have to wait.

It’s in the evening, going westbound from 3rd st to 14th st that frustrates me. I have a friend at DDOT that told me there are only two people that manually change the light timings at boxes at each intersection.

[brendan]

I used to always do M St eastbound through gtown to penn, to L to New Hampshire when heading to social events in NW. Now I just turn at the left east end of georgetown, climb through the neighborhood to P, take P to florida and head up that way unless I’m meeting folks down by the university or the k street district.

Brendan

[baiskeli]

@americancyclo 5365 wrote:

I still get frustrated sometimes trying to bike from Capitol Hill to Virginia. I have some routes that I favor, but I’d love to hear if others have a tricky way to get through DC, as quickly as possible. I’m not really concerned about traffic, just how to get west as quickly as possible. Here’s my two most common approaches.

Option 1: Independence Ave
http://bit.ly/qh1R3Y

Option 2: Penn Ave to G St.
http://bit.ly/qbTNsV

Those two are almost exactly my two routes in the morning, only in reverse. I usually do the Mall one, mostly because of…the timing of the lights on Pa. Ave.

[americancyclo]

Was thinking about this again due to the What cyclists want thread and have a few updates.

http://goo.gl/maps/Ly02S

or

http://goo.gl/maps/EbIMU

are my popular route choices now, depending on how the light timing at Independence and 4th goes.

[TwoWheelsDC]

I usually take New Jersey down to Eye SE, then across SW to Water street, then past the fish market to Ohio and 14th St. bridge. It adds about a mile to the routes you mentioned, but I suspect it won’t actually add any time, since the lights on Eye are timed pretty well and Water street doesn’t require any stops.

http://goo.gl/maps/Bxr88

[sjclaeys]

My route is similar to TwoWheelsDC’s but I simply go down Independence to 15th St, cross the 14th St. Bridge and take the MVT to Rosslyn.

[Steve]

@TwoWheelsDC 34349 wrote:

I usually take New Jersey down to Eye SE, then across SW to Water street, then past the fish market to Ohio and 14th St. bridge. It adds about a mile to the routes you mentioned, but I suspect it won’t actually add any time, since the lights on Eye are timed pretty well and Water street doesn’t require any stops.

http://goo.gl/maps/Bxr88

You also have the option, based upon TwoWheels’ route, to take that up Ohio Drive to the Memorial Bridge. In the AM (from VA to DC) I ride roads because of how dark and empty the Custis is. Taking the roads puts me on the 110 trail up to Mem Bridge. Crossing on the Memorial Bridge to Ohio Drive is a little easier than making an additional 2 GW Pkwy/VA-27 crossings near Memorial Circle to get down to the MVT.

In the PM, I take the 14th St. Bridge to MVT to Custis, just like TwoWheels, because it is the easiest way for me to get to Custis, and I prefer that to Wilson or Lee Hwy.

A side note: does anyone know if/when they are going to finish Marshall Dr next to Iwo Jima? I have been cutting thru the park to avoid Marshall, but in the dark is sketches me out a little sometimes. It’s been that way since before BikeDC.

[Justin Antos]

I also like Marc’s Eye St. SW route, especially coming back to the DC side – except when there are home Nationals games. Independence is the fastest, but trafficky.

Here’s another one I like to avoid traffic: http://goo.gl/maps/ob7yi

[DaveK]

@Justin Antos 34356 wrote:

I also like Marc’s Eye St. SW route, especially coming back to the DC side – except when there are home Nationals games. Independence is the fastest, but trafficky.

Here’s another one I like to avoid traffic: http://goo.gl/maps/ob7yi

That’s my route pretty much every day. Slightly shorter than the SW route from where I start.

[americancyclo]

@TwoWheelsDC 34349 wrote:

I usually take New Jersey down to Eye SE, then across SW to Water street, then past the fish market to Ohio and 14th St. bridge. It adds about a mile to the routes you mentioned, but I suspect it won’t actually add any time, since the lights on Eye are timed pretty well and Water street doesn’t require any stops. http://goo.gl/maps/Bxr88

I might try that on the way home. I’ll let you know how it works out.

[Author]

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