February 2015 Trail Conditions

[jrenaut]

Compare Arlington’s beautifully cleared lanes with what’s supposed to be the crown jewel of D.C. lanes, the 15th St cycletrack. Completely unusable for 95% of those who’ve come to depend on it

Bike lanes on 11th NW north of Florida are garbage, too.

[eminva]

The W&OD– as usual, the 10 feet in front of the Vienna Community Center are clear. The rest is a trampled down mess; icy ruts of death by tomorrow.

Rode around the streets of Vienna– mostly bare pavement in the sunny spots but still slick snow in the shade, especially the less traveled streets. Very wet with many puddles; with the expected re freeze I would recommend studded tires tomorrow.

Liz

[Vicegrip]

one single pass from a 3/4 width plow would have opened the W&OD to bare pavement with the present conditions.

[PotomacCyclist]

Morning lows for the rest of the week:

Wed. 14F
Thur. 11F, 10-11 mph wind
Fri. 2F, 10-11 mph wind

Average low for this time of year, 31F

[Phatboing]

@Powerful Pete 108626 wrote:

4. Four mile run is completely cleared.

Four mile run west of Shirlington isn’t, though, and has been walked on even more than the W&OD. All them stinky people walking on the snow with their big stinky feetses.

[Bruno Moore]

College Park Trails:

The Trolley Trail from Rhode Island and Greenbelt to Calvert Hills is plowed and clear in segments—except at street crossings, where it’s unplowed and piled a bit higher, leaving things looking kinda like this. It’s 90% there, but it’s a really annoying 10% when you have to dismount every 30 seconds. Might be doable with CX tread, but not on standard commuter road tires. Between Lakeland Road and Paint Branch Parkway, including the cutoff onto Artimesia and the NE Branch, it’s unplowed and, for me at least, impassible. YMMV, and, for at least one Inquisitor, did.

Some parts of the Paint Branch Trail near the UMD campus have been shoveled. I doubt much north to Mezzerott from the apartments has been, though, and circumstantial evidence strongly suggests north by the golf course hasn’t been either.

[Greenbelt]

Typical Anacostia Tributary Trails condition. Will be pressed down into virtually impassable glaciated footprints by tomorrow afternoon.
[IMG]https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10431438_795072100559509_5666172854504822189_n.jpg?oh=8fe6d28698bff5e867e1dabdc797c8b5&oe=555A8528[/IMG]
Greenbelt does a fabulous job with street and sidewalk clearing in the old part of town, but it’s hit or miss in other sections. This is the connector trail from Old GB toward Capital Office Park by the State Highway facility that serves as the main bike route to get to Metro:
[IMG]https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10622837_795072047226181_6983009610442530285_n.jpg?oh=a57223bafe0f130284a059b1b2ec5f3f&oe=555BB424[/IMG]
Sidewalks along Greenbelt Road that are used by commuters to connect to the trail system are in crummy shape:
[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10997372_795072087226177_4231760760761687256_n.jpg?oh=970524b3ce190c593a7bad256e5d2897&oe=5588C882&__gda__=1432085003_e62094602fa1e7c7a963d97915543e04[/IMG]

[mstone]

@Vicegrip 108652 wrote:

one single pass from a 3/4 width plow would have opened the W&OD to bare pavement with the present conditions.

I think with the current conditions it’ll take an icebreaker.

[Yggdrasil]

Who would we even hassle to get MVT from 4 Mile to the 395 bridge cleared? Taking care of 4 Mile is minimally useful for most people if there’s no real bridge access. This is a main arterial path for bike commuters, it seems like there would be at least a little effort, especially considering even tertiary roads are clear now. Seeing how quickly and easily Arlington has taken care of a significant portion of its trails it’s frustrating that MVT is perpetually a wipeout waiting to happen.

[dbb]

Crystal City to DC

Rode Long Bridge to Boundary Channel Drive – Just wet

Wooden bridge to LBJ Memorial to the marina parking lot was covered in snow – had to walk the bike

MVT trail from Humpback Bridge to 14th Street Bridge – untouched and getting rutted

14th Street Bridge – WTF? While the roadway had been cleared curb to curb, the bike/ped trail was untouched. Come on DC Government – you can do better that that!

DC streets – just wet

[Harry Meatmotor]

@dbb 108691 wrote:

Crystal City to DC

Rode Long Bridge to Boundary Channel Drive – Just wet

Wooden bridge to LBJ Memorial to the marina parking lot was covered in snow – had to walk the bike

MVT trail from Humpback Bridge to 14th Street Bridge – untouched and getting rutted

14th Street Bridge – WTF? While the roadway had been cleared curb to curb, the bike/ped trail was untouched. Come on DC Government – you can do better that that!

DC streets – just wet

Tho i commend you on your fortitude, I’m glad i chose not to have a 1.5 hour hike-a-bike commute this morning. Call me a wimp (I can take it!), but I drove in today. 3 hours on the bike per day over the next few days is not what my legs need right now.

[dbb]

For DC trail conditions, if you have a phone that won’t call DC 311 directly, call (202) 737-4404 and that will get you in the hopper

I just called about the bike/ped lane on the 14th Street Bridge.

I’m sure they will respond to twitter as well

[NickBull]

@jrenaut 108643 wrote:

Compare Arlington’s beautifully cleared lanes with what’s supposed to be the crown jewel of D.C. lanes, the 15th St cycletrack. Completely unusable for 95% of those who’ve come to depend on it
…

Interesting. It looks like they plowed it, but with the blade so high that it left a layer of snow untouched.

[slowtriguy]

Falls Church City (West and Broad) to Ballston, 0800-0835

Didn’t even bother trying to ride on the W&OD before Banneker Park. West->Lincoln->Washington->Westmoreland->Van Buren fine, just wet in spots.

W&OD->Custis AWESOMENESS from Banneker Park until the Harrison Street underpass. From then until the exit to 15th between Taylor and Stafford, mostly fine with a few slushy stretches.

15th->Quincy->Fairfax largely fine with a thin layer of slush that had me riding out in the lane, but folks were amazingly well-behaved today.

All easily rideable on 26″ semi-slicks, not least because of Dirt’s truing my rear wheel at Bikenetic yesterday — thanks again, Dirt!

[Crickey7]

CCT in Maryland appeared paved, though I chose to take Connecticut Ave. That was fine other than the 70 foot sheet of ice on one of the side streets.

We don’t have any fancy bike counters in Maryland. My rough calculation, however, showed that I could take all the bike commuters I counted today, square that number and still have room left on one hand.

[Author]

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