Four Mile Run – stream habitat restoration and other work along the corridor

[Bike-Ped Manager]

There is a lot happening related to the Four Mile Run stream corridor these days!

Four Mile Run Restoration Project
The Four Mile Run restoration project is getting underway, with Alexandria beginning construction work on Site 3, the wetlands area. Alexandria’s contractors will remove the tree canopy that has grown on the highly degraded artificial fill in the wetland and the non-native forest floor. Once cleared, the City will replant using only native low and high marsh wetland plants and the area will be restored as a functioning wetland. The adjacent acres of naturally existing (remnant) forested wetlands within the project area will be preserved. Arlington’s portion of the restoration project, Sites 1 and 2, will go out to bid shortly and should get under construction later this year. Learn more about the restoration project: http://novaregion.org/DocumentCenter/View/10805

Four Mile Run Ground Breaking
You’re invited! Please Join Us for the Four Mile Run Ground Breaking. Wednesday, May 20th, 5:30 PM. Join former Congressman Moran, Congressman Beyer (invited), the City of Alexandria and Arlington County to celebrate the beginning of construction on the Four Mile Run restoration project! Work will soon begin to restore the wetlands, naturalize the stream banks, remove invasive plants, replant with native plants and create a new living shoreline. 4125 Mt. Vernon Ave (parking available at soccer field). Contact: Dana Wedeles, Phone: 703-746-5491, Email: Dana.Wedeles@alexandriava.gov .
https://4milerun.wordpress.com/

Channel Maintenance Work
Starting in May, there will be some vegetation clearing work in the stream channel to remove larger trees and shrubs that have grown up in the channel. This work is not related to the restoration project, but will help maintain the flood capacity of the channel during summer storms. Read more:
http://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/cleaning-planned-for-four-mile-run/

Topic

[Birdstrike]

Some nice looking community gardening going on too..

[PotomacCyclist]

Is the pedestrian bridge still on the table? The plans have included a new pedestrian bridge connecting S. Eads St. in Arlington with Commonwealth Ave. in Alexandria. The Feb. 4, 2015 presentation includes a slide about the pedestrian bridge, but no information other than a conceptual image and a slightly different placement on the map, a little to the west.

http://novaregion.org/DocumentCenter/View/10805
(Slide 24)

[CaseyKane50]

Here are some photos I took this morning of the tree canopy removal.

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Arlington Waste Treatment Plant in the background.

The project has closed a portion of the Four Mile Run Trail on the Alexandria side. They have built a temporary path that connects to Bruce Street and Mount Vernon Avenue.

[chris_s]

@PotomacCyclist 115487 wrote:

Is the pedestrian bridge still on the table? The plans have included a new pedestrian bridge connecting S. Eads St. in Arlington with Commonwealth Ave. in Alexandria. The Feb. 4, 2015 presentation includes a slide about the pedestrian bridge, but no information other than a conceptual image and a slightly different placement on the map, a little to the west.

http://novaregion.org/DocumentCenter/View/10805
(Slide 24)

It’s in Arlington’s Capital Improvement Plan (in like 2020 or something), it’s not in Alexandria’s. So…unless that changes I wouldn’t expect it to get built.

Honestly I’m not sure it’s high on any cyclists’ priority list. Pick pretty much any arterial street in the Arlington or Alexandria and I’d rather see a protected bike lane on it than see the bridge built.

[PotomacCyclist]

It’s not high on my priority list, but it would be nice to have if they are going to build it. The Washcycle had a post or two about it, some time ago. He and some of the commenters put some importance on the project.

I think it would be more important for pedestrians. It could help to enliven the barren area around the bus depot and transformer station and connect it with the park on the Alexandria side. The walk across the Rte. 1 bridge is not pleasant even though there’s a sidewalk.

[baiskeli]

I saw this construction last week and was worried. Glad to see it’s restoration work.

[chris_s]

@PotomacCyclist 115508 wrote:

It’s not high on my priority list, but it would be nice to have if they are going to build it. The Washcycle had a post or two about it, some time ago. He and some of the commenters put some importance on the project.

I think it would be more important for pedestrians. It could help to enliven the barren area around the bus depot and transformer station and connect it with the park on the Alexandria side. The walk across the Rte. 1 bridge is not pleasant even though there’s a sidewalk.

I’d like it better if it lined up directly with Eads and Commonwealth. But if I’m going to have to go out of my way anyway, not sure I care that much whether I’m going out of my way to the Route 1 bridge vs the new bike/ped bridge.

[Steve O]

@chris_s 115519 wrote:

I’d like it better if it lined up directly with Eads and Commonwealth.

Agreed. The reason these two streets line up perfectly is that there was once a railroad line and bridge. I wonder if the pilings are still there underneath the water somewhere. The design shown in the presentation seems a lot more complicated (“expensive”) than a straight line bridge.

[PotomacCyclist]

I thought the old plans showed the bridge lining up between Eads and Commonwealth. Or maybe the pedestrian bridge has always had the current alignment in the plans?

[PotomacCyclist]

I browsed through some of the older documents related to the FMR corridor. The generic early plans show a direct connector between Eads and Commonwealth, but only a single line. There were no details about the pedestrian bridge at that time.

There was a competition among design firms in 2010. The 4milerun.org website mentions a public presentation. The PDF documents combine general information about the design firms and the FMR bridge project. At first, I didn’t think there was any project information in those presentations.

This PDF from the winning design firm includes more details about their design for the bridge, starting on slide 31.

http://www.4milerun.org/PDF/BUROHAPPOLD_PORTFOLIO.pdf

There’s also this animation of the bridge design:

http://www.4milerun.org/movie/4MRBAnimation.html

They might be routing the bridge to the west because of the overhead power transmission lines, which connect to the transformer substation on Eads St. (Dominion Virginia Power has been planning to expand that substation, but they have delayed the project because of lower than expected power demand numbers. Dominion would also remove the transformers on the Alexandria side of FMR, located to the north of the shopping center. They also want to add a new transmission line between the Glebe/Eads substation and the substation on Slaters Lane, next to the old coal power plant in North Old Town.)

[CaseyKane50]

Here are some additional photos taken from the Arlington side of Four Mile Run.

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[chris_s]

Also, am I the only one that thinks this art project sounds insanely obnoxious from a cyclist perspective?

[kwarkentien]

@chris_s 115552 wrote:

Also, am I the only one that thinks this art project sounds insanely obnoxious from a cyclist perspective?

Sounds like a colossal waste of money to me!

[PotomacCyclist]

As long as the concrete doesn’t deteriorate or is maintained, it won’t bother me. Since they are mixing the pigment into the concrete, I don’t think the surface will be worse for riding than regular concrete. If they were planning to use paint, that could get slippery.

[rcannon100]

@kwarkentien 115554 wrote:

Sounds like a colossal waste of money to me!

What in the world is the point???

@PotomacCyclist 115556 wrote:

As long as the concrete doesn’t deteriorate or is maintained, it won’t bother me. .

Please reference other thread where you requested fix to said transition from asphalt to concrete and said request was magically fulfilled by little Tim-Kelley-Fairies

[Author]

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