Good News on Infrastructure thread

[huskerdont]

Excellent! Accotink running loops back in the mix for this summer, and MTB trail connection between the two parks without necessarily needing to hit Danbury Forest Drive.

The sign is a good joke. It’s like the one telling cyclists to dismount at the DCA exit that no person in the history of humankind has ever followed. When you post excessive and meaningless rule-ish things, people ignore even sensible rules, and peoples’ judgment sucks.

[Rootchopper]

After 15 months, the National Park Service has finally begun repairing bridge number 19 on the Mount Vernon Trail. This bridge was damaged by a fallen tree in the January 2022 storm. It is located between Tulane Drive and the stone bridge. It has been missing a section of railing and has other damage.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rootchopper/51873331196/in/datetaken-public/

No news on when the NPS is going to remove the stump from a tree that fell in November 2021 about a quarter mile south of the Bridge 19. The stump tore up half the trail on a downhill. No worries. They’ll get around to it. Probably after they fix the Memorial Bridge that was damaged last year.

[Rootchopper]

It took less than two days to replace the section. (There is still a section that sustained damage but the work crew didn’t repair it.)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rootchopper/52852165710/in/datetaken-public/

[dbb]

Work at Dominion Glebe substation – 2-3 May

Just got this from Dominion

“I wanted to reach out to you about work that will take place tomorrow at Glebe Substation. We’re starting to work on the receiving pit for micro tunnel operations. The pit will be located inside the substation. Starting tomorrow, we will drive metal rails into the ground. This should not cause vibration. The machine is very quick, but loud. The 34 rails take about a minute each, so we will begin installing tomorrow, with breaks in between each to get set up for the next. It should take a day or two.

I’m letting you know because we will have flaggers on both sides of the trail around the substation to make sure trail traffic is aware there is an increase in noise while we drive the metal. We don’t want to alarm anyone. The flaggers will try to avoid doing so, but may need to ask traffic to pause briefly while some of the metal is carried into the station by our crew members. We will try to plan bring in the metal when no traffic is around the site to avoid impacts of traffic flow. Normally we do not need to pause traffic for deliveries, but since this will be brought in by hand and the metal pieces are long, we need to be extra careful.”

[lordofthemark]

Not EVERYONE will consider this major good news, but it’s certainly worth noting

https://fabb-bikes.org/i-66-parallel-trail-ribbon-cutting-on-may-17/

Personally, I want to give the new trail a chance (note it will not be complete this week, but I think roughly half the segments will be). IIUC not all segments will be equally bad, and it will certainly a provide a safer alternative compared to current conditions, to some locations for many transportation cyclists. I do hope to ride the trail myself before rendering judgement.

[Smitty2k1]

Thanks for sharing – as a city dweller I had no idea this was a thing. Will be cool to be able to bike to Manassas Battlefield or the campground at Bull Run

[arlcxrider]

While I will wait to use it before passing judgment, riding alongside 12 lanes of traffic one side and a high noise wall on the other is not generally my idea of a good time. Going to be pretty toasty in mid-summer.

[bentbike33]

@arlcxrider 225831 wrote:

While I will wait to use it before passing judgment, riding alongside 12 lanes of traffic one side and a high noise wall on the other is not generally my idea of a good time. Going to be pretty toasty in mid-summer.

Yes, but just think of all the fabulous hidden storage space for discarded mattresses and truck tire shreds! The highway will look so tidy! Ooh, and if it ever snows again…

[arlcxrider]

@bentbike33 225832 wrote:

Yes, but just think of all the fabulous hidden storage space for discarded mattresses and truck tire shreds! The highway will look so tidy! Ooh, and if it ever snows again…

They didn’t put it on the north side of the noise barrier because the bike-riding, lycra-clad, hi-viz heathen might endanger property values.

[mstone]

@bentbike33 225832 wrote:

Yes, but just think of all the fabulous hidden storage space for discarded mattresses and truck tire shreds! The highway will look so tidy! Ooh, and if it ever snows again…

don’t forget how vdot does road work in fairfax! sure as heck they’ll just shut down the trail when they feel like it, no detours. (pic from ffx county parkway, as of sunday. yes that’s a desire path–the only approved procedure is to turn around.)
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[CaseyKane50]

A minor improvement to the Eisenhower Avenue Trail. The City has repaved four sections of the trail between Cameron Park Place and Lake Cook.

[LhasaCM]

Some recent DC developments that are either completed or nearly so:

1. Almost a mile of protected bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave SE (between 2nd and 13th) have opened.
2. DDOT is wrapping up installation of protected bike lanes on 8th NE to close the gap in the MBT between Franklin and Monroe. The lanes are a two-way cycletrack on the west side of 8th, with general traffic now being one-way until Lawrence.
3. DDOT has started construction of a south side two-way protected cycletrack on M Street SE between 1st and 11th as part of a broader bus priority project there.

[lordofthemark]

@LhasaCM 226087 wrote:

Some recent DC developments that are either completed or nearly so:

1. Almost a mile of protected bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave SE (between 2nd and 13th) have opened.
2. DDOT is wrapping up installation of protected bike lanes on 8th NE to close the gap in the MBT between Franklin and Monroe. The lanes are a two-way cycletrack on the west side of 8th, with general traffic now being one-way until Lawrence.
3. DDOT has started construction of a south side two-way protected cycletrack on M Street SE between 1st and 11th as part of a broader bus priority project there.

I rode on Penn months ago, when it was still incomplete and not officially opened – good excuse to go back

I was on 8th a week and a half ago – a delight to see that after all these years.

Somehow I missed M Street despite riding across several times a week at NJ (assuming you mean more than the bus lanes themselves) I will probably check it out tomorrow.

[LhasaCM]

@lordofthemark 226109 wrote:

Somehow I missed M Street despite riding across several times a week at NJ (assuming you mean more than the bus lanes themselves) I will probably check it out tomorrow.

Progress so far isn’t very widespread, so I can’t blame you for missing the start; the focus has been on building out the floating bus islands. The one at 4th SE is pretty much done.

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[lordofthemark]

@LhasaCM 226114 wrote:

Progress so far isn’t very widespread, so I can’t blame you for missing the start; the focus has been on building out the floating bus islands. The one at 4th SE is pretty much done.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30860[/ATTACH]

I took a walk around today from 4th to NJ, and yes, I saw the work on the floating bus islands. It’s not clear from looking that this will mean a change to bike infra (from the existing shared bus lanes), but I will take your word for it.

[Author]

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