Good News on Infrastructure thread

[lordofthemark]

I would like to start this as a list of all new infra (or major rehabs) that support cycling in the area – bike lanes, cycle tracks, MUT’s, bike boulevards, wide lanes, etc, etc. Across all jurisdictions in the metro area. For now I will start with links to existing threads – many such already exist in the road and trail conditions forum, and in the forums on Arlington, Alexandria, and FABB. I envision it as sort of a grand list of “good” news.

I think it should probably be limited to things actually under construction, completed, or at least definitely planned and funded, as opposed to things still up for debate, or general jurisdiction wide plans.

Eye Street (with its bike lanes) being repaved from SW to SE.

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?5975-Eye-Street-SW-bike-lanes

Columbia Pike Bike boulevard plans, and discussion of trail cross golf course

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?5926-Columbia-Pike-bike-boulevard-plan-update

Chambliss Street trail bridge in Alexandria complete

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?5603-Chambliss-Street-Bridge-Nearly-Complete

Topic

[Arlingtonrider]

@KLizotte 92688 wrote:

I’m a little shocked at the new lanes on S Hayes Street. They are taking out parking spaces!!!!! 😮 It is gonna be so nice when it is done; hopefully the meters will be taken out soon and no parking signs will be put up.

I think most of the parking is just being moved to outside of the bike lane, but we’ll have to watch for people crossing the bike lane to get to the parking meters. There’s a graphic that shows that somewhere that will be used to educate drivers. I rode there yesterday – it looks nice!

[chris_s]

@KLizotte 92688 wrote:

I’m a little shocked at the new lanes on S Hayes Street. They are taking out parking spaces!!!!! 😮 It is gonna be so nice when it is done; hopefully the meters will be taken out soon and no parking signs will be put up.

I imagine this project was helped along significantly by the fact that there are essentially zero homeowners along this stretch of road.

[lordofthemark]

Marvin Gaye Trail to be “revitalized”

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/07/work-on-recreation-center-will-include-marvin-gaye-park-trail.html

Mid city/ Truxton improvements recommended

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/07/mid-city-east-small-area-plan.html#comments

New bike lane on MLK in DC

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/08/new-bike-lane-being-installed-on-mlk-avenue-in-ward-8.html

Sherwood Hall lanes in Fairfax

http://fabb-bikes.blogspot.com/2014/08/sherwood-hall-lane-bike-lanes-installed.html

[bobco85]

On Monday, the official ribbon-cutting ceremony took place for the new Mulligan Road that runs from Jeff Todd Way (an extension of Mount Vernon Memorial Highway) to Telegraph Road. This new road is a 40 mph speed limit divided highway, does not involve any security gates at Fort Belvoir, and will feature a bike path. It even has a decent hill to climb from both sides.

http://www.sfdc.org/whats-happening/infrastructure-transportation/mulligan-road-jeff-todd-way/

I checked it out Monday evening. The bike path runs along the west side of the southbound lanes, but is currently incomplete. Right now, it is complete between Telegraph Road at the north end and the bridge over John J Kingman Road at the south end. Because the road is new combined with the stoplights at the endpoints Mulligan/Telegraph and Jeff Todd/US-1/Mt Vernon Mem Hwy, there was no continuous flow of traffic; instead, there were small groups of vehicles, leaving me with plenty of space going both south and then north.

looking north at the bike path at the bridge over John J Kingman Road
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6491[/ATTACH]

looking south at the future bike path (also on bridge over John J Kingman Road)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6492[/ATTACH]

looking north from the southern end of the future bike path at the 4-way intersection of Mulligan/Meeres/Jeff Todd/Pole
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6493[/ATTACH]

also looking north at Mulligan/Meeres/Jeff Todd/Pole, Bike Route 1 has changed directions here and now runs east (the Google Street View showed the arrow pointing west)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6494[/ATTACH]

facing south near the intersection with US-1, a de facto bike lane even though it is not marked as such
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6495[/ATTACH]

[cyclingfool]

@bobco85 93270 wrote:

On Monday, the official ribbon-cutting ceremony took place for the new Mulligan Road that runs from Jeff Todd Way (an extension of Mount Vernon Memorial Highway) to Telegraph Road. This new road is a 40 mph speed limit divided highway, does not involve any security gates at Fort Belvoir, and will feature a bike path. It even has a decent hill to climb from both sides.
[…]
I checked it out Monday evening. The bike path runs along the west side of the southbound lanes, but is currently incomplete. Right now, it is complete between Telegraph Road at the north end and the bridge over John J Kingman Road at the south end. Because the road is new combined with the stoplights at the endpoints Mulligan/Telegraph and Jeff Todd/US-1/Mt Vernon Mem Hwy, there was no continuous flow of traffic; instead, there were small groups of vehicles, leaving me with plenty of space going both south and then north.

Thanks for the report and the pics! Good news indeed!

[bobco85]

The Arlington Boulevard Trail along the southern/eastern (Fort Myer) side of Route 50 between Pershing Dr and Rolfe St is open, and it rocks! Once you’re on the trail, there are no intersections until either end, no highway crossings, nothing that would involve anything with a motor (no offense to the electric cyclists here). Plus, if heading towards DC, you will also notice that the Arlington Blvd service road between Rolfe and Meade has been repaved (it had gotten really bumpy), which is a very nice bonus!

the start of this portion of the trail at the NE corner of Rt-50/Pershing
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6513[/ATTACH]

heading downhill toward Courthouse (10th St interchange)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6514[/ATTACH]

rounding the bend to the Courthouse interchange
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6515[/ATTACH]

approaching the end of the trail
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6516[/ATTACH]

end of the trail at Arlington Blvd service road/Rolfe St; you can see the Rhodes intersection in the distance which will take you into Courthouse, or stay on the service road to go toward Rosslyn/ANC/Memorial Bridge
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6517[/ATTACH]

All in all, it is a rather stress-free way to get to both Rosslyn and Memorial Bridge, and I think I will be using this route often when heading to/from DC from/to the Ballston area (I live in the Buckingham neighborhood).

[jcflack54]

Hooray! I have been waiting for this!

[chris_s]

The new easement needed from the Navy for the Washington Blvd Trail extension has been granted and is up for adoption by the County Board at their next meeting. I’m guessing we’re looking at construction in the Spring. Can’t imagine they can turn this one around fast enough at this point to get it built before Winter.

[dasgeh]

http://ddot.dc.gov/release/ddot-receives-tiger-grant-funding-long-bridge-environmental-analysis

Another bike link between Arlington and DC takes another step forward.

[lordofthemark]

@dasgeh 94808 wrote:

http://ddot.dc.gov/release/ddot-receives-tiger-grant-funding-long-bridge-environmental-analysis

Another bike link between Arlington and DC takes another step forward.

That will be HUGE for all of us going between NoVa eastern Arlington, Alexandria, and pts south to SW and SE DC – a shorter route, presumably a much better bike accommodation then the path on the Mason Bridge, and will cut out some questionable parts of the ride in DC – and maybe connect right up with the new Maine Avenue cycle track. However even more than the latter, it will be a long time coming.

[lordofthemark]

Potomac Yards MUP to be connected to Braddock by end of 2014, Dominion Power willing

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?6935-Landbay-K-at-Potomac-Yards-trail-(Potomac-Avenue-and-Main-Line-Boulevard)&p=95569#post95569

changes to Intersection of Doom underway, though with controversy

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?7626-Intersection-of-Doom-Upgrades/page6

eads street cycle track under construction

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?6991-South-Eads-Street-workshop-Wed-May-21-2014-7-8-30-pm&p=94436#post94436

New bike lane in Reston

Wash blvd trail in Arlington on course, with modified route

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/09/arlington-county-to-approve-realignment-of-washington-blvd-trail-phase-ii.html

http://fabb-bikes.blogspot.com/2014/10/new-bike-lane-in-reston.html

(I was tempted to mention the proposed W&OD bridge at Wiehle, but I don’t think that’s far enough along to merit inclusion in good news)

bike lane on MLK blvd in DC

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/08/mlk-bike-lane-installed.html

Bike lanes on Branch Avenue in PG

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/09/bike-lanes-to-be-added-to-branch-avenue-and-naylor-road-in-pg-county.html

[lordofthemark]

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/10/south-capitol-street-trail-nearly-at-30-design-more-land-needed.html

Design work advances on South Capitol Street Trail, and Oxon Run trail, in DC (and some related design info)

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/10/construction-on-trolley-trail-gap-in-riverdale-park-to-begin-soon.html

Construction to begin on gap in Trolley Trail in Riverdale Park in PG

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/10/trolley-trail.html

More design work on the Trolley Trail in PG

[lordofthemark]

Northern Virginia Transporation Authority has announced which projects it will fund (out of our new regional transport fund)

http://www.thenovaauthority.org/PDFs/Press%20Releases/FY2015/Q1%20NVTA%20Projects%20MEDIA%20RELEASE%20sched%2010%2014%2014%20FINAL.pdf

Not sure if its good news, as the list is pretty heavily auto focused, with a few modest transit projects, but there are some notable items of interest to cyclists.

1. The Boundary Channel interchange is funded – that will among other things provide a direct connection from the Pentagon metro station to the MVT south of the Humpback bridge (where the desire path now is, roughly) and I think also improve the connection to Long Bridge Park

2. As part of improvements to the Crystal City MultiModal center, there will be more bike parking

3. As part of the widening of Belmont Ridge road in Loudoun County, the W&OD will get a bridge over that road.

4. Herndon metro access improvements funded – I think that includes some bike infra

The remainder are MUPs accompanying road widenings – on Rte 1 in Prince William, and on Rte 28 in Prince William. Make of those what you will.

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 97029 wrote:

3. As part of the widening of Belmont Ridge road in Loudoun County, the W&OD will get a bridge over that road. [/quote]

Score! That’s one of the worst spots left on the west side of the W&OD.

Quote:

The remainder are MUPs accompanying road widenings – on Rte 1 in Prince William, and on Rte 28 in Prince William. Make of those what you will.

I look at them as a way to preserve some non-car ROW for some bright future when someone maintains a trail network.

[chris_s]

@lordofthemark 97029 wrote:

1. The Boundary Channel interchange is funded – that will among other things provide a direct connection from the Pentagon metro station to the MVT south of the Humpback bridge (where the desire path now is, roughly) and I think also improve the connection to Long Bridge Park

I am hopeful, but I’ll believe in the trail connection when I see it with my own 2 eyes. If you know Pentagon employees who cycle, keep them on speed dial, we may need them in the next couple years to make sure the trail connection makes it. DoD security hates change.

[Author]

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