Jan 2025 – road/trail conditions – what trails get salted?

[veleau_monica]

Starting a thread as I stare out the window at the Vienna ThunderSnow and dread my 12 mile bike ride home (with a broken toe) to Georgetown from dog sitting/for freezing saddles.

[DrP]

In Arlington, many of the trails get their brine treatment. The bigger question, especially now, is which ones have been plowed to date. And bike lanes.

Anyone know the state of any trails? I am hoping to bike to the office tomorrow.

The Arlington traffic cameras show a few areas and many of the unprotected lanes look to be where the snow was pushed to for the car lanes. The protected lane on Fairfax just before 66 looks to be snow covered. Some of the Columbia Pike sidewalks look clear and others not at all.

[I presume Custis has been plowed, although the snowpack-to-ice-to-pavement numbers are always iffy and dependent on when they plowed versus people started using the trail]

[huskerdont]

I’m bike commuting from Arlington into DC on Thursdays, but live in Richmond now so can’t assess the trail conditions from here. If anyone could update/respond to DrP, esp. re: Custis, that would be great, but I realize they’ve pretty much killed this forum so it may not happen. If needed I’ll use the roads, like in the olden times.

DE

[DrP]

[yes, I have noticed the effective death of this forum except for freezing saddle pictures. Very sad]

Custis is clear* to tarmac from at least St Ann’s church to East Falls Church. Accesses are not typically clear.

W&OD is clear* to tarmac from Custis to Columbia Pike. South of the Pike has been plowed, but there are a lot of frozen tracks/slush such that in the morning it can be difficult to ride on for long periods. Between Walter Reed and the end of the W&OD it is solid pack and I took the road.

 

[The bit of Bluemont trail I could see was cleared, although I can see the melt that crosses the W&OD beginning to build up. Also, 4MRT from Wilson to just under Carlin Springs road looked plowed, but not 100% clear, as I glimpsed from W&OD]

4MRT is clear* to concrete/tarmac from Shirlington to Eads (the wooden bridge by the power plan looked like it wasn’t cleared so no clue beyond that).

Eads protected bike lanes were cleared, but every driveway has snow from the related parking lot, so those are all impassible and I took the road. 18th street to Hayes was the same.

*clear = clear to the trail surface for the majority of the width of the trail. There are bits where the trail narrows. There are occasional bits that have frozen melt or weren’t quite clear, but they are few and short.

 

[veleau_monica]

sometimes reddit /bikedc has good updates 🙁

[DrP]

[But this used to be a great source, then they changed (updated?) the forum and it all became harder to use, so now it seems no one does. ]

Ballston connector from Custis to nearly Fairfax Drive is clear – it is actually clear around the Ballston Pond Park. Then there is about 10ft of solid snow/ice until the walkway is cleared by the building. Then the protected 2-way bike lane is unplowed.

In Ballston, the protected lanes on Quincy are not plowed. The unprotected lanes on Fairfax drive are hit or miss, so taking the road is safer since you can suddenly come upon a giant blockage. Many sidewalks are clear, but oddly not the one in front of the Holiday Inn. The driveway is clear, so you can take that to get to the Bluemont trail, which is clear.

Intersections are hit or miss – some clear, some have a way to walk a bike over it, and others are just a mess.

The W&OD between Columbia Pike and Walter Reed is much improved since Wednesday as parts melted. A few bad spots, but generally good. From Walter Reed to the end is still a lot of hard pack. The road works as does turning on Walter Reed (or Shirlington Road, depending on your direction) towards S. Arlington Mill Dr – the path along 4MR is clear.

 

 

[Mike R]

As of 13 Jan, noon-ish, WOD east and west of Cedar is all ice and slush

[obscurerichard]

Quincy from the W&OD trail to Glebe has almost entirely cleared bike lanes now!

The W&OD has some icy patches in Shirlington close to the trail head but is otherwise clear to the Custis trail. Custis is clear from the W&OD to Quincy.

[DrP]

In Arlington:

4MR Trail south (east?) of Eads looks like it could be clear, at least I could see that the temporary boardwalk was cleared.

The protected lanes are Eads are nearly clear (aside from some frozen melt) and only one or two places require possible stopping to walk bike over snow piles. Similar for 18th st to Hayes.

 

Anyone know if the trail along Washington Blvd from Towers Park to Rt 50 (Lyon Park area) is clear or at least mostly passable? And the off-street trails in Lyon Park?

[CaseyKane50]

Yesterday, the Washington Boulevard Trail was ice from route 50 east towards Columbia Pike. I suspect there was some melting today. I skipped the Lyon Park Trail and took the service road up to North Filmore.

[Frump Mcgoo]

Any idea how of the trail conditions of the W&OD going west from Sterling to Purcellville?   If I was betting – I bet that the W&OD is all covered in frozen compacted snow at the moment.   But that is total conjecture based on the general condition of the snow I’m seeing right now outside. Wednesday 1/15/25 at 12:30 PM.   Would love to do a ride this coming Friday, but I have a feeling the trail might not be safe to bike on then.   Thanks for information.

[DrP]

Thank you! That was very helpful. I chose to take North Filmore to Rt 50 after spotting that the trails in Lyon Park looked bad. Then took the service road down to Washington Blvd. I jumped on the sidewalk there. The sidewalk wasn’t too horrible, but I needed to put my foot down many times. I could see the trail from the sidewalk and chose to take S Courthouse to Columbia Pike, which was clear. At Columbia Pike on got on the sidewalk and headed east. The sidewalk was in good shape (some curb cuts were bad, but it was generally good). The sidewalks from around Washington Blvd to Joyce were clear (although I took the road from Orme to Joyce). Joyce looked low in snow but high in mud.

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