January ’16 – Trail Condition: That time they predicted mind-boggling amounts of snow

[gibby]

@dasgeh 133357 wrote:

NPS GWMP confirmed that they have no plans to clear the MVT at all this year. I have no idea how effective Mother Nature has been so far. You might want to focus on the on road connections (get to Boundary Channel Dr, then use the 27 Trail, if that’s cleared, to the Memorial Bridge, which is supposed to be clear).

The good news is that they are engaged and at least talking to us.

Probably not surprising that bike trail clearing is near the bottom of their priorities- esp. considering all the budget cuts Congress has imposed on NPS.
In the FY2016 NPS budget, the only mention of ‘bicycles’ is for additional racks in Golden Gate Park.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/03/25/national-park-service-delayed-11-billion-in-maintenance-last-year/
http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/upload/FY-2016-Greenbook.pdf

[huskerdont]

@dcv 133355 wrote:

Custis all clear this morning except the Spout Run overpass and the Rosslyn Monolith

Yes, it was puzzling that Custis was in such good shape *except* in Rosslyn, where more people use it. I assume snow had been plowed onto it from the street after it had been cleared? But overall, pretty decent out there. Thanks again, Arlington County, for clearing the trail.

I spoke with a cyclist at the intersection of doom who said not to go along the MVT, which he had just slogged up. Not that I would have tried. I was just grateful that Key Bridge was clear on the southeast side so that I didn’t have to ride in the lane on my slow mountain bike.

[PotomacCyclist]

@MFC 133358 wrote:

From the little I could see from the Metro, the MVT didn’t look clear at all.

That was my impression while looking down at it from the Metro Yellow Line. I doubt it would be rideable before next week, at the earliest. I’ll try to post a photo later today.

[Boo Boo]

@mstone 133342 wrote:

As of tonight Fair Lakes is mostly 1.5 lanes, occasionally necking down to .9 lanes. People are driving like it’s dry and sunny, so watch your back. There are a number of missing turn lanes so tempers are high, though they had some bobcats out tonight and may have made significant progress by tomorrow. (Note: bobcats in the travel lanes are a whole new source of excitement.) In general all the intersections I’ve seen have been backed up because nobody can see to turn on red, they aren’t properly aligned with the sensors so the light cycles are horrible, and the triple turn lanes are mostly single lanes.

Thanks! We opened at 10 this morning so I missed what rush hour there was and my ride from Falls Church was quite pleasant.

As I went up Grove, I did see the blower out working on the WOD going eastbound and it looked like the leadup to Citizen’s Bridge and the bridge itself had been done. Don’t know if I’ll bother with trying the trail tonight as the detour (Grove>Haycock/Shreve>Gordons>Dale>Pinecastle>Barbour>Idylwood) was very pleasant and very well cleared with mostly good sightlines for drivers at the intersections. (Although damn that hill on Gordons when riding the singlespeed)

The WOD at Sandburg was another story. Snow in both directions as far as I could see:

Westbound:

Eastbound:

With the section through Vienna so easy to skip as well, I don’t think I’m going to bother with the trail until next week.

[Terpfan]

@gibby 133365 wrote:

Probably not surprising that bike trail clearing is near the bottom of their priorities- esp. considering all the budget cuts Congress has imposed on NPS.
In the FY2016 NPS budget, the only mention of ‘bicycles’ is for additional racks in Golden Gate Park.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/03/25/national-park-service-delayed-11-billion-in-maintenance-last-year/
http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/upload/FY-2016-Greenbook.pdf

Eh, to my knowledge, they’ve never actually plowed it. I do wonder if there could be some sort of arrangement among the jurisdictions of the MVT regarding snow clearing and a MOU from NPS permitting it. I don’t think NPS ever will do it. They don’t see the trail as a commuting venue, only the road. Hence why they technically closed the trail during the shutdown, but not the road. But I hold high hopes for it being plowed one day (it didn’t work when I saw a shooting star and wished it so I’m about out of ideas except for people plowing it ourselves with a front-end loader and NPS not throwing us in jail for it).

Also, if anyone has done the Long Bridge route, could you do an update? I may give it a shot, especially if the photos of 14th Bridge hold true. That or if the Memorial Bridge way on Wash Blvd is plowed/passable?

[Tim Kelley]

@Terpfan 133375 wrote:

Eh, to my knowledge, they’ve never actually plowed it. I do wonder if there could be some sort of arrangement among the jurisdictions of the MVT regarding snow clearing and a MOU from NPS permitting it. I don’t think NPS ever will do it. They don’t see the trail as a commuting venue, only the road. Hence why they technically closed the trail during the shutdown, but not the road. But I hold high hopes for it being plowed one day (it didn’t work when I saw a shooting star and wished it so I’m about out of ideas except for people plowing it ourselves with a front-end loader and NPS not throwing us in jail for it).

I’ve heard murmurs that they are becoming more open to the idea of the trail as transportation. But they move pretty slow…

[SeekJustice]

I went for a run on MVT this morning…and by run, I mean I got on at Crystal City and stumbled through the uncleared/slushy/crunchy mess until I could jump over to the road around the airport parking lot until I got to Four Mile Run (which was beautifully clear).

I am a pretty tolerant runner, but I definitely walked a few times. And got my shins pretty scraped up from some of the crunchy sections I stepped through.

[slowtriguy]

Sorry for the late post — I rode from Falls Church to Quincy via roads (Spring-Lincoln-Little Falls-Columbia-Van Buren) and W&OD/Custis to Quincy around 0900. The W&OD was plowed to pavement from Van Buren to the Custis, and the Custis from there to Quincy. City streets in Arlington were the trickiest bit — had to take the lane on Quincy and on Fairfax to the Ballston Metro.

There was a snow blower tractor going down the W&OD eastbound between Spring and Oak when I rode by; what I could see looked plowed down to about 1″ of snow. Past the blower to at least Washington was unplowed, but they were headed that way. W&OD was unplowed to the east of the Custis intersection.

All of the route I took was easily rideable on stock CX tires. Might change if it freezes tonight, of course!

[MFC]

Frankly, seeing what snow plows do to the streets, I would be worried the plows would tear up the path, and also would not want NPS putting down chemicals to deal with refreezing issue that close to the river. Much as I would rather than ride than take Metro, clearing the path might make things worse in the long run.

[Tim Kelley]

@MFC 133384 wrote:

Frankly, seeing what snow plows do to the streets, I would be worried the plows would tear up the path.

Arlington County uses brushes, rather than a plow to clear trails.

TOOLCAT:

[bentbike33]

@dasgeh 133357 wrote:

NPS GWMP confirmed that they have no plans to clear the MVT at all this year.

And on the news the other night they were reading an NPS press release about all the snow they had cleared. Parking lots and roads, I guess. Maybe it’s time for a critical mass ride on the GW Parkway to see if priorities can be changed.

[ShawnoftheDread]

NPS completely clears parking lots that are either little used in winter (the marina) or are only used for trails that themselves don’t get cleared (TR Island). Perhaps if their budget is so very tight they could rethink those efforts.

[bentbike33]

I speculated previously that NPS could afford to clear the MVT if they perhaps skipped 2 or 3 mowings of the grass surrounding it during the spring/summer/fall.

[Terpfan]

@Tim Kelley 133376 wrote:

I’ve heard murmurs that they are becoming more open to the idea of the trail as transportation. But they move pretty slow…

That would be phenomenal if they did. I suspect plowing or at least some variation of it may occur when, and if, they ever reach this obvious conclusion. Perhaps NPS will take notice as other jurisdictions continue to plow the paths and bike lanes by noting their transportation uses.

[vern]

Four Mile Run a clear, clean ride from Shirlington to Eads. When I went by this morning about 11, a crew was working on the WOD near Shirlington. As much as I could tell from the street, it appeared they were clearing the trail down to a rideable level. Now, if they could do the same between Reston and Vienna…

[Author]

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