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

[TwoWheelsDC]

ICE. Everywhere.

[consularrider]

@TwoWheelsDC 133559 wrote:

ICE. Everywhere.

I’m sorry for you. I actually took the studded tires off my old Raleigh this morning. We’re finally above freezing in Kyiv and the snow is melting like crazy, the roads are basically clear, but wet so I want the fenders.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

Sidewalk on 27path/overpasses between Pentagon and Memorial Bridge yesterday afternoon after the melt:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10713[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10714[/ATTACH]

This morning, other side of overpass as last pic, so from other direction:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10715[/ATTACH]

4 joggers crossed paths with me this morning as we picked our way every 20 feet over the 2-3 foot walls of ice boulders completely blocking the path on the bridge. There’s an empty median in the middle of the road. Completely ridiculous bad snow removal practice.

[slowtriguy]

I rode West-Park-Maple-Columbia-Van Buren-W&OD-Bluemont-Fairfax about 0730-0800 today on stock CX tires.

Main danger bit — Bluemont climb from W&OD is an ice rink – I crashed on the climb (no major damage, thankfully). Past that, it’s better than most of the W&OD.

Summary of the rest:
– Streets: fine but narrow with occasional icy bits. Take the lane.
– W&OD Van Buren-Custis: fine, with refrozen melt in various spots. Worst spots – (1) just west of Sycamore underpass, (2) next to basketball court in Banneker Park, (3) bridge just east of Brandymore Castle hill, (4) Custis interchange.
– W&OD Custis-Bluemont: mostly crunchy ice and snow with some clear spots. Rideable, but be cautious and especially so at the Wilson underpass
– Bluemont: See above.
– Fairfax: Fine if you’re comfortable taking the lane, but otherwise dodgy. No bike lanes at least until Quincy.

Happy riding, hopefully no sliding!

[huskerdont]

The ice was marginally better on the overpasses on the Custis, so I gave it a shot over Lee Highway. Ended up on the ground, and of course there was a witness. So over Spout Run I didn’t try it. Seems like the CX tires, while better on snow, are worse on ice.

That sidewalk cut at Quinn is bad. I can ride across it on the CX bike, but I think it might flat a road bike. Someone unaware of it going downhill fast in the dark could get hurt. Has anyone reported it? I’ll probably report it myself anyway.

[rcannon100]

Arlington has come through and widen roads, dumping the snow on sidewalks. Lee Hwy where it is 3 lanes wide had only 2, but the sidewalks were passable. Now there are three lanes of Lee hwy and no sidewalks. Which of course means pedestrians will be walking in the road

Does anyone else find that one of the worst parts of this is the salt in the air. I find the air along the roads almost unbreathable. It tastes like salt and feels like crap.

Sun is out. It’s above freezing. Side roads in N Arlington were doing good. On the bike soon.

[Raymo853]

I suspect not many of us use the Suitland Parkway Bike Path, but I was floored to see NPS clearing it of snow this morning. They were using dump drunks and a snow combine. I have never seen them do that before. Amazing. Amazing since the snow plowed off of the parkway was primarily deposited onto it.

[notinthe18]

@LeprosyStudyGroup 133561 wrote:

Sidewalk on 27path/overpasses between Pentagon and Memorial Bridge yesterday afternoon after the melt:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10713[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10714[/ATTACH]

This morning, other side of overpass as last pic, so from other direction:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10715[/ATTACH]

4 joggers crossed paths with me this morning as we picked our way every 20 feet over the 2-3 foot walls of ice boulders completely blocking the path on the bridge. There’s an empty median in the middle of the road. Completely ridiculous bad snow removal practice.

I just hiked through the same portion this morning. Utterly ridiculous. And the connecting trial to Memorial Bridge isn’t plowed either, much less the bridge path itself. Embarrassing that DC has done such a nice job with 14th Street bridge and these are just a disaster.

[bobco85]

@rcannon100 133540 wrote:

WOD Shirlington to Barcroft: Pretty good but every now and then there would be BAD patches of ice or hard pack. I opted to ride in the road.

At this point, I would say that between Shirlington and Glen Carlyn Park, the W&OD is only somewhat rideable in the afternoon. In the mornings, there are many sheets of ice that melt by the afternoon.

I was happy to see that they cleared the massive snow hill blocking the W&OD at Walter Reed Dr. I had posted to Twitter and sent in a request on the Arlington snow removal site. I’m glad they were able to respond so quickly.

(BEFORE) Thursday morning
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10717[/ATTACH]

(AFTER) Thursday afternoon
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10718[/ATTACH]

[TwoWheelsDC]

@rcannon100 133567 wrote:

Arlington has come through and widen roads, dumping the snow on sidewalks. Lee Hwy where it is 3 lanes wide had only 2, but the sidewalks were passable. Now there are three lanes of Lee hwy and no sidewalks. Which of course means pedestrians will be walking in the road

Fairfax did the same thing…but the worst part is they did it in front of all 3 schools along my commute (Haycock ES, Longfellow MS, and McLean HS). While these schools do seem to have high car drop-off rates, there are a lot of kids that walk to school and this is going to be bad news for them come Monday.

[Subby]

Spout Run overpass on the Custis still one big sheet of ice. Heading into Rosslyn at one of the crossings the sidewalk is caving in, so either go slow (normal) or bunnyhop it (elite).

[vern]

@hozn 133545 wrote:

Yeah …. Not so much . Well, yes to progress. The W&OD is plowed from the west up until just shy of Buckthorn Ln (they stopped midway up the hill). So I turned onto Buckthorn and rode Sunrise Valley, Hunter Mill, Crowell(?), Browns Mill, Beulah. Bleh

I’m thinking of taking your route described here home this evening, but am a bit leery about riding on those roads at dusk/dark. Thoughts?

[hozn]

@vern 133576 wrote:

I’m thinking of taking your route described here home this evening, but am a bit leery about riding on those roads at dusk/dark. Thoughts?

This AM I rode in via Lawyers (then Twin Branches -> South Lakes -> Sunrise Valley -> W&OD -> Sunset Hills [since plowing ends]), which was actually a much more pleasant experience. There is more shoulder, especially west of Hunter Mill. The other route up north is doable, but feels less safe on account of the limited visibility with hills and turns and narrow roads. No one honked at me, though — until I got into Vienna and rode ever so briefly on Maple.

[Tania]

@vern 133576 wrote:

I’m thinking of taking your route described here home this evening, but am a bit leery about riding on those roads at dusk/dark. Thoughts?

According the W&OD FB page, the trail has been plowed from Smiths Switch to just east of Hunter Mill, heading towards Vienna and then from the other direction (heading west) they’ve made it from Idylwood Park to Gallows and also heading towards Vienna. Hopeful the two plows will meet in the middle today and with the weekend warm up we’ll have clear-enough trails on Monday.

[rcannon100]

FMR Shirlington to Crystal City ~ Clear

Potomac Yard Trail ~ looks like it was cleared, but then the road plows came through and threw snow boulders onto the trail. It is dodgy.

[Author]

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