January 2015 Trail Conditions

[DismalScientist]

This morning I took a new route avoiding the MVT from 4MRT to the city.

Take Eads Street to 12th to get over to Long Bridge Drive. Continue on Boundary Channel to the exit to the parkway north. Take Washington Blvd bike path across the 2 crossings of the parkway and over the south sidewalk of Memorial bridge. Sidewalks down the middle of the mall from the Lincoln memorial to Washington memorial. This way is entirely clear (well, not the bike lanes on Eads or Long Bridge Dr–just take the street) except for the crap along the Washington Blvd sidepath. It certainly beat the 2 miles of crap along the MVT and the 14th Street bridge.

[Steve O]

@dasgeh 104061 wrote:

the only bad spot was the 100 feet of sidewalk you have to navigate before getting a curbcut onto Meade (seriously, Arlington, just put a curbcut at the path!).

AND – lose the totally ridiculous concrete bollards (or maybe they’re steel; whatever). Love the one at the bottom by the memorial (it’s probably NPS’s, not Arlington’s, though).
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7367&stc=1[/IMG]
Like cars couldn’t just drive on around it if they wanted. Just put up a sign instead. Stupid.

And the one at the top (you can see behind the parked red car), which isn’t in a place a car could ever even be, unless it jumped the curb. It’s just on the sidewalk, serving no purpose but to endanger cyclists and pedestrians. Even more stupider. Not sure if this is NPS or Arlington at this point.
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7368&stc=1[/IMG]

And to second dasgeh’s point, a curb cut here would also benefit the CaBi riders. I have had numerous conflicts with pedestrians on this portion of the sidewalk, because there is no other option but to ride on the sidewalk even if you want to ride on the street. Or at least not without having to dismount and squeeze your bike between parked cars and over the curb.

[kingman762]

The descent through Arlington National Cemetary is clear and ice free, as is Ft. Myer, provided you stay on the main road rather than riding parallel through the parking lot (which is in pretty bad shape). Similarly, most of the trail from ANC across the Memorial Bridge is fine up to the Lincon memorial. However, crossing the pavement in front of the memorial is tricky, its very patchy with ice. The pathway along the tidal basin and around the Monument is clear though.

[dasgeh]

@Tom H 104072 wrote:

N Arlington to mall today […]

Sounds like we have a similar commute. I took Lee Hwy (drivers were very considerate, bike lane was ice) to Custis (pristine, as noted), but instead of going to TR Bridge, I turned left on Fort Myer Drive (totally clear) to the Iwo Jima (same issue as yesterday — 50 feet of needless sidewalk complete mess, then trails and road clear) to the trail by 110 (pristine, thanks ArlCo!). That took me to the ANC Metro and the paths along Memorial Drive/Memorial Bridge were great (thanks NPS!) up until the Lincoln. After the Lincoln the sidewalk along Henry Bacon and Constitution is still a mess (NPS?!?!?) but I took the lane without problem.

If you really want to stick with the TR Bridge, which is my regular route, you can take Virginia Avenue, which sees little traffic, to 19th to Constitution, and save yourself distance and icy mess.

[dasgeh]

Any reports on either sidepath along the Key Bridge? I’m considering coming home that way…

[Powerful Pete]

Last night at around 18:00 the north side sidewalk (upstream, if that makes any sense) of Key Bridge was very well cleared, with the exception of some treacherous ice on the little downhill bit right before the entry ramp to Spout Run. So perfectly rideable with a bit of caution at the end.

Also, M Street in DC was well cleared, north bound, with the exception of the slush mess between the cross streets of Potomac and 34th, IIRC. I took the lane and the drivers were very courteous, but then again there was very little traffic last night.

[Steve O]

@dasgeh 104096 wrote:

Any reports on either sidepath along the Key Bridge? I’m considering coming home that way…

Not sure where I saw it, but someone reported downstream side is 1/2 cleared, so there’s a line, but care must be taken with other bridge users.

[consularrider]

@Steve O 104089 wrote:

And to second dasgeh’s point, a curb cut here would also benefit the CaBi riders. I have had numerous conflicts with pedestrians on this portion of the sidewalk, because there is no other option but to ride on the sidewalk even if you want to ride on the street. Or at least not without having to dismount and squeeze your bike between parked cars and over the curb.

Well, the thing about the location of the curb cut is that it is for the 14th St crosswalk. Still there is no reason there couldn’t be two curb cuts.

[consularrider]

@Steve O 104089 wrote:

And to second dasgeh’s point, a curb cut here would also benefit the CaBi riders. I have had numerous conflicts with pedestrians on this portion of the sidewalk, because there is no other option but to ride on the sidewalk even if you want to ride on the street. Or at least not without having to dismount and squeeze your bike between parked cars and over the curb.

Well, the curb cut placement is for the 14th St crosswalk. Of course, there’s no reason there couldn’t be a second curb cut where the walk ramp comes up from the monument.

Also on the uncleared trails is the new Arlington Blvd trail from Rhodes/Queen to Pershing. I got to that point and turned around and took Rhodes to Key Blvd.

[dasgeh]

@consularrider 104114 wrote:

Well, the curb cut placement is for the 14th St crosswalk. Of course, there’s no reason there couldn’t be a second curb cut where the walk ramp comes up from the monument.

Also on the uncleared trails is the new Arlington Blvd trail from Rhodes/Queen to Pershing. I got to that point and turned around and took Rhodes to Key Blvd.

Was Key cleared? I took Wilson yesterday because I wasn’t sure. My street is a rutted icy mess, so I didn’t have much confidence in clearing of neighborhood streets.

[cyclingfool]

On the ride home last night, after battling rutted ice for the few miles of MVT from 14th St to 4MR, I literally sang the praises of Arlington when I saw how clear 4MR was. Like, I was literally singing, “I love you, Arlington!” No one else was around to hear me, which I’m thankful for, but had there been someone, I think they would have understood my motivation and not thought any worse of me.

@DismalScientist 104085 wrote:

This morning I took a new route avoiding the MVT from 4MRT to the city.

Take Eads Street to 12th to get over to Long Bridge Drive. Continue on Boundary Channel to the exit to the parkway north. Take Washington Blvd bike path across the 2 crossings of the parkway and over the south sidewalk of Memorial bridge. Sidewalks down the middle of the mall from the Lincoln memorial to Washington memorial. This way is entirely clear (well, not the bike lanes on Eads or Long Bridge Dr–just take the street) except for the crap along the Washington Blvd sidepath. It certainly beat the 2 miles of crap along the MVT and the 14th Street bridge.

I did something similar except I cut over at the little bridge to the LBJ Memorial and through the marina parking lot to the double humpback.
*Potomac Avenue from Del Ray into Crystal City was all clear except that the bike lane after entering Arlington wasn’t cleared. I just took the lane. (The side path in Potomac Yard, though plowed, was regularly punctuated by smooth sheets of refreeze. Studs handled this well.) Similar story through Crystal City and up Long Bridge Drive.
*Pentagon Reservation roads were all cleared and the bridge to the LBJ even had a path cleared, too. Paths on the island were icy and mildly rutted, but parking lot was clear.
*Trails beginning at the double humpback and around to the 14th St Bridge were pretty bad, and the bridge itself wasn’t fun either. DC has plowed the bridge in the past. I hope they get to it today.
*DC proper was clear except for a couple hundred foot stretch of the trail around the Tidal Basin that still had ice and snow on it, though there was a work crew with salt out at the Jefferson, so maybe they’ll clean it up during the day.

Also hoping for more solar plowing on the MVT today. May try going home that way since it sounds like there’s maybe been some improvement since last night.

[wheelswings]

@dasgeh 104116 wrote:

Was Key cleared?

I just took Key Bridge downstream side-path a few minutes ago. It was in good shape…you can ride on actual pavement much of the way, and what remains of the compacted snow is pretty ride-able too. I was surprised that the path was in such great shape.
Yesterday Key was one of the most difficult segments of my commute, requiring every single muscle in my body and more just to stay upright on the icy snow.

Today Key + Custis = easy riding. It’s the other parts that remain a bit dicey.

[dasgeh]

@wheels&wings 104128 wrote:

I just took Key Bridge side-path a few minutes ago. It was in good shape…you can ride on actual pavement much of the way, and what remains of the compacted snow is pretty ride-able too. I was surprised that the path was in such great shape.
Yesterday Key was one of the most difficult segments of my commute, requiring every single muscle in my body and more just to stay upright on the icy snow.

Today Key + Custis = easy riding. It’s the other parts that remain a bit dicey.

Thanks! Were you upstream (riding near the cars headed to Rosslyn) or downstream (riding near the cars heading to DC, the side with the exit onto Whitehurst on the bridge)?

[sarahybillington]

Stay clear of the Anacostia tributary trails. Solid sheets of ice. Metropolitan branch trail is in great shape except for the switchback at Noma. Safe riding everyone!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[paulg]

@cyclingfool 104123 wrote:

On the ride home last night, after battling rutted ice for the few miles of MVT from 14th St to 4MR, I literally sang the praises of Arlington when I saw how clear 4MR was. Like, I was literally singing, “I love you, Arlington!” No one else was around to hear me, which I’m thankful for, but had there been someone, I think they would have understood my motivation and not thought any worse of me.

I was singing the same “I love Arlington” Song last night too after battling up the MVT from old town. Here is my picture of the transition from lovely cleared trail to MVT taken at around 5pm on Tuesday Jan 6th.
All other trails in my commute are cleared – 4MR, Wilson Bridge, MVT through Old town and the roads.

Come on National Park Service, you can do it… plow the Mount Vernon Trail please!!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]7369[/ATTACH]

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