Long Bridge Park: Technically not a bike trail, sort of

[Kolohe]

I did a little CaBi loop yesterday getting groceries yesterday (based on the notification in the other thread of the new station off the park)

The sidewalk on Long Bridge Road (old Old Jefferson Davis Hwy) is finally complete and connected with the ramp path that goes up to the esplanade (the path that overlooks and is parallel with the railroad tracks). The road itself is pave quite nice with good bike lane markings Yay!

But, I feel they made a mistake with the current design and/or execution. I didn’t bring my camera with me, or this would be easier to describe, but here it goes. Going downhill from the esplanade to the street, at the very end, the sidewalk makes a sharp left turn to parallel the street. Which is fine for walkers and joggers. But between the sidewalk and the street is newly planted sod&turf, and a curb – the nearest curb cut is a good 200-300 yds back towards the parking lots. Moreover, they’ve also planted sod in the old Shel Silverstein portion.

So what’s going happen, imo, is that people (particularly on bikes) that are going further north (i.e. under Shirley highway to Boundary Channel Highway) are going to cut across all that new grass and create unsightly ruts, something that could have been avoided with a little curb cut right at the junction.

[dasgeh]

@Kolohe 69784 wrote:

I did a little CaBi loop yesterday getting groceries yesterday (based on the notification in the other thread of the new station off the park)

The sidewalk on Long Bridge Road (old Old Jefferson Davis Hwy) is finally complete and connected with the ramp path that goes up to the esplanade (the path that overlooks and is parallel with the railroad tracks). The road itself is pave quite nice with good bike lane markings Yay!

But, I feel they made a mistake with the current design and/or execution. I didn’t bring my camera with me, or this would be easier to describe, but here it goes. Going downhill from the esplanade to the street, at the very end, the sidewalk makes a sharp left turn to parallel the street. Which is fine for walkers and joggers. But between the sidewalk and the street is newly planted sod&turf, and a curb – the nearest curb cut is a good 200-300 yds back towards the parking lots. Moreover, they’ve also planted sod in the old Shel Silverstein portion.

So what’s going happen, imo, is that people (particularly on bikes) that are going further north (i.e. under Shirley highway to Boundary Channel Highway) are going to cut across all that new grass and create unsightly ruts, something that could have been avoided with a little curb cut right at the junction.

Take a pic and post. County folks have been interesting in helping fix curb cuts…

[Tim Kelley]

@dasgeh 69789 wrote:

Take a pic and post. County folks have been interesting in helping fix curb cuts…

+1

[PotomacCyclist]

It seems like that section is only temporary and not intended for through traffic. Wouldn’t bike commuters ride along the bike lanes on Long Bridge Drive up to Boundary Channel Drive, instead of riding through the park and then that sidewalk? That small stretch of the road, to the north of the Self Storage building, is going to be a mess during the extended construction period for the aquatic center (scheduled to begin in Q1 2014, I think). There are going to be trucks rolling through there for much of the next two years. It’s not going to be pretty, no matter what.

I’d recommend that commuters stay on Long Bridge Drive and not ride through the park. It’s faster and more convenient to do that. For casual cyclists on a bike stroll in the park, I don’t think many of them will be riding across that small gap. It doesn’t make much sense to do that, especially once the truck traffic picks up next year.

[Kolohe]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4115[/ATTACH]
just a view from above to set the stage
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and another view from the penultimate turn by the ball field. The foreground used to have a set of jersey barriers (though normally turned aside) and occasional a fence-type barricade. The new sidewalk begins at the turn to the left on the far side of this leg.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]4117[/ATTACH]
this is all new, sidewalk, grass and curb.
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and a view back on the street with the new sidewalk.
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and the nearest curbcut.

I totes get what your saying, PotomacCyclist. “Express” traffic should probably follow Crystal Drive around as it becomes 12th street and then turn onto Long Bridge Road if one is going on to the Pentagon and etc.
(btw, for the reverse trip, it’s not entirely clear if there is a sensor under Long Bridge Road capable of detecting a lone cyclist that wishes to make a left with the light onto 12th.)

But for the ‘scenic’ or otherwise more casual cyclist, this configuration actively encourages people to either ride on the sidewalk (something we should try to nudge against) or go over the grass to the street. The grass in the foreground of the truck in the first pick (i.e. to the trucks right) looks to be the DMZ between the existing park and the truck driveway for the next phase of construction. (you can see the truck about to turn into this driveway in the second pic). So there still be some room to complete the street, as it were, while they complete the next phase of the park/aquatic center. (and work towards the future when the path on the esplanade goes all the way through to MVT) (and the science fiction future when the path on the south end of the humpback bridge is able to connect to Boundary Channel Drive)

[PotomacCyclist]

Actually, the Humpback Bridge-Boundary Channel might arrive before the MVT connector. The 395 interchange project is supposed to start up in late 2014 or early 2015. Part of that project is a connection between the Humpback Bridge and Boundary Channel. They are trying to get around the DOD security objections by routing the trail further away from the small DOD building. This will be accomplished by removing one of the on-ramps to 395, freeing up space for the bike path to be moved to the SE and away from the DOD structure.

[dasgeh]

Thanks for the pics. I just wanted to point out that this is a BEAUTIFUL ride. The AFR Family Ride/Kidical Mass Arlington ride went through there, and I highly recommend it. I wholeheartedly agree that there should be a curb cut at that turn.

Will Dave G see this or will someone from ArlCo/BA send it along? If not, I can.

[PotomacCyclist]

@PotomacCyclist 69893 wrote:

Actually, the Humpback Bridge-Boundary Channel might arrive before the MVT connector. The 395 interchange project is supposed to start up in late 2014 or early 2015. Part of that project is a connection between the Humpback Bridge and Boundary Channel. They are trying to get around the DOD security objections by routing the trail further away from the small DOD building. This will be accomplished by removing one of the on-ramps to 395, freeing up space for the bike path to be moved to the SE and away from the DOD structure.

There is no longer a set timetable for the Boundary Channel Drive/395 Interchange project. The Crystal City BID page refers to the CapTrack site, which is currently being updated. (CapTrack will be unavailable until this summer.)

http://www.crystalcity.org/area/transformation/boundary-channel-drive-interchange

They include a map showing the potential redesign:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5200[/ATTACH]

I think the bike connector is marked in red on the map.

The interim Arlington Co. webpage states that the County is awaiting 2nd FHWA comments on the project framework document. That update was posted on 9/3/2013. This is Planning phase 2 of 5. (I don’t know what each phase entails.) At least the project is still listed as Active.

Project summary:

“The conceptual design development started in early 2011 under a $48,500 contract with Kimley-Horn and Associates. The project goal is to develop plans to manage the future traffic generated by Long Bridge Park, and the existing local and regional traffic generated by the Pentagon and I-395. In addition to Boundary Channel Drive and I-395, the project scope includes connections to Long Bridge Park Drive and U.S. Route 1, and a bicycle connection from the Humpback Bridge to Long Bridge Park. Once preliminary engineering begins, the project will need to be reviewed through VDOT, FHWA, NPS and DOD. The project funding is currently projected for $8 million of local bond money in fiscal 2015. Funding for the project will need to be moved to an earlier fiscal year because of the opening of the aquatics center in fiscal 2016.”

http://projects.arlingtonva.us/capital-projects/entry/2/45/

[The aquatics center is on hold, pending a review of the project by County staff, after all of the construction bids came in much higher than expected. Construction on the aquatics center did not begin this winter as planned.]

[lordofthemark]

@PotomacCyclist 82313 wrote:

I think the bike connector is marked in red on the map.

Red is the property line, the bike connector is orange (a bit further up from the water than the property line, closer to the existing “desire path”.) The connector will of special interest to people biking from DC to the Pentagon, and to those of us (cough cough) who bike from the bus station at the Pentagon to DC via the 14th street bridge.

[PotomacCyclist]

I think there’s just one red line on the map. It’s located next to one of the yellow lines, so the colors might appear to blend and appear as orange on the tiny map.

EDIT – I looked at the larger version of the map again. There do seem to be boundary lines marked in dotted red lines. Maybe I’m going color-blind. It’s hard to see those boundary lines on the small version of the map.

[Author]

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