Mantua (Fairfax Co) –> Tyson’s Corner route

[mstone]

Ouch, yeah, that’s tough. 66 is a real barrier to north-south travel all over Fairfax. I’d probably do Nutley but I wouldn’t like it. If you’re really in the just looking phase I’d look north of 66.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Cedar works. Or you could take the Criss County Trail to Tobin, left on Beverly, then take a short trail segment to Wellness Blvd behind the hospital. Then take Williams across 50 and through Mosaic to pick up Gallows by Dunn Loring Metro.

[dkel]

@ShawnoftheDread 98187 wrote:

Cedar works. Or you could take the Criss County Trail to Tobin, left on Beverly, then take a short trail segment to Wellness Blvd behind the hospital. Then take Williams across 50 and through Mosaic to pick up Gallows by Dunn Loring Metro.

+1 for this. Parts of Cross County are smooth and picturesque, parts are punishingly bumpy, especially if it’s a daily commute. On the right bike, it’s very doable, though, and quite fun.

[hoppy]

@dkel 98188 wrote:

+1 for this. Parts of Cross County are smooth and picturesque, parts are punishingly bumpy, especially if it’s a daily commute. On the right bike, it’s very doable, though, and quite fun.

Wow, I post my question late at night and in the morning see these great tips, thank you!

I didn’t know about that trail, but when look it up I can see that this route might work. I commute on a cyclocross bike with wide road tires (700 x 35c) so I can probably handle the trail parts OK. And if I can go through the “back roads” of Merrifield, I can hook up to Gallows Road which gets me to where I need to be in Tysons.

Regarding Cedar Lane, that might be the most direct route but I’ve driven that road on a car and I would not want to be on that road on a bike. 2 lanes, no shoulder. I don’t know if I would be ran over or shot first.
@mstone 98181 wrote:

Ouch, yeah, that’s tough. 66 is a real barrier to north-south travel all over Fairfax. I’d probably do Nutley but I wouldn’t like it. If you’re really in the just looking phase I’d look north of 66.

Good advice. I am still in the “just looking phase” and based on looking at maps I think you’re right — getting over Rt 66 is tough. You’re forced to take some heavily trafficked roads. I will look at neighborhoods north of 66 as well.

[Phatboing]

@hoppy 98190 wrote:

Regarding Cedar Lane, that might be the most direct route but I’ve driven that road on a car and I would not want to be on that road on a bike. 2 lanes, no shoulder. I don’t know if I would be ran over or shot first.

I lived on Cedar and biked on it from time to time, and it’s not terrible. The worst times are when people are dropping kids off at school (Cedar Ln Elementary?) – something about dropping off spawn brings the demons out even more. I wouldn’t recommend it daily though. The Cross-county trail is fun. Do that.

[mstone]

I don’t see how the GC3T helps in this situation. The problem isn’t suitable east-west routes, it’s getting across 66. Gallows & Nutley are both baby superhighways, and Cedar is too narrow with high speed type A’s and no shoulders. (Note that a lot of this is time-dependent–if you have a flexible schedule you may be able to avoid the bad times.) The best bet if commuting at rush hour may be to take the sidewalk on Gallows, much as I hate to recommend that. (At least it has a jersey wall on the bridge, unlike the sidewalk on Nutley).

Hmm. One thought that occurs to me now is to maybe take the Accotink trail to where Nutley ends at 50. Take a look at the street view and you’ll see that there’s a marked crosswalk and a pedestrian crossing sign and a curb cut, and NO FREAKING TRAIL. (I both do and do not want to look at the bike master plan to see whether they’re planning to fix this.) I don’t remember the state of the desire path to the street that you can see just ahead. If you can make it through there it’s easy to get to the GC3T and get up to Vaden, which may be the least-bad option for crossing 66 (and you wouldn’t be on the worst of it very long). Once you’re across Virginia Center Blvd, Vaden becomes a bikeable road which gets you to Nottoway and then Tapawingo (very bikeable) and the W&OD-oriented routes into Tysons. It’s also possible to do the above via Pickett rather than that maybe-access at Nutley, but that’s another ugly road depending on the time of day.

[Phatboing]

If I remember correctly, the last time I was on the CCT, I used Vaaden (Vaden?) Drive near the Vienna metro to get by 66. There’s a sidewalk, too. So you can go Vaaden -> some minor park -> Tapawingo -> WOD.

This may be part of the Fairfax County Connector trail system, if I’m not totally imagining that I’ve seen that name while riding in those parts.

Also, there’s no shame/hell in using the Gallows sidewalk. Slow down at the intersections, don’t go at breakneck speeds, and it’s fine.

[lordofthemark]

Hoppy

How often are you looking to bike commute? While Mantua is an area with relatively reasonably priced homes and highly regarded schools a short (auto) commute to Tysons, as the above should make clear, what is close is different by bike than by car in this part of the world. If you are likely to bike every day or close to it, it probably makes more sense to look west of Tysons along the W&OD – after all you will not being dealing with DTR or the beltway, but will get the use of one of the best bike facilities in the region. If you are biking less frequently (or your SO is commuting and not biking) you may have to just accept the routes above. I personally like the GCCT and have done all parts of the route Shawn suggested except the last bit into Tysons itself, though never in one go (I used to live in Annandale) I also agree with MStone that Vaden is a superior crossing over I66 than Gallows.

[lordofthemark]

@Phatboing 98225 wrote:

If I remember correctly, the last time I was on the CCT, I used Vaaden (Vaden?) Drive near the Vienna metro to get by 66. There’s a sidewalk, too. So you can go Vaaden -> some minor park -> Tapawingo -> WOD.

This may be part of the Fairfax County Connector trail system, if I’m not totally imagining that I’ve seen that name while riding in those parts.

Also, there’s no shame/hell in using the Gallows sidewalk. Slow down at the intersections, don’t go at breakneck speeds, and it’s fine.

Its actually West(?) Blake Lane Park, which according to Google Maps is now part of the GC3T – ISTR it not being part, though having signs directing one to what was then just the Cross County Trail. The CCT was routed on the sidewalk up Blake to connect to the Difficult Run section of the CCT. Do they now route you due west from the north end of the park?

[hoppy]

Thank you all for the additional tips. I will try these out on a weekend.

@lordofthemark 98228 wrote:

How often are you looking to bike commute? While Mantua is an area with relatively reasonably priced homes and highly regarded schools a short (auto) commute to Tysons, as the above should make clear, what is close is different by bike than by car in this part of the world. If you are likely to bike every day or close to it, it probably makes more sense to look west of Tysons along the W&OD – after all you will not being dealing with DTR or the beltway, but will get the use of one of the best bike facilities in the region. If you are biking less frequently (or your SO is commuting and not biking) you may have to just accept the routes above. I personally like the GCCT and have done all parts of the route Shawn suggested except the last bit into Tysons itself, though never in one go (I used to live in Annandale) I also agree with MStone that Vaden is a superior crossing over I66 than Gallows.

No doubt, if your destination is Tysons Corner, it’s better to live off the W&OD (which I do now), and it’s difficult when you’re south of I-66.

The reason I’m considering the Mantua area is because of the reasons you mentioned above and because my children already go to Mantua ES (although we currently live outside that school district — our kids are able to go there because it’s a magnet school). Trying to make a long story short, we need to move anyway and my preference would be to move to a place where we could stay in that school (we like it) and avoid too much disruption to the kids. I know that there are lots of other good school districts, however, so I’m not totally set on Mantua, but if I could make that work, I would prefer to do so.

For a couple of years now I’ve been a daily bike commuter from Falls Church (Fairfax) to Tyson’s. I take low-traffic neighborhood streets to W&OD, then get on Gallows and into Tyson’s. 6.25 miles each way. It’s really a great commute, and I appreciate that fact even more now! I really don’t want to go back to car driving. I can go longer than 6.25 miles each way but I don’t want to go much beyond 8 or 9 miles. I think I could probably stay within that range in Mantua, depending on where we wind up (if we go that way).

[mstone]

@Phatboing 98225 wrote:

Also, there’s no shame/hell in using the Gallows sidewalk. Slow down at the intersections, don’t go at breakneck speeds, and it’s fine.

It’s not a question of shame, it’s that the dang things are dangerous, especially at uncontrolled crossings. (Like the one just north of 66–at a school, no less, which is like just asking to get hit).

@lordofthemark 98231 wrote:

Its actually West(?) Blake Lane Park, which according to Google Maps is now part of the GC3T – ISTR it not being part, though having signs directing one to what was then just the Cross County Trail. The CCT was routed on the sidewalk up Blake to connect to the Difficult Run section of the CCT. Do they now route you due west from the north end of the park?

I suppose signing the East Blake Lane Park section suggests that the long term plan is to incorporate it better, but at this point if you’re trying to get to the northern parts of the GC3T you’re going to end up on Blake Lane anyway–twice! I guess that the current idea is that you take Jermantown to Blake to Sutton to Country Creek to Vaden to East Blake Lane Park back to Blake then to Thais Park, but I can’t say it’s signed well. (Maybe it is and I just haven’t noticed because I wasn’t looking.) I’d like to think that the non-path I pointed out before at Nutley is on the plan to cut through, which then makes a better route for the GC3T via Accotink. But that still leaves the section from Oak Marr to East Blake Lane Park as one of (if not the) worst on the trail.

[lordofthemark]

@hoppy 98234 wrote:

The reason I’m considering the Mantua area is because of the reasons you mentioned above and because my children already go to Mantua ES (although we currently live outside that school district — our kids are able to go there because it’s a magnet school).

It’s a gifted and talented center, or as I think they call it now, an AAP center. Its okay, you can use the G word here My DD attended the “HS that must not be named” Note, there are (or at least were) some areas between 50 and I66 very close to the aforementioned Vaden crossing that feed for gifted center purposes, into Frost Middle (to which Mantua ES feeds) though I do not know the ES situation there. And yes, the center boundaries provide different real estate options than the regular school boundaries.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I never have an issue crossing 66 on Gallows, though I agree Vaden is nicer. That route works if you want to go through Vienna instead of Merrifield, though it is poorly signed and takes a bit of practice to get right.

Mantua is a nice neighborhood. I looked there myself but was priced out of everything that was available at the time.

[mstone]

@mstone 98221 wrote:

Hmm. One thought that occurs to me now is to maybe take the Accotink trail to where Nutley ends at 50. Take a look at the street view and you’ll see that there’s a marked crosswalk and a pedestrian crossing sign and a curb cut, and NO FREAKING TRAIL. (I both do and do not want to look at the bike master plan to see whether they’re planning to fix this.)

I looked. The answer is that fixing this is not on the bicycle master plan. The GC3T will continue to go on Pickett Road between East Blake Lane Park and Accotink, and there are no improvements planned for that road because…that stretch is in Fairfax City. I would guess that adding 100 feet of trail so that the GC3T could actually travel through Fairfax Country would be a no-brainer, but it will probably take someone who both cares and lives in the appropriate supervisor’s district to pursue the issue.

[dplasters]

Wow… don’t know how I missed this thread. If you’re still around hoppy…

I live in Circle Woods Townhomes just off of East Blake Lane Park. I ride on Vaden every day to get over 66 (you can always be scofflaw and use the metro bridge). There is a path off of White Birch Ct that puts you onto Vaden (better in my opinion) than the Park path – it allows you to use the pedestrian crosswalk to turn left onto Vaden heading north and be more “car like”. The Path on the West side of Vaden going over 66 is in disrepair and not a great ride. The East side is like death because of the Metro parking decks enter/exit. The road is wildly safe… it is a weird combo. So I avoid the EBL path because it dumps you at the intersection of Vaden and Saintsbury and doesn’t leave a great way to get onto the road and I hate the path.

I would suggest Accotink to Pickett then on the GCT behind the tower, I suggest crossing/slight left on 29 here on a bike because the pole for the traffic signal is right in the middle of the sidewalk/curbcut at the actual crosswalk (not present when google streetview went by) which makes crossing on a bike here a pain. I’d then cross, turn into circle woods, turn onto white birch and continue on.

If you happen to get behind one of the tanker trucks on pickett though I’d follow that bad boy all the way. They STRUGGLE on the hill at Pickett and 50 and you won’t be slowing annnnnyone down behind him. They always turn right onto 29.

As a random aside – They do appear to be creating a path/pedestrian crossing at EBL and 29. They have constructed a nice slope and have construction equipment. I believe the longterm goal is to then run a path run through the woods between the IHOP and circle woods towers.. at least that is what it looks like they are doing.

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