March 2015 Trail Condition Reports

[consularrider]

The snowblower thingy went all the way out the W&OD from East Falls Church through at least Vienna. What you have is a pair of compacted tire tracks with about a three foot wide path in between them where the top three to four inches of snow was remove. What remains on that path varies from clear pavement where it got full sun, to packed snow/ice, to about an inch of crusty snow. I was riding 700×35 studded tires and still had issues in places with the crusty snow.

I came back from Vienna on Cottage St and Sandburg. Cottage was about 90% clear and Sandburg was 95% clear. The short stretch on Sandburg where the road ends has not been cleared and I walked it.

Both Park St and Lincoln St in Falls Church are 95% clear as was Columbia St from Little Falls.

[dasgeh]

@Yggdrasil 110385 wrote:

This is ridiculous. Arlington has been crushing when it comes to path clearing, but the state of these trails past Reagan is abysmal. What do they expect to get out of trail clearing if the main bridge that the South Arlington and Alexandria cyclists use is inaccessible? I understand Arlington’s trail clearing is a relatively new priority, but MVT to 14th St Bridge is vital for the trail system to really be functional in that part of town.

Before this year, you had three different jurisdictions (Arlington, NPS and DC) that could all point fingers at each other and basically say “there’s no use in us clearing snow because the others don’t”. Now we have proof that clearing can be done, and that people will ride on the cleared trails. In fact, since you can ride on streets to the Pentagon, you could get to DC via the Memorial Bridge using only Arlington-, DoD- and NPS-maintained infrastructure. Arlington and DoD clear the snow, and NPS does on most of the route, so we can focus on a relatively small stretch that needs clearing that would open a snow-free link between S Arlington and DC. That’s progress. Plus, pictures like dbb’s make the case quite well, imho.

@PotomacCyclist 110389 wrote:

The problem is that the National Park Service controls the Mt. Vernon Trail. Arlington can’t plow the MVT unless they somehow reach an agreement with the NPS. As far as I’ve heard, that’s not likely. (But one can still hope.) Maybe someone can figure out a solution before next winter. (With the milder temperatures this weekend and continuing into next week, snow on the MVT may not be an issue for much longer this season.)

I keep hearing that the issue for NPS is funding, not desire to clear trails. If Arlington came up with the money, or just said they’d do it, it seems like NPS would say go ahead. It’s a different issue than with the W&OD and NVRPA policy.

[PotomacCyclist]

What if we could convince Tim Kelley to ride a bike snowplow on the MVT? That might work.

[Justin Antos]

What’s the best way to THANK Arlington County for doing such a good job plowing the trails? This is great and we should make our support known. It helps provide cover for continuing funding this in the future, and it increases pressure on those who don’t plow commuter trails. Where should I direct my praise?

[Phatboing]

The WOD between Vienna and EFC is AWESOME. Snow’s been packed down, the ice was rough and grippy and crunchy, the 2.4-inch tires at 25 psi were spankerrific, and the 32×20 gearing on the MTB was perfect.

This is the kind of snow biking I’d signed up for.

[bobco85]

@dasgeh 110395 wrote:

I keep hearing that the issue for NPS is funding, not desire to clear trails. If Arlington came up with the money, or just said they’d do it, it seems like NPS would say go ahead. It’s a different issue than with the W&OD and NVRPA policy.

I wonder, if the NPS gave Arlington the go-ahead to plow the MVT, would Arlington then only be able to plow its portion of the MVT? That would allow cyclists to easily access Roosevelt bridge, 14th Street bridge, and the Crystal City connector, but cyclists would still not be able to easily access the Pentagon or Memorial bridge. In short, cyclists would gain 2 more easy access routes over the Potomac which would be huge.

…shoot, I just realized that none of the Memorial Circle improvement designs contained anything for heated paths. What a missed opportunity!

[dbb]

@Arlingtonrider 110390 wrote:

How were the I-395 and Mt. Vernon Ave underpasses? Or did you just ride the part after Eads?

I rode from Eads to the east to the MVT and back to Eads. It was a sleaze ride with a purpose.

[wheelswings]

Given my less-than-spectacular ability to stay upright on the ice this morning, I am feeling a bit queasy about which route to take tomorrow morning (Saturday). I will be starting north-west of Westover (out toward EFC) and heading to Wakefield High School (down near Rt. 7 and S. George Mason). As always, I am riding on slicks. I plan to leave home at about 6:45 a.m.
I’m thinking my options are:
1.Try the WOD… hard to imagine… ?
2. Take the major roads… Washington Blvd and George Mason… maybe there’s not much traffic at that hour on a Saturday (?), so perhaps this is actually the safest way…? assuming they’re dry…
3. Stick to the usual backroads and hope they’re in good shape …15th>Quincy>Henderson>Abingdon>3rd>Wakefield>S 4MR
I would be grateful for input on whether any of these routes were actually clear and dry this evening… since tonight’s 15 degree temperatures could make wet roads more exciting than I’d like.
Thanks!

[dasgeh]

@wheels&wings 110417 wrote:

Given my less-than-spectacular ability to stay upright on the ice this morning, I am feeling a bit queasy about which route to take tomorrow morning (Saturday). I will be starting north-west of Westover (out toward EFC) and heading to Wakefield High School (down near Rt. 7 and S. George Mason). As always, I am riding on slicks. I plan to leave home at about 6:45 a.m.
I’m thinking my options are:
1.Try the WOD… hard to imagine… ?
2. Take the major roads… Washington Blvd and George Mason… maybe there’s not much traffic at that hour on a Saturday (?), so perhaps this is actually the safest way…? assuming they’re dry…
3. Stick to the usual backroads and hope they’re in good shape …15th>Quincy>Henderson>Abingdon>3rd>Wakefield>S 4MR
I would be grateful for input on whether any of these routes were actually clear and dry this evening… since tonight’s 15 degree temperatures could make wet roads more exciting than I’d like.
Thanks!

I would try 3) custis to quincy, etc. I’ve only seen the roads near quincy and custis, but they were totally fine for alert riding on slicks. Quincy was completely dry this afternoon.

[DismalScientist]

Your route takes you over Arlington secondary roads that get more plowing than lesser roads. 16th and Lexington are such roads. If 16th and Lexington were in good shape, I would expect your entire route to be fine.

It looks like NVPRA took a lesser machine (than Arlington) over the WOD east of the Custis. It won’t help tomorrow, but may help with eventual clearing.

[dasgeh]

@Justin Antos 110411 wrote:

What’s the best way to THANK Arlington County for doing such a good job plowing the trails? This is great and we should make our support known. It helps provide cover for continuing funding this in the future, and it increases pressure on those who don’t plow commuter trails. Where should I direct my praise?

Countyboard@arlingtonva.us countymanager@arlingtonva.us

You may want to mention how they should not cut funding for BikeArlington and capital bikeshare through the reallocation of the decal fee and they should not eliminate one of 2 bike/ped planner positions, which among so much else helped coordinate doing this snow clearing thing right

[TwoWheelsDC]

@DismalScientist 110419 wrote:

Your route takes you over Arlington secondary roads that get more plowing than lesser roads. 16th and Lexington are such roads. If 16th and Lexington were in good shape, I would expect your entire route to be fine.

It looks like NVPRA took a lesser machine (than Arlington) over the WOD east of the Custis. It won’t help tomorrow, but may help with eventual clearing.

Lexington was in decent-enough shape as of this afternoon, but there were some areas that required caution on 32 city tires:

[wheelswings]

@DismalScientist 110419 wrote:

Your route takes you over Arlington secondary roads that get more plowing than lesser roads. 16th and Lexington are such roads. If 16th and Lexington were in good shape, I would expect your entire route to be fine.

It looks like NVPRA took a lesser machine (than Arlington) over the WOD east of the Custis. It won’t help tomorrow, but may help with eventual clearing.

Thanks – good to know!
In terms of secondary roads, as of this afternoon 16th was in good shape but both 15th (near W&L) and Lexington still had sections of melting ice and thick slush, which I expect will re-freeze overnight.

[vern]

The WOD between Custis and Columbia Pike was plowed and there is some single-track, but much of it is ice and not passable on slicks. I think by Monday it will be fine, but that won’t help you tomorrow. Best go with an alternate. However, the WOD east of Columbia Pike all the way to Shirlington is doable on slicks.

[vern]

@Arlingtonrider 110390 wrote:

DBB, thanks for the great post and photos!

How were the I-395 and Mt. Vernon Ave underpasses? Or did you just ride the part after Eads?

They are clear, though I’m sure there will be some re-freeze ice in the morning.

[Author]

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