March 2017 Road & Trail Conditions

[Birru]

Yup, props to those who rode, but teleworking and drinking pourover with a cat on my lap works for me! I really should pick up some studded tires and decent platform pedals for a future winter that isn’t this mild though.

[dbb]

Did anybody ride the MVT south from Roosevelt Island? Where did the snow clearing start?

[LhasaCM]

As of 10AM, the Metropolitan Branch Trail was pretty clear between Franklin and R Street NE. The transition from 8th onto the trail was a mess, and south of R it looks like one pass had been taken, but there was a good half inch or more of slushy ice in parts.

The cycletrack was passable (half a lane clear) on M Street NE between the trail and 1st. Once you make the turn onto 1st, things were a lot better. They were making another pass south of K street as I rode by.

(For reference – I rode in on my regular bike – 700×40 tires – with my daughter on the trailercycle for the MBT part)

[Steve O]

Custis Trail is completely cleared all the way. Can be ridden on any bike. (Thank you, Arlington)

Caution should be taken tomorrow in a few places where standing water will have frozen. In particular, the Spout Run skating rink may be a complete sheet of ice, depending on sublimation, which I would not depend on. Be sure to approach it with extreme care.

The moguls will likely have ice in the depressions, but those are inconsequential, since they’re so short. Actually smooth out the ride a bit.

[bobco85]

@dbb 156984 wrote:

The “sort of” is that the clearing stopped at the north side of the Humpback and the bridge and the trail up to the 14th St Bridge was untouched.

DDOT seems to have forgotten the bike/ped lane on the bridge.

For anyone interested, I plan on heading over to that spot this evening to do some shoveling. My goal is to clear as much of a usable path between the Humpback Bridge and the 14th St Bridge as possible while the temperatures are still above freezing. I will bring my trailer with a shovel, an ice breaker, and 2 deck-style push brooms. I should be there by 6 and plan to stay for at least 2 hours. Hope to see some of you there!

[Crickey7]

L Street cycletrack is cleared, making it irresistible for the drivers idling in front of the Hotel RL. Which is a daily occurrence.

[cvcalhoun]

I was pleased to see that the Capital Crescent Trail is completely clear, all the way from Bethesda to Georgetown.

[dbb]

We are trying to get a handle on what got cleared on the Mount Vernon Trail this morning. If you rode on NPS GWMP property (pretty much all on the VA side of the Potomac) this morning, can you reply and say where, when and whether the trails had been cleared?

Thanks

[Harry Meatmotor]

@dbb 157017 wrote:

We are trying to get a handle on what got cleared on the Mount Vernon Trail this morning. If you rode on NPS GWMP property (pretty much all on the VA side of the Potomac) this morning, can you reply and say where, when and whether the trails had been cleared?

Thanks

4MR @ Reagan National to 14th St. Bridge had zero clearing @ 6:40-7:40am.

What was NPS supposed to have cleared?

[anomad]

I have a contact that drove into DC today and we normally ride the MVT. I can ask for a couple spot checks on the return trip if no one posts up.

Edit: so if you see a subaru driving down the bike path its ok.

[dbb]

The portions of the MVT that were to be cleared is a bit fuzzy right now. The GWMP staff were to present their plan to reps from a number of cycling orgs in Dec but it was delayed at the request of the NPS.

To keep the clearing effort manageable during the first year(s) of getting them on board, we held back on asking they clear the entire MVT:)

We suggested (as I recall) that a cleared path from Boundary Channel to the 14th Street Bridge (through the LBJ grove and marina parking lot) and from S Washington Blvd (by the Pentagon) to the Memorial Bridge would build on areas that are consistently cleared by others to connect the bridges to Arlington streets.

[Birru]

@bobco85 157011 wrote:

For anyone interested, I plan on heading over to that spot this evening to do some shoveling. My goal is to clear as much of a usable path between the Humpback Bridge and the 14th St Bridge as possible while the temperatures are still above freezing. I will bring my trailer with a shovel, an ice breaker, and 2 deck-style push brooms. I should be there by 6 and plan to stay for at least 2 hours. Hope to see some of you there!

You’re an inspiration! I can report the W&OD in the city of Falls Church SUCKS. I’m doing what I can but it’s slow going. I’ve got a lane going from the bridge over Route 7 to West St so far. If anyone’s local, feel free to chip in.

[komorebi]

@bobco85 157011 wrote:

For anyone interested, I plan on heading over to that spot this evening to do some shoveling. My goal is to clear as much of a usable path between the Humpback Bridge and the 14th St Bridge as possible while the temperatures are still above freezing. I will bring my trailer with a shovel, an ice breaker, and 2 deck-style push brooms. I should be there by 6 and plan to stay for at least 2 hours. Hope to see some of you there!

Bobco, you’re awesome. I’ll try to join you, if enough of my route from Alexandria is clear.

[bobco85]

@Birru 157024 wrote:

You’re an inspiration! I can report the W&OD in the city of Falls Church SUCKS. I’m doing what I can but it’s slow going. I’ve got a lane going from the bridge over Route 7 to West St so far. If anyone’s local, feel free to chip in.

Dude, that looks amazing! It’s going to make a huge difference just to have something cleared before it all freezes tonight. Thank you!

[Harry Meatmotor]

DDOT was out and cleared from the north side of humpback bridge all the way across the 14th St bridge.

So, no need for DIY shovel brigade there.

BUT! the Rte 1 bridge over 4MR (used by the detour) is short but a complete disaster!

Needless to say the ride home (14th St bridge to MVT southbound to 4MR westbound to S. Glebe) was less of a mess than this morning. Pretty easily ridable on 32mm semi-slicks.

Edit: just remembered that the snow blower must’ve run over something about 1/2 across the 14th St. bridge – there’s a bunch of shattered black plastic in the path that was cleared.

edit 2: just to be clear, DDOTs snowblower was attempting to blow snow while moving northbound/eastbound and, therefor blowing snow directly into the 20+ mph wind out of the north, blowing it out over the Potomac, then back over the top of the snowblower tractor, and into oncoming southbound I-95 traffic. Joyous! I chortled.

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