March 2017 Road & Trail Conditions

[Harry Meatmotor]

@dbb 157028 wrote:

DDOT or NPS?

100% certain it was DDOT. They parked a couple work trucks (one towing a trailer) on the shoulder of the ramp from 95 south to GWPkwy westbound.

[Greenbelt]

College Park and Greenbelt Trails are pretty good (per usual). Anacostia Tributury Trails are pretty awful (per usual).

Greenbelt connector Trail to Ivy Lane
[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-0/p180x540/17311310_1296243637109017_48819877557316387_o.jpg?oh=92e30da6d17d40d38bc5ec4654912fbd&oe=5930ECBA[/IMG]

College Park trolley trail (straight, good) and Paint Branch trail (to right, not good at all)
[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17311128_1296243633775684_7014482529509637262_o.jpg?oh=42b8fca8d018641f0552cdcc718e0798&oe=5971E678[/IMG]

College Park trolley trail
[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17240676_1296243630442351_6351449516595039409_o.jpg?oh=74d9cb0e581b2677c680bc0a762c9946&oe=5968213A[/IMG]

Hyattsville trolley trail
[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17191957_1296243703775677_839215396424782542_o.jpg?oh=7246c86875d87f1e5aaa05d8be7714f4&oe=5969CF2D[/IMG]

[Greenbelt]

Lake Artemesia (lousy)
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Lake Artemesia to parking area and Greenbelt (beyond awful)
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Paint Branch Trail toward DC from Lake A
[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17240086_1296243800442334_2045284776114807836_o.jpg?oh=f1aa14f63747ce1543e3bc617cae1df4&oe=592B92AA[/IMG]

Greenbelt Road connector sidewalk (I called the developer about this one…)
[IMG]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17311101_1296243853775662_3881433048075938545_o.jpg?oh=353d04b1de2628985446229e7ae59fc3&oe=595AB36E[/IMG]

[Birru]

Update: I’m tapping out. Wind is getting nasty and I can’t feel my hands. I was hoping to at least hit Little Falls/Bikenetic. I did what I could from the Route 7 bridge to the intersection of Great Falls St. My goal was to expose asphalt so hopefully enough will melt away and there’ll be minimal ice. That said, drainage in this area of the W&OD is pretty poor and I saw some pooling. Use caution.

Commuters, fellow riders, safe travels. CX racers, sorry for ruining your fun.

P.S. I also saw this well-meaning dude using his tractor to clear the other side of the trail. His buddy was on a mini-bike. Unfortunately the plow wasn’t making clean contact, so he ended up sort of smoothing out the snow. At least there won’t be ice ruts?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14312[/ATTACH]

[dbb]

@Harry Meatmotor 157029 wrote:

100% certain it was DDOT. They parked a couple work trucks (one towing a trailer) on the shoulder of the ramp from 95 south to GWPkwy westbound.

Sweet. DDOT did a great job on the 14th St Br today. Sucked this morning and clear on way home.

[Judd]

Did a check of some trails this evening.

Trail at the Pentagon is cleared as usual. A few puddles at the curbs to watch out for but mostly dry. The connection to the MVT on this trail is not passable. Deep snow/ice with a craggy surface.

Bridge in LBJ Memorial grove is not clear and about three inches deep. Today’s thaw and refreeze means it’s pretty hard. I was uneasy biking it and dragged the bike over it instead.

Path in LBJ grove mostly melted. A few slushy spots that will probably be frozen in the morning. Parking lot and trail connector to MVT in LBJ were plowed and dry.

MVT from LBJ had severable patches that were not melted. I could ride slow through most of them but these will probably be frozen in the morning and might require flintstoning. Bridges near the airport were especially bad.

Four Mile Run Trail from MVT to Commonwealth was in good shape. The trouble spot on the bridge that Harry Meatmotor mentioned has been plowed a bit.

Commonwealth Ave to Mt. Vernon Ave was plowed and dry. The bike lanes were not plowed though. My. Vernon Ave is plowed and dry.

Streets in Old Town were plowed but many of the streets are wet.

Potomac Yard Trail is plowed and mostly dry.

Crystal Drive is plowed and mostly dry.

Long Bridge Road is plowed and mostly dry.

There were lots of spots starting to refreeze at 8 pm on my way back home. Please be wary of black ice tomorrow if you’re commuting in the morning.

The wind was also gusting very hard this evening and seemed to be gusting from multiple directions.

[bobco85]

Here are the fruits of the labor of komorebi, LeprosyStudyGroup, and myself. First, we cleared the path leading from the 14th St Bridge to the Jefferson Memorial CaBi station. Second, we cleared a path across the bridge between Boundary Channel Dr (Pentagon) and LBJ Grove. Lastly, we cleared a path through LBJ Grove. LBJ Grove is likely to be very icy on Wednesday (temperature is going to stay below freezing all day), but the work we did will ensure that it is much better by Thursday afternoon. All in all, I’d say it was a success!

Before and after pics:

Path between 14th St Bridge and Jefferson Memorial CaBi station
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Bridge between Boundary Channel Dr (Pentagon) and LBJ Grove
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LBJ Grove (it’s harder to see the path we made due to the ice)
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[bobco85]

Many thanks go out to komorebi and LeprosyStudyGroup for helping to clear these well-used paths. I’m tired (and will be very sore in the morning), but it was fun!

First test of the new path over the bridge
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The team
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[Birru]

@bobco85 157054 wrote:

Many thanks go out to komorebi and LeprosyStudyGroup for helping to clear these well-used paths. I’m tired (and will be very sore in the morning), but it was fun!

First test of the new path over the bridge
[ATTACH=CONFIG]14320[/ATTACH]

The team
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[video=youtube_share;Tgcc5V9Hu3g]https://youtu.be/Tgcc5V9Hu3g[/video]

[ursus]

I am very impressed by the work that all the people mentioned here and probably others have done. I remember the great difficulty that I used to have before I retired, seemingly for at least a week usually, having to walk across the South Capital Street Bridge after a snowfall. Walking also told me how much that bridge shakes.

[DrP]

From all the wonderful posts on trail conditions, it was sounds like the W&OD from Custis to Shirlington is not very passible. Correct? Any idea on 4MR from Shirlington to Meade?

It sounds like getting from the Memorial Bridge area to the Pentagon via Washington Blvd isn’t passible – or not the whole way (that one bridge looked bad. Is that an Arlington Co controlled area?). Correct?

Does anyone know if it is passible from the start of the Roosevelt parking lot (i.e., the bottom of the bridge over the GW) to the humpback bridge area (since there is now a path under and through LBJ to Pentagon)?

The winds (especially gusts) combined with not very clear trails seemed like a bad idea today. Tomorrow is to be lower wind so I am hoping to find a passible route (two days without biking (or other major activity, like walking for hours) is about my max for sanity).

[TwoWheelsDC]

Anyone have a CCT (preferably between Chain Bridge and Gtown) or a Towpath report?

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

Our path over the LBJ Grove bridge is a lil bit dicey but I didn’t need to dismount, with just one 50 foot span of icy stuff to walk over in the grove trail left. A very rideable route considering yesterday night. I’d still avoid MVT north of Memorial and southeast of 14th. Everything else is clear sailing as long as you stay in the streets.

[huskerdont]

@Steve O 157009 wrote:

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.

Yes, the Spout Run skating rink was not suitable for either riding or skating. Too much ice for the one and not enough for the other. You could maybe get by on a mountain bike, but I ended up walking. The rest of the Custis was fine.

I had checked out my neighborhood route to the trail last night, and it was fine and in fact completely dry, but for some reason Arlington sent out salt trucks overnight and put a big line of chunky salt down the center of every neighborhood street on the route.

So, thank you again Arlington for taking care of the Custis, but what’s up with the salt on dry, clear roads?

[ian74]

@TwoWheelsDC 157061 wrote:

Anyone have a CCT (preferably between Chain Bridge and Gtown) or a Towpath report?

The CCT from Georgetown to Bethesda has been plowed and is clear and dry! Was the easiest part of my commute.

[Author]

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