Most Egregious Locations for Blocked Bike Lanes? [Arlington-only]

[chris_s]

Working on a potential advocacy project and I need your input.

In ARLINGTON, where are bike lanes blocked by parked/stopped vehicles the most consistently? Please be as detailed as possible on location and time of day.

[KLizotte]

You may wish to create a website where people can pinpoint the spots and include drop down fields for them to fill out. But anyway…

Pentagon Row
Northbound bike lane on S Joyce Street in front of Pentagon Row. Lots of double parking by cars, delivery vans, and tour buses. Or drivers who simply can’t be bothered to properly parallel park in an empty space. The double parking isn’t usually a problem early in the morning but gets progressively worse in the afternoon (especially around rush hour) and into the evening until the shops close. This issue is further complicated by the fact that the northbound bike lane is narrower than usual (not a problem on the southbound bike lane) and the large number of events held at Pentagon Row (for instance, Thurs night concerts). There are also a lot of hotel shuttles and they usually stop in the bike lane to load/offload passengers and can’t be bothered to pull into the drop off space (I’m looking at you Sheraton). Please note that a Cabi station is located in the Row plaza.

Oddly, the Arlington Police like to hang out at Pentagon Row but don’t do anything about the scofflaw parking or standing. When informed of an errant driver they simply ask them to move; no warnings or citations are ever given from what I’ve seen. I used to stop and talk to drivers but have given up due to some bad interactions and the never ending stream of scofflaws, tourists, etc.

I have taken to riding the service road behind the Row to avoid that stretch of South Joyce; works great except for all of the speed bumps which cyclists can’t ride around.

Potential solutions: Eliminate parking along those few blocks (there is plenty of undergound and surface parking) but keep the drop off carve out and handicap spaces, widen the bike lanes and paint them green with indications that vehicles cannot park there, work with stores and shops to find ways to make deliveries easier and more efficient, and shorten the speed bumps on the access road so cyclists can avoid them.

I live across the street so can provide as many photos as you need of the scofflaw parking/standing.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12434[/ATTACH]

Fashion Centre at Pentagon City

Southbound on South Hayes Street. Again, lots of cars, hotel and apartment complex shuttles, tour buses (esp during school breaks) all are double and sometimes triple(!) parked along that short stretch. And there are a lot of drivers waiting to pick up or drop off passengers in front of the metro station (Uber, Lyft, regular folks). It’s a huge mess.

I’ll never understand why there are so many driving lanes through that area but so little temporary parking given how many tour buses and shuttles are trying to squeeze into such a small area. Remove a driving lane and convert it to a drop off/pick up area; that is what is happening in an unofficial capacity anyway. Let’s just make it official and safer! I do feel bad for some of the shuttle drivers since there really isn’t anywhere for them to legally park during rush hour and school breaks when we may get 20-30 buses all converging on the Mall at the same time.

There is also a Cabi station there.

I just avoid that area as much as possible when biking. Not worth the hassle or danger. Again, I can provide plenty of photos if needed.

Worst times for this area are 1) rush hour, esp afternoons, 2) school breaks, 3) Xmas time.

[bobco85]

I nominate the Crystal City Dr southbound bike lane/parking spot/loading zone/rush hour lane/buffer for distracted drivers from 15th St S to 23rd St S during afternoon rush hour on weekdays and afternoons on weekends for most egregious bike lane blocking.

[KLizotte]

@bobco85 145976 wrote:

I nominate the Crystal City Dr southbound bike lane/parking spot/loading zone/rush hour lane/buffer for distracted drivers from 15th St S to 23rd St S during afternoon rush hour on weekdays and afternoons on weekends for most egregious bike lane blocking.

Yup, Crystal City’s southbound bike lane to be 1) too narrow to stay out of the door zone and 2) always blocked by someone.

[dasgeh]

Quincy St:

• SB just south of Fairfax there is a dumpster encroaching in the bike lane 24/7 for years.
• SB between 9th St N and Wilson – all. the. time.
• SB just south of Wilson (first two buildings) – mornings and early afternoons
• SB just north of Glebe, by the Mercedes dealership – mornings only
• NB between Wilson and 9th St N – all. the. time.

Fairfax

• EB between Kirkwood and Monroe, day time.
• WB between Stuart and Stafford, whenever buses are running.

[lordofthemark]

Eads Street, NB, from roughly Ft Scott to 26th I guess – tour buses, during tour bus season. I am only there in the AM usually, that is when I notice it.

Further north on Eads NB, between 24th and 23rd, delivery truck there very frequently at AM rush hour.

[Judd]

@KLizotte 145977 wrote:

Yup, Crystal City’s southbound bike lane to be 1) too narrow to stay out of the door zone and 2) always blocked by someone.

Southbound lane would be better off as a sharrow IMO instead of a skinny parking spot. It doesn’t matter too much to me as I almost always take the lane there now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

Southbound bike lanes on S Potomac Ave next to the Renaissance Inn / Marriot whatever hotel
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.847792,-77.050733,20z

Almost never pass by this place without seeing this situation:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12439[/ATTACH]
The shuttle bus drivers and taxis servicing this hotel have space to pull up to the curb instead of blocking the lane, but they dont care. They sit there all day every day.

[CaseyKane50]

Southbound on Eads Street in front of the Arlington Transit office. Buses and other vehicles park in the bike lane during the day. There are also signs that allow parking after 6 pm.

[tnelson]

Seconding KLizotte on S. Joyce Street. I’m curious just how many of the cars blocking the lane are from people double parking to use the USAA ATM.

[runbike]

I nominate N Lynn St as it traverses through downtown Rosslyn.

The ongoing construction and removal of lanes has certainly taken a toll and drivers feel free to use ALL available space but there are two additional ongoing issues:
1. Vamoose Bus pickup on N. Lynn/19th St N. – blocks most or all of the bike lane at various points throughout the day.
2. The Deloitte Building pickup area – always tons of cabs and Ubers picking up and dropping off (or just sitting there) on that stretch of N. Lynn between 19th St. N and the I-66 on-ramp.

I know this is all supposed to get better with the ongoing Rosslyn improvement projects, but they’ve done nothing to protect the bike lane infrastructure that’s currently there.

[jsperson]

I concur with every one listed above. Those listed below are blocked in whole or part at least 50% of the time I ride through. They include:
S EADS from 23rd to Glebe (both directions, but the worst is north bound) – I generally come through here five days a week pulling a double wide trailer. Any blocking of the lane pushes me into traffic.
Crystal Drive – I’ve given up even using that worthless lane. I just take the lane and salmon through traffic if it’s jammed.
South Bound Courthouse Road – RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE COURTHOUSE is the unofficial kiss and ride lot/loading zone for the courthouse.

[baiskeli]

On Fairfax at the Ballston Metro station, buses often partly block the lane simply because the parking lane to the right is too small for buses.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8821621,-77.1114734,3a,75y,85.26h,82.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smLCjNeixxX6JYXIJcm9Xaw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[DrP]

I agree with all said about Crystal Drive. And with the blockages in front of the Renaissance and cheaper hotel on Potomac Ave at Crystal Drive. The south bound Potomac drive between those hotels and the 4MR access switchback isn’t great either – the bike lane is a defacto sidewalk full of walkers and joggers and car doors. I always take the lane there. They need a sidewalk.

Fairfax Dr in front of the Ballston Metro station (and leading up to it and from it) is crap. No matter which day of the week, it is a rare occasion that there isn’t a metro bus partially in the bike lane, however, at rush hour, many cars are aware of this and allow me in. Buses frequently leaving the Udrive pull right in front of cyclists – not sure if they do not see us or figure that they have the right of way. Especially with safetrack, but bad otherwise, the bike lane on the eastbound side is regularly full of cars dropping folks off and shuttle buses dropping off/picking up or people trying to make right turns and just sitting across the bike lane because they had no idea that pedestrians might be in the cross walk until they start to turn. This is the case from about Taylor to Randolph. Westbound, during the work day, the block between Stuart and Stafford regularly has trucks blocking the bike lane and folks double parked (including a cop on Wednesday! Maybe he was responding to a call about the alley – at least that is where he walked to – which is fine then). During evening rush, it seems that there are some non-metro buses that park in front of Chinese restaurant for a long time, as well as people dropping off/picking up people. The cab stand in the next block occasionally has issues, but they are in general pretty good. THe block between Taylor and Utah not infrequently has double parkers.

This metro station needs a kiss-n-ride (both sides of the street – or maybe on the island in the middle). And then ticketing everyone not using it.

And there is my recent pet peeve, the construction site at Fairfax and Glebe. Trucks regularly block the bike lane during the day and they use off-hours for other blockages of the lane.

[RideTheWomble]

The biggest head-scratcher is the employee shuttle bus stop in the bike lane at EPA HEADQUARTERS. :confused: Potomac Ave. and Crystal City Dr. https://goo.gl/maps/XCMxWCM4ZU42

The oil spots you see are where the shuttle sits and idles. At least it’s probably biofuel??

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