Mt Vernon Trail Problems Identified in 1990

[dasgeh]

@eminva 85954 wrote:

Okay, I’m sure I’ve made this point before here, but WHY is major, interstate-like highway still under the jurisdiction of NPS? I’m not talking about the Road to the Sun or other purely recreational park roads, but many of our “parkways” (e.g., the BW Parkway, GW Parkway, [insert others in other cities I’m unware of]) are essentially interstate highways and a crucial, heavily relied upon part of the regional infrastructure. As such, they should be under the jurisdiction of the appropriate state highway administration and its regulatory scheme. The status quo seems kind of stubborn and dumb, IMHO.

Liz

From what I understand, NPS has tried to give back at least some of the roads, and they don’t get takers. I agree that transportation should be under one (not 3+: DC, MD, VA) jurisdiction that can look at the entire network and allocate resources efficiently and effectively.

But given what’s on the table for this round of legislation, I advocate not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good and actually funding transportation infrastructure, however the administration is structured.

[dasgeh]

Came across this:
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/22921/events-roundup-what-do-you-want-to-tell-the-park-service/

Town hall with NPS: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is convening a town hall meeting with leaders of the National Park Service in our region to talk about how they are managing many of DC’s parks, large and small.

David Alpert will participate on the panel, along with NPS National Capital Region Director Steve Whitesell, Richard Bradley from the Downtown BID, and Greg Odell of Events DC. The discussion is Wednesday, May 21, 6:30-8:30 in Room 412 of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

There’s a call for comments on their site.

[bobco85]

@chris_s 85884 wrote:

Mt. Vernon Trail problems as identified in the National Park Service 1990 DC Trails Plan.

*sarcasm* I’d like to personally thank NPS for making so much progress on them over the last quarter century. */sarcasm*

You can see some of the issues if you look at the historical aerial photography of Arlington: http://gis.arlingtonva.us/gallery/

They have photos of the area from 1989 that show a somewhat different-looking MVT. It’s weird seeing the MVT without the Crystal City connector, but be warned if you look at the 1983 photos…

…there’s no MVT (gasp!), but you can see them building the tunnel for I-66 under Lynn in Rosslyn. Also, check out the 1934 images if you can, really cool stuff.

[PotomacCyclist]

@dasgeh 85962 wrote:

From what I understand, NPS has tried to give back at least some of the roads, and they don’t get takers. I agree that transportation should be under one (not 3+: DC, MD, VA) jurisdiction that can look at the entire network and allocate resources efficiently and effectively.

But given what’s on the table for this round of legislation, I advocate not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good and actually funding transportation infrastructure, however the administration is structured.

There’s also the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments-National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, the Commonwealth Transportation Board, Virginia Dept. of Rail and Public Transportation, WMATA, VDOT, MDOT, DDOT and maybe more. (The rail agencies are important for bike facilities on their property, including CaBi stations at Metro stations.)

[Kolohe]

Just curious, and trying to remember, when did they build the overpass that connects TR island and Rosslyn? ’87? ’88?

[eminva]

@dasgeh 85962 wrote:

I advocate not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good

Of course, I agree completely. And I very much appreciate the efforts of all you who are working hard with great patience to cut through the bureaucracies and make progress. It just seems like such a battle sometimes.

@dasgeh 85962 wrote:

From what I understand, NPS has tried to give back at least some of the roads, and they don’t get takers.

This I never knew! What a hoot. GW Parkway — the orphan nobody wants but everybody needs.

Thanks again.

Liz

[KLizotte]

It is interesting to note that I cost Blue Cross Blue Shield over $8K a couple of years ago due to a broken bone in my hand incurred when I slipped while biking on the southernmost boardwalk of the MVT (it was covered in mildew and very slick). I also paid over $2K out of pocket for doc appointments and surgical co-pays, required sick time, and couldn’t type very well for a few weeks so was less productive at work. And this was a rather minor injury.

Multiply this representative $10K by other similar injuries that have occurred on the trails and you get an idea of the societal cost of not fixing the safety problems.

Sigh. Perhaps the major insurance carriers should cough up some money and apply pressure on Congress to release more funds?

[rcannon100]

@eminva 85954 wrote:

Okay, I’m sure I’ve made this point before here, but WHY is major, interstate-like highway still under the jurisdiction of NPS?

Liz

I think parkways were originally intended to be just that – PARK ways. Back in the era when we thought cars were nifty, we thought driving to and through parks would be grand. But they were in fact intended as parks.

Problem is, in places like DC suburbs, where “drive till you can afford” and dumb-growth was allowed to flourish, the parkways became something they were not intended to be – transportation arteries. The plan for DC was to build a state of the art subways system, and the masses of federal workers and other would go from the outlying areas into the city in the morning – and back out at the evening. No anticipation of people who live in bethesda and work in ashburn. No anticipation of people who live in the city and work in the burbs. And growth overwhelmed planning.

Those jurisdictions that were allowed to grow and grow and grow – did, with endless developments and walkless communities. You have to drive to the local store – and the local store is a franchise. Those jurisdictions that spent decades in smart growth planning have flourished, but have to keep back the flood waters of dumb growth commuters and their cars.

Ever notice the license plates on the GW? Where are they from? A huge portion are from Maryland. They cross the CJ, go down the GW, and then cross the Potomac again to enter Washington. How does that even make sense??

[PotomacCyclist]

@KLizotte 86014 wrote:

It is interesting to note that I cost Blue Cross Blue Shield over $8K a couple of years ago due to a broken bone in my hand incurred when I slipped while biking on the southernmost boardwalk of the MVT (it was covered in mildew and very slick). I also paid over $2K out of pocket for doc appointments and surgical co-pays, required sick time, and couldn’t type very well for a few weeks so was less productive at work. And this was a rather minor injury.

Multiply this representative $10K by other similar injuries that have occurred on the trails and you get an idea of the societal cost of not fixing the safety problems.

Sigh. Perhaps the major insurance carriers should cough up some money and apply pressure on Congress to release more funds?

It’s not just safety issues. Over-reliance on car driving (including all of those short trips that so many able-bodied adults use cars for) contributes to the sedentary lifestyles that so many modern people have. And sedentary living tends go hand-in-hand with poor nutrition. I know correlation is not cause, but they are often connected. Personally, I found that sub-par nutrition made it much more difficult to do endurance sports training. (Sugar is inflammatory and contributes to that feeling of muscle burning during longer workouts. Eat cleaner and that burning sensation doesn’t happen as much.)

And then that sedentary living plus poor nutrition leads to the well-known problems of high rates of Type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, early-onset heart disease, high blood pressure and on and on and on. It’s estimated that all these avoidable problems cost the U.S. nearly $200 billion a year. (Some estimates are higher.)

On the other hand, are all the insurance carriers motivated to reduce these expenditures? What if this is profitable, which appears to be the case? If so, then the system is broken. But that’s a complicated topic for a different forum.

Car-caused injuries result in massive hospital bills, for the tens or hundreds of thousands of minor and severe injuries. (There are all of those traffic deaths too.) But is the health insurance industry focused on this? It might be a bit too far from their area of interest and expertise. Thus, they might not be motivated to lobby Congress on transportation issues. Maybe I’m wrong about this. If so, that would be good. I do see that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is the title sponsor of the bikeshare system in Minneapolis. Even if the insurance companies aren’t lobbying Congress, financial support of specific projects and programs is welcome too.

[chris_s]

@Kolohe 86002 wrote:

Just curious, and trying to remember, when did they build the overpass that connects TR island and Rosslyn? ’87? ’88?

“In early 1988, the county completed a $1.3 million pedestrian and bicycle bridge that crosses the George Washington Memorial Parkway to connect Rosslyn with the Potomac shoreline and Mount Vernon Trail.” – 1990 NPS DC Trails Plan

[rcannon100]

As if to prove Chris’ point, there was a BIG crash this morning at the MVT crossing of the GW at memorial bridge. Looked like the classic – the prius decided to stop at the cross walk and the Mercedes behind her decided he was not going to. I did not see any injured pedestrians or cyclists, but the damage to the cars was healthy. Traffic was backed up all the way across the 14th St bridge into DC cause of the accident.

[dbb]

@rcannon100 86036 wrote:

As if to prove Chris’ point, there was a BIG crash this morning at the MVT crossing of the GW at memorial bridge. Looked like the classic – the prius decided to stop at the cross walk and the Mercedes behind her decided he was not going to. I did not see any injured pedestrians or cyclists, but the damage to the cars was healthy. Traffic was backed up all the way across the 14th St bridge into DC cause of the accident.

Maryland tags?

This is where Dirt should have showed up with his “Consider Biking” WABA trailer. Might as well put salt in the wound.

[Terpfan]

@rcannon100 86036 wrote:

As if to prove Chris’ point, there was a BIG crash this morning at the MVT crossing of the GW at memorial bridge. Looked like the classic – the prius decided to stop at the cross walk and the Mercedes behind her decided he was not going to. I did not see any injured pedestrians or cyclists, but the damage to the cars was healthy. Traffic was backed up all the way across the 14th St bridge into DC cause of the accident.

Yep, snapped this as I rode by:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5675[/ATTACH]

One day I will figure out how to rotate the photos properly.

Since it’s blurrier than I thought, the Prius is facing you (wrong direction) and Mercedes is sort of behind it an across the street. The collision looks one stopped for someone at the crosswalk and the other just plowed into them at a fast enough clip to spin them around. And I think this is the alleged hawk one that blinks too. So when can we get a tunnel/bridge/stop light (yes, I know, NPS says no to all of the above)?

[consularrider]

@rcannon100 86036 wrote:

As if to prove Chris’ point, there was a BIG crash this morning at the MVT crossing of the GW at memorial bridge. Looked like the classic – the prius decided to stop at the cross walk and the Mercedes behind her decided he was not going to. I did not see any injured pedestrians or cyclists, but the damage to the cars was healthy. Traffic was backed up all the way across the 14th St bridge into DC cause of the accident.

And here I thought the small car was a Ford. If it was a Prius, that might explain the heavier damage to the Mercedes, those batteries in the rear end of a Prius are heavy and don’t collapse.

[mstone]

You’ll take your blinky beg button and you’ll like it. Now sheddep.

Oh, and reminder: a HAWK (PHB) has a stop cycle, a yellow blinky light with no legal requirement for the driver to stop is a “RRFB”.

[Author]

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