"My ride would be better if"

[GuyContinental]

Associated with the Cascades Group Health Challenge is a Portland program called “My ride would be better if…” where commuters do little 30 second video and photo documentaries of trail inconsistencies and poor traffic integration:

http://pinterest.com/bikehappy/my-ride-would-be-better-if/

It’s a cool idea and adds a visual, contextual element to cycling advocacy. Is there something akin to that here?

I’m pretty lucky, 95% of my ride is on the WO&D and really great but the transition from WO&D to Fairfax and Fairfax to Clarendon Blvd are both pretty bad (and I won’t even bother with my Lonudon County hell mile- I’ll be cold and gone before they put in bike lanes) . Others have to deal with Lynn, the Roosevelt Island death curve, GW parkway crossing, salmoning up Ohio any of which would make some compelling video…

Topic

[Dirt]

@rcannon100 20461 wrote:

Try taking the long way home. For you, that’s through MoCo, and across Point of Rocks, Right?

I rode from DC to Falls Church via Woodbridge last fall.

@rcannon100 20462 wrote:

“My ride would be better if…” I was 20 years younger!

If you were 20 years younger, you wouldn’t appreciate it so much and you’d be back complaining about it 20 years later.

[Dirt]

@consularrider 20454 wrote:

I would like the Memorial Bridge underpass wide enough to accommodate two way traffic.

Wait till I tick that off my Danger Panda to-do list first, please.

[pfunkallstar]

I’m about ready to commando-style lay some concrete in the Land of a Thousand Potholes along Memorial Bridge. Also, Jet Packs.

[americancyclo]

My ride got better this morning when I rolled over a newly installed patch of asphalt on the Lee highway bridge over I-66 before the hill in rosslyn. nice and smooth, put a big smile on my face!

[chris_s]

@GuyContinental 20421 wrote:

I’m pretty lucky, 95% of my ride is on the WO&D and really great but the transition from WO&D to Fairfax and Fairfax to Clarendon Blvd are both pretty bad…

Expect some progress on the Fairfax Dr >> W&OD/Custis transition over the next 12 months. The westbound Fairfax Dr bike lane will no longer inopportunely disappear on you – it will continue across Glebe to Wakefield St. Also no more slip lane for the cars turning from Westbound Fairfax Dr to Northbound Glebe so they’ll have to slow down quite a bit more than they do now. These changes brought to you by the Glebe Road Safety Improvements Project. The trail portion west of Wakefield may eventually get some love but sadly the funding for it in the proposed CIP is for FY2021…

There are some improvements to the Fairfax Dr >> Clarendon Blvd transition in the works, but you’re looking at probably 2015 for implementation and in my opinion, the toughest part is making the left to stay on Fairfax Dr and I haven’t heard of anything so far to address that.

[JacquesOfAllTrades]

I agree with consularrider on the Memorial Bridge underpass.

I would also appreciate if they changed the walk light timing at the intersection of Pennsylvania and 20th (and Penn and 18th). In both cases, pedestrians get a don’t walk light 10-15 seconds before cars going in the same direction get a red light. As a result, almost all pedestrians ignore the lights entirely, leading to a colossal cluster at all times.

[eminva]

@chris_s 20477 wrote:

The westbound Fairfax Dr bike lane will no longer inopportunely disappear on you – it will continue across Glebe to Wakefield St and the Marymount Parking Lot curb cut will go away. Also no more slip lane for the cars turning from Westbound Fairfax Dr to Northbound Glebe so they’ll have to slow down quite a bit more than they do now.

Like! Like! Like!

@chris_s 20477 wrote:

The trail portion west of Wakefield may eventually get some love but sadly the funding for it in the proposed CIP is for FY2021…
.

Wow, I’m not sure those paving bricks or whatever they are called are going to hold up for another nine years. They are pretty choppy already. I saw a man in a motorized scooter trying to negotiate that mess and I can’t imagine how it meets ADA as it is now.

Liz

[GuyContinental]

@chris_s 20477 wrote:

There are some improvements to the Fairfax Dr >> Clarendon Blvd transition in the works, but you’re looking at probably 2015 for implementation and in my opinion, the toughest part is making the left to stay on Fairfax Dr and I haven’t heard of anything so far to address that.

Awesome! Thanks for the detailed links!

I just started using Fairfax as an occasional (like say in a massive thunderstorm) alternate to WO&D to Lee as a slightly faster and hill-less way home and every time I make that left I think “this can’t possibly be right…”

[chris_s]

@eminva 20479 wrote:

Wow, I’m not sure those paving bricks or whatever they are called are going to hold up for another nine years. They are pretty choppy already. I saw a man in a motorized scooter trying to negotiate that mess and I can’t imagine how it meets ADA as it is now.

I did forget to mention that the curb cut there at least, will be upgraded to meet current ADA standards. Nothing beyond that on the plans though. The FY2021 stuff is the trail section of the Ballston Beaver Pond project – nothing to say we won’t get something in the meantime – it’s just not in any project big enough to be in the CIP.

Also for those who like to rock the Bluemont Junction Trail it looks like the south-side sidewalk on Fairfax Dr may be getting a bit wider as part of this project also. Hard to tell for sure though so no guarantees.

[mrkenny83]

My ride would be better if….. I didn’t have to cross the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge going Eastbound. I always have visions of me getting pushed into oncoming traffic by a westbound cyclist.

…. I doubt my helmet would help in that situation.

[Dirt]

@mrkenny83 20524 wrote:

My ride would be better if….. I didn’t have to cross the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge going Eastbound. I always have visions of me getting pushed into oncoming traffic by a westbound cyclist.

…. I doubt my helmet would help in that situation.

When I meet up with people that give me the heebie jeebies, I just stop, put a foot down and let them pass. Takes 10 seconds and I feel better. I do that in both directions.

[TwoWheelsDC]

My ride would be better if Arlington/Fairfax County did something about this:

[Tim Kelley]

@TwoWheelsDC 20534 wrote:

My ride would be better if Arlington/Fairfax County did something about this

Where is that, exactly?

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Tim Kelley 20535 wrote:

Where is that, exactly?

Rt. 123, heading up the hill from Chain Bridge/Glebe. The county line is about halfway up, but it’s uniformly terrible the whole way up/down.

[consularrider]

@TwoWheelsDC 20537 wrote:

Rt. 123, heading up the hill from Chain Bridge/Glebe. The county line is about halfway up, but it’s uniformly terrible the whole way up/down.

VDOT jurisdiction?

[Author]

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