Nauck neighborhood – okay to commute through Army Navy country club every day?
- This topic has 34 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 10 months ago by
.
-
^^ I’d really like to keep my bike commute under 45 minutes one way; right now it is 30 minutes and that works really well for me (I can easily add more time if I want by taking the long way home). 60 minutes is really pushing it. I’m not a morning person so like my commute to be as short as possible; taking longer to get home is far less of an issue.
Shirlington is expensive! Even those somewhat ugly condos on the other side of the stream are starting at 400K. DC is somewhat obscene when it comes to housing costs in nice areas.
Oh yeah, I have to plan for bike storage inside whatever I buy. I don’t want to have to use a bike room cause of theft/damage issues. Right now my bike keeps me company in the bedroom and I’m good with that.
P.S. The real estate agent was shocked that I could bike from Pentagon City to DC downtown. She thought it was a really long way to go by bike. The whole bike storage issue clearly befuddled her but she is going along with it.
I ride this part of the Pike often (whenever headed to 14th St or Memorial Bridge). I find it is not great but it is manageable. Admittedly my rides along this route are very rarely at rush hour.
Eastbound, I use the same strategy as Judd. If traffic is heavy, either hang out at S Courthouse or start to roll slowly down the hill on the south sidewalk, all while monitoring the light cycle behind. When the light changes, I move into the roadway and sprint down the hill in the right lane. I almost always reach the light at the bottom of the hill before the next herd of cars catches up. I move into the left lane if necessary (depending on traffic and the lane arrows). After S Queen, I climb the short hill in the center of the right lane, while most of the traffic heads up the ramp to 395/eastbound 27. I usually stay on the Pike all the way down to the Pentagon, but will take Orme to Southgate sometimes if traffic is heavy.
Westbound from Pentagon, I come off the 27 trail and take the lane past the bad sidewalk and under the freeway. I usually get on the sidewalk at the first curb cut thereafter and take Southgate up the hill alongside the cemetery to Orme. I take the lane westbound on Columbia Pike from Orme until past all the intersections bringing in traffic from Washington Blvd; I can go that far without picking up tailgaters because there isn’t much traffic coming from further east on the Pike and the traffic signal stops it anyway. Turning drivers do tend to ignore people on the wide sidewalk, but they will yield to me in the lane. From there I ride up the north sidewalk to Rolfe while the Pike thru traffic has a green. Once the Queen light stops them, I take a lane from Rolfe, past the part with the narrow sidewalk, typically going back to the sidewalk somewhere around Columbia Crossing Apartments. Or I’ll just stay in the lane if traffic doesn’t seem too heavy or aggressive. Once you reach Courthouse you have options. If headed to Barton south of the Pike I would probably stay on the Pike, take the lane (downhill now!) to a right on S Adams. Then left through the parking garage entrance to Barton and cross the Pike at the light.
I’ve never tried to go through ANCC, as it’s rather out of my way from north of the Pike.
I wish there were a better solution to the Columbia Pike problem. But hey it could be worse:
@KLizotte 161608 wrote:
Wish they were putting in a streetcar!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.