New "speed control" bariers at Roosevelt Island

[DismalScientist]

I personally did not appreciate the chicane practice before my morning coffee.

[DaveK]

As long as I can still jump the curb coming off the ramp from Rosslyn then we have no problem. It’s good to slow down before the bridge of death anyway.

[consularrider]

I was trying to figure out if they are trying to redirect cyclists to stay on the actual trail rather than running through the parking lot. Still won’t stop the issue with runners and walkers in the middle of the lot. We’re just about to hit the heavy use season for this area so some traffic calming/flow management is welcome.

[Dirt]

That area has always been kinda bad. People coming in from weird angles and the flow of pedestrian/cyclist/runner/tourist traffic doesn’t lend itself to really looking out for others. Hopefully slowing people down and having people (all users, not just cyclists) think more about the lanes and how they move will help.

[OneEighth]

This is not going to work when the volume picks up (think warm weekends).

[Dirt]

It gets worse. This is no longer an intermittent barrier. It is now a solid one that you cannot traverse. The new traffic lane for the Mount Vernon Trail no longer includes using the south end of the parking lot.

[Dirt]

You can still hop that curb. You’re just gonna need a LOT more momentum. That wall goes all the way over to the bridge railing.

Edit: Oops. I forgot to say. I love and respect all mankind.

[OneEighth]

I believe that Ms. Dottie P. Marshall is the National Park Service Park Superintendant for the MVT. Her email address is GWMP_Superintendent@nps.gov
If you ride this route and think that it is going to result in accidents, please consider sending her some constructive comments.

[Dirt]

We could just let the body count do the talking.

Totally joking, folks. I had to say something negative so that I can channel all of my constructive comments into my e-mail to the Park Service. As a cyclist, I’m only capable of communicating constructively for brief periods before I have to go ballistic on someone. Sorry that it had to be y’all.

Hugs and kisses,

Pete

[eminva]

I don’t cross this bridge often, but when I have, I notice that east bound there is a lot of “jockeying for position” among bicyclists in the Roosevelt Island parking lot. No one wants to get stuck behind a slower moving cyclist when crossing the long but narrow bridge to DC. I assume that is even more of an issue when the weather is nice and lots of recreational cyclists are out. Wonder how that will work, forcing all that onto the path.

Liz

[OneEighth]

I can see the sense in moving traffic away from the pedestrian bridge—having the path cross the parking lot isn’t ideal, but it does make sense if your goal is to minimize construction costs and save parking spots rather than to make the path user-friendly and safer.
From a path users perspective, what doesn’t make sense is the transition across the parking lot. 90 degree turns aren’t realistic or safe in this instance. The problem is that the path is competing with parking—they could make a better, safer turn but that would loose a parking spot.
On balance, the better design would involve shifting the entire parking area closer to the Parkway and continuing the path long the river. An added expense, obviously.
I hear you, Pete…

[Dirt]

A few things to thing about: During nice weather, this is an EXTREMELY busy part of the trail. That particular 90 degree turn is very narrow. I doubt a novice cyclist could navigate it and say on their side of the trail. I know for fact that a recumbent could not make that turn. It also pops trail users out into traffic in the parking lot from behind a tree. South-bound trail users are sent into the parking lot with car traffic coming from behind them.

It requires a level of care and attention that drivers, runners, walkers and cyclists in this area are not known to display.

Perhaps it will be a learning experience.

[consularrider]

Today you can see several tire ruts through the mud between the two bike racks at the south end of the parking lot. I’m not sure this is a better option than the two 90° turns across the parking lot at its midpoint. This morning we had a fair amount of bicycle traffic at around 7:45 and it started getting tricky. There was also a Park Police officer in his vehicle in the lot, don’t know whether he was watching the trail, or there for something else.

[Dirt]

The barriers had been opened up for this morning’s commute. Not sure if our outcry was heard or someone took things into their own hands. There were gaps that you could ride through though.

[brendan]

@OneEighth 2765 wrote:

From a path users perspective, what doesn’t make sense is the transition across the parking lot. 90 degree turns aren’t realistic or safe in this instance.

Hear, hear. I haven’t come up with a solution, so perhaps not too helpful, but what’s there now, with or without the barriers, is pretty bad.

Brendan

[Author]

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