new trail along Arlington Blvd

[Kolohe]

Probably just keep on going on Fairfax Drive (which is more or less the Rt 50 frontage road past Rolfe), make a right onto Meade at Dark Star park, go across the bridge, then you’re at the top of the Iwo Jima/Netherlands Carrilion area.

https://goo.gl/maps/IjCHm

edit: Though is the portion of Fairfax drive between Rolfe and 14th open yet? It was kinda sorta open a couple of weeks ago when I rode through there, but a bit a of rough path (and without a curb cut yet to get from the path/wide sidewalk end to the road)

edit2 : oops, now I see you’re talking about the path on the south side of 50, not the north side. Haven’t done that yet.

[consularrider]

From the end of the trail you stay on the access road (also labeled as Arlington Blvd) to Meade where you turn right to Marshall where you turn left getting on the 110 trail at the Iwo Jima Memorial entry (next to the Ord-Weitzel Gate of ANC). You could also turn right onto Queen St, climb the hill to 12th St and coast down either Oak or Nash to 14th before turning right on Meade or crossing Meade and riding the sidewalk trail past Iwo Jima and the Netherlands Carillon.

[bobco85]

@acorn 93467 wrote:

I rode on the new trail along Arlington Blvd from Pershing Drive to Rolfe St this morning. What is the best way to get from the end of the trail to the trails that connect to Memorial Bridge (through Iwo Jima Memorial area, etc). I exited the trail where it ends on Rolfe St and sort of rode around until I found a way, but I am sure there must be an optimal route.

Once you get to the end of the trail at Rolfe/Arlington Blvd service road, continue straight onto the Arlington Blvd service road, turn right onto Meade, then turn left at the crosswalk to get to the Iwo Jima Memorial and places beyond.

Here’s the Google Maps route between the new trail and Memorial Bridge: http://goo.gl/maps/ZEu1T

[baiskeli]

On the other end, they’ve added new trail to get past the 10th St. intersection, so it is now possible to go west, with a few diversions onto feeder roads and through parking lots, along 50 at least as far as Carlin Springs Road.

[chris_s]

@baiskeli 93493 wrote:

On the other end, they’ve added new trail to get past the 10th St. intersection, so it is now possible to go west, with a few diversions onto feeder roads and through parking lots, along 50 at least as far as Carlin Springs Road.

If you’re persistent about it, you can get to Target. The whole section around Glebe & George Mason really sucks though.

[bobco85]

@baiskeli 93493 wrote:

On the other end, they’ve added new trail to get past the 10th St. intersection, so it is now possible to go west, with a few diversions onto feeder roads and through parking lots, along 50 at least as far as Carlin Springs Road.

I’d say you can get as far as Seven Corners before major detours must be made (or riding on the shoulder of US-50 to go farther west, which I have done and DO NOT recommend). This includes riding on either the north or south sides of US-50. I once did a bike ride with a friend trying to exclusively use US-50 heading west using the main road only when there were no sidewalks/service roads where we went almost to Route 28 before turning off! The only scary parts were heading through Seven Corners, the I-495 interchange, and the Fairfax County Parkway interchange.

Depending on which direction you’re traveling, there are a few one way roads that complicate things, but you can still get around them using the sidewalks. In general because of a few one way streets, it’s easier heading west if you’re on the north side of US-50, and it’s easier heading east if you’re on the south side of US-50. Plus, you can always use the intersections to hop to the other side of US-50 as you wish.

Staying exclusively on the north side between Seven Corners and US-50/Washington Blvd: https://goo.gl/maps/ZjimJ

Staying exclusively on the south side between Seven Corners and US-50/Washington Blvd: https://goo.gl/maps/O2p4e

(Note: at US-50/Washington Blvd, you’ll have to go on the north side trail of US-50 to continue east)

@chris_s 93510 wrote:

If you’re persistent about it, you can get to Target. The whole section around Glebe & George Mason really sucks though.

I haven’t found it that bad, although it’s not very straightforward. Both intersections have pedestrian crosswalk lights and ample amounts of sidewalks to use if you’re heading against the one way roads. On the north side of Glebe, you’ll have to head onto Cathedral Lane (next to the McDonald’s) which becomes the US-50 service road.

[chris_s]

@bobco85 93512 wrote:

I haven’t found it that bad, although it’s not very straightforward. Both intersections have pedestrian crosswalk lights and ample amounts of sidewalks to use if you’re heading against the one way roads. On the north side of Glebe, you’ll have to head onto Cathedral Lane (next to the McDonald’s) which becomes the US-50 service road.

My complaints are 1) the dog leg up Glebe to Cathedral – I can’t get my kid’s Weehoo through the channelized sidewalks crossing Glebe and the sidewalk on Glebe is rather narrow and 2) the high speed traffic merging off of 50 onto the Service Road as you approach George Mason is scary as hell. You can bail to the sidewalk but it is quite narrow and the people backing out of those driveways are paying more attention to the road than they are the sidewalk.

[bobco85]

@chris_s 93513 wrote:

My complaints are 1) the dog leg up Glebe to Cathedral – I can’t get my kid’s Weehoo through the channelized sidewalks crossing Glebe and the sidewalk on Glebe is rather narrow and 2) the high speed traffic merging off of 50 onto the Service Road as you approach George Mason is scary as hell. You can bail to the sidewalk but it is quite narrow and the people backing out of those driveways are paying more attention to the road than they are the sidewalk.

Ah, now I understand your problem. I agree, having anything either longer or wider than a standard bike will give you trouble with the sections you described. I didn’t consider people using bikes with trailers/attachments when I made my recommendations.

For your situation, I would try to be on the south side of US-50 before approaching the Glebe intersection because there are no sharp turns that need to be made on the south side there.

[chris_s]

@bobco85 93522 wrote:

Ah, now I understand your problem. I agree, having anything either longer or wider than a standard bike will give you trouble with the sections you described. I didn’t consider people using bikes with trailers/attachments when I made my recommendations.

For your situation, I would try to be on the south side of US-50 before approaching the Glebe intersection because there are no sharp turns that need to be made on the south side there.

That’s what I do, it just requires being on that bumpy brick sidewalk due to being contraflow.

[baiskeli]

@chris_s 93510 wrote:

If you’re persistent about it, you can get to Target.

Yes, if Target were my target.

[DismalScientist]

Well, I took the trail and am deeply disappointed. It offers little challenge to get up from the river. I think we all can agree that too much money is spent coddling the non – practitioners of Rule #5 and the money could be better spent on useful things, like increasing the elevation around Courthouse to make the Rosslyn hill more challenging.

[Dirt]

I agree with Dismal. This trail is for wimps! (Rule 5 is the one about “don’t ride with an angry badger in your shorts”, right?)

On that note, I did actually take time to write a quick blog entry about the bike lane.

http://lovemycommute.blogspot.com/2014/09/new-arlington-blvd-bike-path.html

Love,

Dirt

[skipmcne]

After seeing the cover of bicycling on BSNYC’s last post I was highly amused by the Banner in Dirt’s above post.

Chapeaux!

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I think that’s me catching up with you in the background. My Strava tells me the Trailer also won a Top 10 trophy for your effort. Kudos. That’s a nice climb though, isn’t it? Reminds me of the Twin Sisters under Washington-Lee if they were merged into one climb instead of two.

[americancyclo]

I’ve taken to riding the ABT pretty often on my commutes now and it occurred to me yesterday that the trail could be greatly improved with a few changes.

Sidewalk stripes should match the ramps at each intersection. At the moment, the curb cuts are at various angles and can sometimes be hard to see at night or other low-visibility conditions. The two intersections that I see the most that could use this are

1) the 90degree intersection with Fairfax Drive

2) The Courthouse intersection

I’d also like to see some sharrows or bike lanes along 10th st that connect Wilson Blvd to the ABT. Google has it signed as a bike route, but it would be nice to have some infra there that connects the trail to a commercial district besides Pershing.

[Author]

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