No snow plowing on Custis, etc this year

[crysb]

Someone must have invented a bicycle snow plow attachment by now…?

[rcannon100]

What matters is that ArlCo has this long established campaign to attempt to persuade people to NOT commute to work by cars….. but then it only supports people who commute to work by cars.

Windy Run Blog Post

• There are no plans to clear snow from the trails, in the same way other transportation arteries are cleared.
• Arlington police park their cruisers on the Custis Trail in Rosslyn, blocking the trail.
• Arlington Parks and Rec trucks regularly drive on the W&OD during rush hour, creating dangerous situations.
• Arlington Parks and Rec shut down the Custis Trail during rush hour so that they could prune trees – something VDOT would never do to Route 66.
• After decades of complaints from cyclists, the Custis Trail / Lynn St intersection remains as dangerous as ever with almost no action taken.

This is a bit of a put-up or shut-up moment. Either cycling actually is “transportation,” or is that just some cute words Arlco puts on paper so that Arlco has dazzling looking transportation strategic plans. Having successfully persuaded 1000s of cyclists to rely on the trails as transportation arteries; Arlington now needs to behave like they are transportation arteries.

[baiskeli]

Since I have a set of cross-country skis I almost never get to use, I’m okay with it. Sorry.

But there’s always this:

http://www.blessthisstuff.com/stuff/sports/radical-sports/ktrack-snow-bike-kit/

[GuyContinental]

Heck, I’d be happy if they didn’t pile snow on the trails… seems like a low bar: “should we put the 10′ mound of snow on the bike corridor or off of it…”

Also, they should be shamed by FFX county with it’s leaf-blasting, snow melting jet-engine trailer thing

[Tim Kelley]

@crysb 38139 wrote:

Someone must have invented a bicycle snow plow attachment by now…?

Here ya go!

[mstone]

@crysb 38139 wrote:

Someone must have invented a bicycle snow plow attachment by now…?

What they haven’t invented is the mutant kangaroo-like legs needed to push the snow.

[DSalovesh]

I start with low expectations when it comes to clearing the trails. It was overdue a decade ago, but the combination of winters that have either been too mild for much snow or so snowy that nothing was moving it has left it a lower priority for everyone.

If we have a winter like 2000, 2001, where we get a few 2″-6″ storms and it stays fairly cold for a few weeks around them, the trails become 1″-3″ of rutted, hard, refrozen tundra that can only be cleared by chipping – cold sunny days make it wet and dangerously slippery, especially after additional small snowfalls and flurries, and then it refreezes every evening. (A lot of us bought or made studded tires those winters and after, and have had little or no use for them since.)

This would be bad enough for everyday commuters who choose to bike, but now that we have a broad, cross-jurisdictional bikesharing system as part of the overall public transit program the failure to plan for year-round most-conditions operation starts to border on incompetence.

(In addition, after folks raised this issue during the Arlington DES online chat yesterday about snow removal, the moderators started omitting any other questions about bicycle accommodations. I asked about clearing on-road bike areas, and followed up on twitter about bikeshare. So not only is it a missing part of the snow plan, it’s also not an approved topic of discussion.)

[Tim Kelley]

Some great blog posts have been written and lots of wonderful opinions have been expressed.

Has anyone directed these to their elected officials? We encourage you to make your voice heard.

[rcannon100]

To me personally (as I said in my blog post) this has less to do with snow removal, and more to do with the failure of Arlco to drink its own kool aid. They keep saying cycling is transportation – but then they keep acting as if it is not. Snow removal is just an example of how this attitude is manifest. Lots can be said about the feasibility and cost/benefit analysis of snow removal. But Arlco’s failure to view cycling as transportation is manifest in many ways that can be changed with ease. Arlco police cars can stop parking on the Custis Trail in Rosslyn (that would be really nice). Arlco parks and rec trucks can stop driving on the WOD during rush hour. Arlco can not shut down the trails during rush hours to do simple maintenance (tree pruning). Arlco can do something – anything – about Custis Trail and Lynn St (this has gone on for decades now).

There is a bigger issue here above snow removal – snow removal is just the current manifestation of “We tell you to stop driving your car to work…. but we only support those people who drive their cars to work.”

[GuyContinental]

DES Responded on ArlNow:

(lots of the usual cyclist hate in the comments too)

Arlington County Department of Environmental Services
December 14, 2012 at 2:02 pm

Snow removal on bike trails is an important issue for Arlington County. County staff have been strategizing for the last year to find a viable solution to improve bike commuting in winter weather. It is an issue that has included Department of Environmental Services planners and operations staff, and Department of Parks and Recreation. There are several significant safety and environmental concerns for bikers and our trails that have been raised.

– Trails don’t have gutters or drainage, so snow pushed to one side will continue to melt, run on or along the trails and refreeze. A thin layer of ice can be difficult for cars to maneuver on streets and is also an important safety concern for bikes on trails where it could potentially be a greater hazard.
– Salt can aid with refreezing and treatment for light precipitation events, but it’s toxic to most vegetation and landscaping along bike trails, most of which run through County parkland.

The County is still in the process of identifying resources to make trail plowing possible. This includes procuring properly sized equipment that would be capable of plowing narrow trails and bridges that could not withstand the weight of a heavy pickup truck equipped as they are used on streets for plowing and treating, as well as identifying and training additional staff. We are dedicated to finding the best solution, including coordinating with area agencies who are also responsible for maintaining trails that run through Arlington County.

[Rootchopper]

Maybe one step would be for the League of American Bicyclists to remove its Bicycle Friendly Community for those cities that refuse to plow trails, biek lanes, cycletracks in a timely manner.

[rcannon100]

Let’s start at the top:
First, Arlco, declare a policy that bike arteries are transportation arteries.

Second, hit low hanging fruit:
* Bike trails are not parking lots for police cruisers
* Bike trails are not truck roads and will not be used by county vehicles (certainly not during rush hour)
* Bike trails will not be shut down during rush hour for normal maintenance (pruning trees)
* When bike trails are shut down, real and safe detours with proper notice will be provided

And then we can talk about snow removal. Snow removal may be harder. So how about the easier items first??

And do something…. anything… absolutely anything… about Custis Trail and Lynn St. I have lived in ArlCo for ~25 years and this quagmire conversation has been going on for as long as I remember.

[mstone]

Agreed; snow plowing is a dubious fight, and there are other annoyances which are both more frequent and easier to fix.

[pfunkallstar]

You haven’t really ridden the Corkscrew of Death until you’ve ridden it on 700×23 tires over icy, frozen-leaf ridden ruts. My ass has a scar that looks like Sicily from doing exactly that, I would show it as a badge of honor, but it is kind of a Catch-22.

[jabberwocky]

You know, from my many years of commuting year-round on the W&OD, I don’t even care if they plow to the same degree that they do roads (i.e. the full, blade-on-the-ground, salt and sand treatment). Just running the damn plow down the trail with the blade an inch above the ground would make a huuuuuuuge difference in the utility of trails for commuting. The issue with the W&OD was that, with any significant snow event, you’re dealing with deep, rutted ice for weeks if the temps don’t warm up. Shallow snow and ice can be dealt with using the right equipment (studded tires), but the rutted icy mess the W&OD would become after any snow at all was almost impassible.

I know that full-on plowing can be hard on the pavement, and the departments that manage the trails don’t have the budget for repaving them, and salt hurts wildlife, etc. But that doesn’t mean they can’t do something.

Living in Reston, it was utterly bizarre how all the little Reston paths would be totally cleared within 24 hours of any snow event, but then you hit the W&OD (which gets 100 times the traffic of most of the Reston trails) and it was an utter mess.

[Author]

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