Non DOD Fed ID enough to ride across Fort Belvoir?

[chuxtr]

The only public entrance, i.e., where you can get in without a CAC or retired military ID, is the Tulley Gate. Once in, you can exit through any gate.

https://www.belvoir.army.mil/directions.asp

Tulley Gate is the main entrance to the post for visitors. All visitors without a Department of Defense ID card must use Tulley Gate which is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

[scoot]

https://www.belvoir.army.mil/allaccess.asp

Note also that most of the other gates are closed on weekends, which means you won’t be able to exit through them either. (On the plus side, Beulah Road going past the golf course is quite a blast when there is no thru traffic.)

[lordofthemark]

@chuxtr 188772 wrote:

The only public entrance, i.e., where you can get in without a CAC or retired military ID, is the Tulley Gate. Once in, you can exit through any gate.

https://www.belvoir.army.mil/directions.asp

Tulley Gate is the main entrance to the post for visitors. All visitors without a Department of Defense ID card must use Tulley Gate which is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

So I should do the reverse? Come south through Kingstowne, via FFX County Parkway (or branching off to Backlick?) then the sidepath on Rte 1 to the Tully Gate, and back north via the MVT?

[lordofthemark]

@scoot 188775 wrote:

https://www.belvoir.army.mil/allaccess.asp

Note also that most of the other gates are closed on weekends, which means you won’t be able to exit through them either. (On the plus side, Beulah Road going past the golf course is quite a blast when there is no thru traffic.)

So basically Mt Vernon is a cul de sac on weekends, unless I am willing to ride through the Fort on Richmond Highway?

[scoot]

Sort of. The new road Jeff Todd Way is also open to the public. It has a sidepath and zero intersections between Pole and Telegraph. I have never ridden on it though, so I can’t vouch for its condition.

[chuxtr]

@scoot 188779 wrote:

Sort of. The new road Jeff Todd Way is also open to the public. It has a sidepath and zero intersections between Pole and Telegraph. I have never ridden on it though, so I can’t vouch for its condition.

I can’t speak to the sidepath, but have ridden on the road on Jeff Todd without any issues. Two very wide lanes so plenty of space for cars to get around you. Mount Vernon Hwy becomes Jeff Todd when you cross Route 1. If you take Jeff Todd to where it ends, you can turn left on Telegraph, ride up the hill to where the shopping center with Wegman’s is, and then turn right on Beaulah if you’re trying to get to Kingstowne.

[trailrunner]

Route 1 through Fort Belvoir isn’t the end of the world. The finished that section and added some good bike lanes. You could ride up the parkway to Telegraph to Kingstowne from there. That used to be my commute route home when I worked on the base. As others have noted, Tulley is likely to be the only gate open on the weekend.

Jeff Todd is a good option.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ShawnoftheDread]

@chuxtr 188781 wrote:

I can’t speak to the sidepath, but have ridden on the road on Jeff Todd without any issues. Two very wide lanes so plenty of space for cars to get around you. Mount Vernon Hwy becomes Jeff Todd when you cross Route 1. If you take Jeff Todd to where it ends, you can turn left on Telegraph, ride up the hill to where the shopping center with Wegman’s is, and then turn right on Beaulah if you’re trying to get to Kingstowne.

Turn right on Telegraph and use Hayfield to access Kingstowne.

[bobco85]

You’ve got a couple of options for good routes in that area. I haven’t ridden in that area since 2017, but here are a few options of increasing lengths starting from GW’s Grist Mill off Mount Vernon Hwy that you could take parts from to build a route:

1. Stay straight and cross US-1 onto Jeff Todd Way -> side path on west side of Jeff Todd Way -> right onto Telegraph Rd -> left onto Old Telegraph Rd -> left onto Hayfield Rd -> right onto Kingstowne Village Pkwy -> Kingstowne (4.8 miles – Route: https://goo.gl/maps/vkx2F7z4DYE2)
2. Stay straight and cross US-1 onto Jeff Todd Way -> side path on west side of Jeff Todd Way -> left onto Telegraph Rd bike lanes -> right onto Beulah Rd bike lanes -> right onto Kingstowne Village Pkwy bike lanes -> Kingstowne (6.7 miles – Route: https://goo.gl/maps/pRJMuahjKgG2)
3. Turn left onto US-1 -> bike lanes or paved side path on the north side of US-1 -> turn right onto Backlick Rd -> start Fairfax County Pkwy Trail -> turn right onto Telegraph Rd bike lanes/buffered bike lanes -> turn left onto Beulah Rd bike lanes -> turn right onto Kingstown Village Pkwy bike lanes -> Kingstowne (8.7 miles – Route: https://goo.gl/maps/kdfJTE9Pbi72)
4. Turn left onto US-1 -> bike lanes or paved side path on the north side of US-1 -> turn right onto Telegraph Rd -> turn left onto Fairfax County Pkwy Trail -> Backlick Rd -> Loisdale Rd -> Metropolitan Center Dr -> Franconia-Springfield Pkwy Trail around the Metro station -> Walker Ln -> Beulah St -> neighborhood streets -> Kingstowne (11.7 miles – Route: https://goo.gl/maps/zwZxgitrtm72)

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the bike lanes on US-1 because there’s no separation from the 45 mph speed limit traffic (i.e. probably traveling 55-60+ mph), but the side paths are pretty great.

[lordofthemark]

Post ride report

1. Ride to Mount Vernon was a little faster, and felt much easier, than last time I did it. Yay for tailwinds.

2. I thought the part from Mt Vernon estate to Gristmill Park would be the easy part. Given the choice of sharrows on a one lane each direction road for some distance, into a strong headwind, I wimped out and took the side path/trail. Which was good in a few parts, and truly terrible in some parts. In fairness, FFX is a huge county and has about a zillion such trails that could use upgrades (or even just some maintenance)

3. Turns out Washington’s gristmill is NOT at Gristmill Park. Ok.

4. From the park, I took Old Mill to Cooper. Pretty comfortable

5. I was pleasantly surprised to find a traffic signal at Rte 1, to get into the shopping center on the other side. I had feared the Rte 1 crossing, but it was easy.

6. Rode up Sacramento – not bad, but really FFX County, 30MPH limit on a narrow street of nothing but residences (albeit THs and apts)? Then the side path on Pole to Jeff Todd. Side path on Jeff Todd (which was an excellent shared use trail/path, new and wide). There was an incident on Jeff Todd, fortunately before I got there – some driver coming around the bend had gone completely across the MUP into the ditch. The trail was covered by tow trucks. MPs and their cars. I very politely asked the MP how to proceed, and he guided me around the mess.

7. I decided to head towards Beulah, where I have biked before, rather than Hayfield. Looking up the hill on Telegraph I again wimped out and chose the side path rather than the in street bike lane. It was fine. I went into Wegmans for a break

8. Who knew there was live music at Wegmans?

9. Kingstowne is such a mixed bag. Besides their old network of wide sidepaths, a bunch of new bike lanes (I liked the lanes on Kingstowne Village Parkway very much) and better connectivity among the quiet streets than in most of southern Fairfax. But lots of places where, say, accessing a side path from a quiet street is impossible because of the absence of a curb cut or the presence of a median.

10. Rather than ride on Franconia, I took back streets to Ridgeview and went across on that. The little Radburn trail (IE a trail connection between cul de sacs) connecting Ridgeview to Upland, was (like quite a few such) not at all designed with bikes in mind

11. Someday I want to corner with enough confidence to actually ride down from the Gates of Mordor

12. Back to BPAC land. Here we have again the problem Emm mentioned relative to Mount Vernon Avenue – the natural way for a vehicular rider to go, is technically illegal

13. It must have been a while since I rode on Eisenhower from the Gates, intending to use the Holmes Run Trail underpass to get across Eisenhower. I was quickly reminded that no curb cuts give access to the trail from the general travel lanes of Eisenhower, so one must make an unsignalized vehicular left. Fortunately traffic was light, and I turned at the Cameron Run Waterpark.

14. I got to take the detour in Dora Kelly Park, and see the erosion undermining the trail. Very impressive – if you haven’t seen it, you should. To Nadine, I am sorry I misspoke the other day – there is still one “wet crossing” on HRT in Alexandria – though it is currently not useable, as its on the closed trail section.

15 Rest of the ride was uneventful.

[lordofthemark]

This makes me happy

https://coveringthecorridor.com/2019/12/mount-vernon-memorial-highway-trail-project-advances/?fbclid=IwAR38g8I1IFwPdWw36nYUvDrJparf6v3em1YNvFkQzpB6DvoTwPBXqZnivHE

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