November 2015 Road and Trail Conditons

[consularrider]

Yeah, it’s early but I’m bored and not motivated to go out on a bike ride right now.

[komorebi]

Northbound Commonwealth Ave. in Alexandria is milled for repaving, between Monroe and Uhler. They’ve left the bike lane intact where there is a bike lane, but be careful in the section that’s just sharrows.

Also, does anyone know if/when southbound Commonwealth Ave. will be repaved? It’s also in bad shape.

[Judd]

Columbia Pike from S. Walter Reed to to Freedman’s Village Bridge is being repaved. One lane has new asphalt as of Saturday. The other lanes are currently milled and awaiting paving. I’m looking forward to a smoother commute.

[CaseyKane50]

@komorebi 127163 wrote:

Northbound Commonwealth Ave. in Alexandria is milled for repaving, between Monroe and Uhler. They’ve left the bike lane intact where there is a bike lane, but be careful in the section that’s just sharrows.

Also, does anyone know if/when southbound Commonwealth Ave. will be repaved? It’s also in bad shape.

According to the City’s schedule, all of Commonwealth from Monroe to Mount Vernon should be completed by the end of next week.

[GovernorSilver]

Four Mile Run Park Trail between Commonwealth and Mt. Vernon Ave appears to be closed. We tried to ride on it on our Halloween ride and ended up carrying our bikes around a fence.

[dasgeh]

Milling on Kirkwood (just the bike lane, apparently) and N Jackson from 13th N to (and maybe north of) Key makes the little shortcut to avoid Washington Blvd/Wilson/Clarendon a little less fun to ride.

[bobco85]

@GovernorSilver 127168 wrote:

Four Mile Run Park Trail between Commonwealth and Mt. Vernon Ave appears to be closed. We tried to ride on it on our Halloween ride and ended up carrying our bikes around a fence.

The trail there is partially blocked off for the Four Mile Run Restoration Project: alexandriava.gov/planning/info/default.aspx?id=14042

While it’s too late for your Halloween ride, here’s a map showing the detour you need to take (blue is the route, dark blue is a gravel path, and red shows the fences):
[ATTACH=CONFIG]9976[/ATTACH]

[GovernorSilver]

Thanks, Bob. It worked out in the end without anybody getting hurt or losing their bikes.

We got back on track, taking Four Mile Rd -> Old Dominion -> Tennessee -> Martha Custis to get to Peet’s Coffee in Shirlington so the ride leader could treat us to hot drinks. He chose this route because some participants didn’t want to deal with the climb via Valley Rd or other route. This was after we did a “bike parade” through Old Town.

[creadinger]

@komorebi 127163 wrote:

Northbound Commonwealth Ave. in Alexandria is milled for repaving, between Monroe and Uhler. They’ve left the bike lane intact where there is a bike lane, but be careful in the section that’s just sharrows.

Also, does anyone know if/when southbound Commonwealth Ave. will be repaved? It’s also in bad shape.

Yay! There’s no way that section was going to survive the winter as a paved road. It was a little freeze-thaw + some snow plow trips away from reverting to pot-holed gravel suitable for only 4WDs.

[Subby]

There is a dangerous amount of gravel in the bike lane on eastbound Lee Highway between Pollard and Lincoln. I mean, it’s exciting and all, with that and dealing with two lanes of traffic and Dunkin Donuts traffic and car doors opening, but be careful.

Seriously though – best way to report it?

Area in question: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lyon+Village,+Arlington,+VA+22201/@38.8961056,-77.1059815,166m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x89b7b687987cad91:0x6ba4686bc09ef6da!6m1!1e1

[dasgeh]

@Subby 127202 wrote:

Seriously though – best way to report it?

http://en.seeclickfix.com/arlington_2

Or just take a right on Monroe, left on 20th, then a left on the Custis.

Or take a right on Pollard, left on 20th, right on Oakland, left on 18th, right on Nelson, left on 17th, right on Monroe, left onto the spur to the trail.

[Subby]

Thanks – forgot about the app.

I’ll just powerslide through the gravel for now.

[KLizotte]

OK, this is one of those accidents where you realize how foolish you were AFTER it happened.

Anyway….today I was enjoying the nice weather along the C&O between Pennyfield Lock and White’s Ferry and going about 10-12 mph. There are now sections of the trail with heavy leaf cover. I was conscious that leaves = slippery. It did not occur to me that there might be *obstacles* under the leaves even when on the trail.

Imagine my surprise when I hit what felt like a curb and went flying over the handlebars. Yup, a giant tree root (about 4.5 inches high) forms a U-shape into the trail and was completely hidden by the leaves. It’s twin, just a couple of feet away, also extends into the trail and was painted a nice shade of fluorescent pink to warn trail users. Between the shock of hitting the root, landing on slippery leaves, and probably hitting the next root I did quite an inelegant splat.

These root monsters are located about 3-4 miles west of Pennyfield lock on the south side of the trail.

The moral of the story: be very careful riding through leaves! You don’t know what is under there!!!!

[wheelswings]

OUCH! That looks highly uncomfortable. It’s always kind of freaky when you find yourself flying over handle bars…

I did something similar one time pre-dawn, with a downed tree in my path following a storm. I ended up in the ER with lots of stitches.
This sort of thing can happen with the leaf-covered busted bollards, as well.

Heal fast. w&w

[chris_s]

@dasgeh 127216 wrote:

http://en.seeclickfix.com/arlington_2

No, report here: http://topics.arlingtonva.us/reportproblem/

SeeClickFix is not monitored in Arlington to the best of my knowledge.

[Author]

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