Route Advice: Huntington to Crystal City

[GovernorSilver]

@Amalitza 116805 wrote:

I’ve done that. The sidewalk does end there. There is a dirt “desire” path that pedestrians have worn. Depending on your preference, you can walk your bike on that path, ride your bike at pedestrian speed up that path and dismount if you encounter a pedestrian coming the other way, or simply take the lane on Rt. 1. After testing out all options, I mostly preferred taking the lane in all but the heaviest traffic times, though I would take the lane starting at Huntington rather than start on the sidewalk and then try to jump back in to the road among the cars. THAT (going between sidewalk and road) is highly scary.

Are you talking about going south on Rt. 1 past the intersection with Huntington, towards Mt. Eagle Drive? I’m going to check this out this evening, if time and weather allow (still don’t know enough about bike maintenance to expose it to the rain). I think I’d be more comfortable going this way back to the Huntington metro neighborhood (from Mt. Vernon Trail) than going west on Huntington Ave. in the left lane of the street.

Or are you talking about going on Huntington to the Eisenhower overpass?

[Anonymous]

Yes I am talking about south on rt. 1 from Huntington. The dirt path is not really a very good dirt path but it is there. I really don’t understand the point of the sidewalk that ends before it connects to anything.

If you’re not comfortable on Huntington, have you tried the telegraph (sidewalk) =>> Eisenhower connector that was also suggested earlier in the thread?

[GovernorSilver]

@Amalitza 116821 wrote:

Yes I am talking about south on rt. 1 from Huntington. The dirt path is not really a very good dirt path but it is there. I really don’t understand the point of the sidewalk that ends before it connects to anything.

If you’re not comfortable on Huntington, have you tried the telegraph (sidewalk) =>> Eisenhower connector that was also suggested earlier in the thread?

Thanks for the clarification.

As for the Telegraph <=> Eisenhower connector, I haven’t tried it yet, but that’s the one I’m going to have to use to get to Whole Foods and such. I just have to accept that I’ll have to ride on the road to get to it, due to the construction across the street from the Metro station.

[scoot]

If you wish to avoid the left turn from westbound Huntington onto Blaine, here’s another alternative you might consider: you could turn right onto Mt Vernon Drive and then take Farrington to cross Huntington at a traffic signal. At which point it would probably be easy to just make a left onto Huntington eastbound and then a right onto Blaine, or you could take Biscayne up to one of the other streets.

[GovernorSilver]

Good idea! Thanks!

[Terpfan]

I know it sounds crazy, but if you do the Rt 1 way, also take a moment to count the time from when the folks on Huntington first get a green to when Rt 1 southbound gets their green. I think you will find it’s time enough to take Rt 1 up to Mt. Eagle. Worst case, just stop and shuffle bike up onto the sidewalk there. Although, I’m no fan of that dirt path at all and find it rather annoying.

The Telegraph to Eisenhower overpass may be your best bet. I’m not sure about that construction as I haven’t driven through there in a few weeks. But the other thing is you can always ride through Metro’s parking garage. It really makes the hill far less challenging. Flip side, you do have some vehicles.

[GovernorSilver]

@Terpfan 116882 wrote:

I know it sounds crazy, but if you do the Rt 1 way, also take a moment to count the time from when the folks on Huntington first get a green to when Rt 1 southbound gets their green. I think you will find it’s time enough to take Rt 1 up to Mt. Eagle. Worst case, just stop and shuffle bike up onto the sidewalk there. Although, I’m no fan of that dirt path at all and find it rather annoying.

The Telegraph to Eisenhower overpass may be your best bet. I’m not sure about that construction as I haven’t driven through there in a few weeks. But the other thing is you can always ride through Metro’s parking garage. It really makes the hill far less challenging. Flip side, you do have some vehicles.

For this evening’s practice ride, I rode on Huntington Ave. east on the slow lane. A big black pickup truck on the other lane honked at me. I prefer to think it was because of my wobbly riding style and not because the driver thought I should stay on the sidewalk. I pulled into the parking lot on the corner of Rt.1 and Huntington and rode on the sidewalk along Rt. 1 southward. I see what you and Analitza mean about the dirt path – it is a very narrow dirt trail. I was unable to access the bike paths inside the Montebello complex because as it turns out, Montebello has a gate and a guard who made me go back outside the property. Fortunately I was able to cut through the Cityside Huntington Metro apartment complex parking lot back to Mt. Eagle Park – I was so glad to be able to do so, I almost didn’t mind the hard (for my ability) climb. I was very close to my limit when I entered the park.

The construction across the Metro station on Huntington Ave has eliminated the sidewalk on the north side of the street, between the access road leading to the Metro Kiss & Ride and the auto shop. The fence around the construction site is all the way to the curb. Google Earth view now shows it. After riding on the street, I’m more comfortable now just taking the slow lane in the westward direction. The only issue for morning commuters going that way is during the heaviest rush hour traffic, the cars tend to be backed up all the way to the auto shop, sometimes beyond. Fortunately I don’t have to go that way during morning rush hour – other times do not look as bad.

[Terpfan]

@GovernorSilver 116898 wrote:

For this evening’s practice ride, I rode on Huntington Ave. east on the slow lane. A big black pickup truck on the other lane honked at me. I prefer to think it was because of my wobbly riding style and not because the driver thought I should stay on the sidewalk. I pulled into the parking lot on the corner of Rt.1 and Huntington and rode on the sidewalk along Rt. 1 southward. I see what you and Analitza mean about the dirt path – it is a very narrow dirt trail. I was unable to access the bike paths inside the Montebello complex because as it turns out, Montebello has a gate and a guard who made me go back outside the property. Fortunately I was able to cut through the Cityside Huntington Metro apartment complex parking lot back to Mt. Eagle Park – I was so glad to be able to do so, I almost didn’t mind the hard (for my ability) climb. I was very close to my limit when I entered the park.

The construction across the Metro station on Huntington Ave has eliminated the sidewalk on the north side of the street, between the access road leading to the Metro Kiss & Ride and the auto shop. The fence around the construction site is all the way to the curb. Google Earth view now shows it. After riding on the street, I’m more comfortable now just taking the slow lane in the westward direction. The only issue for morning commuters going that way is during the heaviest rush hour traffic, the cars tend to be backed up all the way to the auto shop, sometimes beyond. Fortunately I don’t have to go that way during morning rush hour – other times do not look as bad.

Sorry to hear about the truck. There seems to always be one or two aholes along the way, but most cars are pretty decent for sharing the road locally.

Yah, that dirt track and I have had it out a few times. One day, I just sat there to count the amount of time I had (both for the descent from up by the Holiday Inn) and from Huntington to Mt. Eagle. That’s when I realized I could just take Rt 1 in that stretch.

Frankly, it’s probably safer for you anyway in the right lane on the road. I know when I road to the Metro a few times, I would take Kings Highway. At first I tried doing it by sidewalk and that was a mistake. Way too much debris, random angles to the curb, etc, and cars paid 0 attention to me at cross streets. Whereas, they didn’t like when I took the road, but it was safer.

The only trick I know for avoiding that hill is to literally turn into Metro as if you were going up that access road then into the garage. The angles are low grade. It just takes a few minutes. I do that sometimes in the winter when the Mt. Vernon Trail isn’t plowed because I find the Kings->Telegraph->to bridge over 95->Eisenhower area->Del Ray->Crystal City->Pentagon->Memorial Bridge way to be actually decent in the winter time.

[scoot]

Are those signals consistently timed or are they demand-driven? I would have guessed demand responsive, which would make the cycle lengths irregular. I’m referring to the Rt 1 signals at Huntington and at the Urgent Care / Holiday Inn intersection. Buried induction loops are clearly visible in the latter, but I don’t see them at Huntington (on google). If they are demand-driven, do they detect bicycles? Also, do you have to go over and push the beg button to extend the cycle long enough?

[Terpfan]

@scoot 116945 wrote:

Are those signals consistently timed or are they demand-driven? I would have guessed demand responsive, which would make the cycle lengths irregular. I’m referring to the Rt 1 signals at Huntington and at the Urgent Care / Holiday Inn intersection. Buried induction loops are clearly visible in the latter, but I don’t see them at Huntington (on google). If they are demand-driven, do they detect bicycles? Also, do you have to go over and push the beg button to extend the cycle long enough?

The Huntington and Rt 1 light is definitely on a timer during commuting hours (even if it were demand driven, it would reset to said default timer given the volume of traffic there). I’m pretty sure it’s also on a timer later at night too, but it’s a different cycle I think. At this intersection, I always hit the beg button. No idea if it actually adds time (I would be surprised if it did given how long the light already is), but I figure, it doesn’t hurt for me to have a few more seconds. When I think of demand driven, I think of Ft. Hunt and Beacon Hill/Belle View Blvd that randomly switches in the mid-evening to demand driven from a timer.

I’m not as sure about the Urgent Care/Holiday Inn light as far as timing goes, but pushing the beg button does work to get the light to switch. And that light lasters at least 20 seconds. Given it’s atop that hill, it’s really easy to build speed and be way ahead of the cars on the downhill. In fact, the bigger issue on the downhill is rush hour traffic in that right lane coming back before Huntington Ave, forcing me to either navigate to the right of the cars or wait with them for the green when I go that way.

[Anonymous]

@Terpfan 116972 wrote:

When I think of demand driven, I think of Ft. Hunt and Beacon Hill/Belle View Blvd that randomly switches in the mid-evening to demand driven from a timer.

I kind of think it’s always demand-driven in the sense that it’s only in “timer” mode during the day because there’s always traffic to trigger the demand. At least I have never seen belle view get a green (or green left turn arrow) without there being a car in the respective lane to trigger it, though during the day there are almost always cars in all the (both straight and turn) lanes.

I don’t know about Huntington/Rt.1 late at night (during the majority of the day, there will always be a steady stream of traffic in all directions, so it doesn’t much matter), but Huntington/Ft Hunt is definitely demand-driven at slower times (and does *not* recognize bikes, or at least not my bikes), so Huntington/Rt.1 might be too. And speaking of Huntington/Ft. Hunt– if you are crossing Rt.1 at Huntington with the intent of picking up the pedestrian bridge to Washington St, you might consider/try taking Huntington all the way to Fort Hunt and across, turn left onto the access road across Ft. Hunt, and take the access road to the ped bridge. This lets you avoid crossing Ft. Hunt along Rt 1 and the steady stream of cars turning right-on-red across the ped path onto Rt. 1.

[GovernorSilver]

@Amalitza 117047 wrote:

And speaking of Huntington/Ft. Hunt– if you are crossing Rt.1 at Huntington with the intent of picking up the pedestrian bridge to Washington St, you might consider/try taking Huntington all the way to Fort Hunt and across, turn left onto the access road across Ft. Hunt, and take the access road to the ped bridge. This lets you avoid crossing Ft. Hunt along Rt 1 and the steady stream of cars turning right-on-red across the ped path onto Rt. 1.

While I’m now more comfortable riding on the road on Huntington, I’ve continued pondering ways to get to that pedestrian bridge to Washington St. I’ve considered cycling on Huntington all the way to Ft. Hunt as you say above. What concerns me is the number of aggressive drivers heading east on Huntington that jockey for the right turn to Ft. Hunt. They love to be on the left lane before the intersection, and after crossing the intersection, race ahead of whoever is in the right lane, then cut into the right lane to ensure being in front after turning right on Ft. Hunt.

I guess the solution would be to stay on the right lane before crossing Rt. 1, and during/after crossing allow all the speed demons to pass on the left lane, then change to the left lane in anticipation of crossing Ft. Hunt after all the cars have passed me.

On the way back, just take the right lane on Huntington, and take the Mt. Vernon+Farrington route to the Biscayne & Huntington intersection to get back to the south side of Huntington Ave.

[GovernorSilver]

@Amalitza 117047 wrote:

Huntington/Ft Hunt is definitely demand-driven at slower times (and does *not* recognize bikes, or at least not my bikes), so Huntington/Rt.1 might be too.

I tried the Huntington<->Ft. Hunt<->access road route to MVT as you suggested. Going to MVT was ok.

Coming back was a problem as I was completely at the mercy of cars coming out of Belle Haven Country Club to trigger that stoplight. If there weren’t any cars coming out of the country club, I’d have to use the pedestrian button and crosswalk to cross Ft. Hunt to get back on Huntington, and that crosswalk would take me to the wrong side of Huntington (traffic going west), unless I cheat and cut back into an eastward road lane after I get the light, which may be a problem if there are any cars that come out of the country club just as I start crossing through the intersection.

[Terpfan]

@GovernorSilver 117151 wrote:

I tried the Huntington<->Ft. Hunt<->access road route to MVT as you suggested. Going to MVT was ok.

Coming back was a problem as I was completely at the mercy of cars coming out of Belle Haven Country Club to trigger that stoplight. If there weren’t any cars coming out of the country club, I’d have to use the pedestrian button and crosswalk to cross Ft. Hunt to get back on Huntington, and that crosswalk would take me to the wrong side of Huntington (traffic going west), unless I cheat and cut back into an eastward road lane after I get the light, which may be a problem if there are any cars that come out of the country club just as I start crossing through the intersection.

Yah, I’ve never bothered going to Ft Hunt to make the switchback. I’ll just turn my headlight to bright and turn it right into the oncoming traffic from Ft. Hunt Rd at Rt 1 if they’re not being nice and stopping. The only downside to that along Rt 1 MUP that goes a few blocks is there is always broken glass on it. I’m thinking of writing to the County about it as I think thay have jurisdiction down to about the Beltway.

[Terpfan]

I should add that I tried something new and went down Rt 1. from Kings Highway (the T-intersection portion, not the weird five-angled one) all the way to Ft. Hunt. My theory was that the timing of the lights would make it work to my advantage. I was largely right except for the red light at Quander. When I saw that red, it would have been wiser to just stand at the top of the hill heading northbound rather than go down it and have to pedal hard to maintain a good speed on the way back up. But the Rt 1 traffic behind me never caught up to me. So just an observation there. I’ve now ridden on Rt 1 at almost every point except over the actual 495 bridge and the stretch in Hybla Valley.

[Author]

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