Arlington, VA: The sharrows on Walter Reed Dr between Arlington Mill Dr and King St have been repainted. I am happy to report that they are now in the middle of the lane as opposed to before repaving where they were on the right edge.
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The detour path looked pretty nice. We’ll see this afternoon.
I was annoyed that the walk signal at Maple wasn’t working (light wasn’t changing) this AM.
The walk signal at Maple/123 wasn’t working at 2:30 pm yesterday either. In addition, the signals at Park and Center streets normally turn red nearly simultaneously, but not yesterday. This made it difficult to find a gap in traffic to cross on red.
I’ve been trying to find a way to avoid the Mall on my way in to work–the pedestrians crossing without looking (and often with no walk signal at lights) has become a real issue this year along Jefferson Dr. On the way home I take 7th-capitol sq place-9th-L’Enfant Plaza SW to the Case bridge to avoid the Mall, but the way TO work that route seems a little funky. It seems like Case Bridge, then some serious sidewalk gymnastics to get over to G st. I may do it this week sometime when I’m not running late (HA!) to see if it’s do-able during the morning rush hour.
The end of this ride shows how I get from 14th Street Bridge to 7th. I use the Maine Ave. sidewalk past the marina and fish market (several years ago, this section of Maine Ave was put on a road diet to reduce car lanes from 2 to 1, but inexplicably no bike lane was built, only the sidewalk was widened:mad:). The dumpsters on Maine Ave now means more care must be taken in entering the remaining eastbound lane on Maine Ave, or increasing the probability of crossing Maine Ave to the sidewalk along the westbound lanes (the gridlock solution). I find this route to be reasonably sane (at least better than the screaming sprint down Independence I used to do), but then I come through around 7:00 am.
As of midday today, the W&OD is closed westbound from Northside Park/Mill St in Vienna. There is a detour marked at Mill St, but since I get off the trail at Northside Park, I didn’t follow it.
The previously closed section was wide open as I rode by it at 6 o’clock this afternoon. Maybe they’re only closing it during the middle of the day. :confused:
South Courthouse Road now has the bike lane headed southbound striped in. I noticed it last night. The little bike symbols hadn’t yet been striped as of last night.
It also appears that the sixth street bike boulevard between Fillmore and S. Courthouse has been lightly milled or something. The bike lane striping and the lane striping are no longer on the road and there was a lot of powdery grit on the road surface. It was dark when I rode so I couldn’t really discern what was happening.
The 395 underpass, Mt Vernon Ave underpass and Glebe underpass were all clear as of 8am. That can change quickly though, have an alternate route ready before you head out.
Mount Vernon Trail flooded between Belle View Boulevard and the Dyke Marsh boardwalk. Also, Union and King in Old Town had rising water at 8 am. All ridable if you don’t care about dry feet and chain life.
9 am to 10 am, the Wilson Blvd underpass on the W&OD between Bluemont and Bon Air Parks remains flooded, only a couple of inches. Four of the five slab crossings on the 4MRT between Washington Blvd (Rte 50) and Columbia Pike was flooded and the water is moving fast ( at least six to eight inches). Will get worse as the rain continues.
I may be the only one this didn’t occur to before I learned the hard way, but even after the water recedes, watch for sand and such. I took a nasty spill once in one of those underpasses along Four Mile Run.
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