September 2017 Road & Trail Conditions

[Erin Potter]

Another trail disruption report from my inbox:

“Four Mile Run Trail to be Impacted by I-395 Rehabilitation Project

Rehabilitation work on the Shirley Highway (I-395) bridge over Four Mile Run is planned to begin this week. The bridge work will require a temporary narrowing of the Four Mile Run pedestrian and bicycle trail where it passes beneath the Shirley Highway bridge.
Crews contracted to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will begin to set-up work platforms above the trail sometime in the week of September 4th. The work will require a narrowing of the trail for a three to four-month period. Full closure of the trail will be limited to a few selected times and only during night-time hours. Directional detour signs will be provided for trail users in those periods when the trail is closed.”

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Erin Potter 164973 wrote:

Another trail disruption report from my inbox:

“Four Mile Run Trail to be Impacted by I-395 Rehabilitation Project

Rehabilitation work on the Shirley Highway (I-395) bridge over Four Mile Run is planned to begin this week. The bridge work will require a temporary narrowing of the Four Mile Run pedestrian and bicycle trail where it passes beneath the Shirley Highway bridge.
Crews contracted to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will begin to set-up work platforms above the trail sometime in the week of September 4th. The work will require a narrowing of the trail for a three to four-month period. Full closure of the trail will be limited to a few selected times and only during night-time hours. Directional detour signs will be provided for trail users in those periods when the trail is closed.”

Good that they’re keeping it open, but that is pretty much the worst possible spot to do extensive construction work, since there are no good detour options. Going south to the Shirlington ped overpass is at least feasible, but JFC what a pain. Let’s just hope the “narrowing” doesn’t dramatically affect usability.

[Judd]

@Erin Potter 164973 wrote:

Another trail disruption report from my inbox:

“Four Mile Run Trail to be Impacted by I-395 Rehabilitation Project

Rehabilitation work on the Shirley Highway (I-395) bridge over Four Mile Run is planned to begin this week. The bridge work will require a temporary narrowing of the Four Mile Run pedestrian and bicycle trail where it passes beneath the Shirley Highway bridge.
Crews contracted to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will begin to set-up work platforms above the trail sometime in the week of September 4th. The work will require a narrowing of the trail for a three to four-month period. Full closure of the trail will be limited to a few selected times and only during night-time hours. Directional detour signs will be provided for trail users in those periods when the trail is closed.”

I think they actually started setting up last weekend. Wasn’t too bad when I went by, but there were a couple of dudes on ladders that didn’t have their work area very well marked off. Please be cautious when biking through during the work and give yourself plenty of time to stop or avoid any equipment.

[bobco85]

@Erin Potter 164973 wrote:

Full closure of the trail will be limited to a few selected times and only during night-time hours. Directional detour signs will be provided for trail users in those periods when the trail is closed.”

Looks like folks will need to go old school at those times. I hope the signs lead to the I-395 ped bridge (old Four Mile Run Trail route) and not Shirlington Rd-29th St-Glebe Rd.

[bobco85]

Saw a bit of the setup at the Shirlington underpass. It looks like they’re putting up some kind of netting in case of any falling debris.

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[drewguy]

Persimmon Tree Road in Potomac remains closed for bridge repair – between River Road and Glen Rd.

Reopened on or before 9/23

[DrP]

On Monday evening, on 4MRT by the parking lot at Bluemont Park (the smaller part of the lot, along the ball fields), a car entered the trail. I waved my arms yelling “NO! TRAIL!” and he re-entered the lot.
They repaved the trail and the lot in the past year and there are no markings indicating that the parking lot ends or signs about a trail and no curb. I e-mailed the county suggesting paint/signs and they wrote back to say that it has now been entered as a work order. Keep an eye out for the upgrades. And further incursions.

[Erin Potter]

Just got word from our friends at Arlington Parks and Recreation that there will be a bit more work on the Four Mile Run Trail.
Details from my inbox:
“There will be a short term trail closure on the Four Mile Run trial on Friday of this week (9/22) and Monday (9/25). This is for installation of some final project elements, and should be the last closure related to the project. The detour in Alexandria is still available for trail users. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Be alert this Friday and Monday–detour is still up that takes you on the Alexandria side.

Related to this work: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?11041-Four-Mile-Run-Detour-2016-2017

[streetsmarts]

Route 1 -Patrick St. near (at least North of) King St. Heading North , the right lane is being repaved. Theres about a 2″ drop from the lane to the left. Take care when riding there.

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[Judd]

15th Street Cyclotrack was blocked this morning. The silver lining is that it was blocked by a tree trimming company so the traffic signals will hopefully be visible to cyclists now. Currently difficult to tell when crossing pedestrians have the signal.

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[jfel]

Hello- Let me preface by saying I’m brand spanking new to biking in Arlington. I tried a test run over the weekend to get from my home in Penrose Square/Columbia Pike area to Metro Center in DC. My gps and Bike Arlington trail map led me the way past Pentagon (rather than Rosslyn) and that’s where I ran into trouble as I was not able to enter Washington Blvd. from Southgate Road>Columbia Pike>Rotary Road. The trail appeared to be blocked for construction, so I had to backtrack and ended up taking Arlington Blvd. However, I can’t seem to find any information about the status of Washington Blvd and I’m starting to wonder if what I saw was not actually the Washignton Blvd trail…does anyone here have information to share about the status of this trail and how to access it if it is open? I apologize in advance if I should have posted this in another thread. Thank you!

[scoot]

@jfel 165750 wrote:

Hello- Let me preface by saying I’m brand spanking new to biking in Arlington. I tried a test run over the weekend to get from my home in Penrose Square/Columbia Pike area to Metro Center in DC. My gps and Bike Arlington trail map led me the way past Pentagon (rather than Rosslyn) and that’s where I ran into trouble as I was not able to enter Washington Blvd. from Southgate Road>Columbia Pike>Rotary Road. The trail appeared to be blocked for construction, so I had to backtrack and ended up taking Arlington Blvd. However, I can’t seem to find any information about the status of Washington Blvd and I’m starting to wonder if what I saw was not actually the Washignton Blvd trail…does anyone here have information to share about the status of this trail and how to access it if it is open? I apologize in advance if I should have posted this in another thread. Thank you!

I agree that the access point for the 27 trail is difficult to find, obscured by all the construction. The place where you need to be to get the trail is at the pink star in the photo. There is more construction at the 110 bridge but the temporary trail is reasonably well-designed. But I haven’t been that way in a while so maybe things have changed?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15510[/ATTACH]

[DismalScientist]

Geez, that photo is hard to read.
Follow Columbia Pike under and through the Washington Blvd intersection. Turn left when you get to the Pentagon South Parking Lot. (Here Columbia Pike looks like (and does) it goes around the south side of the parking lot.)
The left turn says something like authorized vehicle only. Immediately get on the sidewalk on the right and go into the Pentagon 9/11 memorial (the one that says no bikes). The 27 trail is the asphalt trail to the left about 10 feet into the 9/11 memorial.

[Judd]

@scoot 165751 wrote:

I agree that the access point for the 27 trail is difficult to find, obscured by all the construction. The place where you need to be to get the trail is at the pink star in the photo. There is more construction at the 110 bridge but the temporary trail is reasonably well-designed. But I haven’t been that way in a while so maybe things have changed?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15510[/ATTACH]

There’s still construction going on.

jfel,

I go this way every day on my commute and the trail is difficult to find once you connect to Rotary Road unless you know it’s there. Basically, where the road starts to turn right, you want to hang a left on to the sidewalk like you’re going to the 9/11 Memorial. It feels weird to do, because of the bad pavement there and the feeling like you’re about to salmon into oncoming traffic. (You’re not really, but it feels that way.)

If you’d like, I’d be happy to ride in with you any morning this week or on the weekend if you want to test ride beforehand. I’m in the Penrose area and could meet you there. I’ll probably also try to con you into going coffee club though.

Here’s my ride in this morning if looking at the map helps:
https://www.strava.com/activities/1200912296

[dasgeh]

You’ve gotten great advice, I’ll just add:
1) Hopefully you can ride it home today — it’s much easier to find coming from DC, just remember stay right when you come to the fork where the left fork looks shiny and new and the right fork looks old and craggy and overgrown. Then you can see it for yourself.

2) Sorry you had to back track so far. Another option, once you’re in the Pentagon parking lot, is to keep heading east through the parking lot to Connector Road, which you take north. From there turn left on Boundary Channel Drive, and right into the LBJ parking lot then onto the wooden bridge over the water to the actual LBJ memorial grove (betcha didn’t know he had a memorial). From there, stay straight/right at the fork so you head to the parking lot (not the statue of LBJ). Straight through the parking lot and a little jog left then right will put you on a trail under the Humpback Bridge to the Seagull Statue (Navy-Merchant Marine Memorial) which connects to the Mt Vernon Trail. You can head southeast to the 14th St Bridge or northwest to the Memorial Bridge. Here’s the route in google.

3) I’d recommend trying the through-Rosslyn route. You may find it more pleasant. Would definitely love to hear what you think of all the options and where you settle.

4) Totally fine that you posted here, but for these sorts of things, we normally start a new post. We often start new posts. Except when (1) we see a friend (One-Eighth Sighting); (2) something interesting happens in the morning (My Morning Commute); (3) something interesting happens in the evening (My Evening Commute); (4) we see a sale (Saw This Deal, Thought Someone Might Like It); (5) we see/are part of a near miss (Missed Connection); (6) when we take ride pictures (Post your ride pics) [Did I miss anything?]

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