Sharp dropoff on Columbia Pike sidewalk, near Wash. Blvd. bridge

[PotomacCyclist]

As I was riding to the Cinema & Drafthouse for the BikeSwell movie, I dropped down into a steep ditch. On the temporary asphalt sidewalk/path. I thought that maybe I wasn’t paying attention in the nighttime rain. But when I stopped and turned around to take a look, I saw that the asphalt path drops down about a foot, with no warning sign at all. There were a couple orange construction barrels next to the path, but not in front of that steep drop-off.

This is a serious safety hazard, especially at night. The days are getting shorter so people riding in the evening will probably be riding in the darkness. They aren’t going to see that deep ditch in the middle of the path. This is on the north side of Columbia Pike, either at crosswalk just to the east of Washington Blvd. or the crosswalk on the ramp to S. Quinn St., to the west of Washington Blvd.

http://goo.gl/maps/3ShZT

Even if this was just a temporary condition of the path, it should have been blocked off or a very large sign should have been placed in front of the ditch. There’s no excuse for leaving a sidewalk/path in such a condition. Especially on a rainy night.

I’m posting here just in case the problem isn’t fixed very soon. I’ll try to email VDOT. I believe they are in charge of the Washington Blvd. bridge project. Not only does the problem need to be fixed, but they also need to instruct their employees and contractors that serious hazards need to be fenced off.

http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/northernvirginia/route_27-244_interchange.asp

Topic

[KLizotte]

Ouch, glad you weren’t seriously hurt. I’m stunned such an obvious safety hazard would be overlooked. Pls contact VDOT.

[PotomacCyclist]

The VDOT manager already replied this morning. They probably won’t be able to fix the asphalt today because of the rain, but she said that she would contact the contractors and ask them to fence off or mark the hazard. I also stressed that VDOT has to educate their employees and contractors about safety issues.

I may have escaped injury because I was riding a CaBi bike. Those are slow but very stable. If I had been riding a lighter bike, I might have flipped off the front.

[jhr]

@PotomacCyclist 66426 wrote:

As I was riding to the Cinema & Drafthouse for the BikeSwell movie, I dropped down into a steep ditch. On the temporary asphalt sidewalk/path. I thought that maybe I wasn’t paying attention in the nighttime rain. But when I stopped and turned around to take a look, I saw that the asphalt path drops down about a foot, with no warning sign at all. There were a couple orange construction barrels next to the path, but not in front of that steep drop-off.

This is a serious safety hazard, especially at night. The days are getting shorter so people riding in the evening will probably be riding in the darkness. They aren’t going to see that deep ditch in the middle of the path. This is on the north side of Columbia Pike, either at crosswalk just to the east of Washington Blvd. or the crosswalk on the ramp to S. Quinn St., to the west of Washington Blvd.

http://goo.gl/maps/3ShZT

Even if this was just a temporary condition of the path, it should have been blocked off or a very large sign should have been placed in front of the ditch. There’s no excuse for leaving a sidewalk/path in such a condition. Especially on a rainy night.

I’m posting here just in case the problem isn’t fixed very soon. I’ll try to email VDOT. I believe they are in charge of the Washington Blvd. bridge project. Not only does the problem need to be fixed, but they also need to instruct their employees and contractors that serious hazards need to be fenced off.

http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/northernvirginia/route_27-244_interchange.asp

The sidewalk on the north side has basically been impassable for months (maybe a year?). I think they had the whole thing blocked off before. Considering that the construction may not end for multiple years I wish they would put more thought into handling pedestrian/cyclist safety in the meantime.

(For pedestrians it would probably suffice if they actually took advantage of the traffic light they just installed to add a crosswalk so you could safely cross over to the sidewalk on the south side, but for cyclists who want to be able to ride on the sidewalk it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to route them counter to traffic.)

[holdthebeach]

The sidewalk on the north side of the Pike has been very irritating this past year! In order to continue down the pike, you have to turn right a little past the split to 395 on the south side, cross the two lanes of traffic going toward the highway, continue onto the makeshift asphalt sidewalk that has been there for years and gets at least 12″ tall puddles in rainstorms and then continue under the bridge. This has made taking the kids in my family to Dama on foot a bit stressful.

I have noticed that now that they are working towards re-opening the north side sidewalk, the asphalt adjacent to it has gone to ****. I ride on the road from in front of the torn down annex to S. Courthouse and without lights underneath the bridge, it can get VERY tricky.

[dasgeh]

BTW, there’s always the Ft Myer option to avoid this part of the Pike. http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3512865

You have to have photo ID. If it’s a CAC card (u.s. government), they wave you through. If not, they write something down (unless you have kids – then they seem to wave you through anyway).

[PotomacCyclist]

I knew the sidewalk had been closed earlier this year. But last night, I didn’t see any of those detour signs, so I assumed the sidewalk was open.

The latest timeline is for the bridge construction to continue into summer (or fall?) 2015. But hopefully the sidewalks can be improved sooner than that.

[bobco85]

I went through there today (I was on a walk and remembered this thread so I also got some pictures). The south sidewalk is closed with signage between the westbound Washington Blvd off-ramp next to Orme St and the west side of the bridge.

Walking on the north sidewalk, I found two trouble spots. Because of these 2 spots, the north sidewalk is dangerous for anyone on wheels (bikes and wheelchairs):

looking east from the on-ramp to get from Columbia Pike to westbound Washington Blvd
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3842[/ATTACH]

looking east from the intersection of Quinn/Columbia Pike – no ramp from sidewalk to pavement
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3843[/ATTACH]

[holdthebeach]

Thanks for the pics. I only realized this weekend that the south side is now completely closed off to pedestrians on the east side of the bridge, making this verrrrrry uneven north side, the only option for pedestrians.

[elbows]

Does this route only work going toward DC and does it only work at certain times? Thanks.

[Author]

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