Short Short-cut on MVT

[JimF22003]

It should be obvious to anyone who is not as oblivious as I am to be very, very careful using that new temporary non-paved “shortcut” they just put in near the roadwork on Humpback Bridge. I tried riding up that steep squishy narrow gravel stuff (AFTER going over a gratuitous speedbump) last night on my roadbike with very narrow tires. I made it but it was close. Until they fix that I’ll take that “dismount” sign seriously…

Topic

[OneEighth]

Walking up or down that mess in road shoes isn’t much of an option either. Jogging strollers can’t safely negotiate it for that matter. And, the intersection they just created between the paths is guaranteed to cause problems especially when the path fills up with the warmer weather.
Frankly, the project manager needs to insist on this being redesigned. Haven’t had time to figure out where to send an email, but it’ll be somewhere within NPS since it is the Parkway and the trail. I suggest everyone chime in and tell them to do it right.

[consularrider]

Just to complain and moan after having to ride this for the past 10 days and having the change made with no on site warning to anyone. Since they are now working on the new bridge approach for the trail, do we assume this detour is permanent until they complete the project? Can anyone confirm that? I think that this is probably one of the worst planned/executed walking/cycling projects (and not just this most current detour) that I have ever seen. There was no similiar longterm disruption to the auto traffic over the Humpback Bridge during this project and what they do to the trail users just keeps getting worse and worse. Completion in “Spring 2011” can’t come too soon!

[dbb]

The Federal Highway Administration is managing the project. The website describing the project doesn’t highlight the fact that the bike path detour appears to be a real ad hoc design. The bright paint on the speed bumps at the top and bottom was a colorful touch today.

The site below provides the following contact information Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division

703-404-6260
1-800-892-8776
Prompt #3: Construction Information

Email:
efl.fhwa@dot.gov
Subject reference: Construction Information

http://www.efl.fhwa.dot.gov/projects/traffic-humpback-bridge.aspx

The end of that project can’t come too soon

[consularrider]

Someone must have been listening. Between noon yesterday (Friday) and noon today (Saturday) the path has been paved and the speed bumps at the top and bottom have been removed. Thank you, NPS!

[dbb]

Although we have had the occasion to observe a random assortment of strategies for building a bike path, the final choice might be as good as it gets. Picture below was taken about noon today.

While this is a significant improvement over the earlier alternatives, the hill is steep and turns are tight. Be careful!

That said, we should carefully look at the permanent bike path as it is completed because the folks leading this effort don’t seem to be particularly well informed to the needs of the biking community.

[CCrew]

Yikes.. That pic looks like a collision waiting to happen….

[dbb]

The new trail across the Humpback bridge opened yesterday. Sweet! Even with the construction still narrowing the path, it is a real improvement over the old unprotected sidewalk.

As feared, the connection between the MVT and the path across the 14th Street Bridge still needs some work. Pretty tight turns. I will coordinate with Bike Arlington to see if it can be enhanced a bit before the construction is wrapped up.

[DaveK]

@dbb 2845 wrote:

The new trail across the Humpback bridge opened yesterday. Sweet! Even with the construction still narrowing the path, it is a real improvement over the old unprotected sidewalk.

As feared, the connection between the MVT and the path across the 14th Street Bridge still needs some work. Pretty tight turns. I will coordinate with Bike Arlington to see if it can be enhanced a bit before the construction is wrapped up.

I rode it on Friday and really liked it… I’ve heard that complaint from a few people, that the turns are too tight, but I’m not sure we’d want speeds to be higher. There’s quite a few conflicting turning movements there and it works better if everyone slows down. Unless they want to put in a bicycle roundabout…

[Author]

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