The 2017 Comfort Map Is Out!

[VA2DC]

@dasgeh 147937 wrote:

Quibbles:
– I don’t think 10th between Barton and Irving deserves Glebe-level scary. I wonder whether it deserves Lee Hwy-level scary. Certainly not west of Washington

Agree that 10th is underrated on the comfort scale. During morning and afternoon commute times, I haven’t found it to be that scary.

My quibble is that the clusterf*** intersections at Veitch at Clarendon & Wilson in Courthouse and Wilson/Washington/Clarendon/Irving/Fairfax in Clarendon both deserve USE CAUTION signs. Those intersections are horrendous.

[huskerdont]

@VA2DC 148211 wrote:

My quibble is that the clusterf*** intersections at … Wilson/Washington/Clarendon/Irving/Fairfax in Clarendon both deserve USE CAUTION signs. Those intersections are horrendous.

What, you don’t like a bike lane suddenly ending with no directions between a lane that goes straight and a right-turn lane at a complex 6-point intersection?

If you asked half a dozen cyclists what they did there, you’d probably get half a dozen different answers. Personally, I get ahead of everyone in the straight lane and ride as fast as I can to Fairfax Drive right as the light changes (looking out for late light runners, of course). It’s not strictly legal, but it seems like a place where strictly following the law will just get you hit. If I come on the light when it’s green (rare), I move over and take the lane, which can be tricky.

A caution on the bike map wouldn’t hurt, but I’d rather the lane didn’t disappear. Not that I absolutely have to have a bike lane to begin with, but it seems like once it’s there, it shouldn’t just dump you into the cluster you mention. “We’ve led you this far, unsuspecting cyclist; now you’re on your own. Ha ha.”

[Steve O]

@huskerdont 148218 wrote:

What, you don’t like a bike lane suddenly ending with no directions between a lane that goes straight and a right-turn lane at a complex 6-point intersection?

If you asked half a dozen cyclists what they did there, you’d probably get half a dozen different answers.
A caution on the bike map wouldn’t hurt, but I’d rather the lane didn’t disappear. Not that I absolutely have to have a bike lane to begin with, but it seems like once it’s there, it shouldn’t just dump you into the cluster you mention. “We’ve led you this far, unsuspecting cyclist; now you’re on your own. Ha ha.”

Just an FYI that there is a project to improve this intersection, possibly in this decade.
https://projects.arlingtonva.us/projects/clarendon-circle/

I haven’t heard in the BAC meetings if it is still on schedule or not (100% engineering by last July?). The Advisory Committee met at this corner a couple of years ago to discuss this project with county staff. Several of us made suggestions from the bike riders’ point of view. My impression was that most of the thinking related to improving the intersection was focused on the pedestrian experience. Not that that is bad, but we felt there were additional improvements that should be considered to also benefit people riding bikes.

Here’s a presentation from June 2016 that includes a number of drawings at 60% engineering:
https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2016/07/Clarendon-Cirlce-Update-6-10-16.pdf

[Tim Kelley]

@KLizotte 147942 wrote:

Just do it for them.

While we won’t be doing someone else’s job, the good news is that with the press around this update, we’ve been approached by another jurisdiction who interested in completing a similar Comfort Map revision to their own map and is open to working together.

[Author]

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