W&OD Detours Coming Soon

[huskerdont]

@bentbike33 189973 wrote:

I’m pretty sure the official detour is supposed to be the sidewalk on the NW side of Lee Hwy between Jefferson and the signalized intersection and crosswalk at Fairfax, which is probably good for the occasional/family riders, but disfavored by faster cyclists.

If the sidewalk is the official detour for cyclists, they’re doing it wrong.

[dasgeh]

@Steve O 189959 wrote:

This point was recently brought to my attention:
We regulars are pretty good at finding alternate options. Weekend family riders, though, now have to contend with the drivers and sightlines and turns off of Little Falls Road, mixing with traffic.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Falls Church (or NVRPA, or VDOT, or someone) created some sort of protected facility along the detour for those types of riders. The W&OD is, after all, used by lots of recreational and family riders, too.

Yeah, they need to sign the best detour. I think we have a better shot working with Arlington, as Steve’s detour solves the issue with East Falls Church.

And sorry for the accidental dislike

[vern]

@sjclaeys 189856 wrote:

But that avoids the “fun” of the ACPD cyclist sting at 19th & Van Buren. The ACPD officer will be so lonely.

Jefferson > Washington > Westmoreland/19th, and then you roll thru the stop sign as you turn right on Van Buren, and you can high-five the cop as you go by. Duh…

[Tania]

I’ve changed my mind on the “official” detour – I was sitting at the light yesterday around 5:10pm (in my car) heading towards DC and it seemed that most cyclists heading west would hit lee and then turn left onto the east sidewalk and then try to cross at Westmoreland. As I drove (crept) past Westmoreland I was a little nervous for everyone, there was a lot of confusion and the construction workers there were making things worse. It’s pretty awful.

[bentbike33]

@Tania 190061 wrote:

I’ve changed my mind on the “official” detour – I was sitting at the light yesterday around 5:10pm (in my car) heading towards DC and it seemed that most cyclists heading west would hit lee and then turn left onto the east sidewalk and then try to cross at Westmoreland. As I drove (crept) past Westmoreland I was a little nervous for everyone, there was a lot of confusion and the construction workers there were making things worse. It’s pretty awful.

The flaw in the official detour you observed is that it includes an obvious doubling back, which rational people will seek to avoid. The temporary trail in front of the condos and motel dumps you onto Lee Hwy well away from the Fairfax Dr. crosswalk. Rather than ride north on one sidewalk to get to the crosswalk at Fairfax, cross Lee Hwy, and ride south on the other sidewalk past where they just were, riders head for the Westmoreland light. The Columbia route hides the doubling back from the user by separating the back-and-forth segments by a large distance, as well as taking advantage of the curve in the road to disorient the user from realizing they have effectively doubled back to reach the W&OD at Little Falls St./Van Buren-Banneker Park.

[Subby]

Ffs do not ride your bicycle west on the sidewalk that goes along Fairfax Drive. It’s waaaay too narrow for bikes and there are a bunch of other peds that don’t want to get forced off into the street because you CANT go into the street because it’s one way the wrong way. Jefferson is like 5 seconds away.

[Steve O]

So this whole thing is a cluster, more or less of a problem depending on your abilities and experience and familiarity. If the weekend is really nice, it will be interesting to see how the thousands of recreational riders fare.

My huge pet peeve about detours is that the people who make them never, ever come and observe them in action. Many times they merely draw them on a map without actually testing them. Nor do they try them after they have been put in place to make sure the signage is clear.

In this case, I’m not sure who would be responsible for all that. VDOT? Falls Church? Arlington? The line between the two jurisdictions cuts through the middle of the detour.

[dasgeh]

@Steve O 190074 wrote:

So this whole thing is a cluster, more or less of a problem depending on your abilities and experience and familiarity. If the weekend is really nice, it will be interesting to see how the thousands of recreational riders fare.

My huge pet peeve about detours is that the people who make them never, ever come and observe them in action. Many times they merely draw them on a map without actually testing them. Nor do they try them after they have been put in place to make sure the signage is clear.

In this case, I’m not sure who would be responsible for all that. VDOT? Falls Church? Arlington? The line between the two jurisdictions cuts through the middle of the detour.

This is squarely a VDOT project. But since it impacts Arlington, I’ve been including Arlington on my emails — but I should also include Falls Church. Does FC have a bike/ped planner? Anyone have contact info?

[dkel]

@dasgeh 190075 wrote:

This is squarely a VDOT project. But since it impacts Arlington, I’ve been including Arlington on my emails — but I should also include Falls Church. Does FC have a bike/ped planner? Anyone have contact info?

You could try Paul Stoddard, the Chief Planner. Jeffery Sikes is another city planner, and is listed as the contact for Bike to Work day, for what that’s worth. Either is reached via email by using first initial together with last name at fallschurchva.gov.

[n18]

@dasgeh 190075 wrote:

but I should also include Falls Church. Does FC have a bike/ped planner? Anyone have contact info?

Here is FC Bicycle Master Plan page, clicking on “Staff Directory” shows emails and phones for the people that dkel mentioned.

[dasgeh]

@dkel 190077 wrote:

You could try Paul Stoddard, the Chief Planner. Jeffery Sikes is another city planner, and is listed as the contact for Bike to Work day, for what that’s worth. Either is reached via email by using first initial together with last name at fallschurchva.gov.

@n18 190079 wrote:

Here is FC Bicycle Master Plan page, clicking on “Staff Directory” shows emails and phones for the people that dkel mentioned.

Thanks to you both!

[TwoWheelsDC]

Just an observation, but there are no signs for the detour for riders coming from Westmoreland/Fairfax…learned that the hard way earlier this week.

[bentbike33]

Funny story. My neighbor rode his e-bike yesterday and passed me during our evening commute on the Custis while climbing the Sisters. He was amazed when he caught up to me again just outside our neighborhood and asked me how I did it. He had navigated the official detour while I had used Columbia, so I told him about it (and about this forum when he asked how I come to know about these things).

Anyway, I would suggest to VDOT, or whoever are the powers that be, the following 2 on-street bike detours: Eastbound, left on Little Falls, right on Fairfax, crosswalk at Lee Hwy to the temporary trail; Westbound, left on 19th/Westmoreland, left at the light onto Lee Hwy, right on Jefferson, right on Little Falls. Waiting for the Westmoreland light gets you onto Lee Hwy for the block before Jefferson with some cushion from the cars (in case of Lee Hwy gridlock, take the sidewalk to Jefferson).

We can leave Columbia for use by the kool kidz.

[Dan K]

Did the a round trip through the detour yesterday and found it to be a non-event.

Westbound, offered 3 detour choices at Lee Hwy: left, right, straight. Chose straight, took the sidewalk down Fairfax, where I encountered neither a single pedestrian, nor another cyclist (this was during latter part of morning rush hour). Left on Little Falls, then a right back onto WOD. Total piece of cake, all of it less than .4 miles.

One caution: be careful when entering the intersection at the end of the sidewalk on Fairfax as you make the left onto Little Falls. Northbound cars on Little Falls who are turning right onto Fairfax will be most likely roll through (i.e., not stop) at the stop sign — and will be looking LEFT for oncoming traffic on Fairfax. They won’t see you entering the intersection from their right.

Eastbound was even better, as riding on Fairfax itself rather than the sidewalk was no problem at all. I’m not a fan of street riding, but that short stretch was truly benign.

Bottomline: IMHO, very little pain for the ultimate payoff of one less big intersection to deal with.

Now if only Arlington would pony up the bucks for a bridge over the “hell on wheels (and foot!)” that are the Custis crossings of 29N (Lynn) and 29S (Ft Myer)! Knowing that ain’t gonna happen, perhaps things will be at least a bit better when the ongoing “improvements” are complete.

[Nadine]

@Dan K 190120 wrote:

Did the a round trip through the detour yesterday and found it to be a non-event.

Westbound, offered 3 detour choices at Lee Hwy: left, right, straight. Chose straight, took the sidewalk down Fairfax, where I encountered neither a single pedestrian, nor another cyclist (this was during latter part of morning rush hour). Left on Little Falls, then a right back onto WOD. Total piece of cake, all of it less than .4 miles.

One caution: be careful when entering the intersection at the end of the sidewalk on Fairfax as you make the left onto Little Falls. Northbound cars on Little Falls who are turning right onto Fairfax will be most likely roll through (i.e., not stop) at the stop sign — and will be looking LEFT for oncoming traffic on Fairfax. They won’t see you entering the intersection from their right.

Eastbound was even better, as riding on Fairfax itself rather than the sidewalk was no problem at all. I’m not a fan of street riding, but that short stretch was truly benign.

Bottomline: IMHO, very little pain for the ultimate payoff of one less big intersection to deal with.

Now if only Arlington would pony up the bucks for a bridge over the “hell on wheels (and foot!)” that are the Custis crossings of 29N (Lynn) and 29S (Ft Myer)! Knowing that ain’t gonna happen, perhaps things will be at least a bit better when the ongoing “improvements” are complete.

Thanks for the great detour review. I’m still gonna prefer Columbia st, but it’s nice to know the detour works… I ride with Babes on Bikes, and if the people I’m riding with wanna do the detour, we’ll probably do the detour. [emoji2368]

I’m so right there with you about the intersection of doom, Dan. I really think it shouldabin prioritized over this one… I think there are complicating structural issues with that one, though.

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