W&OD to Chantilly: Walney Rd (Robert Paris Ct)

[FFX_Hinterlands]

That section of Walney just north of Robert Paris Ct is narrow and steep. It would be OK southbound, but not northbound. The most direct way would be W&OD –> FFX Co Pkway –> neighborhood connectiont to Centerville Rd; however, that little part of Walney will make it tough. So Reston => Fairfax County Pkwy => Stringfellow Rd => 50 => Galesbury Rd => connector trail is probably a good way. There’s a good service rd on the south side of 50 after lees corner rd.

Be careful on those FFX Co Parkway road crossings on the sidepath. Good luck!

[mstone]

I would not go anywhere near lee’s corner or 50 in that area unless it’s a sunday morning. You want stringfellow to poplar tree to walney. At peak rush hour, stringfellow can be dicey, but there is a really screwed up MUP north of 50 and a sidewalk on the south side. Note that when you’re crossing the FFXCo Pkwy there’s a pedestrian signal only on the east side of stringfellow, but there’s no actual path south of the Pkwy so the signal is just there to trap you; best bet is to cross in the street, and then switch to the sidepath if the traffic gets dicey, especially at the light at 50. There’s a sidepath on the south/west side of walney, but the street itself is fairly wide and rideable. Flatlick is pretty easy to ride, but there are a couple of stream crossings that you’d want to avoid on a road bike and cleats (one you’ll have to portage over stepping stones, the other you can ride through). Worst is that flatlick will dump you out at walney & westfields in a spot that’s nearly impossible to cross. (Two multilane roads intersect, no crosswalk or pedestrian signal because, hey, roads are for cars. Ironic that there’s a trail intersection there, MUPs along the roads, it’s marked as a bike route in google maps, and THERE IS NO MARKED CROSSWALK ON WALNEY AT ALL BETWEEN THERE AND 28.) Best crossing for walney is at one of the low-traffic intersections between walney & westfields, but it’s also doable at poplar tree if you’re ready to run through the (at this time of year) waist high weeds to get to the MUP; I assume they didn’t bother to pave a curb cut because that would encourage people to cross the street.

Side note: the city folk complaining about bike lanes don’t know how bad bike infrastructure can get.

[Mikey]

I found this one lurking around on my now ignored blog:

http://www.mikesbike2work.blogspot.com/2010/06/may-24-25-two-meetings-out-in-chantilly.html

there is a picture of the FFX co parkway crossing though.

[vvill]

Thanks very much for all the input!

I’m now planning to take FFXCo Pwky to Stringfellow, and try some of the backstreet/bike paths in the neighbourhoods west of Stringfellow/north of 50 (not much Street View around there but Satellite View seems to indicate paved paths), hopefully pop out at 50/Lees Corner Rd, cross at the ped light and use the service road FFX_Hinterlands mentioned to get to Galesbury, then see if I can get through to Waverley Crossing Ln to Walney. (I have recessed MTB style cleats on my road bike.)

mstone – thanks for the tip about the ped crossing on Stringfellow. I might just use the traffic light to get across, and then walk the bike down Stringfellow a bit until I can cross safely.

[KS1G]

Not much to add – my commute from Herndon to Chantilly ends a bit west of your destination – I usually use Centerview Dr, Sullyfield Circle, and Brookfiled to Willard and across Rt 28. I’ll sometimes stay on Centreville onto Walney as far as Willard, so I can’t say 1st-hand how bad it is for riding. You can shorten your route a bit by exiting the W&OD somewhere on east side of Reston (several options – Hunter Station (if you like a short steep hill climb) or Sunrise Valley Dr probably best; get over to some combo of Glade/Lawyers (bike lane begins west of Staley Rd), McLaren, Viking, Pinecrest to the Fairfax County Parkway MUP.

Crossing 50 can get, ahem, interesting. There’s no ped x-walk button @ Centerview Dr, so I’m dependent on cars tripping the detection loops or playing frogger during 50’s left-turn-only segments (VERY tricky!). This is sometimes a problem during my AM commute. While busier, Centreville Rd get more frequent traffic light cycles and I think has a ped button. Stringfellow is also busy enough to get regular light cycles.

[mstone]

@vvill 28111 wrote:

Thanks very much for all the input!

I’m now planning to take FFXCo Pwky to Stringfellow, and try some of the backstreet/bike paths in the neighbourhoods west of Stringfellow/north of 50 (not much Street View around there but Satellite View seems to indicate paved paths), hopefully pop out at 50/Lees Corner Rd, cross at the ped light and use the service road FFX_Hinterlands mentioned to get to Galesbury, then see if I can get through to Waverley Crossing Ln to Walney. (I have recessed MTB style cleats on my road bike.)[/quote]

If you really want to do paths, your best bet is probably stringfellow to the first right on coralberry, then make your way over to foxhole and the path that goes by lee’s corner elementary. (You can see the relevant paths on google satellite view.) It gets a bit steep/rough in spots but isn’t too bad, though will be fairly slow. Cross hollinger & go right to cross at lee’s corner. Don’t try to ride down lee’s corner north of 50; it’s the one stretch not marked as rideable in google for a reason (it’s narrow, with a bad sightline around the corner and cars going too fast). From galesbury take the short stretch of trail to get to waverly crossing and cross walney there. But, if you’re over at lees corner rather than stringfellow at 50, it’s probably quicker to just skip galesbury and take lees corner to fillingame right to walney. (South of 50 lees corner is wider and calmer–parked cars/residential–than just north of 50.) The longest part will be taking the trails rather than stringfellow to 50.

Quote:

mstone – thanks for the tip about the ped crossing on Stringfellow. I might just use the traffic light to get across, and then walk the bike down Stringfellow a bit until I can cross safely.

Note there is no paved shoulder there, and the gravel mostly disappears also–plan to walk in the grass.

[vvill]

Thanks, yeah I saw the Coralberry option with the bike path routes and might try that, and I did Street View that section of Lee’s Corner north of 50 – definitely not riding that! If everything looks less busy/scary then I’ll go the more direct route on Stringfellow => Fillingame.

@mstone 28122 wrote:

Note there is no paved shoulder there, and the gravel mostly disappears also–plan to walk in the grass.

I don’t know how else to cross there – if there’s only a ped light on the east side of 50, what can you do? Cross halfway and then get in the left turn lane (going west) with traffic?

[mstone]

I get in the street in stringfellow court & cross that way. It isn’t pleasant, but the best I can say about the pedestrian signal is that the county at one time planned a crossing there and either ran out of money or forgot to finish after putting in the signal. The road is wide/clear enough there that you can see what’s going on and plan accordingly. Once you’re across the road is plenty wide enough for cars to go around. Where stringfellow can get dicey is further south at the light on 50; whether I stay in the street there or hop onto the mup depends on what time of day it is–mostly the danger there is of the “getting almost to a red light and then having cars zooming on all sides if it turns green” sort, exacerbated by a sound wall that hampers planning ahead. The lanes are wide enough it shouldn’t be a problem, but people are dumb. If it seems too busy you can bail to the side path on the east side and cross 50 as a ped. South of 50 stringfellow has sidewalk / path on both sides until fair lakes.

[vvill]

Looks like I’ll be trying this another day. Alarm had me ready to leave at 6:10am – I ate an appropriate breakfast, stepped out the door with the bike, lights, backpack, Garmin on and ready, and then I realized it was pouring rain. 😡

(I don’t mind riding in the rain if prepared but I had the wrong bike, wrong gear and I’m not prepared when the route is new. Phooey.)

[Author]

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