Woodrow Wilson Bridge Detour – Beware

[txgoonie]

I went by this for the first time in a few weeks. OMFG! The “detour” if you’re trying to go SB under the bridge doesn’t direct you as to which side of the chainlink fence you’re supposed to be on (it’s paved and accessible on both). I saw people get trapped on the wrong side and have to double back the entire way. It happens again if you take the trail ramp – the detour traps you there blocking access to the trail. If you want to go SB on the trail you either have to go all the way back down the ramp and up the apartment building’s driveway or you could jump off the curb and salmon up the GW Parkway – uh, no thank you. Wow, what a cluster-you-know-what!

[bikesnick]

yes, the detour signs are confusing.
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[Rootchopper]

@txgoonie 23425 wrote:

I went by this for the first time in a few weeks. OMFG! The “detour” if you’re trying to go SB under the bridge doesn’t direct you as to which side of the chainlink fence you’re supposed to be on (it’s paved and accessible on both). I saw people get trapped on the wrong side and have to double back the entire way. It happens again if you take the trail ramp – the detour traps you there blocking access to the trail. If you want to go SB on the trail you either have to go all the way back down the ramp and up the apartment building’s driveway or you could jump off the curb and salmon up the GW Parkway – uh, no thank you. Wow, what a cluster-you-know-what!

I have been focused on the underpass at the bottom of the ramp. Just to console you, the detour changes every day. Someday’s the fence is there, some days not. Sometimes there are plates on the path, sometimes boards of plywood, sometimes dirt transitions over curbs, sometimes bollards, and on and on.

As for the top of the ramp where the picture in this thread was taken, all I can say is “I surrender.” The curb cut opposite this is taken up by a temporary warning sign that makes no sense. It says the sidewalk is closed with arrows into Washington Street and down the apartment access road. You have to ride around the dang thing to go in either direction! And you can’t cross Washington Street there anyway. It’s such a mess I can’t describe it.

[Certifried]

A friend at work, who I have been able to now talk in to not only buying a bike but to also start commuting 17 miles , was supposed to ride over the Wilson bridge today. He got to the bridge, and he believed the bike path was completely closed. He biked up in to DC, then across the Frederick-Douglas bridge instead, adding about 8 miles to his commute.

Was the bridge actually open to bicycle traffic? He says he spoke to a construction worker who told him the bike path was completely closed until 3pm.

[KLizotte]

Cut and paste from the DOT listserv I am on:

As you may know, on Friday TSA will meet with VDOT and representatives of the Washington area bicyclist community. We will discuss security issues associated with VDOT placement of vehicle bollards on the Mount Vernon bike path as it crosses beneath the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

TSA was invited by VDOT. Tarsem Lal from FHWA has also been invited by VDOT, but I do not know if he will attend. Do you know if anyone from FHWA plans to attend? We will meet at the site at 1pm. Please advise.

Thanks.

Ernesto L. Acosta
Surface Division
Office of Security Policy and Industry Engagement Transportation Security Administration

Tel: 571-227-3212

Cell: 202-570-3123

[Author]

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