Working in Anacostia, where to live that makes for easy reasonable bike commute?

[ShawnoftheDread]

@americancyclo 38474 wrote:

I’ve ridden the part of the Suitland Parkway Trail that is on that map, and it was not enjoyable on a road bike. Trail was bumpy and overgrown, shards of glass everywhere. I hope that has changed in the months since summer, but I’d stick to surface streets, at least in that area.

I don’t think he’d have to go as far as the Suitland Parkway portion of that route. Get off Mississippi at Wheeler and go up to MLK. Or if there’s a back gate near the metro station, use 15th Street.

[Mark Blacknell]

As noted above, the Suitland Parkway sidepath/trail is absolute crap.

If I had a military ID, I’d roll straight to and through Bolling, up Malcolm X, and over on MLK. The Blue Plains/MLK is a good alternative, but pretty sure it’s hillier than the Bolling route.

[Terpfan]

Given what you said about driving in sometimes and biking along with the ability to bike through BAFB because of your badge then I will be among the minority who thinks that living south of 495 along MVT actually makes sense. Anacostia’s reputation is probably a decade behind where it is today. It’s not somewhere I would be exploring back sidestreets at 2am in the morning, but I’ve ridden along a few streets and the park along the river is beautiful (and underutilized given everyone’s impression of Anacostia). With that said, I can’t honestly say I’ve ever attempted Wilson Bridge north into DC. The bridge itself is a very nice ride though. 500k wise, you could go to some neighborhoods south of Alexandria (still called Alexandria) on Fairfax side and be on MVT as well as keep good schools. The city schools are eh.

[aflapr]

There have been a few trial rides over to the new complex, you might be able to find some info on the CG Portal St E’s page.

If you send me a private message, I should be able to hook you up with folks who live in Alexandria who are planning to continue to bike in. They may also be able to point you in the direction of others who live in Arlington, DC, MD. I’m in Ballston and we’re not moving, so I’m not much of a help.

[brownnugen]

@Terpfan 38490 wrote:

Given what you said about driving in sometimes and biking along with the ability to bike through BAFB because of your badge then I will be among the minority who thinks that living south of 495 along MVT actually makes sense. Anacostia’s reputation is probably a decade behind where it is today. It’s not somewhere I would be exploring back sidestreets at 2am in the morning, but I’ve ridden along a few streets and the park along the river is beautiful (and underutilized given everyone’s impression of Anacostia). With that said, I can’t honestly say I’ve ever attempted Wilson Bridge north into DC. The bridge itself is a very nice ride though. 500k wise, you could go to some neighborhoods south of Alexandria (still called Alexandria) on Fairfax side and be on MVT as well as keep good schools. The city schools are eh.

I’m not considering living in DC. Some people recommended Montgomery or Anne Arundel County in Maryland. Montgomery County is a possibility (Silver Spring or Takoma), but I am thinking more of the Mount Vernon area because of the closer proximity to other military bases and I heard the taxes are much worse there. I think Anne Arundel would just be too far to bike in, so I would end up having to drive everyday. Plus, at the new work site, unless you are a Flag officer or SES or in a car/vanpool, there is no parking for you.

BTW, I currently commute year-round in the UP, so I already have all sorts of tires for my cyclocross bike. I have 700×23 road tires, 700×28 (I think) Gatorskins, 700×32 xcross tires, and 700×32 studded Schwalbes. Hopefully, those will get me through whatever the area has in store for me.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@brownnugen 38500 wrote:

I’m not considering living in DC. Some people recommended Montgomery or Anne Arundel County in Maryland. Montgomery County is a possibility (Silver Spring or Takoma), but I am thinking more of the Mount Vernon area because of the closer proximity to other military bases and I heard the taxes are much worse there. I think Anne Arundel would just be too far to bike in, so I would end up having to drive everyday. Plus, at the new work site, unless you are a Flag officer or SES or in a car/vanpool, there is no parking for you.

Oh man, I suspect the drive from Anne Arundel would be absolutely miserable…maybe less so from Montgomery County, but I still think you’d be stuck having to come down the GW parkway to 395/295, all of which are totally gridlocked during commuting hours. You could do a clockwise drive around the beltway, but that’s a LOT of extra miles. For driving, I think Mt. Vernon wouldn’t be too bad, but I don’t know what commuter traffic is like on the Wilson bridge and DC295 north, but I suspect they aren’t horrible. Coming up the GW Parkway to 395 wouldn’t be optimal though, unless you were going in pretty early. If you look at points west of the city, such as Arlington or Fairfax, keep in mind that I-66 eastbound is HOV ONLY (as in, no single occupancy cars on the road, period) in the AM, and westbound is HOV only in the PM. Thankfully, your bike commuting options are pretty great from the west.

[consularrider]

@TwoWheelsDC 38502 wrote:

… If you look at points west of the city, such as Arlington or Fairfax, keep in mind that I-66 westbound is HOV ONLY (as in, no single occupancy cars on the road, period) in the AM, and eastbound is HOV only in the PM. Thankfully, your bike commuting options are pretty great from the west.

Actually I-66 is the opposite, eastbound HOV2 only in the AM and westbound HOV2 only in the PM. Should be HOV only both ways for the rush hour. Of course, as a bike commuter that doesn’t affect me, just my wife who carpools most days. :p

[consularrider]

@brownnugen 38500 wrote:

… BTW, I currently commute year-round in the UP, so I already have all sorts of tires for my cyclocross bike. I have 700×23 road tires, 700×28 (I think) Gatorskins, 700×32 xcross tires, and 700×32 studded Schwalbes. Hopefully, those will get me through whatever the area has in store for me.

Is that on one bike or 3/4 bikes?

[TwoWheelsDC]

@consularrider 38504 wrote:

Actually I-66 is the opposite, eastbound HOV2 only in the AM and westbound HOV2 only in the PM. Should be HOV only both ways for the rush hour. Of course, as a bike commuter that doesn’t affect me, just my wife who carpools most days. :p

Ooops, that’s what I meant!

[brownnugen]

@consularrider 38505 wrote:

Is that on one bike or 3/4 bikes?

Those are all for one bike. I also have an older MTB with semi-slick tires as well as regular MTB tires. For a commuting purposes, I hope I can stick with the CX bike since it’ll be significantly faster and I’ve already have a rack and panniers for it.

[Amalitza]

@TwoWheelsDC 38502 wrote:

For driving, I think Mt. Vernon wouldn’t be too bad, but I don’t know what commuter traffic is like on the Wilson bridge and DC295 north, but I suspect they aren’t horrible.

The Wilson Bridge is pretty good these days, but I’m skeptical of 295. I’m not generally on it (I cross the bridge and then head south) but the once or twice I’ve happened to be in DC and headed back out in the vicinity of evening rush, 295 has been pretty backed up.

[thucydides]

@brownnugen 38500 wrote:

I’m not considering living in DC. Some people recommended Montgomery or Anne Arundel County in Maryland. Montgomery County is a possibility (Silver Spring or Takoma), but I am thinking more of the Mount Vernon area because of the closer proximity to other military bases and I heard the taxes are much worse there. I think Anne Arundel would just be too far to bike in, so I would end up having to drive everyday. Plus, at the new work site, unless you are a Flag officer or SES or in a car/vanpool, there is no parking for you.

Let me think through a couple of options. You suggested the Mount Vernon area. You’re right, there’s lots of military installations down that way so I’m sure that’s a nice resource for your family. Plus you can find good schools down there. Commuting by car you’re talking about coming up the GW Parkway and then probably across the Wilson and up. If you’re an early bird that’s great in the morning. I could see some pm commutes being painful. (I used to live in Alexandria.) Another downside to the Mount Vernon area is the lack of Metro rail access. Biking I’m going to suggest something a bit different. You could come up the Mount Vernon trail but rather than cross the Wilson you could go all the up to the 14th and then come back down through the SW Waterfront area, cross the Frederick Douglass, and then head south straight into work. By bypassing the Wilson you miss some difficult street routes and you skip the dodgier parts of Anacostia. I can think of three downsides: 1) the southern part of the MVT is narrow and twisty and prone to unpredictable tourist traffic in the heart of summer; 2) you’re definitely adding some miles. Eyeballing it on a map it looks to be like it’s about 19 miles. Going over the Wilson through Anacostia is probably something like 15; & 3) The Douglass Bridge isn’t great. My memory of that is it has a narrow sidewalk that crosses over. Driving in the lane is not really an option I don’t think. No doubt people can point out where this idea is wacky. (Oh another plus, you can easily detour to Hains Point if you feel like playing hooky. :cool:)

If you buy my biking idea then this also makes Arlington and places like Vienna and Falls Church viable. You can easily bike from those locations and go over the 14th Street bridge and continue on in the way I described. You’ve got terrific schools in Arlington (as well as in V and FC). Plus you’d have great Metro rail access. You don’t have as much in the way of military installations (there’s Fort Myer in Arlington). As some have noted, I-66 has HOV restrictions. So if you’re driving in alone that’s an issue. However, if you were in North Arlington you could easily take GW Parkway to the 14th Street Bridge. If you were in South Arlington you’d be taking 395 so the HOV isn’t an issue.

I know you’re getting lots of opinions. I’m very happy that I chose to rent before buying as it let me access things carefully. But moving around a lot is a pain, especially if it means transferring kids across schools. Good luck.

[Greenbelt]

I don’t know if this has been mentioned above, but when the final section of the Anacostia Tributary trail system is complete, it will provide an uninterrupted bike highway from the Northeast suburbs into SE DC along the river. I’m totally looking forward to that!

http://www.thewashcycle.com/anacostia_tributary_trails/

[krazygl00]

I’m not going to say it is impossible to commute there, but it could be a challenge, especially when compared to the rest of DC. A picture speaks a thousand words:

[IMG]http://cornbread.com/~pedrick/images/Capture.PNG[/IMG]

I’ve ridden from Alexandria over the Wilson bridge right up through Anacostia. Dirt’s route that ShawnoftheDread posted earlier shows him going up through Oxon Hill Farms; I don’t know how he did that because I tried the same after scouting the route and found all possibilities to be closed off once I got there. The only route I could figure out at the time with my GPS took me up Indian Head Hwy/S. Capitol St./MLK, and that was not a very nice ride. I would only ride that again if I had no other option; I certainly wouldn’t do it for a recreational ride. If it were my commute I would be constantly trying to find other options. My experience was the same as others have mentioned; four lanes with little or no shoulder, lots of fast traffic and lots of road debris.

It could be that if you had time to scout a bit better you could find some neighborhood routes that would make it doable. But if you’re in or around Mt Vernon your commute is already approaching 15 miles which for me would be the limit, time-wise. Trying to snake through a bunch of residential areas may make it impractical.

[Terpfan]

@brownnugen 38500 wrote:

I’m not considering living in DC. Some people recommended Montgomery or Anne Arundel County in Maryland. Montgomery County is a possibility (Silver Spring or Takoma), but I am thinking more of the Mount Vernon area because of the closer proximity to other military bases and I heard the taxes are much worse there. I think Anne Arundel would just be too far to bike in, so I would end up having to drive everyday. Plus, at the new work site, unless you are a Flag officer or SES or in a car/vanpool, there is no parking for you.

BTW, I currently commute year-round in the UP, so I already have all sorts of tires for my cyclocross bike. I have 700×23 road tires, 700×28 (I think) Gatorskins, 700×32 xcross tires, and 700×32 studded Schwalbes. Hopefully, those will get me through whatever the area has in store for me.

I would agree for general living purposes. The taxes are lower in Nova (albeit, I would estimate the total savings at most a 3-5k for a dual-income family), Fairfax County schools are essentially the same as Montgomery County schools, and well, you can buy beer at the grocery store or gas station in Virginia which you cannot do in Maryland (ok, I’m definitely biased). It’s interesting when you plug in your biking routes from Old Town (where I live), it tells you to go up MVT to 14th St and then back down waterfront. Whereas plugging in Dyke Marsh just south of OT tells you to go across the Wilson Bridge. For what it’s worth, here’s what google said to do:

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Dyke+Marsh+Wildlife+Preserve,+Fort+Hunt,+VA&daddr=st.+elizabeth’s+hospital+dc&hl=en&ll=38.833273,-76.994162&spn=0.010764,0.024419&sll=38.786472,-76.996651&sspn=0.086172,0.195351&geocode=FTuGTwIdYlJo-yFfwQLFrYeNAympyQKUKbC3iTFfwQLFrYeNAw%3BFa3DUAId3iJp-yEWMaI_Sk8CqynhqLRk8rm3iTEWMaI_Sk8Cqw&oq=dyke+marsh+wildlife+pre&gl=us&dirflg=b&mra=ls&t=m&z=16&lci=bike

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