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@Justin Antos 6194 wrote:

Intriguing… can you post a map of the route from MVT to Memorial Bridge by going under the Humpback Bridge?

Except for part of the route through the marina parking lot and along the Pentagon north parking lot, it’s all on trails.

The blue spot is the cross-walk we’ve been talking about.

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@Dirt 6157 wrote:

The difficult part is getting from the Mount Vernon Trail onto memorial bridge. To do so, you must cross GW Parkway at a cross-walk where the speed limit is 45(?) and traffic is usually going 55+mph and an access ramp where traffic is merging and dealing with a crosswalk while going much faster than they should.

Except now, you can avoid that cross-walk and take the tunnel under the Humpback Bridge. Is it safer? Well, you might get hit in the marina parking lot, but I consider that less of a risk than speeding/distracted drivers on the parkway. Is it longer? Yes, if you’re heading to Memorial Bridge; but, as I learned a long time ago, sometimes cycling means taking a longer (and possibly safer) route.

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@uswebpro 6132 wrote:

ATTN: DC BIKERS
Do not use the pedestrian crossing on the GW (George Washington) Memorial Parkway. It’s a FALSE sense of safety. Today with 2 cars completely stopped a pickup truck barreled through both of them. Thus pushing both (stopped) cars completely though the pedestrian crossing. Luckily the girl that was about to cross waited. I was watching this as it happened. Normally I just go through as the 1st car begins to stop.

I used to cross there about four days a week, around 3:45 p.m. If a car slowed to stop, I waved it on — I don’t trust the cars in the other lane to stop. I would just wait for a good gap. The normal wait was 1 -2 minutes, the longest I waited might have been three minutes. No wait? Maybe twice a month.

Now, the tunnel under the Humpback Bridge is open and I see no need to ever use this crossing again. Sure, I can think of times it might be shorter, but as long as we have drivers who get more mpg than they have IQ points, it’s not worth the hassle.

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@StopMeansStop 5975 wrote:

The GW parkway situation is the scariest. Someone died a few months ago because a car slammed on the brakes and the car behind went off the road and took a jogger out.

Was that at a designated crossing? The other big problem with the GW Parkway is the people that decide to cross it, like just north of Memorial Bridge.

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@Dirt 5971 wrote:

I stop at the red lights. I come very close to stopping at the stop signs. If there are obviously no cars or cross traffic, I’ll roll through. I come close to getting rear-ended almost every day on the Custis trail when I stop at signs and red lights.

Change “almost every day on” to “most of the time when I ride” and that describes my experience, too.

Just the other day, I was waiting for traffic — not on the Custis Trail — when someone rolled up behind me. Obviously impatient, I told him to go ahead. (I’ve seen this nimrod before and he routinely runs red lights.) He zipped right out and almost got hit. The driver looked at me and I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head.

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Natural selection — let the cars take care of the nimrods on the trail who refuse to stop. (This is also the solution for cyclists who run red lights.)

Making it safer involves common sense and that’s no longer common. If there is a STOP sign, then stop — whether you’re a driver or a cyclist. Just slowing down or a “rolling stop” (and that’s akin to “a little bit pregnant”) doesn’t cut it. That said, on the MVT, if there are no cars or a sufficient gap, I don’t stop. but I always plan on stopping. If there are cars, I stop. If a car stops and motions me across, I usually motion for it to go ahead. (I don’t trust the cars in the other lane to stop.) I rarely ever actually dismount and walk my bike across,

Before proceeding, after stopping, look both ways. If the road is one-way, as a cyclist, you can ignore one direction, although I see drivers ignore one-sway streets all the time. (Yes, daily.) As a driver, the trails are two-way, so a cyclist can be coming from either direction. All to often, a drier making a right doesn’t look to the right. (In fact, I assume they will not, whether I am on my bike or walking.)

You mention the W&OD and MVT, but the Custis Trail is where cyclists blow though intersections and drivers, especially at Lynn Street, don’t even bother to look at the crosswalk when they’re making a right on red.

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Don’t get me started on scooters. In Arlingotn, on my bike, I’ve had encounters with them ni bike lanes and on the Custis Trail. (As a pedestrian, I’ve had to dodge one on a sidewalk, too.)

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@acc 5763 wrote:

This is hands down the worst intersection I deal with on a semi-regular basis.

I agree. I usually only encounter it in the afternoon, heading west. When I rode it daily, in the afternoons, I came close to getting hit about three out of five days. Normally, the light changes and the cars go, regardless of whether someone — pedestrian or cyclist — is in the crosswalk. The change, a while back, to have the “Walk” signal lead the green light has only added tot he problem. Cars looking to make a right on red and head towards Key Bridge, see the gap caused by the cars stopping, and go, without looking.

A while back, at least five years ago, someone with the county was stopping cyclists and and interviewing them, for some cycling PSAs. (This was back when Charlie Denny was still around and he said it was not his office.) As I was waiting for the light, I told the crew that it was the most dangerous intersection in the county for bikes and they acted surprised. In less than five minutes, we watched three cyclists almost get hit by SUVs. Alas, while the interviews were filmed, they did not film traffic.

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@KLizotte 5753 wrote:

(though I was quite disappointed in the intersection “improvements” recently made to the Columbia Pike/S. Joyce St intersection – not particularly well designed IMHO)

Out of curiousity, what’s wrong with it? I pass through it every morning and many afternoons on my commute and other than when they changed how the light cycles, a couple of months back, I don’t see any difference. I’m not coming up S. Joyce St, but that doesn’t look to be any different.

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@Greenbelt 5346 wrote:

Slightly off the already weird topic, but I’d appreciate tips from night trail commuters on what lights to get, and any other tips (besides watch out for critters). Next winter, I want to start riding home after dark (can’t get off work early enough to get through the trails before full dark). Do you use both a helmet-mounted light and a big handlebar mounted light too?

Something bright enough to light a trail with no other light source around. (I am currently using a NiteRider TriNewt, which replaced my NiteRider Digital Pro12E.) Mount it on the bike.A helmet-mounted lgiht can be a secondary light, if you think you need one (and is helpful if you need to fix a flat).

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@creadinger 5345 wrote:

Tell me that that was within a week of Halloween??

Nope. She was in her mid-20s, the car had Maryland plates.

I get asked for directions all the time. Although she was dressed like a cat, she didn’t seem to be an idiot, like some of the people who asl me for directions. About two months ago, someone asled me for directions and my response was “a mile and a half, straight ahead.” A mile later, they pull up next to me and ask. “This way, right? We got lost.” This time, I told them “it’s thei third light” and then watched as they drove through the fourth light and out of sight.

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@KLizotte 5336 wrote:

You must have been a hunter in a former life. The deer are getting revenge! Maybe you should spray yourself with eau de coyote.

I would think that would run the risk of attracting a coyote. (Yes, they have been sighted in the area.)

@KLizotte 5336 wrote:

I see a ton of bunnies every day (they are so cute!) but have yet to see a single one place a paw on the trail. I think they are smarter than the Kamikaze Kiddies.

Other than one I used to see almost daily on the Custis Trail, several years ago, I don’t think I’ve seen more than a handful in the last five or ten years. I’m riding 2:30 – 4:00 a.m., so maybe it’s too early for the bunnies. I don’t see many racoons, either. I see foxes all the time, including one in D.C.

Oh, there was a time I was stopped by Catwoman and asked for directions…

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@CCrew 5087 wrote:

Tell the truth now Ann. You just made your bike a him because he’s hot and dead sexy!

And needs a woman to get him going?

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To echo JustinW, where are you on Columbia Pike? Another option might be S 2nd St and through Fort Myer. While I don’t go that way (and did not when I lived on S 2nd St), I know some people who do.

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@PotomacCyclist 4784 wrote:

Arlington is planning to build/designate “bike boulevards” on a couple streets that are parallel to Columbia Pike. But that probably won’t happen right away.

Even when they are done, traveling east, once you get to South Courthouse Road — if you’re using S 9th St — you’re back on Columbia Pike. I take that stretch, down to the Pentagon, every morning, but I am lucky enough to be riding while virtually everyone else is still asleep.

@PotomacCyclist 4784 wrote:

Central Arlington isn’t as bike-friendly as FMR and Custis/Wilson/Clarendon Blvd. I haven’t even found any good north-south routes through that area, between Pentagon City and Clarendon/Court House. I’d be interested to here if other people know about good routes.

I’d argue that once you get off designated trails, Arlington is not bike friendly at all. I have far more “problems” — inattentive drivers, scooters in bike lanes, etc. — riding in Arlington, than I do in D.C. To go north-south, I take a winding course through neighborhood streets, resigning myself to a trip that is longer than it needs to be.

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