[Bike-Ped Manager]

The segment of the Four Mile Run Trail between US1 and S. Eads Street is now OPEN!
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[Bike-Ped Manager]

No, the southbound bike lane is not going away. This is one of three consecutive bus stops along Army Navy Drive (southbound) that are being made ADA accessible in coordination with a repaving project along the corridor. After it gets paved (later in the summer, I’m told) a new striping plan will adjust all the travel lanes accordingly. The silver lining to all this disruption is that as part of this re-striping process, the northbound bike lane will be converted to a buffered/protected bike lane wherever there is room to do so.

[Bike-Ped Manager]

Thanks all for your suggestions. Not everything people shared will find its way into the trail snow clearing plan. But the parts along the corridors I listed definitely will. Keep an ear open this fall for more thorough information about Arlington’s trail snow clearing plans.

[Bike-Ped Manager]

Yes, the project has been delayed quite a bit. The developers who own the bridge and the land around it (yes, including the trail, FYI!) have had to totally re-do the schedule.
The first phase of trail closures are starting very soon. Probably this week.
The schedule (as of December 17, 2013) indicates the Potomac Yard section of the Four Mile Run Trail that runs between the Mt. Vernon Trail and Shirlington will be closed during most people’s commuting hours (5am to 7pm Monday thru. Friday; and 8:30am to 6:30pm Saturdays) until the end of March.
From late March to late June the trail will be completely closed to traffic.
A detour around the immediate work zone will be provided. But many riders may find it better to pick alternative routes to avoid the area altogether. A good alternate route for north and DC-bound riders coming from the W&OD trail and points west is to leave the Four Mile Run trail at S. Eads Street (at the water pollution control plant) and take the bike lanes north up to 18th St. S. From there go east on 18th Street S. to Crystal Drive where you can pick up the link to the Mt. Vernon Trail at the water park near the VRE station.
The official construction detour – which was designed for ADA compliance, not necessarily bicycles – diverts traffic off of the trail onto the Jeff Davis Hwy west side sidewalk and also at the new switchback ramps to cross US1 at the S. Glebe Road signal. Incorporated into the switchback trail is a flight of stairs that include a set of bike rails that cyclists can also utilize.
For the most up to date information, trail users are encouraged to check http://www.novaregion.org. The demolition project is being managed by the Potomac Yard Development LLC. Issues and comments should be directed to stephen.collins@pultegroup.com

[Bike-Ped Manager]

Most of these access controlled streets were created before Arlington’s comprehensive adoption of “complete streets” and routine bike accommodation. If designed today, streets like Oakland (both North and South!) would have allowed for much better bike mobility. The question then is how to get these older closures retrofitted to allow safer bike access and still meet their original intended purpose of filtering out automobile traffic. Re-designing them is usually relatively easy. So we’re really just talking about prioritization and resources (staff and construction capital) at this point. Fortunately, we’ve been working on knocking these out as time and money permits. Working with Arlington’s Water, Sewer & Street maintenance crews (WSS), we were able to fix at least two bike blockages last year. This year, we should be fixing at least a couple more near Ballston. We’ll put the two Oakland’s on the list too. People should send candidates for bike blockage removal to info@bikearlington.com and we’ll see what we can do with our friends in WSS to get them fixed.

[Bike-Ped Manager]

If I understand the question correctly, you want to know if recommended bike routes are ever temporarily altered to account for disruptions created by construction activity? The answer so far has been “No”. These are long-term recommended routes and we plan on putting signage in place (see discussions on Wayfinding) to more or less lock them in. Every new construction project is required to have an approved Maintenance Of Travel plan (MOT), which must accommodate pedestrian and bike access. Sometimes these include detours. And these detours will sometimes change depending on what phase of construction they’re in. Of course, everyone knows construction is an ugly process and even the best MOT plan is never as good as having a finished street again. But generally we don’t alter routes for what are understood to be temporary conditions. (Yes, even if temporary means a year or more!) If room allows, most new development projects are required to provide better bike access than before. So there are very few (if any) situations where a road would be downgraded as a result of new development.

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