[dasgeh]

Have we discussed that corner on the DC-NE corner of the bridge sidepath yet? The completely blind 90 degree left you have to make if you’re headed east (right if you’re headed west)? Seems like a collision waiting to happen with more than modest traffic.

[dasgeh]

@Yule 181982 wrote:

Google Map seems to show a straight shot, short crow-fly distance from the Netherlands Carillon area to the terminus of the now-disused (sadly wasted potential) downstream side of the bridge.

Yes, this is what WABA has been calling for, and what will (hopefully) make it into Arlington’s Bike Element.

@Yule 181982 wrote:

I can see a ‘veto’ on this dream-scenario proposal, even if a magic wand could be waved to put it in tomorrow at no cost, for several predictable reasons. it would put more DC-commuter bicycle traffic through the Iwo Jima Memorial area and potentially past Arlington Cemetery, and for the historic views issue others have raised (which I honestly don’t really understand; there are noisy and wide highways everywhere around these so-caled historic zones, do they not detract from all the historicness?). Then there is the strong belief, from some corners — not from the Arlington side but from federal people seems more likely — that bicycles are best dealt with by segregating them off onto relatively limited-access trails. (Finally, there is the potential NIMBY-type fear that criminally inclined from that side of the river could use such an easy walkable crossing to target people or homes in the high-rent residential area behind Iwo Jima and beyond in Arlington, an area that is, as of now, cocooned off to an extent by the GW Parkway as a natural wall)

These are not reasons that folks in Arlington resist bridges like this. In fact, TONS of people bike past Iwo Jima to use the 110 trail to get to Memorial Bridge. I did it last night.

The main reasons this won’t happen quickly are:
1) Cost.
2) “Viewshed.”
3) Cost.

[dasgeh]

@zsionakides 181976 wrote:

If we’re only fixing one of the barriers on the TR bridge, my vote is for the one on the water side. That’s a long drop with little chance of survival. At least on the highway side, the cars might slam on their brakes to avoid or limit the impact.

But the one on the water side comes up to one’s torso. Less chance of falling over it.

[dasgeh]

@jrenaut 181946 wrote:

ADOPTING Vision Zero is easy – DC did it! But actually implementing policies that get us moving in the general direction is REALLY REALLY HARD. I mean, I assume it is, I can’t say for sure because I don’t think DC has actually tried. We have a lot of Twitter hashtags, though

True, but adopting is one step in a hard process. Working with a County that won’t even hold meetings on how we can possibly adopt it… that’s even harder.

[dasgeh]

@Yule 181960 wrote:

What can Arlington County do.

They can talk to NPS and DC, and they can talk to their Congressional representation. ABAC advises the County Manager, so that would be the thrust of it. If individual citizens wanted to directly contact, say, Rep. Beyer, Sen. Kaine and Sen. Warner, well, that wouldn’t be the BAC doing it. If there were a public letter to the County Manager from the BAC outlining the issues, it may help individuals.

A couple clarifications to the rest of your post: while Columbia Island (the west side of Memorial Bridge) is in DC, it belongs to the National Park Service, specifically George Washington Memorial Park. The land on the west side of the TR Bridge is in Virginia, but also largely belongs to the National Park Service (same park). A bit of it belongs to VDOT. Arlington can’t build something on NPS or VDOT land. It could potentially pay for something built on either, with appropriate permissions.

For the TR Bridge, I think a simple improvement would be to replace the low barrier between the path and the road, which now sits on the path’s elevated bed, with a nice tall barrier that sits in the shoulder of the roadway. Seems like a relatively cheap way to get more protection and an extra foot for the path.

[dasgeh]

I think Yule’s description is a bit unfair. The MVT is the access point for most of the trips from Arlington to DC, and while it could be better, it’s not apocalyptic. Except for the Trollheim, which is worth a mention. The TR Bridge is way too narrow and the barriers are a joke, but Foggy Bottom (where it lets out on the DC side) is a great place to bike.

I think it’s worth a discussion at ABAC: because of work by NPS, it’s incredibly hard to bike from Arlington to DC right now. What is Arlington doing about it.

Anyone want to write a draft letter?

[dasgeh]

Sorry, what I really meant to say was:

If it please, I offer a friendly amendment:

Arlington should adopt Vision Zero.

You know, because we haven’t. 😡

[dasgeh]

@rcannon100 181922 wrote:

In Arlington, as a part of Vision Zero, all roads that are found to have car traffic >= 30 mph must have a sidewalk on at least one side of the road.

It’s a great idea. I can only think of one that doesn’t meet this — Glebe Road near Chain Bridge.

Are there others? There aren’t many roads with speed limits >= 30, so shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

[dasgeh]

@Yule 181917 wrote:

Which leads me to wonder why the ebikes with dead batteries but otherwise running fine are not allowed to be used as “non-e” bikes? The “electric assist” is optional, in that you have to press a button to turn it on, but once the battery is gone, the bike is locked up even if it otherwise runs fine.

I assume because allowing it to travel after the low battery has been detected would make it harder to replace the battery.

I imagine there’s data to inform how much of a problem this is now, and to help predict whether it would be a problem with more ebikes.

[dasgeh]

Ah, but they’ve added flags at the highly dangerous crossing.

Flags.

[dasgeh]

downstream side will be closed. Hopefully, they’ll put in a HAWK signal before someone is struck in that crosswalk on the NE side.

[dasgeh]

Oh, wait. I just realized that the two-waying of Fort Myer, and the moving of GWMP access from Lynn to Fort Myer would CLONE THE INTERSECTION OF DOOM.

I don’t think we want two intersections of doom…

[dasgeh]

@dbb 181810 wrote:

I got a note from the NPS re: the bridge closing.

“If you haven’t noticed, the connection at the stop of the stairs is open for use – just took a day.”

Can your sources let us know whether/when/which Memorial Bridge sidepath will be closed?

[dasgeh]

@consularrider 181704 wrote:

APS school bus left crossed me this morning at 4 Mile Run Dr and George Mason. At 8:40 am I was proceeding west straight through the intersection on green behind a line of cars and the bus driver just went ahead made her left turn after the last car cleared forcing me to grab my brakes and stop a couple feet short of the bus. WTF! Too bad I didn’t get the bus number to report it.

If you have the time and date, you can still report it. It’s likely they can figure out which bus went through then (they have GPS and routing data, and cameras on the buses). At the very least, they will remind all drivers to be careful. transportation@apsva.us

[dasgeh]

@bentbike33 181713 wrote:

For the few of you who cross the 14th street bridge and then go north on the MVT, I’ve found that a good stairless, low-stress alternative is Ohio Drive to the downstream (south) side of Memorial Bridge. Memorial bridge is a bit busy, bumpy, and plagued by construction obstacles, but you get 2 of those 3 on the MVT anyway. Ohio Drive is smooth, straight, and almost entirely unused by anyone. I’ve found the cars on the 2 GWMP crossings down to the MVT to be well behaved (so far) as well.

This is great until NPS closes the downstream side of the Memorial Bridge too. I keep trying to get info on when that’s going to happen, but no luck so far.

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