[DrP]

Conditions: kind of cold and very windy.

You: All the cyclists who had been out on the trails all summer and until Saturday.

Me: Where did you all go? I’ve been checking the piles of leaves blown into fences and shrubs, but you aren’t stuck in them. It was nice having the trail mostly to myself these past few days, but kind of bizarre too. Even the number of commuters is down. It really isn’t that bad out there and which the cold and wind, hot chocolate tastes wonderful after a ride.

[DrP]

@peterw_diy 149249 wrote:

Correct. Leave these in place and add some English language versions.

FYI, Alexandria staff say that the signage was a response to complaints received.

I saw an English language one this morning on the post at the Mt Vernon bridge heading in towards Arlington.

[DrP]

@Judd 149162 wrote:

I actually think removing the bike lane and replacing it with a sharrow would reduce the issue. People are mostly reluctant to park in a traffic lane.

Unfortunately not in that location. They were double parking there long before the bike lane. No one wants to go into a parking garage and pay a fortune (something like $6/hr) to pick-up lunch.

[DrP]

@LeprosyStudyGroup 149148 wrote:

If there is a wide work vehicle parked all day with a couple wheels in the bike lane, and some cones set out at the bumpers (in the bike lane) is that a blockage or not? I kept waffling on how to answer in this situation which seems to be very common at that Clarendon spot. When there’s no traffic nearby it’s free and easy to avoid but if there is heavy traffic it’s a scary situation…

I just went through a bunch of such images (one is a work vehicle and another is a badly parked car that I wasn’t at first sure was in the process of parking). I started them out as “unsure”, but once it was a few and the vehicle hadn’t moved, I have to say it is blocked. I run into this on Fairfax Dr both by the metro station (both sides of the street – the Metro buses are usually there) and by the construction site by Glebe. As a cyclist, I need to go into the travel lane or very, very carefully pass while in the bike lane. The latter is not preferred for fear of being clipped, so I would say, “Yes, the lane is blocked.”

[DrP]

Wow. Proof that Southbound Crystal Drive has a double parking lane rather than a bike lane. More than 60% each day. It always looked like that from offices overlooking it, but I did not spend all day looking out the window. Really.
Clarendon is bad too (25% was the “best” day), but not as consistently.

[DrP]

On four mile run just south of Columbia Pike, by the apartments before the tennis courts, I had to swerve around a coconut. A whole one, complete with husk. Like it had fallen out of a tree. I have been on that bit of trail for many years and have not noticed a palm tree. Glad I wasn’t there when it fell out of whatever tree it had been in. Watch out for odd things falling from trees.

[DrP]

@vern 149013 wrote:

S. Eads is now paved, but not yet striped.

Well, the one road striper in the state came through town recently and painted Williamsburg Blvd., so it is likely to be a wait. I think the person makes it through once a month and paints as many roads as possible in his 5hr work day.

[DrP]

@ursus 148848 wrote:

Squirrels reverse direction several times before doing that.

I have seen squirrels do that, a lot. Often has me worried that I might hit one. I haven’t seen a Crazy Ivan do that move. Yet. I am sure I have not seen all types of Crazy Ivans. Could be an interesting study – the different types of Crazy Ivans.

[DrP]

@huskerdont 148845 wrote:

They don’t hear it from far back. And whatevs, I’ve never run into one of the idiots.

Then you likely haven’t come across the true idiots of Crazy Ivan tribe. Or maybe better described as the rabbits of the Crazy Ivans (rabbits try to avoid being hit (caught) by crossing in front of you at the last possible second, but often have completely misjudged your speed and ability to crush them).

[DrP]

@ursus 148842 wrote:

https://twitter.com/WODTrail/status/796844771738320898

Excellent!

[DrP]

This morning (7:30ish?) I was heading eastbound on W&OD and at the Little Falls St crossing there were signs up about lane closure ahead. Not yet closed, but there was a van unloading stuff for repairs and there was a lot of wood. Perhaps the were there to repair the wooden bridge between Little Falls and Lee Hwy. I hope they were since the rot holes are deep enough to lose small dogs in.

[DrP]

@huskerdont 148789 wrote:

There was some discussion of the clever streetlight positioning back in July, although not specifically related to blocking walk signals but more that they were putting them in dangerous places on the trail. SteveO had written the county and received a response.

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?10563-Street-Light-Installation-Along-Custis-Trail

Tim Kelley had also posted an announcement from the county.

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?10563-Street-Light-Installation-Along-Custis-Trail

Thank you. I did recall some traffic on it. I did not recall this one coming up in discussion. Still seems like they did not really check everything for the posts (not an uncommon problem, I have discovered). The one most of us commented on was obviously bad because the base was being installed right where we were currently trying to bike. This one isn’t as obvious to us since the post needs to be in place. Sigh.

[DrP]

Today I saw that they have been installing the new lampposts along Lee Hwy on the Rosslyn hill. They look nice. However, the one on the east side of Scott St. appears to be directly in front of the walk signal. At least when I was coming down the hill and heading to the intersection, I saw the lamppost rather than the walk signal and was confused as to the state of the light – the bike signal was visible, but I guess I am used to using both as an indication of whether I need to stop, stop soon, or am fine. No idea if this is an issue for pedestrians, but likely it will be. Who chose that location for the post? Didn’t they check site lines?

[DrP]

I rode the detour this morning heading north/west. Currently one can make it to Eads, but no further. From the earlier documentation, at some point the trail will be blocked at the ramp for Rt1. It would be nice for those who do not know the plans (I decided to not turn when I first went by so that I could see the whole set-up) to have a sign at the Rt1 ramp that says it is closed at Eads. At present it says that the trail is closed ahead, but that is (1) in an ambiguous location (is ahead at Eads or Rt1) for those coming from the MVT and (2) it would be good for those who want to use Eads to know that they can get there at present.

I liked the fact that there are Jersey walls (well, the plastic water-filled ones) along the bridge on Mt Vernon – It feels very safe that way. Might be nice to keep something like that after this is done.

Getting back on the trail once over the bridge and back in Arlington, while one can see that there is a bright orange detour sign at the trail entrance on Mt Vernon, however, the arrow telling you where to go is blocked by the tree they placed the sign effectively in. I am not advocating tree trimming, but perhaps better sign placement.

[DrP]

@sjclaeys 148680 wrote:

No, I am asking that when the minutes are posted to the google group, it would be great if someone then takes the extra minute to post something on the Forum along the lines of “Hey, new minutes posted, check them out!” As it is now, anyone who wants to know if new minutes are posted needs to continually check the googlegroup. I do not see why there is such resistance to this. It would greatly increase transparency of ABAC’s work and inclusiveness for the Arlington cycling community.

Especially when some of us (like me) had no idea that there was a googlegroup with the minutes or how to get there. Perhaps it has been said in the past, but clearly not strongly enough to stick or in a thread that one didn’t read or wasn’t paying attention to at the time. A monthly link would get more folks there.

[Author]

Replies