[DrP]

New detour is poorly marked. Heading NW on W&OD there are no signs after one goes under Wilson Blvd to indicate that this would be a good place to turn if one wanted the Custis Trail. I knew I would need to, so I did. They have blocked off twice the width of the bike lane, but have a sign to tell cyclists to dismount (why? Isn’t that why it was blocked off?). When reaching N. Lexington St, there is a sign to turn left on to it. There are no other signs what to do next. Since I know that there is a trail through Bon Air park that ends at a T on the trail near the overpass I take that. Well, at the T it is blocked. It is also blocked in the other direction at N. Lexington. It looks like the intention was for people to take N Lexington to the trail and go to the overpass.

Other people were confused. There was one person walking their bike overland from the area of the shelter, I gather from the W&OD-Custis intersection. There were several people at the blocked trail and the N Lexington entrance. So, I am guessing that it is poorly marked at that location and at the Custis intersection.

Who designs these detours and signs them? There needs to be signs at least:
*NW direction of trail after Wilson underpass;
*Signs on N Lexington to indicate that it is the direction at the Bon Air parking lot entrances (both of them);
*More signs explaining the detour at the N Lexington entrance to the trail in both directions;
*Remove the dismount sign; and
*I am guessing more signs at the W&OD-Custis intersection.

[DrP]

@DrP 201918 wrote:

This morning I biked Custis to MVT to 4MRT with bits of W&OD (I stick to 4MRT) overall report is good.
– Scattered porta-potties at Gravely Point
– Trail work was being set-up on 4MRT along S Arlington Mill with the detour on S Arlington Mill road and set-up properly (at the trail entrances, rather than at the work location
– Large branch on half of trail on Custis between W&OD and the blocked region under I-66 (reporting this)

Update from the past few mornings:
– They fixed the scattered porta-potties quickly (I am curious if they are anchored or weighted down better now. I wonder how much wind today’s storms will bring….)
– They finished the trail work – that was the small section near the garden apartments (condos?) that was kind of broken up and falling into the drainage. It looks great!
– Branch is still there but marked with yellow tape, so I guess other items were high priority (and one could go around this, so I agree that it wasn’t high priority)

[DrP]

@secstate 201933 wrote:

Same here. I don’t enjoy riding on the roads, the trails have been crowded, and I rarely have anywhere to go, so I’ve hardly been on the bike at all.

Other people seem to have found out the time I ride that used to be empty (I just go out first thing like I were going to the office, but then continue and return home to ride my whole commute at once. Then get clean and start work a little later than I would have if I were in the office, but I am already home when done for the day. I get my exercise (round-trip commute) and on weekdays have a route that is less crowded than my old commute, although not dissimilar crowd size. Weekends are all messed up with people, as per this thread).

[DrP]

@secstate 201930 wrote:

I suspect the daytime heat and humidity is leading many people to exercise in the early mornings or late evenings.

The thing is, daytime heat and humidity happens every year and this is the first year that there have been soooooo many people out so early.

[DrP]

Anyone know when they are going to finish the work? The electronic sign says that the work will be in the month of May, which is long passed. The Arlington County page says that they will be finished in Q3 (I spend too much time thinking about GFY to know if Q3 is done or we are in the midst of it). I realize that COVID has slowed things down, but I was wondering if there was more information (and perhaps I am possibly looking at the wrong place on the county site for it). And can they update the sign?

[DrP]

This morning I biked Custis to MVT to 4MRT with bits of W&OD (I stick to 4MRT) overall report is good.
– General debris on all trails, rarely bad
– Scattered porta-potties at Gravely Point
– All fords on 4MRT clear
– Trail work was being set-up on 4MRT along S Arlington Mill with the detour on S Arlington Mill road and set-up properly (at the trail entrances, rather than at the work location
– Large branch on half of trail on Custis between W&OD and the blocked region under I-66 (reporting this)

Yes, I said scattered porta-potties. They appeared this week again (yesterday morning? Tuesday morning? I do not recall). None were upright and most were across the trail and headed down hill. Surprisingly, all smelled fine – not used enough yet or fell then got rained on?

[DrP]

Beware of falling limbs/trees

Tree down across Custis between N Nelson and N Monroe (by the ponds). Can go around on grassy area. I reported it to the County.

At about 9:20am Sunday morning a tree fell on 4MRT a little south/east of the Carlin Springs Rd. underpass and parking lot. It might be gone now, but I do not know. I reported it this morning, just in case no one else did. This was a tree that looked healthy. There was no wind to speak of. It was hot. There was a loud crack then a boom, some other sounds and a second boom as it took out several other trees. No one was hurt, but a pedestrian was freaked out as she had just passed under the tree, heard the cracking, turned around and watched it come down. One can go down and around it, but watch for poison ivy (unless one takes the more well used desire path) and there is a lot of sand, so riding through it tough to impossible. I have heard of summer (or sudden) limb drop, but not summer tree drop, but this looked the other cases of summer limb drop.

This morning I saw several other tree limbs on the ground on my morning ride, often streets and yards. I think this weather is having a big affect on the trees. Keep an ear open when cycling to listen for the telltale crack of a tree limb to avoid these.

[DrP]

Adding to Henry’s report:
I biked the Arlington Loop this morning – Custis to MVT to 4MRT/W&OD. There is a lot of debris around, the worst under Glebe on 4MRT, but a lot of mud under George Mason Dr on Custis and Wilson Blvd on W&OD. There is a very low tree/branch on MVT South of the rail road bridge at the north end of the Gravely Point; I walked under it, I think a recumbent bike did too, there is a lot of mud off the trail for those going that way. Most of the fords on 4MRT are flooded (this was between 7:45am and 8am, so later in the day they will likely clear, but might be muddy/debris filled. No major standing water.
The new path by the new apartments on 4MRT on Glebe between MT Vernon Ave and S Meade St was covered in clumps of the wood mulch they put in. That clearly was not a good idea.

[DrP]

@dbb 201687 wrote:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21541[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]21542[/ATTACH]

So Arlington announced in April that the beg buttons had been set to automatic, meaning peds and cyclists didn’t have to push the buttons. Well, in the past couple of weeks, the buttons finally were labeled telling potential button pushers that they didn’t have to actually do so. Some are labeled so it is pretty obvious and others are merely labeled. Putting the label 18 inches above the button is probably not going to achieve the goal of eliminating the button pushing.

I read both here and on county notifications about not needing to push the buttons, but I have found that to not always be the case at several locations (while I may be impatient at times, but I have watched them cycle through without ever changing – I even caught the one on Pershing at Jackson cycle back to cross Jackson without ever stopping Pershing). This morning, the walk signal across Orme at Columbia Pike never changed – I just followed what the street light did instead.

[DrP]

@Fulton 201683 wrote:

New signs suggesting that the Mount Vernon Trail will soon close where it goes under Memorial Bridge have appeared.

The NPS website has no helpful information. Looks like it hasn’t been updated for months.

Can anyone confirm a closure is coming? If so, for how long?

And, for those of us riding from Rosslyn to the Airport (and back), what will the detour be? (Maybe via Iwo Jima to the cemetery, and then pick up the trail on the eastern side of the bridge?)

-Fulton

I think it is a sporadic trail closure. The signs were to the side of the trail early in the week, one day they were on the trail (I and everyone else rode or walked around them – this was around 7 am), and the next off the trail. There was no detour when it was up (which is why I rode around) – the signs were way too close to the closure to allow any detour. I think it is when they are working on the railing on the bridge, but that is pure guess work. I was not pleased to see no detour. I was thinking they really needed people with stop and slow signs to allow us through, like they would when moving vehicles across the trail just south of the bridge.
If anyone has more info, that would be of interest.

[DrP]

@DrP 201400 wrote:

The first ford on four mile run trail north of Columbia Pike has been overflowing a lot lately, including when the stream is very low. This morning there was an excavator (or back hoe or some yellow vehicle with a scoop) trying to move rocks around. Hopefully this will allow more flow.

Alas, it was flooded this morning despite the low water, so either they were doing something different or could not figure out that puzzle yesterday.

[DrP]

The first ford on four mile run trail north of Columbia Pike has been overflowing a lot lately, including when the stream is very low. This morning there was an excavator (or back hoe or some yellow vehicle with a scoop) trying to move rocks around. Hopefully this will allow more flow.

[DrP]

This morning (5/14) I noticed that the railing on the W&OD under Carlin Springs Rd has been replaced. It might have happened during the day yesterday or day before since I do not recall checking yesterday or not (I was paying more attention to the people I was passing, whereas there were none today).

So, I think this is now all completed.

[DrP]

@DrP 200577 wrote:

Drain still blocked, but beginning to dry up and one can squeeze by on the I-66 side without getting wet.

All clear!!!

And thanks to Arlington for clearing all the underpasses on 4MRT. The detritus under S. George Mason had been bad lately.

[DrP]

@DrP 200559 wrote:

Custis Trail east of Spout Run: Drain is blocked and giant puddle is present. This has been reported to the county.

Drain still blocked, but beginning to dry up and one can squeeze by on the I-66 side without getting wet.

Not sure if the county has too many items on their list/not enough staff (which is highly possible and understandable), my report was too late for assignment yesterday, or if the anonymous submission doesn’t actually work (I have had this suspicion for the past year since the only ones that seem to be completed are trees, which others likely also submit).

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