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Well I had to go back to Kennedy Center today, so ended up deciding to do the same ride this evening.

I can report that the TR bridge is still awful. But much less scary without that wind! The fleeting daylight helped a bit too, since I crossed a little earlier today.

I generally use it westbound only, as I often choose the cemetery route to Memorial Bridge when heading east. I think TR would be worse eastbound than westbound, since you’d be going opposite the cars. Certainly at night.

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Thanks for the videos Steve.

The “No Turn on Red” doesn’t light up at all until the walk signal comes on. It looks like the dead phase is 1.5 seconds, after a 4-second yellow signal for Lynn Street traffic.

At an absolute minimum, the sign should be lit during the all-red dead phase right before that so that the few people who do both notice it and care to adhere won’t start to turn on red a half-second before the LPI anyway. Turning it on as Lynn Street goes from green to yellow would be better.

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@Arlingtonrider 107157 wrote:

choose a better bridge to cross on

Thanks for this and your other tips. I did think about choosing a different bridge. And I had crossed eastbound on Memorial earlier in the afternoon. I was coming from Kennedy Center, though, so TR was certainly the obvious and most convenient option.

But I do hate that bridge. Even in the best of conditions, it’s awful (way too narrow, and protective rails are so low that they’re barely useful). The few times I’ve used it, I’ve been lucky enough not to encounter any oncoming riders. I’m guessing that reverse commuters are willing to go out of their way to avoid it.

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I don’t pass through IoD often, but I did this evening. Not much activity, just myself and two pedestrians crossing, all of us westbound. I saw the new sign light up as the LPI began. The right-turning drivers did wait for all three of us to get out of the way (i.e. halfway across the intersection), but proceeded to violate the new sign before the expiration of LPI. Which I had no problem with, since there wasn’t anyone else using the trail anyway.

As for the effectiveness of the new LED sign, I would guess very little. Maybe it will help when charging a driver if someone is hit during LPI. But it seems that nothing short of retractable barriers (retractable spike strips?) will reliably contain drivers at that intersection.

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@mstone 107002 wrote:

VDOT’s dead body

Why does this phrase make me break out into an enormous grin?

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Does this sign only come on during the LPI (i.e. not lit while Lynn Street is green)? If so, it will almost certainly not be noticed by the drivers at the front of the line who are busy looking at Lynn Street traffic and then raring to go as soon as they see cars come to a stop. The ones behind may however be more apt to see it when it suddenly comes on (than they would have been to notice it were it lit the whole time).

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@bobco85 106896 wrote:

Mandatory Sidepath Bill? … My first reaction to reading this: “F*** that!”

You had other reactions beyond that?

Seriously, preaching to the choir here of course. But that bill is ludicrous.

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I admit that my experience driving through that area is maybe once a month. I’m usually either going straight through on Route 50, or else 50 to/from the Beltway. And never during rush hour. It’s not a pleasant drive by any means, but that section is certainly optimized for vehicular thru traffic, until you reach the traffic signals and lane reductions at either end.

Yes, the merges and traffic signals at either end do cause delays, even off hours. But it would be much slower for through traffic if those ramps were replaced by at-grade intersections, since the red phase would be very long, especially at Gallows.

As for a ped/bike solution, I just hope they can keep the number of at-grade ramp crossings to a minimum.

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OTOH, one thing that does suck for drivers is the unnecessary addition of an extra lane for just that stretch. Which means that everyone has to merge back together anyway, causing delays. But that has nothing to do with the number of ramps.

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@mstone 106433 wrote:

Getting rid of that ridiculous mess is part of turning 50 back from being an interstate highway. I drive there regularly–it sucks for driving, also.

You can drive directly through there on Route 50 without having to stop at all. Other movements are facilitated by ramps. I’d say it’s great for drivers actually. Isn’t that the point?

Maybe tough if you don’t know where you’re going.

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FWIW, I’d rank Following Too Closely and Passing Over a Double Yellow as most crucial for the legal acceptance and protection of cyclists on roads in the Commonwealth. Dooring would be nice but is lower priority, IMO.

Oh yeah, and get drivers to pay attention to the road already. So the cell phone bill is another important one. Unfortunately, handheld devices are just a small part of the distracted driving problem, though, so even if it passes, I don’t expect much improvement there.

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@chris_s 106429 wrote:

Virginia law is that drivers must YIELD, not stop. Which means they can change lanes, etc rather than stop. This would change that.

Yes, but only for roads with speed limit 35MPH and less. Yield would still be the only requirement for stroads higher than 35MPH.

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@chris_s 106411 wrote:

But is it really a further restriction? How many folks are in a 2 person carpool who can’t get to a 3 person carpool with a little extra work + now people who were completely forbidden from using I-66 (because they can’t get a carpool) CAN use I-66, if they pay. Hard to say if it’ll be a net increase or net decrease in people using 66; and it may push some folks to transit or biking or who knows?

Plus there is the phenomenon of induced demand, which works in reverse too. If Wash Blvd / Lee Hwy / etc. are already bad, people displaced from 66 might stop driving or change their hours.

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@dplasters 106377 wrote:

You still have to deal with traffic merging on/off from a combination of Gallows, Fairview Park and 495 though. I can’t imagine the intersection with Gallows ever being changed to a typical intersection and I can’t imagine they would ever cut off the ramp access that fairviewpark / 50 have to 495. My imagination is a 1.5 mile long sky bridge solution.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]7651[/ATTACH]

Yes please on the 1.5mi skybridge! Otherwise you’re probably looking at, what, 12 crosswalks through highway on- and off-ramps? Many of which would likely have poor visibility. Implementation is the real concern here, not ROW.

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@dasgeh 106348 wrote:

The trail from G Mason to the bridge is fine, but speed is limited to around 10 mph.

It looks bad on StreetView: just a sidewalk between George Mason and Glebe, which gets narrow as vegetation encroaches over a stone wall at the beginning of the exit ramp to Glebe. Is that right?

I guess one could take the extra lane on the road if eastbound, but that would require dealing with merging vehicles rapidly accelerating and decelerating.

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