Wilson Bridge Trail opening pushed back to Spring 2009

The Wilson Bridge Project came out with a revised Pedestrian-Bike Path Timeline. Here are the highlights

• OPENING EARLY FALL 2008: A new trail from Route 1, south of the Beltway to the Washington Street deck, will improve access for walkers and cyclists.

• OPENING SPRING 2009: Access across the second span of the Wilson Bridge, from the Washington Street deck to National Harbor is still under construction. Once completed, walkers, runners, and cyclists can take in views of the Nation’s Capital as they cross the river.

• OPENING LATE 2009: A new trail starting on the east side of Telegraph Road at Huntington
Avenue will enable walkers and cyclists to pass over the Beltway and connect to Eisenhower
Avenue, near Hoffman Center.

The timeline makes it sound like ongoing work is the holdup, but they're also using the trail as a construction staging area for work on the bridge.

Following up on a previous story I recently took a ride on the water taxi to National Harbor and got some photos of the trail elements coming together with that and the bridge.

I also got a look at the taxis themselves(photo to left and directly below). I'd been told that there was no room for bicycles and that's only partly true. There is no place for bicycles, but that could be easily fixed. By adding a rack similar to what you'd find on a Baltimore light rail train, they could accommodate a couple of bikes. Or a smaller fixture along the wall or the end of the center bench could allow for one bike to be secured. I'm assuming the bike would have to be secured, because the ferry I was on had plenty of room for an unsecured bike. Coincidentally, as we were waiting to take the ferry back a guy on a bike (in a tour de sewer jersey if you're reading) tried to buy a ticket and was turned away - despite the whole inside being empty. So a few hundred dollars could allow them to serve more customers. They might even be able to get some money from Alexandria's bike program to pay for the upgrade.

Cyclists could be big business. The saulsolito ferry (Photo at bottom) has so many cyclists that they had to adjust their schedule to give them all time to board. They don't appear to secure their bikes, but that boat is much bigger

Blue and Gold Ferry, which runs ferries during the day, has also been overwhelmed at times.

"But it's hard to criticize the bike companies - they bring us more riders," said Carolyn Horgan, vice president of operations for Blue and Gold. "We use our biggest boats to accommodate them, but it's not always enough."

The crush is expected to ease by the end of the month as summer draws to a close, summer tourists return home and children go back to school, Sears said.

Until then Golden Gate Ferry is periodically adding a ferry in the late afternoon to ease the load on later commute runs.

In additional Alexandria bike news, Alexandria released the final version of their Pedestrian and Bicycle Mobility Plan in June.

It builds on the policy-level recommendations in the 2008 Transportation Master Plan and provides a blueprint for physical improvements to make walking and bicycling more attractive transportation choices in Alexandria. Most of the recommendations in this Plan will likely be implemented as a part of upcoming projects (e.g., roadway repaving, streetscape improvements, regular maintenance, corridor reconstruction, small area plans, site plans, private sector development, etc.). The recommendations can also be incorporated into existing City programs and initiatives, such as Safe Routes to School, Community Pathways and the Spin City 2009 effort to become a bicycle-friendly community.

This Plan includes more than 5,000 recommendations for specific infrastructure improvements to enhance pedestrian and bicycle connectivity and mobility. These recommendations cover a wide range of physical improvements, from rebuilding existing sidewalks, to marking new bicycle lanes, to building new multi-use paths.

A summary of the bike improvements

• 13 new and 2 reconstructed pedestrian and bicycle overpasses/underpasses
• 10.1 miles of new shared-use paths and 3.54 miles of reconstructed shared-use paths
• Removal of 68 shared-use path surface obstructions and 10 clear width obstructions
• 16.3 roadway centerline miles of new bicycle lanes
• 3.7 roadway centerline miles of new climbing lanes for bicycles
• 16.4 roadway centerline miles of new shared lane markings for bicycles
• 12.31 miles of shared use pathways alongside roads

Comments

[MVM]

I've had a feeling from the start that Wilson Bridge bike path would never come to pass. There will be another delay Spring '09, then a year or two later, they'll announce some security concern or another will keep it from ever opening.

As for this, "A new trail from Route 1, south of the Beltway to the Washington Street deck, will improve access for walkers and cyclists." I bike over that deck almost every day. I've seen the boarded-up trail, but I don't understand: Who's it for? The trail runs parallel to the freeway entrance ramp, from the Washington St. deck to a office building parking lot on Rt. 1, about 1/2 mile away.

The office parking lot isn't near any kind of bike path, nor are the streets in the vicinity particulary bike-friendly. Are thy maybe adding dedicated bike lines on Rt. 1? If not, where are you supposed to go once you get to the end of this glorious half-mail trail?

[Dan]

My wife and I were in San Francisco in January. They have very active tour companies that will rent you a bike in SF, you ride it across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, then take the ferry back. We did it on a weekday and there were literally 50 bikes on the ferry, just leaning against each other (yes, it's a big boat). It would be great to have a program like that here. Rent a bike in old town, ride it to national harbor, and ferry back. It's not a huge distance, but it will work for tourists.

[Johnny Cakes]

There used to just be a fence preventing access to the bike trail across the Wilson Bridge and I must admit that I scooted around that many times. Granted there was no where to go on the other side, but it was still cool to go over the new Wilson Bridge. Apparently, I was not the only person doing that because now they have a solid barrier which is impossible to get around.

As for MVM's comment, upgrading the Route 1 cooridor is a major investment project for Fairfax County. In the past, there was no way for pedestrians to get from any of the neighborhoods in that area to the Potomac River (e.g. Belle Haven Park) without crossing the beltway, going through Old Town, then re-crossing the beltway via the Washington overpass. For those of us in the neighborhood, the path is absolutely great (and didn't cost much to include in the WWB project).

[Johnny Cakes]

To MVM,

Perhaps more imporantly, when the brand-new bike/pedrestrian only flyover is completed from the intersection of Huntington and Telegraph to Eisenhower, the 1/2 mile trail you speak of will permit those crossing the Wilson Bridge to ride up Huntington, then over the new flyover, then onto Eisenhower and the trails in that area of Alexandria (e.g. Holmes Run, etc.). Because of the placement of the Alexandria National Cemetery, there is no way to go east/west without going all the way up to Duke Street. The 1/2 mile trail you mention creates a direct path.

[MVM]

JCakes: Thanks, that's great to read. The new path makes sense if it's part of a larger network -- just didn't seem to be serving any purpose in its current configuration. (It looked to me like a DOT "Sure, we'll build a bike lane too" throw-in, rather than part of a larger strategy.) Since you seem to be in the know, any word on when these other legs are slated to be available?