More Than Just the Wilson Bridge Active Transportation Lane opens next Saturday

By now most readers know that the Wilson Bridge's ATL will open next Saturday at 1pm. The Post had an article on it in the Extra edition last week, and with it mention that

Two other trail sections are opening June 6, one from the Wilson Bridge to National Harbor, and another from the George Washington Memorial Parkway to Route 1 on the Virginia side. The bridge path connects with the Mount Vernon trail at the Capital Beltway and the parkway, an area planners call the Washington Street deck.

The path to National Harbor was kind of a given, since without it the bridge crossing takes you no where, but there has been some clamoring for the Route 1 path which will probably be more useful. Not that the Wilson Bridge isn't, but if won't reach its full potential until/if the (not yet built) South Capitol Street trail can be connected to the Wilson Bridge north side. This will involve cooperation from DC, Maryland and the NPS so it's not likely to be quick.

There's still one more trail segment to come: a pedestrian/bikeway on the elegantly Ramp A-2 from Huntington Avenue over the Beltway to Eisenhower Avenue and the metro station there as part of the Telegraph Road Interchange. That ramp won't open until spring of 2010, but that doesn't mean the bike/ped lane will open when the traffic lane does. The whole project will end in 2013.

It doesn't appear there has been any progress on the Huntington Stream Valley Connector Trail.

I tend to side with Stephen Marks, co-owner of Bike and Roll Alexandria more than Bennett Moore, manager of Big Wheel Bikes

[Marks] already sends riders on trips to Mount Vernon and on cellphone tours of Old Town's historic sites, and he said he thinks the new path will be popular. "It's a huge bridge and a beautiful view over the water," Marks said.
"I don't really see it as a big draw. Mount Vernon is the draw, and riding into D.C.," Moore said.

But then, I like bridges and bikes so I'm probably not an accurate representation.

Comments

[MVMike]

Thinking about the National Harbor side: If I were an entrepreur (which I'm not), I'd open a bike rental/repair shop and cafe on the Maryland side. You have all those conventioneers without much to do in National Harbor, who could rent bikes and go to Old Town. And, you have folks coming over from the Virginia side who are not going to "fit in" with the convention shops and restaurants that currently dominate the National Harbor landscape.

[Froggie]

That's an idea, but I'd still prefer a decent connection on the Maryland side.