A Call for Mileage Markers

On his blog, Steve Offutt wrote about the difficulty of finding your route via bike on local trails

There are numerous connectors in South Arlington off the 4-Mile Run and W&OD trails--all unmarked. The only way I could do it was trial and error--trying each one to see if it went where I needed to go. I had to spend more than 20 minutes of time just figuring out which trail was which and mapping out my route. If each of those connectors had a sign identifying the street it connected to, it would have been much easier. Even now that I know it, I would still have an enormously difficult--if not impossible--time trying to describe to someone how to take my route.

And has some suggestions for improvement (numbering is me - I'm list-oriented)

1) signage should be placed just like it is on streets.
2) Each trail should have an identifiable name and every intersection should have a sign with the names in both directions--just like street signs.
3) Discontinuous trails (like the extraordinarily confusing "Four Mile Run Trail") should be broken into parts with each part given a distinct name to avoid confusion. Trails should also only have one name (problem; there are parts of the W&OD that are also the Four Mile Run Trail and parts that are also the Custis Trail; a part of 4-Mile Run is also called Barcroft Trail. . .and I even saw a sign the other day that said "Anderson Bikeway," along 4-Mile Run, whatever that is).
4) Signage needs to be maintained and updated as changes and improvements are made.

Think of how much information drivers have. Each exit has a number, describes locations accessible by it, tells you what road your on (and which mile you're at) and where it goes, and where the next exit will take you. There are signs letting you know which jurisdiction you're in, laws etc...It isn't quite the same for cyclists. There are 'exits' off the W&OD that have no signs. Where do they go? Who knows. 

Speaking of which, I just noticed that last year Toole Design worked on a Bethesda Trolley Trail Wayside and Information Initiative. Admittedly, this deals with much more than just signage - the waysides include several elements such as art, parking and seating. But it adds plenty of map kiosks. Phase I of the plan would include up to 17 map panels, with more to follow.

Photo by M.V.Jantzen

Comments

[Robert M]

There's no problem with two trails sharing the same particular pavement. 95 and 495 share over 30 miles of the same freeway, and they are merely signed for both numbers.

[Catherine]

yeah, the naming thing is going to have to be a "live with it" kind of situation. lots of roads change names when they change jurisdictions, or they overlap one another, or steaches of them are named things etc.

beyond that, i agree 100%. signs would be great, and very useful. it IS something that we could kind of do grassroots, too. just make a sign and stick it up at the correct intersection and see if others follow the example.

[Scott]

"there are parts of the W&OD that are also the Four Mile Run Trail"

My initial reaction was "no there aren't, they just run parallel" but my Arlington bike map seems to indicate you're right - for short stretches at the Rt 50 underpass and Bon Air Park. Huh.

Are you suggesting the spurs connecting trails to neighborhood streets should all have their own names, like they were little streets themselves? That would be cute. I think, though, "To Harrison St" on one end and "To W&OD/Four Mile Run Tr" on the other would suffice. It's not as though there are destinations on these spur trails; they just run through the woods!

[Washcycle]

The spurs don't need their own names, but I like directional signs like you described. And I would give them more description than just the street they end at maybe. A sign that read "N. Potomac Street" would be less useful than one that read "Highland Park/Overlee Knolls via N. Potomac Street" for example.

Oh, and the list above is from Steve Offutt, not me, I'm just quoting him.

[Purple Eagle]

Here's another example of where signage is needed. I explored the WW Bridge trail this morning for the first time, starting from the MD side. When you get to Washington St in Alexandria, there are no signs indicating how to get to the Mt. Vernon Trail. I recognized the trail going south along the edge of Washington, but it was not signed.
On the MD side, there is a hand-written sign indicating the direction of National Harbor, at the point where the newly-paved trail splits off to the right. No sign alerts users that the left hand fork leads to Oxon Hill Rd.
A related issue is maintenance of trail signs. There are signs at intersections on the Anacostia Tributary Trails system, and I noticed yesterday that several of them have been defaced with black paint.

[Washcycle]

I think there are compass roses built into the sidewalk that give direction on the Washington Street Deck, but I've found them lacking and that most people don't notice them.

[Purple Eagle]

The compass roses were quite general - pointing toward "maryland" and "old town alexandria", for example. If there were signs about the Mt. Vernon Trail I did not see them.

Are trail users supposed to follow the sign to Jones Point Park (on the south side of the deck) to get to the Mt. Vernon trail, or can you only get to Jones Point that way? I could see a trail passing under the bridge on the VA side but I don't know if this was the MVT.

[Washcycle]

Yeah, you can get to both Jones Point and the Mt. Vernon Trail that way. I was confused by that too.