The East Falls Church Task Force is working on a new design of the East Falls Church Metro Entrance and the immediate area. The plan is to add a Metro Entrance off of a plaza built on the curve of the Washington Boulevard Bridge over I-66. It looks pretty cool. Additionally, the plaza will allow for a connection to the W&OD trail and allow cyclists and pedestrians to use the bridge to cross I-66 (presently there is no Active Transportation Lane on that bridge). It will also remove that abandoned section of Fairfax Drive and replace it will park space.
In addition, the plan extends N. Westmoreland Street across Lee Highway (not shown, but here's a map) on land now occupied by an animal hospital and an oil company to the trail. This will allow through cyclist to bypass the trail - where it is likely to be crowded with Metro users - and use N. Westmoreland. The trail itself will not change, so cyclists can use it if they prefer. But some have said that options exist that remove the trail in this section.
It all sounds good - if the Westmoreland/Lee Highway intersection gets a signal - a bike bridge over Lee highway is apparantly too expensive, though I think it would be worth it. I'm not sure if I've ridden Westmoreland, so I can't say if i think any bike accommodation is needed.
And as long as their extending the platform to Washington Street. How about some indoor bike parking on that end?
That's a cool idea.
That area where Westmoreland crosses Lee Highway isn't really a bad crossing in terms of traffic--though motorists can exit eastbound I-66 at this intersection, most vehicles bypass that exit and take the next one, which is further east of Westmoreland. That's were it starts to get car-heavy.
BTW, Westmoreland is by and large bike-friendly, save for a few intermittent blocks where the road pinches down to a single lane (still doable on a bike, though).
Posted by: Blue-eyed Devil | March 10, 2009 at 02:09 PM
When I saw this, I hoped it would be about connecting the trail directly without the off-road detour here. Pity that's not being done.
The on-road detour and squiggle in the park here isn't horrible, but it is an annoyance. You would think the trail could run SE of Westmoreland St, from the east exit of Benjamin Banneker Park. I guess going Westmoreland St is almost as good; it just feels sloppy.
Not to be too critical though, the rest of this plan sounds great.
Posted by: Scott | March 10, 2009 at 04:08 PM
Scott, do you mean "without the on-road detour"? Isn't there a trail from through Benjamin Banneker Park that connects to the W&OD at both ends? From just north of the basketball court in East Falls Church Park to Little Falls Road. But as I recall it's narrow, perhaps it could be improved as part of this project as well.
Posted by: Washcycle | March 10, 2009 at 04:23 PM
Oops, yeah. "...Without the on-road detour here".
The trail from the park ends at Van Buren St. Across from it is a pedestrian-only gravel path with a sign warning bikes away, part of a City of Falls Church park.
Maybe I'm just whining... two blocks on Westmoreland and one block on Van Buren isn't that bad. But it feels incomplete. (Also, until looking at it on a map today, I didn't realize the streets connected that way. So I was taking the squiggle up Tuckahoe St, which IS rather inconvenient.)
Posted by: Scott | March 10, 2009 at 07:10 PM
How do they propose to connect that Washington Blvd. overlook to the Metro station? The two look like they're about 600-700 feet apart.
Posted by: Rob | March 10, 2009 at 07:30 PM
It looks like a long central walkway, but all I have is the photo in this post.
Posted by: Washcycle | March 10, 2009 at 07:36 PM
Washcycle wrote: "presently there is no Active Transportation Lane on that bridge". What's an "active transportation lane", and why should cyclists want one?
This bridge should have a sidewalk, but the two eastbound travel lanes are plenty wide for my bicycle. Control the right lane and motorists will wait behind you until they can overtake in the left lane.
The section of Westmoreland St south of Lee Hwy is a narrow low-speed local street where bike lanes are contraindicated, especially near the new driveways. Sharrows could welcome the bikeway dependent.
Posted by: Allen Muchnick | March 11, 2009 at 11:57 PM
An active transportation lane is a lane for non-motorized use, like the lane on the 14th street bridge. Not all cyclists are comfortable riding in the street and it would give access to the metro station.
Posted by: Washcycle | March 12, 2009 at 12:20 PM