Mt. Vernon Trail Flooding

Comments

[RideTheWomble]

Right past the "tunnel" under the Memorial Bridge, headed for Roosevelt Island, correct?

[RideTheWomble]

Here are the tides for the Key Bridge today:

Low 3:23 AM 0.2 ft
High 9:11 AM 3.0 ft
Low 3:49 PM 0.2 ft
High 9:33 PM 2.9 ft

Assuming that photo was taken around 9:30 AM, the situation should get better throughout the day, assuming the flow from up river stays constant.

Er, until your tasty nighttime ride, that is.

[microzen]

That's intense

[Eric_W.]

So, did you go through it?

I went through the crap under Four Mile Run which I definitely underestimated. The whole lenght of the underpass under Route 1 flooded and pretty deep with the nice brown sauce. Blech! I had to wash my stuff in the gym shower, it was so disgusting.

I am going to take the MVT to Old Town tonight... Hoping that is not flooded like in this picture...

Thanks for the tide info, Womble!

[John]

That's mighty impressive. I bet you can canoe on Ohio Drive to Hains Point this morning.

[CyclingFool]

Yep. That's about what it looks like at the 14th St Bridge, too.

As for Ohio Drive, I think it might be navigable not just by canoe, but by commercial ship traffic! ;-) The fence along the river was barely visible the water was so high.

[micah]

wow!

[Froggie]

One of my coworkers who lives in Old Town says that Union St is closed off.

I plan on heading down there this afternoon to take a look.

[Jack]

I might actually dismount for that one.

[Amy Smith]

The Anacostia is flooding and will probably go into the small boating club buildings today -

[Catherine]

I live in Old Town, and Union Street is indeed closed (as is the marina and docks). I can't hazard a guess as to how deep the water is, though....if you figure that out, let me know.

Also, on my way zipping by the MVT on the Parkway (crashing a carpool FTW! I was SO not in a Metro mood this morning), much of it from Old Town to the 14th Street Bridge look pretty much just like this photo.

Let's hope it goes away quickly!

[Eric_W.]

The only spot between Four Mile Run and the 14th Street bridge where the paved trail was under water this morning between approx 7:30 and 8 was at 14th street bridge. But since the tide was still rising, that could ahve changed since the Potomac was very close to my bike already.

Cherry Blossom is in 2 weeks or so, if you can believe it!

[RideTheWomble]

Spot reports from a lunch time reconnaissance. These are all from around 1 PM:

* The Potomac at the Chain Bridge is flowing like a log flume. The water goes from the cliffs on the McLean side to the berm for the C&O canal.
* Volume of water under Chain Bridge is higher than yesterday.
* There's a ton of tree-sized lumber coming down river. Tonight is not the night for a lights-out run in the speed boat.
* The C&O towpath ped/bike detour under the Chain Bridge is not only underwater, it's washing away. When the water recedes, most of the bottom portion will be gone. With the project so close to completion, this will probably lead to hard choices on whether to rebuild it.
* The C&O has filled back up. All spillways are flowing.
* There is a lot of water in the Roosevelt Island parking lot. Based on the debris lines, the water has receded a little, but not much.
* The elevated, wooden section of the MVT near Roosevelt Island is completely over water. IOW, the banks of the water are on the Parkway side of the trail. The section is still about 3 feet above the surface, though.
* The area pictured above is the same as, or worse than, this morning. Based on the debris lines, the water has not receded much at all.
* The "ride around" for the area above is very soft, very muddy, and heavily rutted with bike tires.

High tide, and the time the tide "turns" and starts to ebb, are not the same, so it's tough to judge whether low tide will give us much of a break. Based on what I saw, the flow is dominating, and that section of trail will still be flooded by the evening commute.

If you have an alternate route, do yourself, and the trail, a favor, and avoid the area above tonight.

[Eric_W.]

Thank you for the comprehensive update, Womble!

[MVMike]

South of Old Town, outside the beltway, long stretches of the trail are under water as well, particularly in the flood prone Belle View/Belle Haven area. Water was just inches under the wooden bridge at Dyke Marsh. I suspect it's gone over the top in recent days, but haven't personally seen it. Water was also on the trail near the Vernon View/River Farm Drive area. I don't remember seeing water on the trail there since the 2003 hurricane.

[Ian]

Womble--thanks for the great update, but I'm peeved that I might not be able to do my weekly lights-out run up the Potomac in my speedboat.

[Just161]

Great update, thanks!

Doesn't look like the park at Georgetown waterfront is any good, either. You can barely see the tops of the park benches:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brownpau/4435581842/

[TurbineBlade]

I may try to go from wilson bridge along MVT and over 14th street bridge for my normal commute tomorrow.

Will post my experience tomorrow morning around 7:45 or so.

[Michael H.]

Wow, I didn't realize it was that bad. I skipped my schedule bike ride yesterday. I was going to ride indoors (on the stationary bike) anyway because of the rain. I guess I may have to wait a couple days before venturing out on the trails again.

I thought we were done with the weather issues now that spring is finally here. I guess not. Mother Nature really wants to harass us this year.

[gwadzilla]

that is good to know...

[Froggie]

I drove down GWPkwy to Belvoir around 3ish. By that point, there were only a couple spots near Belle Haven where the water was touching the trail, but there wasn't the heavy flooding that MVMike was reporting. To be fair, though, low tide was around that same timeframe.

Did a quick bike ride up to Old Town a couple hours ago. Most of the water has receeded, so I didn't go further up the MVT to check it out (plus I was tired from swimming earlier). A few photos of what's left are posted here.

[markschuermann]

Froggie.thanks for that update. I can now plan on riding to work in the morning.

[CyclingFool]

Anyone ride MVT from Old Town or Four Mile Run today? The water still looked high at FMR to me, so I just cut through Crystal City again.

I (and a fellow Alexandria commuter at my office) are curious, though. Anyone w/ any morning ride reports?

[Ian]

BlindPilot--I cut through Crystal City as well. I thought about going down to the underpass to see what it was like, but I was in a hurry.

I figured that even if it wasn't still flooded, the debris would be atrocious. I'm also curious to hear what it's like so I can decide whether or not to use it tonight.

[Just161]

MVT at 8:30am this morning north of Memorial Bridge. Some brave souls were riding through, but most people were walking their bikes along the embankment closer to the road. http://bit.ly/cb3yg0

Anyone know what MVT is like near 14th street bridge?

[CyclingFool]

Near 14th St Bridge is fine. Even around 9, which was pretty much high tide, the water was lower than yesterday and well away from the trail. The coast is clear from Crystal City spur up to 14th St Bridge.

[Eric_W.]

Hello fellow Alexandrians,

I went through the underpass at Four Mile Run this morning (around 7:30) and it was fine. No flooding at all. The only minimal trace of water was right where the construction takes half the lane. It is true that there is a lot of debris and I slowed down for that a bit.

I took Crystal City home last night and around 6:40pm or so, the FMR looked pretty good already.

A lot of debris all over the place on the commute, I had hoped the rain would wash away the salt and dirt from the roads and not make them dirtier... Oh well.