The Oxon Hill Farm Trail connector between Blue Plains in DC and the Oxon Hill Farm Trail in Maryland was never in that good of shape to start with, but during construction of MPD's recently completed evidence warehouse it was removed and fenced off without warning. After cyclists complained, DDOT went in and built a temporary wooden detour.
After the evidence facility was completed the trail was repaved and reopened. But it wasn't a very good trail. One reader described it as "paved poorly and insufficient depth. The rest of the trail is horrible; an embarassment."
WABA is now reporting that DRES project manager Adenegan Olusegun wrote them to say that "The contractor will be working to make improvements to connection between the area affected by the construction of the new facility to existing conditions. On Friday I walked the part with them and compared the current conditions with preconstruction photo and we should be fine with the agreed upon redress. This should be accomplished by next week at the latest."
I hope they actually build the new trail to current best practices and not to the previous condition. The MUTCD should drive the design, not preconstruction photos. It's a historical trail that needs to be lovingly built to it's previous condition.
Photo Courtesy of Paul G.
wow. any real professional who was working on that wouldn't consider that finished.
the contractor should be blacklisted after they finish the job. would the city let them build a road like that?
Posted by: IMGoph | March 22, 2011 at 06:56 AM
@IMGoph You should see the nearby roadway! Someone keeps "maintaining" it by dumping random piles of dirt and gravel all over the place. Cars and trucks turn the gravel into washboard, which is then "repaired" with more gravel.
If we as a community ever succeed in making bicycle travel in DC easy and accessible, I'll need a new source of excitement. For now, I have my daily commute to keep me alert, amused and (sometimes) astounded.
Posted by: Jonathan Krall | March 23, 2011 at 03:45 PM
Jonathan: I need to get down that way soon. Haven't been on that trail at all, actually!
Posted by: IMGoph | March 23, 2011 at 05:39 PM
I have zero confidence that the contractor will get it right (this has been a total cluster()@# from the beginning). I'll try to make a few passes through to check it out myself in the coming weeks, but hope that others will do the same and document.
Posted by: MB | March 23, 2011 at 11:55 PM