Froggie reports on his blog that
VDOT staff gave a project update on the Telegraph Rd interchange construction, and they hope to open the bike/ped path across the Beltway (connecting Huntington Ave to Eisenhower Ave) next week.
This is the last piece of the Wilson Bridge and the third bike crossing. The other two were the Wilson Bridge sidepath and the Route 1 sidepath between Washington Blvd and Belle Haven.
It's odd that Froggie should report this on his blog, because with recent news stories about the changes at Telegraph Road I went to the Wilson Bridge Project site to see when this would open and found nothing except information that the trail would open in spring/summer 2010 [sic]. No one is mentioning this at all. Even Froggie buried the lead in his post. Is this just not that big a deal to people.
Anyway, after it opens, maybe we'll do a field trip to check it out. And also the tunnel under the railroad tracks that will soon be replaced.
As part of the widening of the Telegraph Rd bridge over the Metrorail Blue Line and the CSX tracks, they are also building a bike/ped path on that bridge (connecting Pershing Dr to Duke St) that will replace the existing tunnel under the tracks, and hope to have that open by this fall.
I didn't even know there was a tunnel there.
I believe The tunnel will actually connect Mill Road to Duke Street. You can see the current tunnel just to the right of the Telegraph Bridge in the Google link.
Posted by: Casey Kane | June 03, 2011 at 07:54 AM
The tunnel connects mill to Duke, but the bridge will connect to Pershing. You can see the overpass above and to the left in the google streetview link.
Posted by: washcycle | June 03, 2011 at 09:52 AM
The real question is why on earth it took this long to open the Telegraph path. It's literally been complete but blocked off since last summer. While one could attempt to argue safety, people have to get across somehow, and daily I see folks walking in active traffic lanes simply because the trail that's completed simply has two barricades at either end.
The real irony is that once you arrive on Eisenhower the first sign you see 10 feet away promotes how bike friendly the city is.
On the tunnel side, it's almost the same story. Closed back in December due to construction nearby. Which is really just a short way of saying they were too lazy to simply work around it. Only until the last week has there been any real safety reason why it should be closed. The challenge with it being closed is it's incredibly popular to get between Duke and Hoffman Plaza - else you have to take a 1+ mile detour because of the tracks.
Posted by: DCRainmaker | June 04, 2011 at 06:50 PM
The reason it's taken this long is because VDOT had to widen the Telegraph Rd bridge over Cameron Run first, something that did not begin until last fall.
Wash: I didn't quite "bury the lead", per se...I focused on the negative aspects from the Transportation Commission meeting first, in part because one of the negatives (King St Metro sidewalks) tied into one of the positives (King St Metro bike parking).
Posted by: Froggie | June 05, 2011 at 02:28 PM
Ok, so I am a walker, not a biker, but I have looked several times for an underpass to get me from mill rd to duke but I can only find the one that is closed for repairs. Is there another I am missing?
Posted by: jenny | December 06, 2011 at 07:59 AM