Easy Access to Long Bridge Park

Over the weekend, the Post ran an article about Long Bridge Park in which one detractor asked "how are SUVs with three kids going to get in there? You tell me. It’s a treacherous entrance.”

First of all, I didn't know SUV's had kids, but I guess that's where compact cars come from - and why they're so cute.

But while the park may be difficult to get to if you're an SUV. If you're a cyclist or a pedestrian it's pretty easy to get to. This is one entrance off of 12th St S. I actually came from DC, going under the Humpback Bridge to the bridge across Boundary Channel and then along N Boundary Channel Drive crossing under 395/Route 1 to S. Old Jefferson Highway. It was pretty easy - if not direct - as there is little traffic along those roads [Aside: There used to be a historical marker about the forts of Washington, DC here, but it is now removed. Does anyone know where that ended up?] It would be nice if that route were better marked, since it will be a time before any other one exists. There's also room for a sidepath along the east side of N. Boundary Channel Drive, which cyclists don't really need, but pedestrians do. 

It's too bad the old pedestrian underpasses under Route 1 don't really connect to anything useful.

More photos coming, but until then let me say that - even incomplete - this may be the best of the new parks in the area. Better than both Georgetown Waterfront and Yards Park  (and I'm a fan of both of those). It's really spectacular. And when the grass and plants have a chance to grow in, and the rest of the park is finished and the area between 6th and 10th is no longer vacant and abandoned - it will be even better.

Comments

[Jacques]

It shows we've come a long way, if people no longer even pretend that SUVs are made to take on off-roading conditions. (Or a less than perfectly paved road).

[Walsh44]

The text of the missing marker read as follows:

FORT RUNYON
Boundary Drive and Old Jefferson Davis Highway
A half-mile to the southwest stood Fort Runyon, a large bastioned earthwork constructed in May 1861 to protect the Long Bridge over the Potomac. Its perimeter, 1,484 yards, was about the same as that of the Pentagon. After the construction of the Arlington Line two miles to the west, Fort Runyon fell into disuse. Nearby Fort Jackson, at the Virginia end of the Long Bridge, was no more than a checkpoint to control traffic on the bridge and protect it from sabotage.

The best people to ask about the missing marker would the the Historic Preservation office at the Neighborhood Services Division of the Arlington Dept of Community Planning, Housing and Development. Their website is here:
http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/CPHD/ons/CPHDOnsHistoricPreservation.aspx

[Walsh44]

To repeat the comment I made on your Saturday Morning Ride - Jet Residue post:
When you check out Long Bridge Park, check out the alternative of completing the pedestrian/bike path that dead-ends 1100 feet after going thru the south/VA-side tunnel of the Humpback Bridge (re your Trail Ends post of Dec 2) Laying down some asphalt there & then along Boundary Channel Drive under I-395 to Long Bridge Drive & then to the Park entrance would be infinitely cheaper (& could get done a lot sooner)than building an overpass over the GWMP like the one from Rosslyn to Roosevelt Island.

[Walsh44]

The other way to get to the 12th St entrance from the MVT is to take the cutoff to Crystal City located between the 2 airport road overpasses on the Trail. That takes you under the RR tracks to the Waterpark located near S 18th St & Crystal Drive. Pedal north on Crystal Drive to where it curves toward S 12th St & you're there.

[washcycle]

I agree that connecting the southside Humpback bridge underpass to Boundary Channel Drive is the cheapest and easiest way to create a new connection to the MVT. But, unfortunately, ease and price aren't the only concerns. There is the problem that the land owner - the Pentagon - opposes this use. All the relevant parties are aware of the need, but without the Pentagon changing it's mind, the Rockies might as well be in the way.

[MB]

FWIW, there's been some talk of reconstructing* the cloverleaf exit onto N. Boundary Channel Dr. that may well clear some room - outside of the Pentagon's reach - along that corridor. Gaining land for the trail is not the purpose of the reconstruction, but would be a happy byproduct.

In the meantime, I encourage folks to keep using whatever avenues they might have to ask the Pentagon to be a better neighbor and permit Arlington to complete the connection.

*My amorphous term that is short for "I can't recall what they want to do with it."