DDOT installs over 750 signs, creating 5 new bike routes

I've seen many several new bike route signs around DC lately. Instead of just reading "Bike Route" they tell one where the route goes and how far away it is, which makes so much more sense. On I-95 they don't just have signs that read "Interstate" after all.

Photo by DDOTDC

Well, these weren't just isolated improvements, but part of a larger effort.

DDOT has installed new signage to mark five bike routes on the east side of the District. The five routes total over twenty miles in length and provide on-street linkages between the Metropolitan Branch Trail, the Marvin Gaye Trail, the Oxon Run Trail, the Anacostia River Trail System and the Anacostia Tributaries Trail System in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The routes use a newly designed Bike Route sign and provide distance information to key destinations. Over the past few weeks, contractors have installed more than 750 sign plates at 255 locations to mark the new routes.

The new routes are

• Pennsylvania Avenue cycletrack to Nationals Park and Historic Anacostia
• Marvin Gaye Trail to Metropolitan Branch Trail
• The Heights Bike Route, from the Marvin Gaye Trail to the Oxon Run Trail
• The Heights Bike Route to the East Bank Anacostia River Trail and Anacostia Park at Nicholson Street
• An on-street connection between the MBT in Brookland and the Northwest Branch Trail near Mt. Rainier, Maryland (which is also part of the East Coast Greenway)

Which is great news, especially when combined with the recent flurry of bike lane installation catch up.

Comments

[Greenbelt]

I especially like the mileage signs for Key West Florida and Maine by the Monroe Street bridge. Very nice touch.

[Michael H.]

Nice. Has Arlington set up similar signs on the Custis Trail? I think they have, but I don't ride over there very often. I found that trail to be very confusing in certain sections.

[John Flack]

I'd like to see Arlington do that on the W & OD. There is no sign at all for the turn-off for the Bluemont Junction trail.

[oboe]

An on-street connection between the MBT in Brookland and the Northwest Branch Trail near Mt. Rainier, Maryland (which is also part of the East Coast Greenway)

What a coincidence. I rode the MBT for the first time this weekend, trying to get out to Greenbelt. Jumped on the MBT, and just kept following the signs until I hit Ft Totten, then backtracked to Brookland, and followed the East Coast Greenway signs until I got lost somewhere east of Rhode Island Ave/Rt 1. The signs really seem to peter out when you get into PG County.

On the way back into town, I missed the connection from NE Branch to NW Branch trail, and ended up by the new bridge over the Anacostia at the beginning of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail.

"Cool!" I thought, "I'll just bomb this thing back to Capitol Hill, and..." two miles later I hit this:

http://t.co/eaAi84Yz

which is here on Google Maps. Pretty much the middle of nowhere with nowhere to go.

It was fun just bombing around town, but someone really should post a sign at the Bladensburg Waterfront Park saying the trail dead ends in two miles with no outlet other than turning around and going back the way you came.

[Greenbelt]

Until the MBT is finished out to Fort Totten and the PG connector is built up, I'd suggest that DDOT and MNCPPC just paint a nice green stripe on the roads to help people get from 8th and Monroe in DC to 38th and the NW Branch trail in MD:

-Monroe from 8th to 12th
-12th from Monroe to Newton
-Newton from 12th to 18th
-18th from Newton to Varnum
-Varnum from 18th to 38th (Varnum becomes Arundel road and Allison Street, respectively, and would need a counterflow OK the last two blocks)
-38th from Allison to the NW Branch

In my opinion, this is the simplest route from the Met Branch to the NW Branch.

[washcycle]

oboe, I'm pretty sure there is a sign at BWP that tells users the trail has no exit.

[oboe]

I must have missed it. Maybe I should slow down.

[John]

I think the signs are great and make drivers aware that bicycles can take the road especially around the Marvin Gaye Trail area

[IMGoph]

Are any maps available of these new routes?

[David]

How practical would it be to tour the major DC attractions on bike? Doable?

Thanks,
David