In Case You Didn't Know - Mt. Vernon Trail work near the airport

This story is already two weeks old, and was covered pretty completely by GGW, but in case you missed it, NPS is rebuilding some of the entrances to National Airport, and as part of that the MVT is being improved.

There are three major things happening to the trail: it's moving away from the George Washington Parkway where it passes under the Route 233 bridge, it's getting a new barrier wall under the Metro bridge that carries the Yellow and Blue lines into the airport, and it's moving around a large tree that forces a quick S curve.

That S-curve has always annoyed me, more so because it passes over a ramp from the GW Parkway that was abandoned long ago and should have been removed. I'm happy to say that that will happen as part of this project. 

Anyway, here are plans that show exactly how the trail is being realigned and rebuilt. 

Construction plan under Route 233 bridge

New and old alignment/design of MVT south of Ramp 500B

The trail is currently 9' throughout most of the area, but will be widened to something between 9' and 13', depending on location, with a traffic barrier on the road-side of the trail under Route 233 and the Metro tracks/Ramp 500A.

As you can see above, the old ramp will be removed, raised and replanted, with the trail going west of the big tree there. It will get drive pads and have mountable curbs on each end - with the barrier removed - I suppose so that emergency access remains(?)

Trail Cross-section under Route 233

They're also going to install a new water fountain south of Route 233. 

The Route 233 bridge is going to get better for pedestrians (and cyclists I suppose) as well. The sidewalk will be widened by 2.25' , though some of that space will be taken up by a new 2.5 foot tall traffic barrier on the inside of the sidewalks.

Route 233 Bridge Cross section

Route 233 will also get new crosswalks on the south side and a connection on the east end for those using that sidewalk. Currently, there is no crosswalk across Ramp 500C (lower left corner of image below), but when the project is done it will have a crosswalk there with a warning sign and curb ramps. In addition, pedestrians will no longer be dumped into no-man's land when they get across the bridge, as there will be a crosswalk to take them north to the triangle between Abingdon Road and the Route 233 lanes where they can access the existing pedestrian path. 

View of new bridge pedestrian facilities

It's odd to me that they aren't constructing connections between the Route 233 bridge's sidewalks and the MVT. The sidewalks east of the project boundary are pretty unappealing, but people do use them and the MVT is only a few feet away. The north side sidewalk connects to the new Crystal City Workout Park and the south side to S. Clark Street. These sidewalks east of the project boundary could be upgraded in the future as more of Route 233 is rehabilitated - and with a few crosswalks make even more connections, but I guess I missed the public comment period. [And what's up with that old, ghost parking lot under the bridge, east of the railroad tracks? What is that from?]

Anyway during the construction they've built a bunch of detours of varying quality - covered at the GGW piece. They've built temporary mulch trails bounded by wooden rails which pretty much everyone agrees are awful. 

Thanks to Wendy for these photos.

It's not an ideal detour, but the improvements to the trail will be nice, and the widening is a sign that NPS concedes that the trail is too narrow. 

Comments

[alan N.]

I rode it Friday due to the WW Bridge closure. There are signs saying to dismount, but it is cyclocross season, so.....

[DE]

The detours just show that this isn't the park service's strength, as with their extended repavings of roads that a DOT would knock off in a quarter of the time. But the improvements look to be very nice, despite the fact that I always did kinda enjoy the S-turn by the oak tree.

[Moose]

I'm glad they're getting rid of that S curve around the tree - while out running over the years I've had to help 2-3 cyclists who've wiped out at that spot.

[DE]

It's the mountain biker in me what enjoys it, but even so, I did clip the pavement with a pedal once. If you consider the thousands of trips through there every week and the increasing probability of accidents that causes, yeah, that S-turn needed to go.

I've seen more accidents just south of there on the curve that goes down to the Four Mile Run Trail. If that could be widened and have the curve eased, that would help.

[CyclistPedestrianMotorist]

The mulch detours are pretty horrid however the sidewalk detour from the area of the S-Curve to cross the road leading into the airport is worse.

[Harvey]

Southbound detour I really like (posted by someone else) -- make a left off the MVT at the sign pointing to the airport. Do not follow the trail into the tunnel under the roadway, but instead head straight into the service/facilities area and follow the service road up a small hill to where it intersects with a "car road." Get in the left lane at the first light. Proceed to your left with some slow moving car traffic. Follow either one of these roads back to the trail. One spills out onto the detour ramp. Another will take you next to another trail entry point.

[22206]

It's commendable that the NPS decided to remove the un-used ramp.

It would have been easier and cheaper to just leave it in place.

[T]

You can do the southbound detour in reverse for northbound too. The only trick to it is going to the second crosswalk and taking it over a few lanes to get onto NB Aviation Circle (very little traffic headed that direction). The SB one you mentioned is surprisingly easy and very pleasant re-entry.

Overall, I'm glad they're getting rid of the S-Tree. But the rest of it doesn't seem all that necessary to me. The other thing they could do that would help is make the NB GWMP entry from airport crossing a u-shape curb cut instead of the current more v-like (i've seen a few accidents at it) or make the v version more 3d so it came partially into roadway rather than the straight vertical cut running parallel with the roadway. Of course I don't think this is part of the change.

The premise for the change was riding in proximity to the roadway. I always thought the more dangerous side of that was north side of airport MVT because there wasn't a bailout with fence. Oh well.

[washcycle]

Widening the trail is needed. And the crash barrier is a good idea, especially if it reduces headlight glare at night.

T, I'm sorry, I don't understand your comment about the curb cut. Is this at the one at-grade crossing north of the Metro line? I'd like to see it grade separated some day.

[DaveS]

NPS responded to my concerns about the surface and constrictions of these detours with some helpful information I'm not seeing in other reports:

The north detour, for work under the 233 bridge, will be in use for a few weeks.

The south detour, around the large tree, will be in use for a few days.

The middle detour, under the Metro bridge, will be in use for about three months. I'm pre-writing my next query in case we get a major snow or long freeze that makes this section impassable.

It's worth noting that this is not an NPS project, so while NPS is our point of contact they aren't directly making the decisions about the work. Mr. LaRocca of the NPS noted my comments and promised to pass them along to the NPS engineer working as the FHWA liaison. To me this extra layer means we need to alert NPS early, often, and politely so any concerns or complaints we may have will be taken seriously and in due course.

[Zack Rules]

I wrote to LaRocca to ask about closing the ramp 500a and using it as a detour instead of mulch. There is no point of that ramp being there anyways because drivers can cut thru the airport (not the terminal area but just to the west next to the garage in the same amount of time and make a safer merge onto the GWP. Heard nothing more than DaveS though, NPS will only forward to engineer :(