Work is beginning on the Rock Creek Trail and Beach Drive Rebuild

Next Monday, the federal portion of the multi-stage, multi-year, multi-project effort to rebuild both Beach Drive and the Rock Creek Park Trail will finally kick off. The result may not be everything bike advocates had hoped or asked for, but it will represent a massive improvement of a much-beloved, but much-criticized, bicycle facility. 

The entire project, which entails a full reconstruction of the road and its parallel trail, will last about three years, according to the Park Service.

The adjacent trail, used for commuting and recreation by hundreds of cyclists, joggers and pedestrians, will be widened to 10 feet in areas. There will be new trail construction between Porter Street and Piney Branch Parkway and a new crosswalk on Beach Drive at Blagden Avenue.

The Post article makes much of the traffic disaster that is likely to follow the closures, saying it is likely to cause abysmal traffic.

Starting Sept. 19, a major road rehabilitation project will shut down a segment of Beach Drive, disrupting traffic patterns for thousands of commuters who use the route to get to downtown from Maryland and upper Northwest D.C. neighborhoods.

But fear not cyclists...

While the road is being reconstructed, the trail will remain open, and when the road is completed but not yet open to car traffic, and the trail is being reconstructed, then bicyclists and pedestrians will have access to the road.

It might even be a golden age for RCP bike commuting.  

Still, I'm not sure that traffic is really going to be abysmal. Similar predictions of chaos have turned out to have been overblown. In fact, I'm hoping that it won't cause chaos. As I wrote last April

Phase four of the Beach Drive rehabilitation project involves the closure of the very section of Beach Drive, Joyce to Broad Branch, that faced opposition in 1983 and 2005. Will the impact of such closures—during the midday, not rush hour—be "minimal," as the Park Service concluded, or will it be "severe?" Will neighborhood roads be filled with traffic? Will safety be compromised? Will travel times dramatically increase? Will those with disabilities stay away from the park? And what are the impacts during rush hours?

We'll now get a chance to study these things in a much more robust way—during a real-world experiment, which is exactly what Norton, Van Hollen, Mikulski and others asked for.

And at a recent BAC meeting we were told that DDOT plans to do just such a study. But it looks like I was wrong about this part

Unfortunately, since the road won't be open for non-automobile traffic, we won't be able to determine to what extent its closure would increase recreational use.

In fact the National Zoo Trail gate will be open from 6am to 7pm to help bike commuters

 

Beach Drive bikes & peds @NationalZoo trail gate open from 6a-7p during rehab. Thanks @WABADC for input on plan pic.twitter.com/yGEfAzprQW

— Jenny A-S NPS (@JennyASNPS) September 14, 2016

Still, this is a project that people have been talking about since I moved here, so it's fantastic to see if finally about to start.

Comments

[Zack Rules]

A lot of DC's roads are under capacity, a lot of the traffic people see is more of a function of the traffic signals and complex angled intersections rather than number of lanes. Upper Beach Dr carries about 9-10k cars per day and below Piney Branch, about 26k. Parallel Connecticut carries 34k in 6 lanes, 16th St just 25-30k in 4 lanes, and Georgia 20-24k in 4 lanes, all of which are under capacity. Furthermore, traffic volumes are down citywide over the past 15 years anyways. Reports of traffic doom are completely irrational.

[Crickey7]

Beach Drive is a favorite route for the cycling clubs. A smooth road surface will be greatly appreciated on those weekend rides.

[SJE]

Zack: I drove on Monday down Beach Drive/RCP and it took me almost 90 minutes to go the 9 miles from my house. Beach was definitely not under capacity at that time.

[fongfong]

On the 2 days a week I drive to work, I take RCP north. The backup to Beach Drive each day is palpable, as it is the only way for those headed to the east side of the park to easily escape the park. I suppose it is possible these folks now will decide not to get onto RCP in the first place. Possible.

As for those headed to the West of the park, I believe there will be a huge backup as 4 lanes merge into 2 lanes onto Cathedral and Shoreham Drive. But since those streets act as a funnel already, I don't think the volume of traffic on Connecticut will increase that much - it already is pretty much at capacity.

What is amazing to me is that there has been no planning whatsoever to increase bus capacity along parallel streets, particularly 16th St and Connecticut Avenue. I understand Bowser is having a press conference today about the closure and I hope someone asks her why no transit alternatives are being implemented.