TheWashCycle

Nightime closures of the MBT continue until February 9th for construction preparation

DDOT has announced that there will be night time closures of the Met Branch Trail to allow for the installation of scaffolding that will enable the trail to remain open during the construction of Four Constitution Square. That building will replace Wunder Garten beer garden and be leased by the DOJ.

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has issued a permit to close a section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail adjacent to 150 M Street NE beginning Sunday, January 22 from 9 pm to 5 am. This closure will continue Sunday through Thursday for approximately three weeks.

The temporary closure is needed to allow for the erection of scaffolding that will provide protection for trail users from construction activity in the adjacent work site. After the scaffolding is put in place, the trail will operate normally.

The scaffolding is expected to be in place for the duration of the construction at M Street NE, which is expected to take approximately 18 months.

Signs will be in place to warn cyclists approaching the area. A detour route will be posted, and cyclists and pedestrians using the trail during the overnight closures should follow the detour route.

I like to see development along the trail because I figure it will add users, and while it's hard to determine exactly how the new building will interact with the trail based on this rendering, it does not appear to be a blank wall.

East Falls Church Civic Association opposes W&OD trail bridge over Falls Church

As part of the Eastbound Widening portion of the Transform I-66 project, VDOT has proposed building a bridge over Lee Highway for the W&OD Trail. However, ArlNow reports that the East Falls Church Civic Association has sent a letter asking the bridge project be paused.

The Civic Association is concerned about a couple of things. First, they want to see a West Entrance to the East Falls Church Metro.

The bridge’s Eastern abutment will present a nearly insurmountable challenge to the design of a Western entrance to the East Falls Church Metro.

Second, they're worried it's ugly

This bridge, at nearly a fifth of a mile in length and approaching three stories in height presents a massive visual and functional barrier to the sights and activity of East Falls Church area, particularly the pedestrian oriented design of the highway at this location

And third, they're worried that it will impede development and the East Falls Church Area Plan. That plan does not include a bridge, but does call for a study of a possible grade separated crossing.

Instead they propose several alternatives. One is to take the trail along Four Mile Run and under Lee Highway through an existing box culvert. Another includes a grade-crossing of Fairfax Drive and then taking the trail along I-66.

They complain that there wasn't enough of a chance for public involvement and worry that it would "lock-in' the alignment of the W&OD trail, which residents say forces cyclists and pedestrians onto neighborhood streets near the East Falls Church Metro station."

Local bike advocates disagree

Gillian Burgess, chair of Arlington County’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, said she shares some of the neighborhood’s concerns. Still, a bridge is sorely needed to “allow people on two feet or two wheels to use the trail without worrying whether that red car is really going to stop at the light,” she said.

And WABA supports the bridge too. 

The Arlington County Board held a hearing about it Saturday, however VDOT will accept comments until 5pm today. You can submit comments here.

Update: The Arlington Board statement

Impacts to the regional trail network – VDOT has proposed realigning the Custis Trail at Bon Air Park and grade-separating the crossing of the W&OD Trail at Lee Highway. The Board resolution endorses these improvements and asks that VDOT ensure a robust community process will be incorporated into the design process to achieve a context sensitive solution for the W&OD Trail changes.

From the archives: The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge

I was reading this fascinating history of Theodore Roosevelt Island, trying to find out what the original plan was for the downstream pedestrian path - the one that ends on the Virginia side in the middle of nowhere. Did they have a plan to connect that to something at some point in time but just didn't follow through or did they just figure that someone would eventually connect something to it? (if so construction began in 1960, so they misjudged). Anyway, I couldn't find any of the designs as presented to the CFA, or anyone else, at the time, so I don't know, but I did learn a lot of other interesting facts. The CFA approved a steel bridge design in 1955, but I'm not sure if that's even the design that was built, since permission to build it wouldn't come for another year.

• There's been talk recently of building a bicycle and pedestrian bridge between Roosevelt Island and the Georgetown Waterfront, but that wouldn't be the first time such a bridge existed. For a few months at the end of the Civil War a pontoon bridge was built to facilitate the return of captured Confederate troops. (see image at bottom)
• The Columbia Athletic Club leased the island, then known as Masons Island, from 1889-1892 and built several athletic facilities there, including a "quarter-mile bicycle and running track". Theodore Roosevelt was a member of the club. In 1890 "the Columbia Athletic Club hosted the annual meet of the American Athletic Union, drawing competitors from around the country. A new world record in the 100-yard dash was set that day at a mark of nine and four-fifths seconds. The crouching start to races is also said to have been first used on the island."
• The Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) didn't want the bridge going across the island, as they planned to put a boathouse, ferry landing and outlook terrace there, but after many years they relented.
• In 1956, when the decision was made to run the bridge over the southern end of the Island, the TRA (which had control over the island) demanded, among other things, that "it include direct pedestrian and automobile access to the island." This had been included as a requirement in a 1954 Federal law authorizing the bridge.  In 1957, it was still part of the plan. Yet, the bridge provides neither, and its unclear what happened to that demand and why. I've often though it was a shame that the pedestrian path on the upstream side doesn't provide direct access to the park.

In addition to these bike relevant pieces of information, I found this interesting as well

• In the 1920's there was talk of building a stadium on the island to honor TR. "The Washington Board of Trade led an effort to build a 100,000-seat, $5 million stadium or athletic coliseum capable of hosting major national sporting events and the Olympic Games on the island"
• There was an alternate proposal, that wasn't seriously considered, to raise the island on the south side and then tunnel the bridge through it. An NPS official supported the idea enough to do a formal comparative analysis of the bridge and tunnel plans in February 1957. NCPC supported the tunnel.
• Before being called the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge it was the E Street Bridge.
• There were several ferries that connected the island to VA or DC and also several causeways between the island and VA. But from 1948 up until the current pedestrian bridge was built in 1979, the only way to get there was via ferry. The frequency and price changed many times over the years.
• In 1958, the 4th of July fireworks were launched from the island to celebrate TR's 100th birthday.

NPS is seeking input on Buzzard Point Park with section of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail

The National Park Service is planning to redevelop Buzzard Point Marina into a park to serve the residents that will be moving there in the near future. They're seeking comments, but they're due by the end of the day today.

DC has always intended that the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail would pass through the park (part of section 16 on the map below), and luckily both planning concepts on the table include the trail. The trail would be 20-feet wide and a 10-foot wide pedestrian promenade would be included in both concepts. The trail would extend from just south of 1900 Half Street to the southern end of Buzzard's Point between 1st and 2nd St SW, in front of the Riverpoint development.

Concept 1 has the trail passing through the park.

Which integrates the trail into the park, but might also leave to more conflicts with pedestrians. It also creates a more circuitous route and separates the trail from the water.

Concept 2 moves the trail out onto a causeway over the water with three connections to land.

This will likely be the more dramatic (and expensive) option, with a straighter connection and less conflict, but will make the trail isolated. It will also provide no shade in the summer an probably windier in the winter. It would be cool to see the kayaks pass underneath though.

Like I said, comments are due today. WABA supports both designs by the way.

17th Street SE Bicycle Lane installation began yesterday

Yesterday, DDOT began work on the 17th Street SE Infrastructure Improvement project from Benning Road to Barney Circle, a project that will add a combination of bike lanes and sharrows on the 3/4 mile stretch of road. The project has been in the works since 2012 but has had to wait on a battery of utility projects.

From Benning to East Capitol, sharrows will be installed on the west travel lane. From East Capitol to Potomac Ave it will get a road diet and a bike lane. In addition,

The improvements consist of traffic calming measures including raised crosswalks and curb extensions at intersections, ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps, roadway resurfacing in some areas, lighting improvements, and traffic signal modifications

Work will be done a few blocks at a time and activities on the east side will be completed in each respective area before activities begin on the west side.

Alabama Avenue SE Corridor Safety Study

DDOT is hosting a meeting on Saturday, February 11th to discuss safety along the Alabama Avenue SE corridor. 

The purpose of this corridor safety study will be to identify and address multi-modal safety concerns, and to improve the overall quality of the network for all users.  At this meeting, existing conditions and current traffic/crash data will be shared to capture ideas and suggestions from participants.

Alabama Avenue is a key bike route through the east side of Wards 7 and 8. The MoveDC plan recommends that it feature protected bike lanes for its entire length from MLK Boulevard in Congress Heights to Fort DuPont, and then continuing on Bowen Rd to Southern Avenue (where ideally it would continue along Marlboro Pike). This is a Tier 3 facility, but there's no reason to wait. And it would be even better if it connected directly to the Suitland Parkway Trail (which currently passes under Alabama without a connection to it).

Rehabilitation of Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge over Rock Creek and Rock Creek Parkway

Starting this week, from DDOT

DDOT is rehabilitating the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge over Rock Creek and Rock Creek Parkway. The project is expected to take 15 months ...

In the Spring of 2017, to perform the necessary work, a 200-day detour of westbound Pennsylvania Avenue traffic will be implemented. Westbound traffic will be detoured onto 26th Street, NW to M Street, NW while eastbound traffic will continue across the bridge throughout the detour. Pedestrian and bike traffic will continue to use the bridge during construction...

In addition to other things, the project will

Re-pave roadway approaches and re-align the Rock Creek Parkway exit ramp tie-in with Pennsylvania Avenue  

Repair sidewalks and curbs

Install curbside safety bridge rail along both sidewalks

Upgrade existing streetlighting to LED

2017 "Cool Developments" include key trail segments

Washingtonian recently did a click-baity feature on the "9 Coolest Developments Coming to Washington in 2017" and two of them include key sections of bike trail.

The  first is the Wharf. In addition to inspiring normally nice Iowans to wish a recession on our town, the massive development on the SW Waterfront is also building a section of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail. The trail project was long ago broken up into 19 pieces, and the Wharf section is #17. The portion completing this year, phase 1, will only build part of that; but when complete it would leave slightly less than 5 segments to go (part of 18 opened last year).

Status of the ART in 2012
 

The ART will be right along the waterfront (which is not the  Anacostia waterfront, but who's keeping track)

Cyclists will likely prefer Maine Ave, which will feature a protected pair of bike lanes, behind parked cars and at the sidewalk level - a first for DC. That will also not be completed in this phase. Phase 2 will be completed in 2020-2021. 

The other project isn't really in Washington, but rather Riverdale Park, MD. The Riverdale Park Station development is built atop an old trolley line and portions of that right-of-way from Hyattsville to College Park have been turned into a trail. The RPS property is the only gap. Though part of this project will open this year, it's not clear the trail will.

Interestingly, as far away as these projects are from another, you can ride from one to the other entirely on trail (except for the gap between the Wharf and Nationals Stadium).

RFK Parking lots could become park space with trails and a new Anacostia crossing

EventsDC recently released concepts for the RFK Stadium-Armory Campus and if these concepts became reality they would make use of, and expand, DC's Anacostia River Trail that currently passes through the campus. The concept would build 3 new bridges and a pair of new paths.

One new path would serve as an alternative to Oklahoma Ave and as a way to access the Park. It would go east from Oklahoma Avenue and C Street NE then turn north eventually reconnecting with Oklahoma at Benning Road. The other new path would run east from the existing path between the ART and Heritage Island to Oklahoma. In addition, new roads would provide bike access to the park and ART.

The three new bridges would provide new options for getting across the river, but in most cases not faster ones. One bridge would connect the south end of Kingman Island (the bigger island) to the west bank ART. Another would connect the south end of Heritage Island to the west bank ART.

And a third would connect the east side of Kingman Island to the east bank ART and the River Terrace neighborhood.

Bike-related bills in the 2017 Virginia legislature

FABB and VBF have a good run down.(See the VBF website for the full report.) Perhaps most bikey is

HB 2023 Highway maintenance payments; bicycle lanes. The bill to not reduce highway maintenance payments to municipalities that have implemented road diets. Filed by Del. Villanueva.