White's Ferry may be saved, what this means for cyclists

Back in December, White's Ferry was closed in part because a cable was destroyed during a Christmas Day flood and in part because of a dispute over landing rights on the Virginia side. After negotiations to reopen it failed, the owners of the ferry sold it to a Virginia businessman and preservation, who will now try to negotiate a deal. I won't bore you with the details, but you can follow the links if you want to know who said what and who offered whom how much money and why a deal is needed and why no one can agree.

The reason this all matters, of course, is that the ferry serves as a connection between the W&OD Trail and the C&O Canal Towpath and many cyclists use it to make a loop (although I've never used the towpath for that loop). It's the only crossing for cyclists between Chain Bridge and the Point of Rocks Bridge - a distance of 40 miles. I've never biked across that latter bridge, which is beautiful, but as it only has 3 foot wide sidewalks, seems less than ideal anyway (not that that is really an alternative to the ferry).

It wasn't cheap and the pricing always bothered me. It cost $3 to take a bike across, but only $5 for a car. And if a driver bought one of their blue books with multiple tickets the price was less than $3 per trip (and less than taking a bike). But whatever - monopoly's gonna monopoly. 

A non-operating ferry is bad for cyclists. Opening it would be better. But perhaps the ideal situation would be for some government entity to take it over. They'd be more interested in cutting prices for cyclists and pedestrians - though the argument for that might be weak since I doubt there are many (any?) people who commute over the ferry by bike or on foot.

Another option is a small human-powered ferry, but I can't see why anyone would intervene to build one when the main constituency for the ferry is drivers. 

And while I'm reluctant to support new car infrastructure, a one-lane, alternating traffic bridge with a bike/ped lane - like the Union Arch Bridge over Cabin John -  might even be better. Toll it for drivers and make it free for cyclists, pedestrians, transit and emergency vehicles. We could try to set the toll so that car traffic remains the same or at some other sustainable level. 

Comments

[Purple Eagle]

Good news that the connection may be restored! I thought it was only $2 for cyclists, but either way I don't notice much since I only use it a couple of times a year at most.

[Kolo Jezdec]

Must be an old picture because they removed the Jubal Early banner this past summer.

[Jay]

If it's difficult to keep ferry cables from being broken by floods, a bridge would have to be quite substantial, with a high elevation. Having lived in Cabin John and put many cycling miles on MacArthur, the single lane bridge hasn't stopped the road from being a gridlocked line of commuters for half the day. I shutter at the thought of what Whites Ferry Rd would become with a bridge. The Poolesville population would probably explode as the town would become an extension of Loudon County.

[washcyle]

I would think that a Cabin John style bridge would move more people per hour than the ferry, so I doubt backed up traffic is a concern

[Jonathan Krall]

I'm totally anti-bridge unless the bridge is bike/ped/transit only.

I'm glad the ferry is back even if I've only used it twice. I used it while training for and then doing this ride
http://www.bikewashington.org/routes/century/century.htm

Good times

[washcyle]

I definitely don't want added auto capacity here. But the ferry is pretty wasteful (I think I've read that between the idling and the ferry itself they use quite a bit more gas. A single span bridge with a toll could be designed that didn't lead to any induced demand, while also serving everyone better. Not that I'm convinced leaders would set the toll high enough, but it COULD BE.

[Crickey]

Any bridge would be the proverbial camel's nose under the tent.

[washcyle]

Maybe, but Union Arch is still waiting for the camels neck, not to mention the butt.

It always feels like bad policy to make bad decision now to prevent future generations from making bad decisions later.

[Purple Eagle]

I heard on NPR yesterday an update, indicating that a new owner has purchased the ferry, but it might not re-start operations before the end of the year. The new owner is trying to get the state of VA to take the landing site by eminent domain.

[Crickey]

The Virginia owner is being a real pain in the patootie.