TheWashCycle

Scaling back of Beltway expansion spares Rock Creek, Bethesda Trolley, Sligo Creek trails

In mid-May Maryland scaled back their proposed expansion of DC-area highways, a decision that will prevent changes (and likely upgrades) to the many bike trails that cross it. Instead of adding lanes to the whole of the MD Beltway and I-270, the reduced proposal is to add lanes from the Virginia side of the American Legion Bridge (ALB) to north of Rockville. The major impacts for cyclists will be limited to any impact to the C&O Canal Towpath, a possible crossing on the new bridge and any improvements to or new connections crossing along the expanded highway (as is happening along I-66).

[For the record, I think any expansion is a bad idea, but if they do they should take the opportunity to make it easier for cyclists and pedestrians to cross the barrier. And advocates should push to make them do so.]

Last year, Montgomery County Planning weighed in on the project, to advise the state of the walking and bicycling recommendations in the Bicycle Master Plan and other area master plans to reconnect the neighborhoods that were severed with the original construction of I-495 and I-270. They brought their attention to individual bikeway recommendations that cross the interstates are shown at mcatlas.org/bikeplan. They also brought their attention to new guidance related to freeway ramps and grade-separated crossings. All of that is still valid, even with the reduced scope.

The 2020 DEIS discusses how the state is working with local planners to preserve current bike/ped facilities and add the facilities required by the county.

A shared-use facility on the bridge is something the state says it's committed to. Regardless of feelings about the HOT lanes, that would be a great addition to the local bike network as it would be the only crossing between Chain Bridge and White's Ferry (which may or may not come back). The bridge runs almost exactly north-south, so it's odd that they described the share-use path as being on the "south side", but I'll assume they mean the downstream side which matches up with where they put it in the 2002 Mount Vernon Trail Extension Study. (The MVT is the light blue line).

It'd be a mistake to build it as shown, but not include a connection under the bridge to Live Oak Drive. 

Crystal City, and its Bicycle Network, would change with Amazon HQ arrival

Crystal City, a part of the future National Landing, is going through plenty of change right now, with more on the horizon. In order to help Crystal City develop in a 21st Century sort of way, the county is working on a new Crystal City Bike Plan with the goal of delivering a “network of enhanced bicycling facilities” that can be implemented no later than December 31, 2024. A 2nd Crystal City Bike Network community meeting is scheduled for sometime this month (TBD)

Advocates are supportive of the initiative but have some criticism for the plan nonetheless. One criticism has been that what they need are two plans - a short term plan, based on existing resources and items already in the pipeline, and a long-term plan, based on goals that only can be achieved as larger projects get underway.  The plan doesn't do enough to consider how people will really get around or that Crystal Drive is the most important road in the network. The plan also ignores Potomac Yard, a critical connection to the Four Mile Run Trail and Alexandria. 

They call for the plan to 

• Require a Complete Street cross section for all future realignments and rebuilds of Clark/Bell by Developers
• Expand the sidewalk along 12th St east of Long Bridge Drive and south along Crystal Drive to 15th Street to Trail width (at least 15').  
• Rebuild the Metroway bus stops to support a 2-way protected bike lane on Crystal Drive from 15th to 26th St. T
• Extend the Potomac Yard Trail from the Arlington/Alexandria border to Long Bridge Park.  

A study of Pentagon City is also underway that also proposes to transform that area into a more urban and bike/ped/transit oriented area. 

The Commonwealth is getting in on the act too, as they're more than half a year into a Route 1 Multimodal Improvements Study. 

Meanwhile some things are happening outside of that planning process. As of earlier this year, construction has started on two residential towers at 1900 Crystal Drive in Crystal City, the project will include new 5' bike lanes on a block of 18th Street S. and, while it doesn't create a protected bike lane on Crystal Drive as advocates wanted, the bike lane will now be next to a transit lane instead of a travel lane. 

Still, a pair of protected bike lanes on Crystal Drive and S. Clark Street are something the County aspires to. Staff recently released recommendations on how to improve the area's bike lane Network and PBLs on Crystal Drive made the list along with improved cross-street east-west connections, and additional protected or buffered bike lanes on 15th, 18th, 23rd, and 26th streets.

In March 2020, the Arlington County Board directed staff to develop a plan to improve the bicycle network “east of Richmond Highway, from the Alexandria border extending north to Long Bridge Park.” The requirement for the proposal is that it needed to be completed within four years — by Dec. 31, 2024 — and require minimal changes to the curb line.

Staff considered several other options, but those rejected either didn’t fully address safety issues, could not be completed in the four-year timeline, or substantial capital improvements would be needed.

Not everyone thinks the recommendations go far enough. Darren Buck, who serves on Arlington’s Transportation Commission and lives in the Aurora Highlands neighborhood, said the recommendations reflect a “short-term view” that will not age well given that Crystal City in the midst of so much development.

“Let’s create a road map with a long-term vision, especially on Crystal Drive,” Buck says. “Let’s plan ahead with a 10 or 20 year goal for how that street should look.”

Right now, he says, gaps remain in the plan that doesn’t fully protect and provide safety to cyclists on all Crystal City streets, particularly from 18th Street to Clark and 27th streets.

Farther north of the area in that plan, the County approved the Crystal Gateway development which has some community benefits of interest to cyclists. They will be conveying 54,500 sq. ft. of land for Gateway Park (one of 5 parks being developed in the area), which will "connect Long Bridge Park to Crystal City" and contributing $300,000 for the County to plan the park. Long Bridge Park currently has a multi-use path (or esplanade) that is intendeded to connect to both the Mt. Vernon Trail and a new bridge ("Louvestre Bridge"?) across the Potomac.  That path already passes through the Crystal Gateway site. So the new park won't really connect Long Bridge Park to Crystal City, as they're already connected, but it preserve some of the green space next to the existing trail. There will also be a new road connecting 12th and 10th and some path's and sidewalks that should help pedestrians. 

The existing trail is on the right side of this site plan.

In other Crystal City park/trail news the county approved upgrades to the Crystal City Water Park and the Crystal City MVT connector trail through it. 

Under the plan, the Crystal City Connector path would become two paths — one an ADA accessible pedestrian path and the other bicyclist-focused — accessing the Mount Vernon Trail and proposed VRE north tunnel. The developer proposes dedicating a public access easement over the privately-owned Water Park and trail improvements.

While this would separate pedestrians and cyclists in the park, they would still share the tunnel. The project would also better landscape the are past the tunnel exit.  Originally the project included a long staircase just to the left of the tunnel exit in the above site plan that led to the park, but on the advice of the PAC it was removed. 

 

But wait, there's more. They're also considering 

approving a $4.23 million contract, awarded through a competitive bidding process, for the conceptual design and environmental review for a Crystal City-National Airport Multimodal Connector. The connector would link Crystal City’s core and the airport, meeting the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, and micro-mobility users of all ages and abilities. Currently, pedestrians and bicyclists must navigate a circuitous network of trails and crossings to traverse the 2,000 feet from Crystal Drive to the airport terminals. Funding will be provided entirely through federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement funds.

In addition to all of that, the Virginia Department of Transportation has initiated a feasibility study for proposed improvements on Route 1 on the west side of Crystal City between 12^th Street S and 23^rd Street S as part of the Route 1 Multimodal Improvement Study.  More information about the project is available on the project website and there's a virtual public meeting scheduled for June 16th. The project is exploring an at-grade urban boulevard, but also reviewing and comparing potential improvements to the current elevated condition, and the elevated urban boulevard described in the Crystal City Sector Plan. There's no consideration of bike facilites through the corridor, but there are places  - like 15th and 18th - where bike lanes cut across it and there the future design is important. 

The rendering below considers a Route 1 that crosses 15th at-grade (instead of going over it as it does now) and so the bike lanes on 15th would change as a result.

The National Landing org, however, is promoting a vision of Route 1 that does include protected bike lanes, as well as bigger sidewalks, more trees and more parking through a road diet.