Last week, I had a bit of a change in workplace...I'm now working at the Pentagon on a temporary duty assignment (Navy calls it TAD, Army/Air Force calls it TDY). By far the biggest change that's occurred with the office shift is the commute. Instead of my old Suitland commute where my choices were a 25min drive or a 1h10m Metrorail ride, I have many more options for commuting to the Pentagon. It's a simpler Metrorail commute (7 stops on the Yellow Line). Or I could take the 9A Metrobus, which stops right in front of my apartment. Or I could continue driving...albeit with the peak-flow and with parking a dicey and/or expensive proposition. Or I could bike.
Now that I have my permanent badge, I thought I'd try my inaugural bicycle commute this morning. It's the first bike commute I've had since high school...about 18 years! Between it being my first bike commute in forever plus the nature of my new office location, some pre-planning/preparation was in order.
First up was a trip to BicycleSPACE so I could pick up a couple more lights and a reflective vest...this being because some of my commutes (for the next couple months) will be in the dark. I also needed to know where available bicycle racks are at the Pentagon, since bikes are not allowed inside the building. According to this interesting Army Pentagon guide (which appears to have been partially written by a bicyclist), there are about 30 bicycle racks near the northeast corner, another 30 near the southwest corner, and about a half-dozen along the side of the mall on the north side. I selected the parking area near the northeast corner as my target.
This morning was cool, but not horrible, so I dressed accordingly (1 layer on the legs, 2 on the torso...I overheat easily), grabbed the bike lights and vest, and headed out around 5:50am. My route north began by crossing over to Washington St then up through Old Town. I've gone through Old Town countless times, but almost always on Washington St. Today's the first time I headed north with the intention being to cross the Monroe Ave Bridge, which I did by mostly taking Columbus St and Alfred St. Aside from one driver who didn't realize I had right-of-way at an all-way stop, the ride up to and through Old Town was uneventful.
Across the Monroe Ave Bridge, I opted for Potomac Avenue. Potomac Ave is a new 4-lane divided street built to service upcoming development at Potomac Yard, and it also has a parallel bike/ped path. Though I wouldn't quite say that it's "pool table flat", the small hills are very manageable and it's definitely flatter than the nearby Mount Vernon Trail. It's nice, smooth, and above-all quiet. While dozens of cars were plying the northbound lanes of the parallel Route 1, I only had 5 cars pass me on Potomac Ave.
To get through Crystal City, I opted for Crystal Drive to 18th St to Eads St. Crystal Drive isn't too bad...it has a bike lane except for the section immediately underneath Route 233 (National Airport connector). 18th St has an underpass at Route 1 so one doesn't have to cross Route 1 at-grade. Eads St was a bit rough...it could stand to have a repaving. But the nice thing about Eads St is it brings one right into the south parking lot area at the Pentagon.
Getting to the bike racks from the south parking lot was...interesting. It involves a couple turns, and the gateguard looked like he wasn't sure what to think, but he allowed me through. I found the bike parking easily enough...it looks like there were originally a small number of old-style bike racks with the slots for putting your tire through. These have since been considerably expanded by newer racks of the same type. I got in just before 6:30am.
So my bike commute wound up being about the same as the bus commute and a few minutes longer than the shuttle/Metrorail commute. But there are several advantages to the bike commute: I get exercise, I can park the bike closer to my office than the metro entrance is, I don't have to pay Metrobus or Metrorail fare, and I'm not waiting up to 30 minutes for the 9A bus or up to 15 minutes for my apartment's Metro shuttle. About the only real disadvantage is that the bike parking isn't covered and is exposed to the elements. The earlier Army website suggests that covered parking used to exist, but no longer does.
Future routing tweaks are possible, and there may be days where I want a leisurely ride home anyway. Besides the Mount Vernon Trail, I could also pass by Long Bridge Park, or head down Commonwealth Ave and Mt Vernon Ave through Del Ray. But I'm thinking something close to my current route is going to be my shortest/fastest commuting route.
Weather-permitting, I'm planning on bike-commuting twice a week. I'd do additional days, but we do Physical Training 3 times a week at the office and I don't want to over-do it, at least not at first. Once I get into a groove (plus in better shape), I might revise this and bike more often. And for those days where the weather's bad, I have both a Metrorail and a bus option. All-in-all, it's a commuting win.
Showing posts with label Potomac Yard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Potomac Yard. Show all posts
February 14, 2012
April 22, 2010
NOVA Streetcar Meeting quicknotes
Just got back home from the Northern Virginia Streetcar Coalition meeting. Will post a more fleshed-out article either tomorrow or over the weekend, but for now, here's the collection of Tweets I made from the meeting...you'll catch the basic gist from these.
- At the NOVA Streetcar Coalition meeting. Curious to see what they're going to put out.
- Abi Lerner (Alex): CCPY transitway needs to be done in a coordinated fashion btwn Alex & Arlington.
- Curbside or medianside? (medianside chosen for Route 1 part of CCPY)
- Beauregard/Mark Center-BRAC: connect to Columbia Pike?
- Alex. priority is CCPY/Rte 1 first, then Beauregard/Van Dorn 2nd, then Duke St 3rd.
- How to accommodate future conversion to streetcar without creating environmrntal impact & preserve flexibility for Federal funding?
- Alexandria wants to further study future conversions to streetcars before making a final decision.
- *NO* intent in Alexandria to go with overhead wires.
- Arlington: mention of 15K/day bus ridership on Columbia Pike.
- Relating Columbia Pike Streetcar project to Federal policy vision of current administration.
- Arlington to initiate Federal New Starts process for Columbia Pike soon.
- Arlington County plan (approved by board as policy) to increase Crystal City density by 68% over today.
- Arlington has $6M in grants to build their segment of CCPY transitway.
- Arlington doesn't think there's a viable alternative to overhead wires yet. Still looking to pursue overhead wires.
- FFX Co def of major transit corridor is basically "major public transit facility (which may be HOV lanes) provided based on alternatives analysis
- FFX Co Board endorsed long-term goal of rail on I-66 west of Vienna.
- Plan to build bus ramp from 66 HOV lane to Vienna station.
- If 28 gets widened, would likely include HOV lanes. Other transit modes unclear/unstudied.
- FFX comp plan endorses 176' ROW for Rte 1, preserves ROW for LRT in median.
- No LRT envisioned along 95/395.
- Mention that 1/3 of inbound 66 traffic in morning is heading to Tysons.
- MWCOG: big on projects that provide connectivity btwn systems. Mentions 43% of Purple Line users predicted to xfer to/from Metro.
- Ron Kirby (MWCOG) must've been around for awhile. He called it Shirley Hwy instead of I-395.
- NVTC: NOVA transit ridership up 3% in FY 2009 over 2008.
- NVTC: FY 10 transit in NOVA cost $700M. 65% local (including fares), 20% state, 15% Federal.
- NVTC: per state statutes, VA supposed to cover 95% of transit costs not covered by fares or Feds. They obviously fall far short.
March 07, 2010
Afternoon bike musings...
A few musings from a bike ride this afternoon.
- Now that the snow's gone, it'd be nice if local jurisdictions could get some street sweepers (or similar) out to clean all the dirt/sand/gunk off the roads and ESPECIALLY the trails and sidewalks. The Route 1 trail connector to the WWB in particular has several layers of crud on it.
- If NPS isn't going to widen the Mount Vernon Trail, how about building a separate trail for bikes or peds? And if the argument is "it can't be done", then my counter-argument is "look at Minneapolis.".
- Hey Alexandria, what would it take to get some bike racks installed at the various stores in Potomac Yard?
- Given that the redeveopment of Potomac Yard is a long ways off, here's a short-term answer to improve traffic circulation: connect the south end of Target to E. Glebe Rd. And include a bike/ped connection. This would give another ingress/egress point to the Potomac Yard area, spreading traffic out. And a bike/ped connection would be nicer than trying to squeeze between existing cars and "landscaping" on narrow lanes with the existing access points.
- Now that the snow's gone, it'd be nice if local jurisdictions could get some street sweepers (or similar) out to clean all the dirt/sand/gunk off the roads and ESPECIALLY the trails and sidewalks. The Route 1 trail connector to the WWB in particular has several layers of crud on it.
- If NPS isn't going to widen the Mount Vernon Trail, how about building a separate trail for bikes or peds? And if the argument is "it can't be done", then my counter-argument is "look at Minneapolis.".
- Hey Alexandria, what would it take to get some bike racks installed at the various stores in Potomac Yard?
- Given that the redeveopment of Potomac Yard is a long ways off, here's a short-term answer to improve traffic circulation: connect the south end of Target to E. Glebe Rd. And include a bike/ped connection. This would give another ingress/egress point to the Potomac Yard area, spreading traffic out. And a bike/ped connection would be nicer than trying to squeeze between existing cars and "landscaping" on narrow lanes with the existing access points.
February 04, 2010
Potomac Yard Planning Advisory Group meeting - February 4, 2010
Tonight was my first, but the group's last, Potomac Yard Planning Advisory Group (PYPAG) meeting. This group has spent the last several months working on the Small Area Plan for the Potomac Yard area, and tonight's meeting, the final scheduled meeting, was a wrap-up of sorts.
Of course, there was some new material to discuss. On several people's minds was the rumors that an agreement has been reached on funding the planned Potomac Yard Metro station.
The short answer: sort of.
The current funding gap for funding the station is around $32 million, out of roughly $275 million total (the plan is for a $240 million construction cost, $30 million for capitalized interest during construction, and $5 million for bond insurance costs). The city is already working on setting up something similar to a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district covering the Potomac Yard area to cover some of the bond costs, but still came up short.
There have been discussions with the landowners/developers about them proffering the gapped portion of Metrorail station funding, and it appears there is tentative agreement with the owners of Landbay F on such a proffer, though the details are still in the process of being worked out. Still, this potentially gives the city the final piece in the funding puzzle in order to build the Potomac Yard Metro station.
The next subject for discussion was the "Flexible Zone". This is a planned area immediately around the northern Metro station entrance (Blocks 14 thru 21, except for Block 17) that is intended to be a pedestrian-intensive zone. The plan includes a roughly 0.75 acre park centrally located within the "Zone", surrounded on all sides by streets, with adjacent buildings facing the park. Much of the immediate area is intended for Office use with street-level retail.
There was a request from one Group member for a clarification and a more precise definition of just what constitutes "mixed-use". This turned into a discussion on what should be apprpriate land use next to the Metro station, which produced a couple of interesting (yet somewhat contradictory) statements (below are paraphrased and not verbatim):
- "Residents living next to Metro use it more than office workers next to Metro". Meanwhile...
- "Residents are willing to walk farther to Metro than office workers."
The general concensus appeared to be that Office use was more appropriate closest to Metro.
There were some comments about "keeping retail concentrated", instead of what was perceived as spreading it out amongst two smaller retail centers (one each in Landbays F and G).
There was some question (and concern) amongst group members on where (or even if) to reserve space within Potomac Yard for a school. Some think a new school will eventually be needed in the area. A few were skeptical that it needed to be placed within Potomac Yard.
Regarding traffic and transportation, there was definite concern among some that the plan for three east-west connectors (East Glebe, Reed, plus a new connector) would put more traffic on Commonwealth Ave, to which Del Ray residents are not happy. There were two Group members who showed an outright NIMBY attitude towards having a third east-west connector, with one of them going as far as stating he would be against the WHOLE plan if it included that connector. City staff attempted to explain that East Glebe is already over-capacity today, and that having additional east-west connectors forms more of a grid network that spreads traffic out and improves efficiency.
A meeting attendee also expressed concern about traffic impacts in adjacent neighborhoods.
It's obvious that the Metro station is needed before any of this development/redevelopment can occur. I asked the question about the street network and whether it is also a prerequisite or would be incorporated as development/redevelopment occurs. The response was that it's likely the street network, or at least the primary streets (namely Potomac Ave, Route 1, and perhaps one or two of the east-west streets) would be constructed prior to development/redevelopment. Bike trails along Potomac Ave and Route 1 and bike lanes on other streets would be incorporated as the street work is done.
I also asked what the rationale was behind keeping Route 1 at 4 lanes and not having a consistent 6-lane section through the city, since Route 1 is 6 lanes both to the north into Arlington and south through Old Town and beyond. I was told in no uncertain terms that Route 1 "will not be widened for general traffic", with no further explanation. Rather than start a potential argument, I left it at that.
That said, while additional regular lanes won't be build on Route 1, a consistent right-of-way (including space for the future dedicated transit lanes farther south) WILL be implemented along Route 1. This is important as, right now, Route 1 goes from wide at the Monroe Ave Bridge to narrow to a-little-wider near Target and wide again near Four Mile Run.
I left the meeting just as the individual group members were starting to go around voicing their support (or lack of) for the plan and their thoughts on it. Hoping someone from the Arlandria blog was present and will post about the group members comments.
Of course, there was some new material to discuss. On several people's minds was the rumors that an agreement has been reached on funding the planned Potomac Yard Metro station.
The short answer: sort of.
The current funding gap for funding the station is around $32 million, out of roughly $275 million total (the plan is for a $240 million construction cost, $30 million for capitalized interest during construction, and $5 million for bond insurance costs). The city is already working on setting up something similar to a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district covering the Potomac Yard area to cover some of the bond costs, but still came up short.
There have been discussions with the landowners/developers about them proffering the gapped portion of Metrorail station funding, and it appears there is tentative agreement with the owners of Landbay F on such a proffer, though the details are still in the process of being worked out. Still, this potentially gives the city the final piece in the funding puzzle in order to build the Potomac Yard Metro station.
The next subject for discussion was the "Flexible Zone". This is a planned area immediately around the northern Metro station entrance (Blocks 14 thru 21, except for Block 17) that is intended to be a pedestrian-intensive zone. The plan includes a roughly 0.75 acre park centrally located within the "Zone", surrounded on all sides by streets, with adjacent buildings facing the park. Much of the immediate area is intended for Office use with street-level retail.
There was a request from one Group member for a clarification and a more precise definition of just what constitutes "mixed-use". This turned into a discussion on what should be apprpriate land use next to the Metro station, which produced a couple of interesting (yet somewhat contradictory) statements (below are paraphrased and not verbatim):
- "Residents living next to Metro use it more than office workers next to Metro". Meanwhile...
- "Residents are willing to walk farther to Metro than office workers."
The general concensus appeared to be that Office use was more appropriate closest to Metro.
There were some comments about "keeping retail concentrated", instead of what was perceived as spreading it out amongst two smaller retail centers (one each in Landbays F and G).
There was some question (and concern) amongst group members on where (or even if) to reserve space within Potomac Yard for a school. Some think a new school will eventually be needed in the area. A few were skeptical that it needed to be placed within Potomac Yard.
Regarding traffic and transportation, there was definite concern among some that the plan for three east-west connectors (East Glebe, Reed, plus a new connector) would put more traffic on Commonwealth Ave, to which Del Ray residents are not happy. There were two Group members who showed an outright NIMBY attitude towards having a third east-west connector, with one of them going as far as stating he would be against the WHOLE plan if it included that connector. City staff attempted to explain that East Glebe is already over-capacity today, and that having additional east-west connectors forms more of a grid network that spreads traffic out and improves efficiency.
A meeting attendee also expressed concern about traffic impacts in adjacent neighborhoods.
It's obvious that the Metro station is needed before any of this development/redevelopment can occur. I asked the question about the street network and whether it is also a prerequisite or would be incorporated as development/redevelopment occurs. The response was that it's likely the street network, or at least the primary streets (namely Potomac Ave, Route 1, and perhaps one or two of the east-west streets) would be constructed prior to development/redevelopment. Bike trails along Potomac Ave and Route 1 and bike lanes on other streets would be incorporated as the street work is done.
I also asked what the rationale was behind keeping Route 1 at 4 lanes and not having a consistent 6-lane section through the city, since Route 1 is 6 lanes both to the north into Arlington and south through Old Town and beyond. I was told in no uncertain terms that Route 1 "will not be widened for general traffic", with no further explanation. Rather than start a potential argument, I left it at that.
That said, while additional regular lanes won't be build on Route 1, a consistent right-of-way (including space for the future dedicated transit lanes farther south) WILL be implemented along Route 1. This is important as, right now, Route 1 goes from wide at the Monroe Ave Bridge to narrow to a-little-wider near Target and wide again near Four Mile Run.
I left the meeting just as the individual group members were starting to go around voicing their support (or lack of) for the plan and their thoughts on it. Hoping someone from the Arlandria blog was present and will post about the group members comments.
September 10, 2009
A Christmas Wish-List for the Huntington bicyclist...
Christmas is a few months away, and Santa Claus will be coming with presents for all. The big kid bicyclist in me has a Christmas wish list he'd like to share, with the Huntington (and Alexandria too) bicyclist in mind, in hopes that Santa (and the politicians) take notice...
1. Wayfinding/guide signage
If roads and highways can have decent guide signage (like the big green signs on the Interstates and freeways), why can't we have the same for bicyclists and pedestrians? Especially along popular regional trails and routes!
2. Reconstruction of deficient trails
While several trails and routes around the DC area are in fairly good condition, there are several that are narrow, have poor pavement condition, or have tree ruts sticking up under the pavement. These segments should be reconstructed as soon as possible. Examples include much of Holmes Run Trail in Alexandria, part of the Mount Vernon Trail in Old Town Alexandria, and the eastern part of Four Mile Run (generally everything east of the West Glebe Rd crossing).
3. Separate paths for bicycles and pedestrians
Taking a cue from my hometown of Minneapolis, MN, the more popular trails should have separate paths for bicycles and pedestrians. Call me biased (having grown up with them), but I think it's just safer that way, especially for busy trails. Mt. Vernon Trail north of Old Town in particular. At the very least, the busier trails should have a wider surface.
4. A better way through Old Town
Right now, it doesn't matter whether you're a car or a bike...you're stopping at EVERY BLOCK going through eastern Old Town. There's gotta be a better way to get bikes through Old Town and connect the two halves of the Mt. Vernon Trail. Adopting some version of the "Idaho Stop" may help somewhat, but would still require cyclists to slow down at the end of every block. And if there's vehicle traffic at the intersection (as there usually is in Old Town), it would render the "Idaho Stop" a moot point anyway.
One idea would be to create some sort of "cycle track", which is basically a separated bicycle lane within the street. Although it would require eliminating a parking lane (while parking is already in short supply in Old Town), or going to a one-way street (which probably would be opposed by businesses and residents), a few potential candidates would include Union St, Lee St, or Fairfax St. A one-way pair, with northbound bikes on one street and southbound bikes on another street, is also an option, and might be able to be squeezed onto existing streets without going to a one-way street or eliminating a parking lane. Regardless of the option/street chosen, this idea for a "cycle track" would allow bikes to have the right-of-way at least every other block, if not more often, while cars would stop and yield to bikes at those intersections. This would reduce the number of stops bicycles would have to make to travel through Old Town, which may encourage bicycling.
For example, a 2-way cycle track could be implemented along Fairfax St, from Green St (connecting to the Mt Vernon Trail via Royal St, underneath the Woodrow Wilson Bridge) all the way up to Third St, where it would connect to the two legs of the Mt Vernon Trail that pass on either side of the Alexandria Power Plant area.
5. A Cameron Run trail
This one has its basis in a report done by the Huntington Community Association back in 2001. The proposal is for a bike/hike trail along the south edge of Cameron Run, running from the Route 1-WWB trail connection west to Telegraph Rd (and the now-under-construction bike/trail connection across the Beltway there).
That in itself is a good proposal, since Huntington Ave is too narrow and too busy to do anything useful with, plus it would provide a grade-separated crossing of Route 1. Via the Telegraph Rd trail over the Beltway, it'd provide connectivity with the trail along Eisenhower Ave.
'Course, I'd take a Cameron Run trail one step further and continue it west of Telegraph Rd, along the north side of Cameron Run and running underneath both Telegraph Rd and the Beltway, connecting more directly to the trail along the south side of Eisenhower.
6. A South Capitol trail
This idea of mine would address what is currently an acute lack of connectivity on the Maryland side of the Wilson Bridge trail, plus provide a regional connection to the planned trails along the Anacostia River. IMO, the southern portion of this should have been built as part of the Wilson Bridge construction, which would have given this trail a decent head-start.
The trail begins at the east end of the Wilson Bridge, before the Wilson Bridge trail begins up the ramp to cross over the Beltway. My trail idea hugs the edge of the ramp from SB 295 to the Inner Loop, then continues along the west edge of 295 to north of Oxon Cove. Along the edge of Blue Plains, it basically runs between I-295 and Perimeter Rd E, up to the Laboratory Rd/Overlook Ave SW intersection (in front of NRL). The trail then runs along the west side of Overlook Ave SW and South Capitol St (including the ramps at Malcolm X) up to Firth Stirling Ave, where it would tie into the existing trail to the Douglas Bridge and the planned trails along the Anacostia River.
As an "interim phase", the trail could be built as I propose north of the Bolling Visitors Gate, then a bike route could be signed along Overlook Ave SW, Shepherd Pkwy SW, and through DC Village to the trail that runs through Oxon Hill Farm. This idea would require improvements to the trail within Oxon Hill Farm as well as improvements to the sidewalk along Oxon Hill Rd between the farm entrance and the Wilson Bridge trail at Harborview Ave. But it could be a first phase that would at least provide a trail connection between the Wilson Bridge and the Anacostia bridges, if not the more preferred direct routing right to the Wilson Bridge.
7. The Holmes Run/Chambliss Crossing
At least this one is being studied. This would provide a bike/ped connection across Holmes Run (via a recommended "low profile crossing") near the end of the Holmes Run trail, tying into another trail on the Fairfax County side that extends up to Columbia Pike near Lake Barcroft. This is another project that would provide connectivity. Alexandria and Fairfax County should build this.
8. Backlick Run trail
Currently, the city of Alexandria has a trail spur off of the Holmes Run Trail, running along the north side of Backlick Run, but stopping short of Van Dorn St. Extending this trail to Van Dorn St, in addition to sidewalk/trail improvements along Van Dorn St, would provide a better non-motorized connection between the Van Dorn St Metro station and the multitudes of newer townhouses along the north side of the existing trail. Even better: extending the trail west of Van Dorn St to Bren Mar Dr/Indian Run Pkwy.
9. Potomac Yards trail
Currently, the city of Alexandria has a trail along the east side of Route 1 on the northern part of Potomac Yards...in front of the commercial development that includes Best Buy and Target. There's a "temporary trail" extending south of there, which isn't very good. A more permanent trail should be built along the east side of Route 1, extending south to the new Route 1 bridge over the CSX rail tracks and Metro's Yellow/Blue Lines. This would also easily tie into my #10 below:
10. Alexandria's Metro Linear Park
The city of Alexandria has what their map calls the "Metro Linear Park" between the King St and Braddock Rd Metro stations, which includes a bike/ped trail. Extending this trail north to Route 1 (connecting to my #9 above) and south to the Eisenhower and Telegraph Rd trails (and conversely my #5 above) would provide a continuous trail along the western edge of Old Town Alexandria, which in turn would provide an alternative to the "stop every block" of biking through Old Town (as mentioned in my #4 above).
1. Wayfinding/guide signage
If roads and highways can have decent guide signage (like the big green signs on the Interstates and freeways), why can't we have the same for bicyclists and pedestrians? Especially along popular regional trails and routes!
2. Reconstruction of deficient trails
While several trails and routes around the DC area are in fairly good condition, there are several that are narrow, have poor pavement condition, or have tree ruts sticking up under the pavement. These segments should be reconstructed as soon as possible. Examples include much of Holmes Run Trail in Alexandria, part of the Mount Vernon Trail in Old Town Alexandria, and the eastern part of Four Mile Run (generally everything east of the West Glebe Rd crossing).
3. Separate paths for bicycles and pedestrians
Taking a cue from my hometown of Minneapolis, MN, the more popular trails should have separate paths for bicycles and pedestrians. Call me biased (having grown up with them), but I think it's just safer that way, especially for busy trails. Mt. Vernon Trail north of Old Town in particular. At the very least, the busier trails should have a wider surface.
4. A better way through Old Town
Right now, it doesn't matter whether you're a car or a bike...you're stopping at EVERY BLOCK going through eastern Old Town. There's gotta be a better way to get bikes through Old Town and connect the two halves of the Mt. Vernon Trail. Adopting some version of the "Idaho Stop" may help somewhat, but would still require cyclists to slow down at the end of every block. And if there's vehicle traffic at the intersection (as there usually is in Old Town), it would render the "Idaho Stop" a moot point anyway.
One idea would be to create some sort of "cycle track", which is basically a separated bicycle lane within the street. Although it would require eliminating a parking lane (while parking is already in short supply in Old Town), or going to a one-way street (which probably would be opposed by businesses and residents), a few potential candidates would include Union St, Lee St, or Fairfax St. A one-way pair, with northbound bikes on one street and southbound bikes on another street, is also an option, and might be able to be squeezed onto existing streets without going to a one-way street or eliminating a parking lane. Regardless of the option/street chosen, this idea for a "cycle track" would allow bikes to have the right-of-way at least every other block, if not more often, while cars would stop and yield to bikes at those intersections. This would reduce the number of stops bicycles would have to make to travel through Old Town, which may encourage bicycling.
For example, a 2-way cycle track could be implemented along Fairfax St, from Green St (connecting to the Mt Vernon Trail via Royal St, underneath the Woodrow Wilson Bridge) all the way up to Third St, where it would connect to the two legs of the Mt Vernon Trail that pass on either side of the Alexandria Power Plant area.
5. A Cameron Run trail
This one has its basis in a report done by the Huntington Community Association back in 2001. The proposal is for a bike/hike trail along the south edge of Cameron Run, running from the Route 1-WWB trail connection west to Telegraph Rd (and the now-under-construction bike/trail connection across the Beltway there).
That in itself is a good proposal, since Huntington Ave is too narrow and too busy to do anything useful with, plus it would provide a grade-separated crossing of Route 1. Via the Telegraph Rd trail over the Beltway, it'd provide connectivity with the trail along Eisenhower Ave.
'Course, I'd take a Cameron Run trail one step further and continue it west of Telegraph Rd, along the north side of Cameron Run and running underneath both Telegraph Rd and the Beltway, connecting more directly to the trail along the south side of Eisenhower.
6. A South Capitol trail
This idea of mine would address what is currently an acute lack of connectivity on the Maryland side of the Wilson Bridge trail, plus provide a regional connection to the planned trails along the Anacostia River. IMO, the southern portion of this should have been built as part of the Wilson Bridge construction, which would have given this trail a decent head-start.
The trail begins at the east end of the Wilson Bridge, before the Wilson Bridge trail begins up the ramp to cross over the Beltway. My trail idea hugs the edge of the ramp from SB 295 to the Inner Loop, then continues along the west edge of 295 to north of Oxon Cove. Along the edge of Blue Plains, it basically runs between I-295 and Perimeter Rd E, up to the Laboratory Rd/Overlook Ave SW intersection (in front of NRL). The trail then runs along the west side of Overlook Ave SW and South Capitol St (including the ramps at Malcolm X) up to Firth Stirling Ave, where it would tie into the existing trail to the Douglas Bridge and the planned trails along the Anacostia River.
As an "interim phase", the trail could be built as I propose north of the Bolling Visitors Gate, then a bike route could be signed along Overlook Ave SW, Shepherd Pkwy SW, and through DC Village to the trail that runs through Oxon Hill Farm. This idea would require improvements to the trail within Oxon Hill Farm as well as improvements to the sidewalk along Oxon Hill Rd between the farm entrance and the Wilson Bridge trail at Harborview Ave. But it could be a first phase that would at least provide a trail connection between the Wilson Bridge and the Anacostia bridges, if not the more preferred direct routing right to the Wilson Bridge.
7. The Holmes Run/Chambliss Crossing
At least this one is being studied. This would provide a bike/ped connection across Holmes Run (via a recommended "low profile crossing") near the end of the Holmes Run trail, tying into another trail on the Fairfax County side that extends up to Columbia Pike near Lake Barcroft. This is another project that would provide connectivity. Alexandria and Fairfax County should build this.
8. Backlick Run trail
Currently, the city of Alexandria has a trail spur off of the Holmes Run Trail, running along the north side of Backlick Run, but stopping short of Van Dorn St. Extending this trail to Van Dorn St, in addition to sidewalk/trail improvements along Van Dorn St, would provide a better non-motorized connection between the Van Dorn St Metro station and the multitudes of newer townhouses along the north side of the existing trail. Even better: extending the trail west of Van Dorn St to Bren Mar Dr/Indian Run Pkwy.
9. Potomac Yards trail
Currently, the city of Alexandria has a trail along the east side of Route 1 on the northern part of Potomac Yards...in front of the commercial development that includes Best Buy and Target. There's a "temporary trail" extending south of there, which isn't very good. A more permanent trail should be built along the east side of Route 1, extending south to the new Route 1 bridge over the CSX rail tracks and Metro's Yellow/Blue Lines. This would also easily tie into my #10 below:
10. Alexandria's Metro Linear Park
The city of Alexandria has what their map calls the "Metro Linear Park" between the King St and Braddock Rd Metro stations, which includes a bike/ped trail. Extending this trail north to Route 1 (connecting to my #9 above) and south to the Eisenhower and Telegraph Rd trails (and conversely my #5 above) would provide a continuous trail along the western edge of Old Town Alexandria, which in turn would provide an alternative to the "stop every block" of biking through Old Town (as mentioned in my #4 above).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)