CCT Trouble and Scenic Byway

Just south of where Newark Street NW would intersect with the Capital Crescent Trail if it went through, there's an area where the road bed under the trail is slowly washing away.(Map) A few years ago a small support was added to protect the trail, but if you ride by you'll see that the erosion is starting to occur around the support. We may be only one big storm (think Isabelle) away from the trail washing out. A complete collapse of the hillside is not out of the question and if that happened it might be years for the trail to be restored.

There's some question as to who is responsible for protecting the trail - with the Park Service and the District both trying to determine what to do and who should do it. One possible source of funding would be the designation of Canal Street (below the CCT) as a Scenic Byway. The Scenic Byway plan is filled with bicycle goodies (It's also a little hard to read since the text on some images is too small), Including:

• Between Foxhall Road and the Georgetown Reservoir, support the conversion of the trolley right-of way to a multi-use trail ed: This is the old Cabin John Trolley right-of-way that runs all the way to - you guessed it - Cabin John.
• Connect the Capital Crescent Trail crossing of Canal Road to the rail trestle (tow path to trestle on the east, Arizona Avenue to trestle on the west). ed: this is confusing since the crossing IS the rail trestle, but I think the part in parenthesis is what they're talking about.
• Connect Battery Kemble Park//Palisades Park Trail to the Capital Crescent Trail. Add directional signage. If feasible, convert the culvert to a secondary bike trail.
• Enhance the connection of Glover Archbold Park to the Capital Crescent Trail using the existing pedestrian underpass (Foundry Branch Tunnel). If feasible, relocate the existing sewer and restore the culvert to its historic configuration.
• Improve vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle access to Fletcher’s Boat House area.
• Install a pedestrian bridge over Canal Road to connect Battery Kemble Park/Palisades Park Trail to the Capital Crescent Trail in the vicinity of the access road to the Fletchers Boat House access road.

Like the Four Mile Run plan - it has good ideas, but we'll see if it gets the money. And we'll see if the CCT gets fixed before it collapses. The review period ended on Feb 17th, but here's one letter.

One last thing. For some time the Park Service has been trying to add lights and a call box to the Arizona Avenue Trestle on the CCT, it seems that that might be occurring "sooner rather than later." Wish I had specifics.

Met Branch Trail Update

The Met Branch Trail continues to plod along at its nearly glacial pace. It appears that construction on the  Pepco Substation north of the New York Avenue Metro Station has begun. If you recall, this construction is necessary for the trail to be extended north to R Street. Eric Gilliland of WABA reported that the city still has some land acquisition issues to work out, but hope to break ground in March.

In Maryland the news is not so good. Because of a lengthy redesign of the Maryland options, the report may not make it to the County Council until fall of this year, causing greater delays in the project. In addition the first explanation for why the bridge and tunnel option (option 1) is so expensive was given.

DPWT staff now estimates that Option 1 would cost up to $21M, while the lowest cost Option 5 would cost up to $9.5M. These estimates are about 4 times as high as the cost of comparable trail projects built recently in the area. A principal cost driver is the need to use a small amount of CSX/WMATA r.o.w. to build the trail alongside Selim Road and to build the trail tunnel under Burlington Avenue. A DPWT survey for this project shows that the CSX/WMATA r.o.w. boundary is several feet closer to Selim Road than had been assumed in the earlier M-NCPPC study - a small difference with big consequences for cost. While the amount of r.o.w. needed is very small, use of any CSX/WMATA r.o.w. at all forces the project to comply with expensive safety and separation requirements there for facilities built near operating railroads.

So that does not bode well for building a quality trail in the Georgia Avenue/Burlington Avenue area - unless the county can come up with $21 million, which is unlikely.

On the good news side is this report about the Silver Spring Transit Center receiving additional federal money. It doesn't specifically mention money for bicycles, but since budget problems were causing the county to trim bicycle facilities, including connections with the Met Branch and Green Trails, it can only help

Four Mile Run Restoration

Arlington and Alexandria have been working on a plan to restore Four Mile Run south of Shirlington. The waterway was rebuilt in the 70's and 80's to become a giant drainage ditch. This was done by the Army Corps of Engineers, so it's definitely function over form. [The Corps is also responsible for managing the Anacostia in Southern PG County - and it's they who insist on mowing the riverside, meaning the NE branch trail is out in the open, instead of under a nice tree canopy]. Anyway the whole thing is now kinda ugly, environmentally questionable and definitely underutilized.

So that brings us to the Four Mile Run Restoration Master Plan. It's a really good plan and like the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, if half of its ideas become reality it will be a fantastic improvement. This is also part of Alexandria's Green Crescent. Besides the pleasure of biking through a park instead of a storm sewer, the advantages for cyclists are the following:

For bicyclists, a commuter trail on the north side of the stream maintains a fast and efficient commuting route. For a more leisurely experience, the trail on the southern side of the stream will offer an unhurried route.

The trails on both the Arlington and Alexandria sides link with existing trails to create a continuous trail network. On the eastern end of the corridor, the trails link with the Mount Vernon Trail, a trail that runs along the Potomac River. On the western end, the trails link to the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail.

In addition, a proposed bicycle facility provides a venue for bicycle rentals and a place at which bicyclists stop to eat, rest, shower and buy supplies. The specific uses for this bridge will evolve over time as the Potomac Yard development nears completion. In addition, new pedestrian/ bicyclist bridges are proposed at other key locations: the extension of Commonwealth; at the site of the new community plaza and recreational facility on Mount Vernon Avenue that links to Arlington ’s Four Mile Run Park; west of the existing Mount Vernon Avenue bridge to provide safe and convenient pedestrian and bicycle access for Alexandrians wishing to shop at the stores along South Glebe Road; and at the place where lower Long Branch meets Four Mile Run in. In addition, with the creation of a new bridge and intersection proposed for traffic traveling on South and West Glebe Roads, the existing bridge would be converted to, or possibly replaced by, a pedestrian and bicycle-only bridge.

So additional trails, additional crossing and a bike station. It all sounds too good to be true.

 

New Parking on the mall

The National Park Service is going to expand bike parking facilities on the Mall by 100 racks. There are already a few bike racks there; however, they're varied in design and state of repair - for example the racks at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which are old and falling apart. 

After consulting with Eric Gilliland of WABA on rack design,  NPS decided to use the inverted U (or hoop) racks on the mall (with posts as a secondary option) at as many as 20 different locations. NPS will pay for the racks and DDOT is going to install them. This is good news. There's a derth of good parking down there.

The Park Service has already added bike racks at 15th St & Constitution Ave around the Washington Monument and more are planned for the Lincoln Memorial area when construction is finished there.  Some of these will also be replaced in the near future. Other locations for bike racks include Constitution & Independence Avenues and the replacement of some racks in front of the Air and Space Museum.

If you have a locaton you'd like to recomend you may contact Alexa Viets National Capital Parks - Central, Transportation Analyst at (202) 485-9877 with specific questions or locations.

I would love to see NPS add a bike station at the Smithsonian Metro stop. Then you wouldn't have to lock up to a streetsign or expose your bike to the elements (see photo). Commuters could use it. Tourists would definately use it. It may even be capable to get plumbing in - which will not be true of the Bike Station at Union Station.

Fixing the Interim CCT

 

First let me say this, it's time to do away with the "interim" Capital Crescent Trail. Either add it to the Capital Crescent Trail or call it the Georgetown Branch. And then be done with it - it's too confusing. But that's just my opinion.

The portion of the interim CCT east of the Rock Creek Trestle is in bad condition. It was never really in good condition, but erosion has made it worse. And people notice.

A recent DPWT inspection supports the recommendation made by the 2001 CCT/MBT Facility Plan - that this segment of the trail should be paved with asphalt to control erosion. The Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail, WABA, MoBIKE and other trail advocates are calling on the County Executive and Council to fund this work in the next Operating Budget.

The problem, and proposed solution, is described in a slideshow, in PDF format.

I know that the idea is to leave this the "interim" section until the Purple Line is built, but honestly, that seems a long way off (if not forever). By the time the Purple Line is built, this section will probably need to be rebuilt anyway.  I say pave it from the trestle to Stewart or Kansas Avenue.

W&OD/FMRT under 395 - Update

OK, so technically the trail that will go under I-395 is going to be the Four Mile Run Trail, but since the two are parallel and end in Shirlington about a block from one another, it's the same difference. (Pictured: The pedestrian bridge over I-395 from Shirlington to Martha Custis Drive)

Here's the status as I heard it. Arlington County Transportation officials are done with the "County/State agreement." They have the environmental assessment (EIS) done and the right-of-way secure. Now they need a permit from VDOT, annother agreement with the state about funding and a final design.

The project, which they plan to do in conjunction with a sewar line improvement to save money, is estimated to cost about $2 million - but they won't know until they have a final design. They only have $1million specifically available, but they can get more money from something called "Federal Secondary Funds."

Secondary Road Funds Each year Arlington County is allocated money (including some federal funds) to maintain and build secondary roads in the County. Arlington County and Henrico Counties are the only two counties in the State to receive these funds directly from the state. Since VDOT maintains secondary roads in other counties, these funds stay with VDOT in these counties. Arlington County has assembled an escrow account of federal secondary funds at VDOT which can be used for highway building and reconstruction.

Anyway this all means that they hope to have a bid package done by May or June. Then they could begin construction by the end of summer. Construction would take 8-10 months. So the whole thing could be done (if all goes well) by June of 2007. Wow.

Bicycle Crashes in DC

 

The District of Columbia keeps all kinds of statistics on crashes - who was involved, where they happened, etc...but the statistics have numerous well-known flaws, especially where it pertains to cyclists.

Not all traffic accidents are reported, and even fewer involving bicycles are. Most accidents reported involve an injury of some sort, but the smaller accidents often don't get into the system.

The forms police officers use are not designed to gather important information about bicycle accidents - like was the rider wearing a helmet. In DC, officers still use a single paper form for all accidents and so to add even one line increases the complexity. In some other cities, officers fill out a digital form. Responses to earlier questions determine the later questions to be asked. (So if the police officer answered "Yes" that one party was a cyclist, then it will ask all of the bicycle questions. Otherwise it will skip them)

Also police officers often fill in the closest intersection to determine where the accident occurred, even if it was on a bike trail. Or if the accident was midblock (like where a parking garage exit is). So that throws all of the geodata out of whack.

Still, there are some good data in the reports they create. Here's one map from the report using 2000-2002 data. Here are the intersections with 5 or more crashes from 2000-2002:

Looking at the map 14th Street seems to be the location of more crashes than any other street.