2-Wk Custis Trail Detour, Aug 24-Sep 6

[Starduster]

There's been the W&OD mm0 traffic circle forever, hardly anyone follows traffic circle etiquette there.

Oh that one? I always treated it as the trail terminus, largely because of the major intersection just beyond, which dominates the path of travel. Custis @ Bluemont is more like a roadgoing traffic circle. I will ride it soon enough and will report back...

[Starduster]

Mountain bikers on commuter bikes will also love it.
#WWDD

We all know someone here who will bunny-hop it!

[Starduster]

Rode through the Custis/Bon Air traffic circle yesterday.



First pic is approaching westbound from the detour. While I was here, a couple of serious cyclists passed through eastbound and navigated the circle as we should, without drama. Second shot is from where you would approach from the Custis underpass. This really isn't going to be a big problem...

[zsionakides]

Went through eastbound this morning and coming out of the circle to the hill requires a pretty sharp turn. If someone cut the wrong way across the circle it'd be hard to see them unless you looked back for them.

I think the intent here was good, but I can bet that favored paths will involve cutting the circle eastbound the way it's situated.

[DanB]

How do I signal coming up to a little circle like this one? If you're eastbound and want to go through the underpass (when it opens), I think it'll be best to signal a left turn as before--and then go counterclockwise around the island.

There's the chance that some may think you're going to cut left before the center island, but I don't think that can be helped. It might make other trail users more cautious, because the intentions aren't totally clear. That could be a good thing.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[dbb]

Here is a shot from Friday morning. This is the uphill exit from the circle and evidence of folks cutting the corner (I'm of the position that these are inadvertent).

Not sure any cyclists were consulted in the design. If Arlington only had some group that would offer advice on such matters. Maybe they could call it a Bicycle Advisory Group, or something like that.

[zsionakides]

After seeing this, I’d prefer they just go back to the T intersection with the stop sign on the Custis trail part. Moving the intersection away from the overpass fixed the sight line problem, but adding this circle in creates a whole new set of problems that didn’t exist before. This isn’t really a high traffic location that benefits from such a traffic device.

[Steve O]

I'll have to check it out, but I think a circle seems like a round peg in a slightly ovalized hole or something.

I can imagine something that functions like the circle but is not shaped like it, more like an elongated triangle. What the designers missed was that 90%+ of the traffic is the Custis and only a small fraction will use the south-side detour route. That's just a neighborhood connector, really.

[Judd]

How many laps of the new traffic circle do you guys think I can do in a single day? #NewHainsPoint

[dbb]

How many laps of the new traffic circle do you guys think I can do in a single day? #NewHainsPoint

Remember to pause your Garmin when you stop to puke!