No thank you, Fairfax County

[lordofthemark]

We aren't supposed to salmon in a shoulder, right?

Yet the current official route of the CCT, as you appoach FFX County Parkway from the north, on Hunter Village Drive, forces you to salmon on the shoulder from the point where the off road trail ends till you reach the crosswalk to the other side of Hunter Village Dr.

I guess this is not a heavily used part of the CCT, what with that steep hill as you approach Hunter Village, but still.

[eminva]

There is a street crossing there (Painted Daisy Drive, per Google maps) -- I usually cross Hunter Village at that intersection and take the lane to where the trail picks up again. And we had all 14 Boy Scouts do it, too, as part of their road test.

Liz

[lordofthemark]

There is a street crossing there (Painted Daisy Drive, per Google maps) -- I usually cross Hunter Village at that intersection and take the lane to where the trail picks up again. And we had all 14 Boy Scouts do it, too, as part of their road test.

Liz

Yes, thats the crosswalk I meant. Using google maps, its about 140 ft from where the trail emerges onto Hunter Village, to the Painted Daisy crosswalk. If you are riding south bound, that's going in the opposite direction to traffic (once you cross over Hunter Village, you have the option of riding in the lane with traffic or using the sidepath)

So right now, AFAICT, the official route of the CCT southbound is illegal. They would have to add an additional crosswalk 140 ft north of the Painted Daisy Drive crosswalk to fix that.

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=H...12,179.61,,0,0

I mean its not very long, but it was surprising to me that Fairfax County Parks' premier multi use trail has an illegal section. Maybe they technically consider that a sidewalk and not a shoulder?

[eminva]

Now I see what you mean. We had the scouts get off their bikes and walk to the intersection, now that I think of it. It is awkward. But there is a lot about the CCT that is less than perfect, I suppose.

Liz

[DismalScientist]

I hate to be a pedant, but there is an implied crosswalk at every intersection. The addition of painted white lines does not matter.

[mstone]

I think it's fairly clear that it is intended to be a path, they just ran out of money to do it right. It would take a police officer with a really big grudge to ticket someone there. As far as safety, just watch the road. It's hardly the only badly connected spot on the CCT--really, it's a wonder it all works as well as it does considering that they put together a bunch of disconnected trails with basically no funding.

[eminva]

I hate to be a pedant, but there is an implied crosswalk at every intersection. The addition of painted white lines does not matter.

True, but there is a gap of 140 feet between where the trail ends at the street and the intersection. There is not a sidewalk there (there is kind of a shoulder part of the way). You can see it in the street view of his map above. I think that is what he was referring to.

Liz

[mstone]

True, but there is a gap of 140 feet between where the trail ends at the street and the intersection. There is not a sidewalk there (there is kind of a shoulder part of the way). You can see it in the street view of his map above. I think that is what he was referring to.

Yeah, I understand what he's talking about, I just don't understand the big deal. What's the difference between a sidewalk and a double wide shoulder on a road with no curb that's paved all the way to a rock-lined drainage ditch? It would be nice if it were a protected path, but that would take some money.

[lordofthemark]

Yeah, I understand what he's talking about, I just don't understand the big deal. What's the difference between a sidewalk and a double wide shoulder on a road with no curb that's paved all the way to a rock-lined drainage ditch? It would be nice if it were a protected path, but that would take some money.

A curb would I guess be the proper treatment. If thats too expensive, how much would a line of flex posts cost?

[lordofthemark]

I hate to be a pedant, but there is an implied crosswalk at every intersection. The addition of painted white lines does not matter.

thats okay, since this whole thread is pedantry.

To clarify the problem is not crossing from the north side of Painted Daisy (with the implied crosswalk) to the south side of Painted Daisy (with the painted crosswalk) since you can cross Painted Daisy itself on a painted crosswalk (and were it not painted, on an implied crosswalk). Its getting from the CCT to Painted Daisy. Even if one said that the emergence of the CCT created an implied crosswalk where it emerged (????) there's a median in the middle of Hunter Village Drive that would prevent crossing there.

I think there should be flexible posts along the section to Painted Daisy. It would fix a problem on the CCT, and would get the County thinking about flex posts and cycle tracks.