Future W&OD bridge @ Wash blvd & Isaac Crossman Park

[El Swift]

Although Isaac Crossman park is currently closed for renovation, I used it as a cycling bypass during the Van Buren Bridge re-construction project. I noted previously that there was an unofficial looking “NO BIKING” sign that was removed on the east-side entrance but one remains obscured on the west entrance. When I contacted the parks dept, I was told cycling is allowed along the entire length of 4-mile run which traverses Crossman park. I requested the confusing sign either be removed or updated w/ an official park sign and the woman I talked to said she would look into it. That was almost a year ago.

Does anyone know what the rules are for using the gravel path that links Washington blvd and Van Buren and what entity besides the parks dept, decides whether cyclists may pass through? Does the neighborhood association have authority to ban cyclists?

To confuse issues further, I’ve heard rumors that the bridge over Washington Blvd is supposed to incorporate 4-mile run as a link between the W&OD west of Washington blvd and Benjamin Banneker park, bypassing the need to ride through the East Falls Church neighborhood.

https://parks.arlingtonva.us/locations/isaac-crossman-park-four-mile-run/

[chris_s]

Have you been talking to Arlington or Falls Church City? I believe portions of Isaac Crossman are in Arlington but the vast majority (including the gravel nature trail) is in Falls Church and it is Falls Church that has issues with bikes in the park.

The new bridge over Lee Highway will not be re-routing the trail. There will be temporary detours occasionally during construction that will re-route via Westmoreland St.

[dasgeh]

When you say “Washington Blvd” do you mean “Washington St” aka Lee Hwy?

Chris is right – the new bridge is just a way to avoid crossing the street at grade. However, many of us would like to see a bridge on the W&OD from approx. the EFC Metro to East Falls Church Park (i.e. over Sycamore Street and the I66 on ramp) so that cyclists can avoid the EFC neighborhood and Benjamin Bannaker Park altogether.

[zsionakides]

@dasgeh 183243 wrote:

Chris is right – the new bridge is just a way to avoid crossing the street at grade. However, many of us would like to see a bridge on the W&OD from approx. the EFC Metro to East Falls Church Park (i.e. over Sycamore Street and the I66 on ramp) so that cyclists can avoid the EFC neighborhood and Benjamin Bannaker Park altogether.

I’m not sure why this wasn’t the priority to build with the I-66 funds. It would make sense in conjunction with the I-66 widening and have more impact than crossing over US-29.

[hozn]

@zsionakides 183266 wrote:

I’m not sure why this wasn’t the priority to build with the I-66 funds. It would make sense in conjunction with the I-66 widening and have more impact than crossing over US-29.

Um. I don’t know about you, but I cross 29 2x per day and I would much, much rather have a bridge over 29 than something to skip the EFC neighborhood. I have been almost hit numerous times by northbound drivers turning east onto onto Wash Blvd ignoring the no-turn-on-red sign and then drivers turning off of 66 on to Washington St. with a green light ignoring bikes in the crosswalk. Or a red light ignoring the no-turn-on-red-when-peds-present sign (since the gap in the light often feels like a safer time for bikes to cross).

The neighborhood, on the other hand, has slow traffic, one 4-way stop and nice holiday decorations. Sure, it’d be a little quicker to ride over it, but it’s not an unpleasant part of my commute. And it’s not a scarier place than the W&OD to ride with a preschooler (riding his bike).

[CaseyKane50]

@hozn 183270 wrote:

Um. I don’t know about you, but I cross 29 2x per day and I would much, much rather have a bridge over 29 than something to skip the EFC neighborhood. I have been almost hit numerous times by northbound drivers turning east onto onto Wash Blvd ignoring the no-turn-on-red sign and then drivers turning off of 66 on to Washington St. with a green light ignoring bikes in the crosswalk. Or a red light ignoring the no-turn-on-red-when-peds-present sign (since the gap in the light often feels like a safer time for bikes to cross).

Bridges over busy roads are good!

Back in 1987, a Falls Church resident named Craig Davis began to advocate for a bridge over Route 7 in Falls Church. The efforts of Craig and many others ultimately led to the bridge over Route 7. The October 20, 2017 issue of the Falls Church News-Press commemorating the opening of the bridge provided a nice recap of the bridge’s history.

The seemingly simple task of building a bridge over a highway was complicated by the fact that Falls Church owned the sidewalk, Route 7 was owned by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Washington and Old Dominion trail was owned by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.

“To get all those people to say ‘Yes, we need this’ and to get them to cough up the money for it was a near miracle,” said Day.

And it took money from citizens!

In addition to campaigning, offering to coordinate between departments, and travelling down to Richmond to lobby the state legislature, Day co-founded “Friends of the W&OD Bridge” with Dan Silverman of the Washington Area Bikers Association and the two raised some $40,000 of the total price tag that (the News-Press in 1992 reported) would cost $900,000 for a bridge that spanned 390 feet.

Finally, the Washington Post on August 20, 1992 announced that work on the bridge had begun.

Construction on a long-awaited pedestrian and bicycle bridge over Route 7 in west Falls Church has begun and, weather cooperating, is expected to be completed in about two months. The two-span, $900,000 overpass will provide safe passage above the busy, four-lane thoroughfare for users of the Washington & Old Dominion Trail.

“This is going to provide 100 percent safety. It will be uncompromised safety to all the trail users,” said Craig Day, a founder and vice president of Friends of the W&OD Trail.

The Citizens’ bridge opened on October 3, 1992. One less busy road to have to cross.

[dasgeh]

@zsionakides 183266 wrote:

I’m not sure why this wasn’t the priority to build with the I-66 funds. It would make sense in conjunction with the I-66 widening and have more impact than crossing over US-29.

I see why the bridge over 29 was the priority, but I agree that a bridge over Sycamore and the on ramp should be the next priority. And it can still be built with tolling funds (which reminds me to look into what kinds of funds are rolling in and how they’re being used).

First step is to make sure that bridge is a priority in Arlington’s new Bike Element. email bikeplanupdate@arlingtonva.us

[zsionakides]

@hozn 183270 wrote:

Um. I don’t know about you, but I cross 29 2x per day and I would much, much rather have a bridge over 29 than something to skip the EFC neighborhood. I have been almost hit numerous times by northbound drivers turning east onto onto Wash Blvd ignoring the no-turn-on-red sign and then drivers turning off of 66 on to Washington St. with a green light ignoring bikes in the crosswalk. Or a red light ignoring the no-turn-on-red-when-peds-present sign (since the gap in the light often feels like a safer time for bikes to cross).

The neighborhood, on the other hand, has slow traffic, one 4-way stop and nice holiday decorations. Sure, it’d be a little quicker to ride over it, but it’s not an unpleasant part of my commute. And it’s not a scarier place than the W&OD to ride with a preschooler (riding his bike).

This may be a commuter perception vs someone riding through recreationally. For commuters going through at rush hour, US-29 is probably terrible for crossing like other busy roads, whereas for recreational riders, navigating through EFC and Banneker park are a challenge with the trail gap and limited signage.

[hozn]

@zsionakides 183311 wrote:

This may be a commuter perception vs someone riding through recreationally. For commuters going through at rush hour, US-29 is probably terrible for crossing like other busy roads, whereas for recreational riders, navigating through EFC and Banneker park are a challenge with the trail gap and limited signage.

That is very possible, yeah. I remember my first commute through there being a bit “???”.

[josh]

@zsionakides 183311 wrote:

This may be a commuter perception vs someone riding through recreationally. For commuters going through at rush hour, US-29 is probably terrible for crossing like other busy roads, whereas for recreational riders, navigating through EFC and Banneker park are a challenge with the trail gap and limited signage.

@dasgeh 183243 wrote:

Chris is right – the new bridge is just a way to avoid crossing the street at grade. However, many of us would like to see a bridge on the W&OD from approx. the EFC Metro to East Falls Church Park (i.e. over Sycamore Street and the I66 on ramp) so that cyclists can avoid the EFC neighborhood and Benjamin Bannaker Park altogether.

I agree that the signage could be better, but I’m not clear what you and dasgeh are suggesting (possibly because I’m not even sure of what the official route through the neighborhood is). Headed westbound, I generally take a right after going by Brandymore Castle, go under Sycamore, head all the way to Van Buren, take a right and go north, then a left onto Westmoreland, right on Washington, and then a left back onto the trail/sidewalk depending on traffic. The last part is a “shortcut” FFG showed me, but I think the most common approach is to take Van Buren north to 19th, then a left followed by a quick right to get back on the W&OD (and then the 29 crossing). Where would a bridge be needed there? You already don’t need to cross Sycamore (at grade) or 66. I’m having trouble imagining a bridge over an entire neighborhood (this is a bike trail, not a monstrosity of a car freeway or something).

[ursus]

@CaseyKane50 183274 wrote:

The Citizens’ bridge opened on October 3, 1992. One less busy road to have to cross.

I remember contributing to the building of that bridge.

26 years. Time certainly does fly.

[mstone]

@josh 183316 wrote:

I agree that the signage could be better, but I’m not clear what you and dasgeh are suggesting (possibly because I’m not even sure of what the official route through the neighborhood is). Headed westbound, I generally take a right after going by Brandymore Castle, go under Sycamore, head all the way to Van Buren, take a right and go north, then a left onto Westmoreland, right on Washington, and then a left back onto the trail/sidewalk depending on traffic. The last part is a “shortcut” FFG showed me, but I think the most common approach is to take Van Buren north to 19th, then a left followed by a quick right to get back on the W&OD (and then the 29 crossing). Where would a bridge be needed there? You already don’t need to cross Sycamore (at grade) or 66. I’m having trouble imagining a bridge over an entire neighborhood (this is a bike trail, not a monstrosity of a car freeway or something).

Pull up google maps for the birds eye view. There’s been long discussion of making the trail straight along 66, maybe bridging the ramp, maybe something the parking lot, maybe something else, instead of going through the park and neighborhood at all. For recreational riders it’s a nice detour (except for potential personal safety concerns in the tunnel and park which are more constrained/deserted than the tail generally) but for transportation cyclists the whole thing is kind of a pain–especially when the tunnel floods. Adding a bridge is “probably” cheaper than making the tunnel flood-proof, and trends suggest that flooding will be more common in the future rather than less common. It’s also probably a win-win for the neighborhood if they’d like to see that whole stretch of park be more of a neighborhood amenity than a bike expressway.

[Steve O]

@josh 183316 wrote:

I agree that the signage could be better, but I’m not clear what you and dasgeh are suggesting (possibly because I’m not even sure of what the official route through the neighborhood is). Where would a bridge be needed there? You already don’t need to cross Sycamore (at grade) or 66. I’m having trouble imagining a bridge over an entire neighborhood (this is a bike trail, not a monstrosity of a car freeway or something).

The bridge replaces waiting at the light at Lee Highway.
Here are some renderings:
http://inside.transform66.org/about_the_project/wod_trail_bridge.asp

The other bridge is purely notional. It shows up on p42 of this document: https://projects.arlingtonva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2014/03/E-Falls-Church1.pdf
I’ve circled it here:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18617[/ATTACH]

[hozn]

Thanks for clarifying, Steve. The notional bridge certainly makes a lot of sense; it would make that part of the w&od trail make sense. — but I’d certainly choose the Lee Hey bridge if forced to pick (only) one.

[Author]

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