NPS / GW Parkway / Mt Vernon Trail Open House Series

[chris_s]

George Washington Memorial Parkway to Host Open House Series
McLean, Va.— The National Park Service, George Washington Memorial Parkway will host a series of open house meetings to engage with the public. The purpose of these meetings is to dialog with our park users, constituents, and neighbors to capture their thoughts and ideas for how the park can continue to serve the community. Information gathered at these meetings will inform the strategic direction of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

The open house meetings will feature a brief presentation by the Superintendent, Alexcy Romero. Following that will be an open-house discussion with members of the George Washington Memorial Parkway leadership team. Guests who attend the meetings will have the opportunity to leave a written comment.

The open houses will take place at the following locations:

April 27, 2016. 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Cooper Middle School
977 Balls Hill Rd, McLean, Va. 22101

April 30, 2016. 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Jones Point Park
1 Jones Point Dr. Alexandria Va. 22314

May 2, 2016. 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Aurora Hills Branch Library
735 18th St S, Arlington, Va. 22202

“We are excited to engage with our visitors, and hope to promote free-flowing dialogue between the public and our staff. We want to know how we can continue to serve the public as we celebrate the centennial of the National Park Service,” said Superintendent Romero.

[Mikey]

Bring a shovel to the meeting as a prop

[Judd]

Did anyone go to the April 27th meeting?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[komorebi]

chris_s, thanks for posting about this open house series, which I wouldn’t have heard about otherwise. I went to today’s event and left a written comment. Attendance was light — there were probably more NPS employees than members of the public — but the NPS people did seem genuinely interested in getting community feedback.

[chris_s]

Hey if anybody goes to tonight’s open house can you ask about the status of Capital Bikeshare along the parkway? Coincidentally it’s been almost exactly a year since this article and I have heard exactly zero in the intervening span.

[elbows]

I asked but I didn’t get any dates. They mentioned that supported the concept but are still looking to determine (I think) the station sites and that it would need to go through compliance. Perhaps ABAC could contact the planner for a status update. He seemed to be open to being contacted. He and I also talked about access points to MVT south of Wilson Bridge and he indicated that that was something they were thinking about.

[mattotoole]

Did y’all see Kevin’s article?

http://www.vabike.org/a-road-diet-for-the-george-washington-memorial-parkway/

Remember this is for south of the Beltway, where the trail gets twisty and hilly, with people (especially kids) suddenly appearing. Whenever I’ve ridden this section, I’ve wished I could just use the Parkway.

Kevin attended an Open House meeting, and reported they’re not open to the idea. They consider the trail to be adequate. It’s good to start this discussion. (Thanks Kevin!)

[KLizotte]

Excerpt from Kevin’s article says it all:

[COLOR=rgb(17, 17, 17)]“Does it make sense that cars on the southern section (below Alexandria) of the GWMP are given four lanes of space while bikes and pedestrians are crammed onto the narrow, winding MVT? Both are major commuter routes, but whereas the MVT is overcrowded at 2000 ADT, the GWMP is half-empty at 16,000 ADT. In essence, the trail is under-built, while the road is over-built.”[/COLOR]

[KLizotte]

This quote from Kevin’s article says it all:

“Does it make sense that cars on the southern section (below Alexandria) of the GWMP are given four lanes of space while bikes and pedestrians are crammed onto the narrow, winding MVT? Both are major commuter routes, but whereas the MVT is overcrowded at 2000 ADT, the GWMP is half-empty at 16,000 ADT. In essence, the trail is under-built, while the road is over-built.”

Anyone can submit comments to NPS no later than May 19th here: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=72193

[scoot]

@mattotoole 139116 wrote:

Did y’all see Kevin’s article?

http://www.vabike.org/a-road-diet-for-the-george-washington-memorial-parkway/

Great idea!

I’m curious to better understand that 20000 AADT limit for “practical implementation of a road diet”. What evidence contra-indicates a road diet if present AADT exceeds that number?

[mattotoole]

@scoot 139121 wrote:

Great idea!

I’m curious to better understand that 20000 AADT limit for “practical implementation of a road diet”. What evidence contra-indicates a road diet if present AADT exceeds that number?

20k is a rule-of-thumb. Road diets are usually doable below that, more challenging above. Every road is different. For example, cross-street traffic and extra signal cycles and time could affect the almighty “seconds delay at intersections.”

Look for Kevin’s article in GG Wash tomorrow.

[mstone]

@scoot 139121 wrote:

Great idea!

I’m curious to better understand that 20000 AADT limit for “practical implementation of a road diet”. What evidence contra-indicates a road diet if present AADT exceeds that number?

It means the department of cars won’t even consider it, not that there’s science.

[Author]

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