#SafeTrack: when WMATA made everyone a bicyclist

[VA2DC]

@eminva 140802 wrote:

We are coming off the Custis.

We will ride on Fairfax Drive. Before we transition from trail to road I will stop and do a mini Traffic Skills101 briefing. I will discuss the pitfalls of bike lanes and where to position oneself in a bike lane (all things we cover in WABA classes).

Thank you for the alternative suggestions — I will mention these so they can try them out on their own if they don’t like Fairfax.

Liz

My experience is that the sketchiest parts of that Fairfax segment are waiting to cross from the north side of the Fairfax to the south side at Wakefield in front of the Holiday Inn (the first light after coming off the Custis connector). Just a looonggg beg light, and lots of traffic that may or may not respect it going onto and coming off of 66. The other part that might concern a new rider is waiting in the bike lane to cross Glebe, where there are cars to your left waiting to go straight across and cars to your right turning right onto Glebe. When cars in the right lane have the green arrow (and even when they don’t), they tend to zip past you pretty quickly. Only pedestrians crossing Glebe will slow (sometimes) them down.

There’s a good-sized patch of gravel and debris as you start to cross Glebe at that intersection, and you have to swing into the through-lane or right-hand turn area to avoid it. Both maneuvers put you into the traffic flow. There’s also a lot of broken glass, gravel, and debris in the bike lane on the north side of the pedestrian island once you cross Glebe. Again, to avoid it, you need to stay in the car travel lane until you pass it and can swing back into the bike lane. I submitted a service request on both of these spots a week ago, but it still only shows up at “Submitted” on the county’s tracker.

[chris_s]

@VA2DC 140807 wrote:

My experience is that the sketchiest parts of that Fairfax segment are waiting to cross from the north side of the Fairfax to the south side at Wakefield in front of the Holiday Inn (the first light after coming off the Custis connector). Just a looonggg beg light, and lots of traffic that may or may not respect it going onto and coming off of 66. The other part that might concern a new rider is waiting in the bike lane to cross Glebe, where there are cars to your left waiting to go straight across and cars to your right turning right onto Glebe. When cars in the right lane have the green arrow (and even when they don’t), they tend to zip past you pretty quickly. Only pedestrians crossing Glebe will slow (sometimes) them down.

Some relief is coming for this – the current private development construction there is building a small section of two-way curb-protected bike lane from Wakefield to Glebe. This will allow you to stay on the North side of Fairfax Drive for an additional block without having to ride on that sidewalk; then you would make the transition to the south side bike lane in one of the crosswalks at the Glebe intersection – either West of Glebe or East of Glebe.

[VA2DC]

@chris_s 140810 wrote:

Some relief is coming for this – the current private development construction there is building a small section of two-way curb-protected bike lane from Wakefield to Glebe. This will allow you to stay on the North side of Fairfax Drive for an additional block without having to ride on that sidewalk; then you would make the transition to the south side bike lane in one of the crosswalks at the Glebe intersection – either West of Glebe or East of Glebe.

That’s good news coming off of Custis, but will the eastbound bike lane on the south side of Fairfax remain? Coming from Bluemont Junction, I’d hate to have to cross Fairfax twice just to get down a block (and not hop on the sidewalk in front of Buffalo Wild Wings).

[chris_s]

@VA2DC 140817 wrote:

That’s good news coming off of Custis, but will the eastbound bike lane on the south side of Fairfax remain? Coming from Bluemont Junction, I’d hate to have to cross Fairfax twice just to get down a block (and not hop on the sidewalk in front of Buffalo Wild Wings).

Yes, it will remain. And if you’ve ever though that bike lane seemed awfully narrow, that’s ’cause it is.

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Also my memory failed me – this will actually be a planting-protected bike lane, not a curb-protected bike lane. Even better!

[baiskeli]

@VA2DC 140817 wrote:

That’s good news coming off of Custis, but will the eastbound bike lane on the south side of Fairfax remain? Coming from Bluemont Junction, I’d hate to have to cross Fairfax twice just to get down a block (and not hop on the sidewalk in front of Buffalo Wild Wings).

It sounds like Chris is describing a lane only going west. If so, you couldn’t do that anyway.

[DrP]

@VA2DC 140817 wrote:

That’s good news coming off of Custis, but will the eastbound bike lane on the south side of Fairfax remain? Coming from Bluemont Junction, I’d hate to have to cross Fairfax twice just to get down a block (and not hop on the sidewalk in front of Buffalo Wild Wings).

What would be really nice is if they made a safe way to get from the Bluemont trail to the eastbound bike lane. Lately they have had a construction sign on the sidewalk in front of the Holiday Inn that blocks the curb cut, so getting on the sidewalk until Wakefield is hard and they you have to wait for the light to change or hope that folks are actually slowing down or using signals to change lanes to get into the bike lane. It is very messy. I do this regularly, but it would easily discourage others.

[ginacico]

I ride through this intersection regularly, and any improvement would be welcomed. Eastbound from the Bluemont Trail to the bike lane is sketchy, because it’s a blind entrance to any cars pulling into that Holiday Inn. Crossing Glebe, and westbound getting onto the Custis connector are not for the fainthearted.

Today I rode to Ballston for lunch, and there was a big truck making a U-turn from westbound Fairfax Dr to eastbound. Because he swung wide, cars in the westbound lanes veered into the bike lane (where I was waiting at the Wakefield intersection). Then, when I had crossed Fairfax and was waiting in the narrow bike lane at the Glebe traffic light, the same damn truck passed me in the right turn lane about 6″ from my shoulder.

In good news… Signs are going up all over the Martha Custis, directing Metro riders how to get there by bike! I saw lots of them being put up parallel to the Orange and Silver line, and the friendly people mounting them to posts even waved at me. They’re installed in both directions.

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[bobco85]

Good news! I finished my video for a bike route between the East Falls Church and Ballston stations with additional details. It is now available to view, and I will try to link it on the Bikepool FB page (feel free to share on social media).

[video=youtube_share;1pa1zS1XhBU]https://youtu.be/1pa1zS1XhBU[/video]

I hope this helps people visualize the route regardless if they join a bike convoy.

I can make more videos for future phases of SafeTrack, but before I do that, I’d like to get feedback on this one. Any changes/additions/etc. that should be in the next video? Please let me know (PM me or respond on this thread if you want). Thanks.

[Judd]

@bobco85 140857 wrote:

Good news! I finished my video for a bike route between the East Falls Church and Ballston stations with additional details. It is now available to view, and I will try to link it on the Bikepool FB page (feel free to share on social media).

[video=youtube_share;1pa1zS1XhBU]https://youtu.be/1pa1zS1XhBU[/video]

I hope this helps people visualize the route regardless if they join a bike convoy.

I can make more videos for future phases of SafeTrack, but before I do that, I’d like to get feedback on this one. Any changes/additions/etc. that should be in the next video? Please let me know (PM me or respond on this thread if you want). Thanks.

Nicely shot as all your videos are. One thing that I would find helpful would be cutting to a map periodically to help folks orient where certain things are on the map, such as the turns. I think it would also be neat to frame these videos with a real live person introducing the route and letting new riders know that there will be volunteers to help guide them through the route.

[bobco85]

@Judd 140859 wrote:

Nicely shot as all your videos are. One thing that I would find helpful would be cutting to a map periodically to help folks orient where certain things are on the map, such as the turns. I think it would also be neat to frame these videos with a real live person introducing the route and letting new riders know that there will be volunteers to help guide them through the route.

Thanks for the feedback! For future videos, I could add a little map in probably the bottom left corner to show cross streets/bridges/intersections on the route. The speaking part terrifies me (public speaking = I will do it only after being forced to, being nervous, and eventually getting into a groove), but I’ll see what I can do to add a face to the information.

[Steve O]

@bobco85 140857 wrote:

I can make more videos for future phases of SafeTrack, but before I do that, I’d like to get feedback on this one. Any changes/additions/etc. that should be in the next video? Please let me know (PM me or respond on this thread if you want). Thanks.

This is awesome! Nice work, Bob.
Additional suggestions: In addition to the map, I think captions along the way would be helpful. For instance, anyplace the trail goes under a street, go ahead and name the street. That will help people keep oriented.
Also anytime there’s some sort of intersection or turn. For instance, where the Custis turns left under I-66 and then past the Westover Park, add the caption, “turn left under I-66” You did an excellent job on the main intersections, but additional details like “left at the basketball court” or “cross caddycorner across 19th & Sycamore” might add clarity. No need to stop the video like at the main intersections, just add the caption along the way.

In addition, pointing out landmarks can be useful. For instance, “<

---

I-66 is on the other side of this soundwall” Anything that keeps people oriented. After all, it may be their first time ever, so helping keep them oriented and feeling like they are in the right place and going the right way is good.

When you get to the Metro station, bike over to the bike parking as well as showing the main station entrance. You did this at EFC, but would have been useful at Ballston, VA Sq, & Clarendon.

[KLizotte]

During WMATA’s SafeTrack maintenance initiative, Capital Bikeshare has introduced the Single-Trip Fare to allow residents, visitors and commuters to take a single trip of up to 30 minutes on Capital Bikeshare for $2. Simply approach any station kiosk and select “Single-Trip Fare” to purchase. Usage fees apply for trips of 30 minutes or more.

https://www.capitalbikeshare.com/pricing?mc_cid=3285e16dbf&mc_eid=16b64c2193

[Judd]

@bobco85 140896 wrote:

Thanks for the feedback! For future videos, I could add a little map in probably the bottom left corner to show cross streets/bridges/intersections on the route. The speaking part terrifies me (public speaking = I will do it only after being forced to, being nervous, and eventually getting into a groove), but I’ll see what I can do to add a face to the information.

I think it would be fun to get a bunch of folks from the forums as guest stars. I’d be willing to pitch in and cajole others that seem like they’d be comfortable with talking on camera into volunteering.

I just bought a GoPro and have a mount in the mail. I’d like to do some sort of similar video on how to get down the Columbia Pike on the Bike Boulevards as soon as I figure out how to use the darn thing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MRH5028]

@VA2DC 140807 wrote:

My experience is that the sketchiest parts of that Fairfax segment are waiting to cross from the north side of the Fairfax to the south side at Wakefield in front of the Holiday Inn (the first light after coming off the Custis connector). Just a looonggg beg light, and lots of traffic that may or may not respect it going onto and coming off of 66. The other part that might concern a new rider is waiting in the bike lane to cross Glebe, where there are cars to your left waiting to go straight across and cars to your right turning right onto Glebe. When cars in the right lane have the green arrow (and even when they don’t), they tend to zip past you pretty quickly. Only pedestrians crossing Glebe will slow (sometimes) them down.

There’s a good-sized patch of gravel and debris as you start to cross Glebe at that intersection, and you have to swing into the through-lane or right-hand turn area to avoid it. Both maneuvers put you into the traffic flow. There’s also a lot of broken glass, gravel, and debris in the bike lane on the north side of the pedestrian island once you cross Glebe. Again, to avoid it, you need to stay in the car travel lane until you pass it and can swing back into the bike lane. I submitted a service request on both of these spots a week ago, but it still only shows up at “Submitted” on the county’s tracker.

To avoid the long light and crossing over Fairfax when coming off the Custis I cut through the Bluemont Junction Trail. When heading east on Custis get off at 10th St N and turn right at N George Mason. Use the light and crosswalks at Wilson to put you on the other side of George Mason so you can catch the trail. May be a bit longer, but easier than dealing with the crossover IMO.

[bobco85]

Thanks for the feedback on the EFC to Ballston SafeTrack video! I have ideas that can be applied to the next videos in this series.

As of now, I have created the routes I will film for the upcoming surge between the Eastern Market and Minnesota Ave/Benning Rd stations. The route is a lot more difficult and complex due to the lines splitting, multiple bridges (Benning Rd bridge over Anacostia Freeway, Benning Rd bridge over Anacostia River, Sousa bridge over Anacostia River), and multiple routes that bypass one or more of the stations, but I have figured out a simple solution that uses up to 2-3 choices in a few places.

If you see a cyclist doubling back and forth on the streets/sidewalks/trails between the Minnesota Ave, Benning Rd, Stadium-Armory, Potomac Ave, Eastern Market, and Capitol South metro stations this Saturday, that would be me

[Author]

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