Monday, March 9, 2009

Progress on the W&OD/Four Mile Link

The I-395 Underpass which will allow traffic to move from the W&OD Trail to Four Mile Run is near completion. I do not recommend trying to use the underpass because there is still work being done, but as you can read below in a message received from a bikes@vienna customer, the time is almost here for that long awaited improvement to be used.

# IS395 Underpass - On Friday, I rode from my house to the Potomac and back on the 4 Mile Run bike path. I found that the new bike path extension under IS395 is essentially finished, so I used it. Several other cyclists and walkers were doing the same. This allows cyclists to do the Arlington loop without the long detour at Shirlington circle. There were signs at both ends saying that the new bike path was still a construction zone. Moreover, by just looking at the state of work, I could see that they still have some final installation and clean-up to do on railings. However, the remaining work is not safety related and is mostly right of way protection as opposed to user protection (i.e., stay on the pavement). Finally, at the Shirlington end, they are doing some road work that makes it inconvenient to get to the new bike path segment, but it is doable if you are careful.