Mt. Vernon Trail Safety

WABA recently met with the NPS staff of the GW Memorial Parkway to talk about possible safety improvement on the Mt. Vernon Trail.

They had 15-20 NPS employees including the park superintendent. Those people have already been divided into four committees and came to the meeting having done a significant amount of work.  The committees were: safety, education/media, design/maintenance, and partnerships.

NPS plans include

1)  A signage plan - already underway - that includes informational, directional and educational signs that will be consistent with other national parks

2) Improved crash reporting by the various jurisdictions that respond to crashes

3) New anti-skid surfaces for use on bridges and in wet areas

4) Trail widening in certain areas - as yet defined

5) A revised Environmental Assessment for realigning the trail near Ft Hunt

6) A massive public information effort on trail safety

7) Expanded Trail Patrols and an Adopt a Mile program

8) Add signs for the Potomac Heritage Trail as well as the East Coast Greenway

9) A walk through of the entire trail to identify areas where the trail can be realigned.

The committees intend to meet one more time in the next few months and the committee chairs will then draft a series of recommendations for the Superintendent. 

Comments

[gwadzilla]

WASHCYCLE

post this

traffic calming....

watch this video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTLqCLYy22A&eurl=

from here

http://www.healthystreets.org/

share this video
think about this video
then share it again

and
be careful
inside and outside the car

[freewheel]

I'm really pleased to hear about the "anti-skid" plans. The slime-covered bridges on the MVT are prime wipeout areas.

[tom]

Do we know if there is going to be any discussion of publicizing trail ettiquitte (sp?). I'm specifically thinking of
no headphones, single file, pull over off the trail.

things like that.

[tsvidogg]

re: Prime wipeout areas on the slime-covered bridges... my forever-scarred left thigh agrees completely.

[Mitch]

Three cheers for anti-skid coverings on the slime covered bridges. My damaged shoulder will be happy.

Any further word on a new Humpback bridge- Now there's a disaster waiting to happen.