water main break at corner of Ft. Myer & 12th St. N.

About 9:30pm on Friday, water was gushing from a water main break in front of the Quarterdeck, right near the corner of Ft. Myer Dr. and 12 St.  A large amount of water flowed across the Fort Myer Market parking lot and across the Ode St. & Ft. Myer Dr. intersection.  Arlington County has called for truck to salt the road.  Nonetheless, watch out for new ice in this area.

about that gang graffitti

Have you noticed some graffitti about the roads in Arlington?  Worried that some violent gang is marking territory?  Don't worry.  Be happy.  These markings appear to be Arlington County indicators for planned bicycle markings or re-markings.

pothole repaired!

A serious pothole on a trans-Arlington bike superhighway has been repaired.  Arlington County's Department of Environmental Services executed the repair within three days of receiving the pothole report on its convenient online pothole reporting form.  Day-long rain on the second of those days made pothole repair infeasible.  Hence the pothole repair was completed within the next feasible repair day after receiving the report.  That's doggone impressive county government performance!

Residents need to do their part to keep County roads in good shape.  Annoyed by a pothole that you have to keep dodging?  Consider blaming yourself for not reporting it.

shared lane markers added on N. 15th St.

Between 9am and noon this morning, shared lane markers were added to N. 15th St. between N. Courthouse Rd. and N. Rhodes St.  Maintenance crew activity in the area suggests that the markers were added about 9:30am.

The shared lane markers remind cyclists and drivers of inhumanly powered vehicles that they share the lane.  The new markings on this major cycling thoroughfare are a great improvement that lessens the risks of a terrible accident.

Prior Ode Street Tribune 15th St. marking coverage:

• N. 15 St. road improvements
• excellence in road marking

excellence in road marking

Every organization falls short of perfection.  Excellent organizations continually strive to do better.  The changes in the road markings on the 15th St. hill show that the Arlington County Department of Transportation is an excellent organization.

As reported in Ode Street's finest news source, the Department of Transportation recently added bike lanes on both sides of 15'th street between N. Rolfe St. and N. Rhodes Street.  The bike lane heading uphill represents a huge improvement.  Cyclists are already regularly using this bike lane.  The bike lane on the downhill side would not attract smart cyclists.  A cyclist going down the hill can easily ride in the middle of the road lane in the flow of traffic.  That position on the road lessens the risk of collision with an opening car door and makes it easier for drivers pulling into the road to see the cyclist.  While the bike lane on the downhill side was nice for pedestrians walking up the hill, it risked attracting inexperienced cyclists.

Apparently to mitigate that risk, the Department of Transportation has erased the bike lane on the downhill side.  That action shows outstanding organizational capacity for change.  The Ode Street Tribune applauds the Arlington County Department of Transportation for continually striving to do better.

tree injured, fallen limbs obstruct highway

The storm last night blew off the top of a venerable oak tree just outside Arlington Cemetery.  The tree's condition looks critical, but it may have enough remaining branches to survive and regrow more.

Caring for injured trees should be a priority in the neighborhood.  Arlington Urban Forestry Commission member Steve Campbell informed the RAFOM annual meeting that the tree canopy in the Radnor / Ft. Myer Heights is rated at 20%, lower than that for the Ballston / Virginia Sq. area (23%) and far below the over-all Arlington figure (41%).  The injured tree is only slightly outside the Radnor / Ft. Myer Heights boundary.  I hope that this injured tree receives some emergency care. 

The fallen tree limbs obstructed the bike and pedestrian highway leading to the main entrance of Arlington Cemetery.  Because the obstruction is on a curve at the bottom of a hill, it presents a significant traffic hazard.  A local cyclist assumed that it would not be possible to reset the limb, and hence he broke back some of the fallen limbs to lessen the traffic hazard.   But some branches remain, and traffic sight-lines are still somewhat obstructed.

ice hazard returns

An ice hazard exists on the sidewalk and on the road on the small Arlington Blvd. between Fort Myer Dr. and Nash St.  The source of the water is run-off from small holes at the base of the concrete wall. A similar hazard appeared here last year.  It was fixed by channeling the water under the sidewalk and out to the curb.

But that just moved most of the problem out into the street.

If you've got some good ideas for fixing this, contact Arlington County.

repair on Meade St. bridge

Some minor surface repair is being done on the Meade St. bridge over Rt. 50. The white spray-painted rectangles indicate areas to be covered with cement repair. About 20% of the areas remained to be repaired.

Both sides of the bridge are dangerous traffic areas. Be extra cautious in this area.

watch out for ice

Runoff from the construction site at the corner of Rhodes and 14'th St (just across the bridge over Rt. 50) creates an ice hazard. It was broken up this morning, but might reform.

On Arlington Blvd. between Ft. Myer Dr. and Nash St., there's a major ice hazard. It's apparently from excess drainage from the pipes at the base of the concrete wall. Fortunately, it's well marked.

leak repair at intersection in Rosslyn

An Arlington public works crew is repairing a water leak at the intersection of Fairfax Dr. and North Lynn St. in Rossyln, just outside the entrance to the Riverplace Condominiums. Because alternative waterpipe routes exist, no residents' water service will be disrupted

Water leaks in winter produce ice. It's good to have leaks repaired.

re-paving Rt. 50 reaches Rosslyn

Crews, working at night, have pushed four new lanes of pavement on Rt. 50 to the western edge of Rosslyn. Two more lanes and about a half-mile to go.

Update: Tacitly acknowledging the superiority of Rosslyn asphalt, re-paving stopped at the edge of Rosslyn.