Exclusive "Klingle Valley" trail opens, victory for NIMBYs. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why it doesn't dump you out in an area where you can get coffee with a friend or something? It would be lovely to walk with a friend and then get a coffee. Instead you end up back on the same sleepy street? Almost seems as if the neighbors want it that way. Why not put a locked gate on it, give them the key and call it a British mews in that case?

Because it was a road that also dumped you out on a sleepy street. Maybe Maret or WIS can start a coffee shop to cater to students during the week and bikers on the weekend.

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/the-26-year-fight-over-klingle-road-is-the-story-of-a-changed-and-changing-dc/2017/07/01/0485011e-5b45-11e7-9b7d-14576dc0f39d_story.html


Klingle Road, when it was open, was lightly trafficked: It carried 3,200 vehicles a day, out of a total of 90,000 vehicles that crossed Rock Creek Park, according to figures from the District Transportation Department.


3200 cars a day is less than most regular residential streets that are part of the grid in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why it doesn't dump you out in an area where you can get coffee with a friend or something? It would be lovely to walk with a friend and then get a coffee. Instead you end up back on the same sleepy street? Almost seems as if the neighbors want it that way. Why not put a locked gate on it, give them the key and call it a British mews in that case?

Because it was a road that also dumped you out on a sleepy street. Maybe Maret or WIS can start a coffee shop to cater to students during the week and bikers on the weekend.

Help me to understand the geography. From that sleepy dump out street could you get to a less sleepy street for coffee with stairs or something? I am thinking for 6 million they could have engineered this.
I'm not sure about putting a coffee shop in Maret or WIS (do they want us all visiting?) but it WOULD be a great HS research project to survey tally data on who is actually using it now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why it doesn't dump you out in an area where you can get coffee with a friend or something? It would be lovely to walk with a friend and then get a coffee. Instead you end up back on the same sleepy street? Almost seems as if the neighbors want it that way. Why not put a locked gate on it, give them the key and call it a British mews in that case?

Because it was a road that also dumped you out on a sleepy street. Maybe Maret or WIS can start a coffee shop to cater to students during the week and bikers on the weekend.

Help me to understand the geography. From that sleepy dump out street could you get to a less sleepy street for coffee with stairs or something? I am thinking for 6 million they could have engineered this.
I'm not sure about putting a coffee shop in Maret or WIS (do they want us all visiting?) but it WOULD be a great HS research project to survey tally data on who is actually using it now.

Oh for crissakes -- are we really so coddled and entitled that we have to have a Starbucks on every block, even at a trailhead?

[Anonymous]

You can hardly call it a trail. It's a tiny fairly inaccessible private- by design it would seem- park

[Anonymous]

That subject line is straight up Trump! Apparently his new obsession is DCUM!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can hardly call it a trail. It's a tiny fairly inaccessible private- by design it would seem- park

It sure looks like a trail to me.

http://www.klinglevalleytrail.com/constructionupdates/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Help me to understand the geography. From that sleepy dump out street could you get to a less sleepy street for coffee with stairs or something? I am thinking for 6 million they could have engineered this.
I'm not sure about putting a coffee shop in Maret or WIS (do they want us all visiting?) but it WOULD be a great HS research project to survey tally data on who is actually using it now.

I supposed the National Park Service could put a staircase in adjacent to the bridge going down to the trail. That seems like a huge waste of money, though there are deeply worn paths from people traversing on their own anyhow. But to make that ADA complaint would be a bear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That subject line is straight up Trump! Apparently his new obsession is DCUM!

what????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the path closed to the public?

The path is open to the public, but is easier to access from the western side than the eastern side. And it caters to dog walkers, joggers, cyclists and bird watchers, not those who need to use a vehicle to get a kid to a better school, go to work or drive a loved one to medical care. Get the picture?

very few kids are going to be getting into west of the park schools OOB in the coming years so thats a non issue. The road only carried 3k cars a day which makes it a very small carrying capacity road. Also, rebuilding the road would have been so expesinve due to the slope and flooding issues it would have been one of the most espensive 7/10ths of road constructed in the US. Seriously. There is a reason is was always in a state of disreppair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. DC is lacking in east west corridors. This was a victory for the nearby property owners at the expense of the rest of DC.

Thirty years ago, there wasn't as much in terms of restaurants, stores and services east of Rock Creek Park as there was (perceived to be) west of the park. All that has changed a lot, so the notion that people needed this cross-town link for essential services is bogus. Wags did call it the 'private school highway', as it provided a fast short cut for Mt. Pleasant parents to reach WIS, Maret and the Cathedral schools. It seems like spending huge sums to build a road to modern standards (with wide shoulders, concrete decking over the creek, etc.) wasn't worth it for a private school shortcut.

this. Why would anyone who lives on the east side need to hit up restaurant and services on the west side. Its all pretty crappy these days. Unless you need your vacuumed repaired then by all means head to cleveland park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. DC is lacking in east west corridors. This was a victory for the nearby property owners at the expense of the rest of DC.

Thirty years ago, there wasn't as much in terms of restaurants, stores and services east of Rock Creek Park as there was (perceived to be) west of the park. All that has changed a lot, so the notion that people needed this cross-town link for essential services is bogus. Wags did call it the 'private school highway', as it provided a fast short cut for Mt. Pleasant parents to reach WIS, Maret and the Cathedral schools. It seems like spending huge sums to build a road to modern standards (with wide shoulders, concrete decking over the creek, etc.) wasn't worth it for a private school shortcut.

this. Why would anyone who lives on the east side need to hit up restaurant and services on the west side. Its all pretty crappy these days. Unless you need your vacuumed repaired then by all means head to cleveland park.

At least you don't get mugged very often on the Cleveland Park side.

[Anonymous]

It is funny reading this thread. The park service and others want to closed down rockcreek park to traffic. It's going to be closed for a number of years. I do not think it will reopen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is funny reading this thread. The park service and others want to closed down rockcreek park to traffic. It's going to be closed for a number of years. I do not think it will reopen.

Uh, they are spending tens of millions of dollars to rebuild the road. The first phase of construction will be done in a couple of months and re-opened, then the second part will be closed and reopened and then the third.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. DC is lacking in east west corridors. This was a victory for the nearby property owners at the expense of the rest of DC.

Thirty years ago, there wasn't as much in terms of restaurants, stores and services east of Rock Creek Park as there was (perceived to be) west of the park. All that has changed a lot, so the notion that people needed this cross-town link for essential services is bogus. Wags did call it the 'private school highway', as it provided a fast short cut for Mt. Pleasant parents to reach WIS, Maret and the Cathedral schools. It seems like spending huge sums to build a road to modern standards (with wide shoulders, concrete decking over the creek, etc.) wasn't worth it for a private school shortcut.

this. Why would anyone who lives on the east side need to hit up restaurant and services on the west side. Its all pretty crappy these days. Unless you need your vacuumed repaired then by all means head to cleveland park.

At least you don't get mugged very often on the Cleveland Park side.

It's not 1991 anymore. At least not in Mt. Pleasant. Probably not in Cleveland Park either.