Washington DC: Whitehurst Freeway
 

Has anyone ever ridden on the Whitehurst Freeway in Georgetown? I've had the urge a few times to do it. The only sign from the endpoint in Georgetown says "Pedestrians prohibited", nothing about bicycles.

I've riden on Rock Creek Parkway, Beach Drive, and other very busy roads. I know that there are no shoulders on the Whitehurt, which is of a slight concern. I'd take it from the Key Bridge to K St and exit there.

Anyone ever do it? Would you do it again? If I were, I'd ride on Saturday or Sunday, or Weekdays non-peak.

Am I crazy? :eek:

Where's Whitehurt exactly? I'm wondering if I've already ridden it.

Koffee

The Whitehrust is the elevated Highway over K Street that runs from the Key Bridge to Rock Creek.
I've riden my bike on it, but that was on Bike DC tours when it was closed to traffic.
I drive it often. Given that it is a crowded, full speed highway and, as you noticed, has no shoulders, I think it would be a BAD idea to bike it. If you try to take a lane, unless you can get up to 50 mph quickly, you will either cause an accident or be the accident.
On top of that, it is not a very good road surface. Lots of seams, and lots of junk.
Wether or not you are allowed to ride on the Whithurst, I don't know.

And, yes, you are crazy. :p

I'm not sure if this helps- I sometimes ride over the Key Bridge and I'll jump onto the Key Bridge and merge with the traffic. On the other end of the bridge, I turn left and head north, going up over the hill there and it spits me onto McArther Blvd. From there, I can ride McArther as long as I want.

Koffee

The Whitehurst access is the ramps that cut across the sidewalks on the bridge at the DC end. Probably where you switch to the road.
Turning left from the bridge on Canal Road instead of right onto M St is not too bad. Traffic is a bit slower on Canal than on the Whitehurst, and you can switch to the sidepath if traffic is too heavy.
I usually find myself riding back on MacArthur after riding out through Potomac or the C&O.

No, but when I drive on it, I go about 65 mph and cut the corners close. Because of the tall guardrails on both sides, those corners are blind. I wouldn't ride on it.

If you do, I think you'd be better off riding it during rush hour, when traffic is crawling. At off hours, the one or two cars you'll encounter will be going fast.

Geez, man, just stick to K street down below. All the pretty people to look at down there.

I have seen some people actually walking on that thing! I suppose you could sprint for the Kennedy Center...

I worked down at the waterfront and my "balcony" faced the Whitehurst
(same level),you'd be nuts to ride it.
For one it was always in lousy condition, lots of potholes,
tire swallowing expansion joints, and as mentioned lots of debris.
I'd much rather ride beneath it where it's much more interesting
visually.

marty

Would I ride it? Nope, I lived near there (Arlington) for many years. Rowed out of Thompson Boat Center throughout high school and college. During rush hour, I don't see it as much safer than riding on 66, and during non-rush, you'd have to be plain suicidal. I used to drive from my house in Arlington to crew practice early in the mornings, and the light traffic flowing along Whitehurst at that time of day is FAST. I'm up for fun as much as the next guy, but that's not the place to find it, at least for me.

I've done the whitehurst, though not on a bike. On rollerblades.

It is doable, but you have to treat it as an all-out sprint because traffic does roll by REALLY fast. And expect many unfriendly honks. There is a ~2 ft shoulder on the far right, but you kinda need to stay away from it because of drainage grates. Expansion joints aren't really a problem, road surface is was fairly smooth last time I did it (prolly a year or two ago). The other problem is the only safe exit is to go straight and get off on K St. You'll have to contend with traffic that wants to turn right at the end.

I wouldn't do it solo, but late at night with a group, it's absolutely doable.

Why would you?

Now, there's an idea.

I turn 21 in a few weeks... after a few I'll do it with ya. On a more serious note, see if you can get the Coppi or NCVC boys to join ya, saftey in numbers ;).

I did the Esperso route with NCVC once. On the way back into Georgetown we rode on the Clara Barton Parkway.

Did it tonight, on an impulse from the person I was riding with. I had this horrible picture in my mind of how it would be, but it was no where near as bad as everyone says it is here.

The pavement is in good condition, the joints are not bad, and after rush hour, there were few cars. For the 1/2 mile we were on, we flew.

Did couple times with group ride, I remember the first time I did it was with Coppy guys

I did it once (well, twice: once over, once back) by mistake, though. I was visiting from out of town, looking for K Street to hook up with the Crescent City Bike trail that runs from Georgetown to Silver Springs, MD. It was early, drizzling, and I had no idea what I was looking for (except "the end of K Street"). K Street was fine, but then it goes *under* the Whitehurst, which looks kind of tunnel like to an out-of-towner at 6:30am, so I thought I'd stay above ground (I actually thought I was on K Street) -- seemed smarter than heading into a "tunnel" at the time.

The first 3/4 of it was fine -- nice wide shoulder, painted white line separating it from traffic. But at the end, the shoulder vanishes and you're in between a rock (the barrier) and a hard place (the busy roadway).

But I'd read that DC was a bike friendly town, and in fact saw another rider coming over the Whitehurst the other way, and that put my mind at ease. Until I had to turn around and go back.

So, I'd say it can be done, but it's not something I would want to make a habit.

David