It was a light rain. The kind that makes roads surprisingly slick. As I came down the Mount Vernon Trail from Alexandria I could see that traffic was backed up on both sides of the adjacent George Washington Memorial Parkway.
This could only mean one thing.
After a mile I came to the intersection between the Parkway and Belle View Boulevard. There was a three-car crash.
The public has been begging the Parkway to redesign this intersection because of the high incidence of crashes. A few years ago rather than putting in a traffic signal or a roundabout, they put down some paint, some flex posts, and some stop signs making the intersection practically incomprehensible to drivers.
Parkway management is concerned about retaining the park-like ambiance of the Parkway. I could be wrong but smashed up cars don’t seem to be consistent with that concept.
What’s even more alarming is the fact that pedestrians and bicyclists have to negotiate this intersection without any protection. Paint, flex posts, and stops signs are not enough. We need an overpass.
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 
It’s the National Park Service – what do you think the odds are that they’ll do something about this before you and I are back among the stardust in the universe?
They won’t change unless Congress or the White House gets involved.
Yea, that’s a nasty intersection. I used to have to cross it every work day on my bike when I lived up the hill off of Belle View. It was a bit scary…
I avoid it by riding to US 1 and taking the connector trail. Probably didn’t exist when you lived down here.
Oh, it existed back then (2009/2010) but I then would have had to ride on Ft. Hunt Road to get over to Belle View, and that would’ve taken lots longer and then dealing with Ft. Hunt traffic and an extra hill.