North Branch Trail new curve at Oakton/Caldwell

Anyone taken the NBT and rode the new curve? They basically made the turn radius not as aggressive (guessing people went flying into the trees) but it is frickin' sloppy as hell. Bumpy and looks like they just roughshod right over the grass without laying stone or leveling ANYTHING.

Really disgusted because it seems less safe now than it did before. At least before it was smooth and you could just hold the turn, now if you are going slow but leaning you will have a tire catch air because of the uneven surface.

I'll have to get pictures some other time, didn't think of it yesterday.

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Permalink Reply by Apie (11) on March 16, 2015 at 9:21am

The struggle is REAL.

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Permalink Reply by This PBL dosnt make me feel safe on March 16, 2015 at 11:48am

The first time I ever went over that overpass, the extreme bumpiness of the bridge deck slowed me down enough that I didn't go off the path and into the trees at that curve. It is perhaps better that the area is bumpy.

The NBT as a whole is treacherous for speedsters.

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Permalink Reply by David Barish on March 16, 2015 at 12:00pm

Is this at the Northeast or the Southwest corner? Which side of the bridge?

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Permalink Reply by Tom Z on March 16, 2015 at 2:19pm

I just rode that today... I am hoping this is just temporary. It is very poor asphalt. It's not even a clean radius. I'm truly thinking this is temporary until the warmer weather comes along and they put a proper path in.

Yann, I'm not sure what bumpiness you are talking about, you can get way too fast on that overpass.

The problem is that overpass was built over 30 years ago and probably doesn't conform to moder standards. It's very steep, narrow and winds back and forth. Maybe in a distant future they will replace it.

Officially, you are supposed to walk your bike up and down the bridge, but no body does.

It is still better than when I was a kid and you had to cross both those streets at grade level.

There are a few improvements that need to be made to the North Branch Trail.

First: Touhy Avenue, it needs a dedicated bridge over the river, currently the sidewalk can't handle two direction traffic.

Second: Golf Road, ideally an underpass would make that intersection safer. You really have to watch the traffic making a right turn.

They need money to bring the trail up to a higher standard.

The surface is in very good condition.