Progress on East Side Anacostia Riverwalk Trail

John alerted me that the NPS recently paved a portion of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail (ART) on the east side of the river. The section is located south of  East Capitol Street, between the River and DC-295, down to the railroad tracks. This portion used to be a dirt access road and riding it was a bone-jarring experience along a washboard surface. They didn't just pave a trail-wide 10-12' feet of the trail but the entire road as seen in the photo at right.

At the south end is a new fence - which means that this section of trail doesn't yet take you anywhere (though it would be a good place for street hockey). But there's a memo from Gayle Hazelwood, Superintendent of National Capitol Parks-East of the NPS dated Oct 23, posted on the fence that reads:

To Whom it may concern:

This memo serves as notification that the National Capitol Parks-East (NACE) is moving forward with closing a gravel service drive in Anacostia Park to vehicular traffic to support the installation of the River Walk Trail (Phase I) on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. The River Walk Trail will eventually be developed along both the east and west banks of the Anacostia River and connect the community, District and state trails as part of a broader regional public trail system.

The service drive that will be closed north of the CSX railroad; adjacent to Anacostia Park and south of River Terrace (near the East Capitol Bridge). [sic]

Authorized service vehicles and staff that need limited access to this former service drive, to conduct permitted activity, may do so by contacting Anacostia park staff or United States Park police 24 hours in advance. 

Which brings up the question of what the status of the ART is.

On DDOT's schedule, this section is actually phase III. Phase I - the west bank from Navy Yard to Benning Road  - was to be completed in summer of 2008. It is mostly complete (and may be entirely so) but was still being worked on this past summer. Phase II - the east bank from the Douglass Bridge to the railroad tracks - was supposed to have started and finished work in 2008, but I've seen no sign that any work has been done on that. Phase III, of which this piece is part, was supposed to wrap up this summer, and include bridges over the railroad tracks on both sides.

East side bridge over railroad tracks

By now we should be half way into the construction of Phase IV, the section from Benning Road to Bladensburg. All of this puts the project at more than 18 months behind schedule. It appears that the last section - South Capitol to Oxon Run - has been pulled out of this project and handed over to the bicycle group, as Heather Deutsch, the Bicycle Program Trail Planner, has been working on it. [The ART is not being built by the bicycle group, but by the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, with Allen Miller working as project manager.] So all work may complete closer to the completion date of 2015.

West side bridge over railroad tracks

It's not unusual for a project to fall behind schedule, but it would be good for communication if they periodically updated the schedule so that it's correct. Of course it's also not unusual for DDOT's websites to fall out of date, but recently I've noticed they've done a better job of making them report reality, so this is a bit of a surprise.

I tried to contact Allen Miller several times to get an update on the project, but my calls and email went unanswered. So for now, a new section, but when it will connect over the railroad tracks is unknown.

In other ART news, the Zoning Commission voted to approve Florida Rock's request for a two-year time extension, so that piece between Diamond Teague Park and the Douglass Bridge won't be completed until mid-2012 at the earliest.

Comments

[Lorin]

Thanks for the update. I had assumed this project had been abandoned. While 18 months behind schedule is dreadful, it's better than forgotten.

[Purple Eagle]

I tried to contact Mr. Miller from DDOT as well, with no response.

[Scott]

My wife and I rode from National Harbor to DC yesterday as part of a loop from Alexandria. This is not something I will be doing again. The ride down MLK was not comfortable. Are there plans to build a bike specific route the entire way?

[Washcycle]

There are no plans, but there are a lot of people who want there to be plans. I asked DDOT director Klein about that this week and he said he'd ask his bike group. They really missed the boat when they didn't include a more direct route in the Wilson Bridge project.

[Froggie]

Agreed there. Would have been a relatively straightforward matter to extend the trail along the 295 ramp and the west side of 295 and along the edge of Blue Plains up to the NRL/Overlook Ave intersection.

[Dood]

I'll chime in on what's certain to kick-off in the next year. There's a construction trailer and building supplies massing near the site of the bike overpass on the west side of the river. On the east side there's a lot going on right around the RR tracks, but it's not clear what's related to the bridge repair project and/or the recent paving. The trail connections between the Bladensburg Waterfront Park, ANA-11 and the NY Ave. bridge would have already broken ground, but there were issues with the general contractor. That work should start in the next six months. The markers for the trail along this route are already in the field. Hope this helps.

[Dave]

Hey, you weren't able to get Allen Miller to respond because he's not working at DDOT anymore. Perhaps you could ask Director Klein, the next time you speak to him, who IS managing the ART project now.

[Froggie]

A more detailed map of the ART planned routings would be useful for a project of mine. The rough map on the ART webpage doesn't quite cut it.

[Washcycle]

That's funny, because you can still reach his voicemail. Don't they reroute phone calls when someone leaves?

[E Reedy]

I sent a question to the Mayor's e-mail about this and got a response after a bit of a delay:

Dear Mr. Reedy,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding the Anacostia Riverwalk. The District is committed to realizing the vision of this important project. The District Department of Transportation is actively working on the section of trail between River Terrace and Anacostia Park. Over the last several weeks the path along this section was paved up to the CSX tracks. DDOT is now coordinating design and construction efforts with the National Parks Service and CSX to complete a bridge over the railroad tracks. Construction of the bridge will begin in 2010.

Sincerely,

Nakia E. Newton | Staff Assistant
Government of the District of Columbia
Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development
1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Suite 317 | Washington, DC 20004
W 202.724.7391 | F 202.727.6703 | nakia.newton@dc.gov

---------
Ms. Newton,

If you have time for one more question, do you know how the connection
is going to be made across the CSX tracks where the trail needs to go
from the existing portion on M St. to the existing section at Barney
Circle & the RFK access road? Do you know what the timing is for that?

E Reedy
------------
Dear Mr. Reedy,

The Design/Construction of both pedestrian bridges (East and West side of the Anacostia) have been awarded under one contract. Clearing and grubbing has started for both sites and construction of the structures should begin in 2010. On the West side, the bridge will connect the trail from the RFK access road (just east of Barney Circle) over the CSX tracks to Water Street.

If you have more questions please feel free to contact Mr. Aaron Overman, Project Manager, District Department of Transportation at Aaron.overman@dc.gov or 202.673.6813.

Best Regards,

Nakia E. Newton | Staff Assistant