WB&A - Anne Arundel Status

Pulling this one out of the comments, Purple Eagle writes

I contacted MNCPPC a couple of months ago to see if I could get an update on the status of the WB&A. Much to my surprise, I received a reply that actually had useful information:

"I contacted . . . Ribera Development today, who informed me that Anne Arundel County's approval of the site plans for the final trail alignment is imminent. Additionally, the final plans for the 2,056-unit age-restricted residential community should be approved within about six months. [the developer] estimates that the construction of the road and trail infrastructure will begin in about a year, followed by the construction of the golf course and the homes. The trail extension to the Patuxent River will take about one year to complete

The construction of the trail extension will begin at the terminus of the existing WB&A alignment on the Anne Arundel County side (it currently ends in the middle of a field off of Conway Road), and will meander through a scenic forested natural area at the western end of the proposed development, avoiding the steepest slopes and wetlands as it winds down to the Patuxent River floodplain. Since the new trail will not utilize the former railroad alignment, there should be no right-of-way issues, and the trail will cross realigned Conway Road beyond the most developed portion of the new Two Rivers development. The length of this portion of the trail on the Anne Arundel County side of the river will be about 1.5 miles

(the contact was made in September)

The project they're talking about is The Preserve at Two Rivers project which straddles the ROW. I've done a shoddy job of drawing the ROW on the site plan above (red line). The trail, as noted above won't run on the ROW (whcih is the first I've heard of that) but will "meander" through the woods on the west. Why do people always think trail users want to meander? Hopefully it won't add too much distance to the trail. It sounds like they're aiming for April 2011.

Comments

[twk]

It is great to hear the WB&A is still being worked on. The biggest obstacle is a bridge over the river. I look forward to the day when I can ride into AA county from Bowie. I had heard PG county had set aside some money. Anyone know when/if they plan to start it? Or even where is will be located, since it will not follow the railroad right of way?

[washcycle]

I don't know the answer to your question so this is supposition only. I would think they're going to wait for the AA trail to get to the river before building a bridge, lest they build a bridge to nowhere. Those are very unpopular. This is ironic since DC is willing to improve the Suitland Parkway Trail if PG County will just extend it to some place useful (like the metro station).

[Dave]

On the MD property tax database:

Anne Arundel County
District: 04
Subdivision: 000
Account Identifier: 04416125

You can see that Anne Arundel county owns the old WB&A alignment from "ACADEMY JCT TO COUNTY LI"

Since that means that the WB&A alignment is public land, does that mean that Anne Arundel County is selling the land back to the developers? Doesn't that have to be approved by the county council?