Tsarchitect recently wrote about the U.S. Numbered Bicycle Route "System". I place it in quotes because the system currently consists of two numbered bicycle routes.
U.S. Bicycle Route 76 is marked from Southern Illinois to Williamsburg, VA (The route goes all the way to Astoria, OR and on the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) Map, it is marked as such, but I think the signage stops in Illinois).
U.S. Bicycle Route 1 is marked from Southern North Carolin to Arlington, VA. (Again, this is supposed to go from Florida to Maine - much like the East Coast Greenway - but this is the only official AASHTO recognized portion).
Last year, AASHTO and the ACA "approved a plan, four years in the making, that lays the foundation for the network. Now it's up to each state to create the routes and put up signs", so there is an effort to create a true system.
Tscharchitect suggests that DC sign its portion of U.S. Bicycle Route 1 along the Met Branch Trail and name the Capital Crescent Trail U.S. Bicycle Route 101.
Designating the trails or roads to be federal-aid highway routes significantly reduces the funding process for each route, since if these routes can be emphasized as transportation corridors rather than recreation trails, it makes them legitimate sources of direct federal aid, under 23 USC ยง217.
I like the idea and I would expand it by continuing Route 101 around on the east side using the Green Trail, Sligo Creek and the Anacostia Riverwalk trails.
These aren't even the only proposed U.S. Bicycle Routes in the region - looking at the top map. It would be nice to get them all laid out - and on the local bike maps.
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