Battery Lane Urban Park Improvements to Bring Improved Bethesda Trolley Trail

DCmud covers Battery Lane Urban Park. This park contains a narrow trail that serves as the southern trail head of the Bethesda Trolley Trail, and a connection between the CCT and the NIH.

Montgomery County has approved a plan to renovate and improve the degraded Woodmont Triangle park, at the expense of local condominium developers.

Potential enhancements include a widened bike path

Planners will likely close the park for the duration of construction, but that has yet to be determined.

The Facilities Plan Report calls for a wider and more useful trail [this part of the trail doesn't run on the old trolley right-of-way. The trolley ran on Old Georgetown Road].

From the Report:

Current Conditions

A major bicycle and pedestrian commuter path, the Bethesda Trolley Trail, crosses the east side of the park, traveling in a north-south direction between Battery Lane and the intersection of Rugby Ave and Glenbrook Road. This trail connects downtown Bethesda to the NIH, and north-Bethesda neighborhoods. This is a heavily used path, especially during the morning and evening rush hours [This is a 6' wide asphalt path]

The park’s segment of The Bethesda Trolley Trail is too narrow to comfortably accommodate heavy bicycle and pedestrian traffic. It is also to narrow for the service vehicles used to maintain the park. This trail should be widened to 10’ to accommodate these multiple uses.

Green metal signs on steel posts mark the “Bethesda Trolley Trail” at the north and south ends of the park.

Requirements

Pedestrian circulation pathways need to be improved to accommodate access to park facilities while offering opportunities for casual walking, jogging, dog walking, and biking; and to accommodate the heavy foot traffic and bicycle traffic on the Bethesda Trolley Trail. Pathways need to be organized and sized to help minimize conflicts between users. Since the Bethesda Trolley Trail serves primarily as a north-south commuter passage, the trail should hold a reasonably direct route through the park, offering an efficient conduit for pass-though traffic.

The Bethesda Trolley Trail should be constructed 10’ wide to accommodate the heavy pedestrian/bicycle traffic and to give adequate room for maintenance vehicles.

The Rugby Avenue entry is narrow and difficult to detect. It should be improved by reorganizing pedestrian and vehicular pavements to clearly define the park entrance and access onto the Bethesda Trolley Trail.

Preferred Concepts

While all pathways must meet minimum code light levels requirements, the Bethesda Trolley Trail should receive a slightly higher level of lighting than the rest of the park.

The art element should be placed so that it is visible from the Bethesda Trolley Trail.

Bicycle racks located in the park shall be U racks fabricated of stainless steel or galvanized steel with powder coated finish.

Comments

[Jack Cochrane]

This is a good project. Unfortunately there are numerous other longer stretches of the Bethesda Trolley Trail where the problems are worse. Along Old Georgetown Road, north of NIH, the trail is just a sidewalk with no separation from the curb, with an occasional telephone pole in the middle. (It's nice to see bicyclists in Google shots). Then on NIH grounds the trail is only 5' wide and shared with pedestrians, while at the southern end of the NIH section there are awkwardly placed bollards. [Sorry if the links don't work - might require MoBike listserve access].

[silverspringtrails]

Jack Cochrane is right about there being major problems with this trail. I like the concept of this trail, but the entire section from Bethesda to north of NIH is little more than a narrow sidewalk. It should be signed as FUTURE Bethesda Trolley Trail there, to indicate it is not worthy of being called a trail yet but may become a real trail in the future if the county will get serious.

[Fabian]

Seriously - the so called "trail" is not complete if it has to travel on a sidewalk. It might be okay for walking, but how can they seriously expect people to bike on this part?