Property issues hold up Met Branch Trail

From WAMU

DDOT was prompted to clarify the status of the trail after D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) wrote a letter to the agency, asking why so little progress has been made for the past three years.

The issue is not money.

When construction eventually begins, DDOT has funding programmed into its budget to finish the eight-foot-wide trail within Washington, 

The biggest unresolved issue remains property conflicts near the Fort Totten Metro station: the Met Branch Trail would sneak around a municipal trash transfer station, privately owned railroad tracks and concrete factory, onto National Park Service property and around land owned by Metro.

“I hesitate to put a timeline on the actual construction of the trail just because… we don't know all the answers about what's going to be needed to be done,” said Sam Zimbabwe, DDOT’s policy, planning, and sustainability director, who said there is no schedule to begin design work at this time. Design work is expected to take about one year before any construction could begin.

Land-use negotiations are still ongoing, Zimbabwe said.

Comments

[Greenbelt]

Oh good grief! This should be low hanging fruit.

[bikefreak]

If this is the only issue, how come the Silver Spring metro to Montgomery College section is still not done? Is the holdup still the historical train station?

[washcycle]

Well, that's Maryland. DDOT can't do anything about that.