At GGW there's a post by Tony Goodman about the long hinted at New York Avenue bike path. A path on the north side of New York Avenue from Florida Market to West Virginia has been around since at least the 2005 bike plan, and in the 2006 New York Avenue Corridor plan it is included as a linear park that would, as shown at GGW connect the Metropolitan Branch Trail to the Arboretum.
With NYAve getting more development, like the old Hecht's department store, it seems like a natural time to put this in the plan, which DDOT very recently did. A couple of new features of the trail will use old railroad infrastructure such as the tunnel under NYAve near Florida Market and the bridge over it at West Virigina Avenue.
There are other opportunities to expand on even this such as
- A better connection over the railroad tracks on the existing New York Avenue Bridge (since this bridge was just reworked, that ship may have sailde for a while)
- A trail spur from the West Virginia Bridge along the old rail spur to Fenwick Street
- A trail along the railroad tracks, but at ground level, from Montana Avenue to the Arboretun (or even across the Anacostia to the ART where it could connect to a future Beaverdam Creek Trail)
- Trails along the unused rail spur on the north side of the tracks from just east of Bladensburg road to South Dakota Avenue and to the end of Adams Street NE.
All in all, this is a good project to get on the radar. But DDOT has a lot on its plate right now, so we'll see how it goes.
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