The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail Kenilworth Park North Section

Completing our look at the under-construction "Kenilworth Section" of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, here's a look at the north section. On previous posts I've shown an out of date map, and based on the current map, the trail will not connect to Anacostia Avenue north of Watts Branch, nor will it cross around the SE side of the Mayfair Mansions Apartments. What is being built now is the pink and white line labelled "9" below, with the blue and white "8" to be built later. 

Starting at Nash Run, this is the other side of the under-construction bridge seen in the center section. No turkeys this time.

The whole northern piece is alongside the river within Kenilworth Park, but far enough from the river that one does not get many views of it. No work has been done on it really. It's just an overgrown dirt road that has recently had the plants on it pressed down by vehicles. This is basically what the entire piece looks like.

There are a few places where one gets a view of the marsh

And then there is this mysterious concrete tower just before Beaverdam Creek.

At the northern end is the under-construction boardwalk over Beaverdam Creek and under the railroad and New York Avenue bridges.

I hope they do more to connect the trail to the community than the map at the top shows. There are three roads they've built/used to allow construction equipment to access the sites, and each of these should become a part of the trail.

Just south of Beaverdam Creek, there's an old dirt road from the Visitor's Center to the trail as seen on the map below.This should be made part of the trail - even if it is just crushed gravel - as it would create a connection to both the Visitor's Center and Anacostia Avenue NE.

Then there is a connection to the trail from Deane Avenue (see below) that would make a good addition to the trail, especially if the closed portion of Deane south of here were upgraded to a trail as well.

Finally there's a small connection to Anacostia Avenue just north of Benning Road. Right now it would give a more direct connection for those wanting to go across the Ethel Kennedy Bridge on the north side, but would have much more utility if the Power Plant site is redeveloped.

In addition, I hope the trail between Watts Branch and Deane Avenue from the trail to Kennilworth Terrace (as shown in the EA map in the earlier post) gets built as it creates a better connection to the Marvin Gaye Park Trail.

When I was leaving I finally realized that there is a way to access this area on bike/foot without trespassing or using the bridge from the Metro. From the corner of Foote St and Kenilworth Ave NE, there is a sidewalk along Kenilworth Ave NE and Benning Road, that doesn't meet best pedestrian design standards but is rideable. Along Benning there are light poles all down the middle of the sidewalk making for a nice slalom opportunity.

Finally, I noticed that many of the streets here seem to be named for Union Army Civil War generals and soldiers [Grant, Hayes, Ord, Nash, Burnham, Foote, Meade] and I wonder if Lee St NE is named for Robert E. Lee. If so does anyone know how that happened? (Or is it Albert Lindley Lee?)

Comments

[Purple Eagle]

Nice to see more updates!

The first access trail you marked, in Kenilworth aquatic gardens, was an existing hiking trail. You can see it marked on this map - look at the detail in the upper right corner. The route shown on Google maps is not accurate - the trail went all the way to the outlet from the marsh to the Anacostia, where the bridge is under construction. So I suspect the portion connecting the visitor center/gardens area to the new trail will remain. Currently the aquatic gardens close at 5:00pm (and 4:00 in the winter), so if those hours remain it will restrict afternoon/evening access from that direction.

The second access road you identified is the one that would make a potential shortcut to avoid the roundabout route through Mayfair. As I noted before, if they don't upgrade the surface it might not work well for skinny tires.

[washcycle]

The Google map is accurate. I have the Strava data to prove it. What I went on was not a trail, but an old road. You can see the brown line of the road on this earth view of it.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9156105,-76.9423572,208m/data=!3m1!1e3

[Purple Eagle]

OK, I guess I should say the map is incomplete. My point is that the trail/road extended to the marsh outlet prior to construction of the new ART.

The route may well have been built as a road and used as a service road, but it was/is indeed marked as the "river trail" - as noted on the map in my earlier post. It was a wide dirt route that would be passable with vehicles. So it's not what we would customarily think of as a trail, but it is the same route that was marked/used as a trail.

The 2nd and 3rd photos in your set above are on that portion of the trail that existed prior to the current construction but are not along the route of the road indicated on Google. This is the reason why I think the park will continue to maintain the eastern portion of the river trail as a trail. They might not plan to improve it for bike access though - it would be worth checking with NPS on this. Kenilworth Gardens is managed as part of National Capital Parks East.

Here is a photo I took in 2011 at the mouth of the channel connecting the marsh to the river. There are several more of the trail in this photo set. You can see a park map in this one with the river trail indicated in yellow.

[washcycle]

OK. I think I misread the Anacostia Map you linked to as having the river trail farther from MD than it actually is.

[Gwyn Kesler]

Any idea when the ART will be completed? The anticipated start date seems to keep slipping - last I heard it was supposed to be Spring 2016 - Now that's been pushed to fall of 2016 (and just 2016 in some references). I'm looking to ride from Blandensburg Waterfront Park to Bolling AFB. From the maps provided, it looks doable, assuming DC ever finishes the ART.

[Purple Eagle]

I was actually just there today. I was able to run down the section of unpaved trail from the athletic fields (southern end of completed trail) to where they are building the bridge over the outlet to the marsh. The bridge looks like it's fairly close to being complete. The access route in Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens is blocked off with fencing so I was not able to get down to the river on that end.

There has also been a large crane in the river again between the RR bridge and the route 50 highway bridge for the past several weeks. Can't get a good enough view from driving on the bridge to see what sort of progress they are making there. This update posted in July said the trail would be done "by this time next year" - ie July 2016.

[Gwyn Kesler]

Thanks. I'll check back for your updates.