MRP Reality recently announced plans to add a movie theater to their massive redevelopment of Rhode Island Center in Edgewood. Rhode Island Center is immediately adjacent to the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) on the north side of Rhode Island Ave. Currently there is a direct connection between the Center and the Trail, and the development promises to make it better and add another connection to 4th Street NE. Better connections and a trail-adjacent theater are great, and the denser development alongside the trail will certainly increase trail use, but there are a fewf other connections needed to make this perfect and room to add it in.
The plans and renderings being distributed since July show two connections to the MBT. There is a trail on the north side of the project, and north of the current gateway, that runs along the north side of the east-west drive all the way to 4th Street (the thin brown line below Block 2 and Block 3 on the site plan below) and there is a plaza between Block 1A and 1B in approximately the same location as today's gateway. That plaza allows for an on-street (or on-driveway) connection to Rhode Island Avenue - and also to 4th Street.
The site plan also shows more green space along the trail especially in the northeast corner where a small pocket park exists between the MBT and the spur trail to 4th. Currently that area is a parking lot. A view of the trail spur and green area is shown in this rendering from the trail. This is where one connection is needed - and it's one that already exists. There is currently a connectin to Edgewood Street NE via an the existing sidewalk (kind of a secret connection, it dumps you out here). Improving that with a path across the green triangle and replacing the stairs at Edgewood Street with a ramp would add some needed utility.
In the rendering below the spur trail can be seen in the very bottom left corner and the driveway that connects to the trail plaza is front and center.
The below overhead renderings show a good view of the plaza and the trails. It also shows one of the other missing connections. To the north, between Block 1A and 2, it should connect to the Edgewood Terrace Apartments, right where the oval is in the bottom center of the below rendering. This would give a direct connection to those residents as well as to Channing Street NE.
The best view of the plaza, by the way, is in the image below.
The last missing connection is a staircase from the trail directly down to Rhode Island Avenue. Last Sunday I was on the trail and saw a stream of pedestrians walking from the Metro, across the bridge and trail to the Center and then down the ramp used by cars going the other way to Rhode Island Avenue. From there they were all going to Greater Mt. Cavalry Church (see, not everyone needs parking to go to church). It would be better for pedestrians moving in such a direction to be able to use a staircase, or perhaps a ramp but I doubt there is room for that, from the trail down to Rhode Island immediately adjacent to the railroad bridge. In the image below, I'm thinking right behind the angled retaining wall on the right hand side of the image. Also note the desire line on the left hand side showing that it's likely used on more than just Sundays.
The area behind the retaining wall is pretty eroded and so the staircase would need to be combined with a water management element - but that is probably a good idea for other reasons as well.
In this rendering, that area is in the bottom right corner, and it doesn't look like there is anything else there.
This is also the impression I get from looking at the site plan and the overhead renderings above as well as this overhead rendering below.
The staircase would likely not be used by cyclists much (though it should have a bike trough) but it would be a nice trail addition nonetheless.
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