Washingtonian recently did a click-baity feature on the "9 Coolest Developments Coming to Washington in 2017" and two of them include key sections of bike trail.
The first is the Wharf. In addition to inspiring normally nice Iowans to wish a recession on our town, the massive development on the SW Waterfront is also building a section of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail. The trail project was long ago broken up into 19 pieces, and the Wharf section is #17. The portion completing this year, phase 1, will only build part of that; but when complete it would leave slightly less than 5 segments to go (part of 18 opened last year).
Status of the ART in 2012
The ART will be right along the waterfront (which is not the Anacostia waterfront, but who's keeping track)
Cyclists will likely prefer Maine Ave, which will feature a protected pair of bike lanes, behind parked cars and at the sidewalk level - a first for DC. That will also not be completed in this phase. Phase 2 will be completed in 2020-2021.
The other project isn't really in Washington, but rather Riverdale Park, MD. The Riverdale Park Station development is built atop an old trolley line and portions of that right-of-way from Hyattsville to College Park have been turned into a trail. The RPS property is the only gap. Though part of this project will open this year, it's not clear the trail will.
Interestingly, as far away as these projects are from another, you can ride from one to the other entirely on trail (except for the gap between the Wharf and Nationals Stadium).
The new section of the trolley trail through the Riverdale development is at least partially paved, but still not open. If you ride up to the property boundary on the south side you can see a new paved trail continue on the other side of the fence.
This is what the project website says about the trail project status "The Hiker/Biker Trail has been deeded to MNCPPC’s Department of Parks and Recreation who will manage and maintain the trail. They expect to open the trail for use by the public once they determine that site conditions are suitably safe from dangers associated with the immediately adjacent construction activities."
I think technically you can't ride from DC to the trolley trail without doing a short section of road, either route 1 in Hyattsville or Riverdale Rd in Riverdale - unless I am missing something. I suppose you can connect to it near Lake Artemsia via trail.
It would probably be possible to explore the new trail section "after hours"/when construction workers are not present - barriers prevent vehicle access to the site from route 1 but you could easily get around them on foot or bike.
Posted by: Purple Eagle | January 18, 2017 at 09:26 AM
It'll be interesting to see how this project progresses. Thanks for the post as I find this very interesting.
Posted by: Linda | January 18, 2017 at 11:00 AM
On the Maine Ave photo, I'm not a huge fan of the on-sidewalk bike lanes for anyone riding at speeds above 5mph. Unless there is a physical barrier between peds and cyclists, and even if there is, peds will walk on the cycle track. Yes, a decent solution for someone biking at slow speeds, like my kid, but not for me.
Posted by: fongfong | January 18, 2017 at 11:00 AM
fongfong, you beat me to it. It's a great lane for taking a leisurely ride, but I doubt it will be good for anybody who wants to use it as transportation. Even with the bright green paint, peds will wander into those lanes.
Posted by: Roo_Beav | January 18, 2017 at 12:03 PM
The rendering doesn't show as much separation between sidewalk and bikelane as is planned be installed. Plans call for longer landscape boxes and bike parking that won't totally wall off the bike lane from pedestrians, but will prevent some of the wandering in that you'd expect in what's pictured.
Also to clarify, the Phase I (Fish market to 7th) protected bike lanes are supposed to be done late this year, it's the eastward extension down to 6th that comes with Phase II in a few more years.
[also also, hello Maine Ave streetcar!]
Posted by: darren | January 18, 2017 at 12:31 PM
PE -- we'd been cutting around the fence through the Whole Foods development for weeks, but they just last week reinforced the fence on the north side so it's not easy to get through. The fence on the south side might be rideable on a fat bike at a very high rate of speed. But otherwise, on the south side you can take the access road along the tracks from the Riverdale Park farmers market parking area.
Posted by: Greenbelt | January 18, 2017 at 02:39 PM
@Greenbelt, I thought it looked like people had been going through the fence, but I thought maybe construction vehicles were accessing from that point. Guess it was just those scofflaw cyclists :)
Any problems from the constructions crews, or have they not been around when you cut through?
Posted by: Purple Eagle | January 18, 2017 at 10:16 PM
The new section of the trolley trail makes the gap from the NW Branch trail so much more glaring.
I hope leaders can either put in a lane on Rt 1 or figure out an off-street solution. It's literally less than a quarter-mile.
Posted by: Adam | January 19, 2017 at 04:08 PM
Wow, for the Maine Ave "protected lane", even in the rendering the pedestrian look like they're about to walk in the bike lane. Not good design. Here is what the best US-based guide to separated (i.e. protected) bike lane planning says:
"The cross section of a separated bike lane is composed of three separate zones:
1) Bike lane – the bike lane is the space in which the bicyclist operates. It is located between the street buffer and the sidewalk buffer.
2) Street buffer – the street buffer separates the bike lane from motor vehicle traffic.
3) Sidewalk buffer – the sidewalk buffer separates the bike lane from the sidewalk."
DDOT appears to have completely ignored #3, and the result will be a poor-functioning bike lane, full of pedestrians.
https://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/8/docs/SBLG/Chapter3_GeneralDesign.pdf
Posted by: Uptowner | January 27, 2017 at 10:31 AM
I suppose you can connect to it near Lake Artemsia via trail.
That was my thought.
Posted by: washcycle | January 27, 2017 at 04:46 PM
When I inquired about the gap from Franklin's to Armentrout Dr in August, this is what MNCPPC said: "Regarding the Trolley Trail, the state of Maryland approved the request to fund the design of the trail (from Franklin’s Restaurant to Armentrout Drive). This was a big step forward. However, Eileen Nivera (from DPR) tells me that this doesn’t necessarily guarantee that it is funded for construction. Once the final designs are complete, we will probably still have to work with SHA and elected officials to ensure that the trail is funded for construction and completed. However, I would think that this shouldn’t be too difficult. Because the project has been approved for design through the Retrofit Program, constructing the designed improvement should be the logical next step." Haven't asked for an update recently. Will do so and inform the group...
Posted by: Mike | January 29, 2017 at 11:59 AM