Greenbelt (Almost) Gets a Great New Bike Trail

By Jeff Lemieux

Greenbelt is putting the finishing touches on a great new bike trail that connects Cherrywood Lane, a key bike route that goes past the Greenbelt Metro station, with Branchville Ave, which is the main access road to Lake Artemesia and and an entry point to the extensive Anacostia tributary trail system. The new connector trail allows cyclist to avoid a congested shopping mall entrance and the hairy intersection at Cherrywood Lane and Greenbelt Road. The new segment is marked by the box in this map:

The good news is that the trail is quite lovely, and passes a pond with lots of wildlife. Here is a picture:

What’s the bad news? Well, apparently the county, which controls Branchville Ave., has decided that it would be too dangerous to allow the trail to connect to the street. So Prince George's County has mandated a full curb where the trail meets the street.

Note that the sidewalk is also not connected to the street – it just ends a at either end of the lot. If you look closely you can even see a utility pole blocking where the sidewalk would go!

So now this trail entrance requires bike commuters and disabled people to cross the grass and climb the curb, or else just give up and go back to riding through the congested (and truly dangerous!) shopping zone. No wheelchairs allowed.

Greenbelt city planner Jessica Bellah reports that the City is trying to get the county to relent, if for no other reason than that now our City maintenance vehicles can’t get to the site they’re supposed to maintain.

I presume the county planner who made this decision is the same person who has decided to keep the newly completed College Park/Riverdale Park trolley trail closed at the new Whole Foods development for so long, also for our safety. Because in that case, it’s so much safer to ride a bike or push a stroller out on Route 1 (which has no sidewalks on the east side toward College Park).

We’re making lots of great progress on trails and pedestrian infrastructure in many places in Prince George’s county, but there are still some real impediments in our county government.

Comments

[Drew]

Any idea who I should specifically be writing to in an effort to express my displeasure with such a short-sighted solution to connecting to Branchville? If you don't know, I can certainly reach out to Jessica Bellah to see how I could assist.

This "plan" essentially tells all people with wheels that they need to dismount before continuing. As you pointed out, for some in wheelchairs, this isn't an option. What about the family pushing a stroller?

SHA would never, ever suggest infrastructure for a car that required you to get out of your vehicle (dismount) to continue on the road.

"Yes, that's right: go ahead and put your car in park, get out, lift your car over the curb, and then you can continue driving."

We're talking about a ramp here. It can be as simple as a triangle of concrete. Please, SHA, please.

[Drew]

And upon practicing my reading skills, I see that SHA is not the offending party this time; *Please, DPW&T, please.*

[Washcycle]

You could try Karyn McAlister at [email protected] or by phone at (301) 883-5600. She's the contact for the PG County Bicycle and pedestrian program.

[Joanie Cohen-Mitchell]

Was by there today on my way downtown; how frustrating!

[Ampersand]

I've encountered a few other places like this where there is a moronic lack of ramp, and it's made me wonder what would happen if someone decided to make guerilla use of a sledgehammer (and perhaps some quick-set cement) by cover of night. The one that especially irks me is the path coming off the Case Bridge to Benjamin Banneker Park. That whole area has foot-high curbs with nary a ramp around, and I'm sure people have been complaining about it for years. Heck, I think I've complained about it on this very site before...

[Joe F]

Gap jump! Must be trying to appease the mountain bikers and BMXers. For cycle cross it's good dismount practice.

For everyone else its really bad. Hopefully they fix this quickly.

[washcycle]

Ampersand, At least 10 years ago I met an NPS ranger at a BAC meeting and I cornered her on just that spot. She even came out to look at it with me and promised to fix it. But then I never heard from her again. I like to imagine that she was trying to fix it, but then her raft went over a waterfall and now she's in the Land of the Lost.

Anyway, I think it will finally get fixed thanks to the Wharf and the plan to rebuild Banneker Park with stairs, a better ramp to Maine and other improvements. That project should start soon.

[Janet]

I remember when the Berwyn Road pedestrian bridge in College Park that goes over the railroad tracks connecting to Berwyn Heights had no ramp on the east side, and "someone" installed a temporary ramp that was there for many years. Now there is a real ramp in that location, but it took many years to happen. Don't understand the shortsighted thinking of planning.

[Drew]

Janet, I may or may not have been directly involved in the creation of that ramp on the east side (the Berwyn Heights side). When there was a discussion at the Town Council about paving the trail between 58th and Nevada in Berwyn Heights, I explicitly mentioned that, "as long as we're making improvements, we need a ramp @ the pedestrian bridge". They requested a detailed location, description and explanation of the benefit. I explained that even though there was technically a sidewalk that connected to a ramp, one would have to make two 90 degree turns to stay on the sidewalk and that's not easy on wheels, and if we're trying to support biking as a viable transportation option, we need to increase infrastructure and lower barriers. I suggested a small ramp right there to connect to the street.They told me they appreciated my input and would look into it.

It was up within weeks of my comment. Now, I can't CONFIRM that it was me, but that timing would be a big coincidence if it wasn't. And since the bit of Branchville in question IS in Berwyn Heights, I wonder if the Town Council could speak to someone as well. Now I've got a few people to reach out to about this.

[Purple Eagle]

There is a similar situation on the other side of Indian Creek. Paved path connects Branchville Rd to the new townhouses. There is a curb cut at Branchville (which makes me wonder why the new trail is different) but no cut where the path intersects the neighborhood street. If Greenbelt and WMATA can ever get their act together and build the trail connecting the townhouses to the metro station, this will be an important regional connector, but it's already important for residents of the new townhouses. (BTW the Greenbelt News Review reported in a recent issue that the trail between the townhouses and the metro station will take at least 2 years to build).

[Purple Eagle]

Another thought - there should be a bridge over Indian Creek connecting this new path to the common area for the townhouses, roughly halfway between Cherrywood and Branchville. This would provide a more direct connection to Beltway Plaza for residents on foot or bike.

[Purple Eagle]

I need to amend my last comment - turns out there actually is a bridge over Indian Creek and connections to the new development. Once across the creek, the trail splits. A north branch climbs gradually to a traffic circle at the current northern extent of the development. The other branch climbs more steeply to the common area. The trail has ~half dozen sets of 2-3 steps, interspersed with up hill trail. The steps have a smooth concrete slope adjacent with could be used to ease the passage for bikes or perhaps strollers (but not wheelchairs)

[Stephen Szibler]

Sheesh, that's absurd. Utterly ridiculous. As for the trolley trail, as I crawled under the "fence" this evening (no construction goes on at night) and wondered whether a neighbor walking their dog would yell at me, I thought, "My answer would be that I don't care because I'll be 95 before they finish that trail.

Good to hear they've finally done something about the Greenbelt Road/Cherrywood Lane horrid left turn and one-way parking lot conundrum - I didn't know this was in progress - but such a stupid solution with the curb. I sometimes wonder if the engineers who work on these projects don't secretly hate bicycles and purposely put in at least one major design flaw. Take the Wilson Bridge path - beautiful - but with rim-bending gaps that even cars on the highway don't have to navigate. The unfinished MBT or the way it used to constantly have street lights out.

[Purple Eagle]

I contacted Ms. McAlister (noted in the comments above) about this and received the following response "We are looking at the sight distance to determine if/how to provide safe access to the trail. There is a curve in the road that impedes sight distance; sight distance improves as you move away from the curve toward the existing ramp that you refer to."

[CyclingAroundPG]

I was by here today I see that a ramp has been installed, but still doesn't look officially open. Sadly, I think the real miss here is the lack of a SAFE connection for all to Lake Artemisia. A few weekends ago, I saw several pedestrians (with kids) navigating Branchville Rd. I'd love to see the trail pass under MD193. Maybe one day.