DDOT and NPS have plans for crossing the Anacostia at the Arboretum

In 2016, DC opened an important part of the Anacostia Trail from Benning Road to the Maryland side of New York Avenue. But that was only phase 1 of that section. Phase 2 will build a trail along the river from the existing trail at Foote Street, SE to the existing trail in Kenilworth Park North, and then across the river to the Arboretum and through it (the white dashed lines in the image below).

Phase 2 is being broken up into at least a couple of pieces and the first of those - the new 390 foot long bridge and the trails from it to Kenilworth Park North and Hickey Hill Road in the Arboretum - has made it to the concept review phase with the NCPC.

The 10 foot wide trail will be built above the flood plane with triangle "nodes" at the bridge crossing and the connection to the main trail. The project is limited just south of the bridge on the east side and short of the paved roads on the Arboretum side. [I certainly hope they don't build this but not include a paved connection to the west side roads.]

 

 

The western node will be a T-junction that will feature wayfinding, educational space, an amphitheater and lay-by areas.

 

 

The east node will feature wayfinding, landscaping and educational signage. 

 

The existing trail node will feature a bicycle repair station, lay-by area, bench, wayfinding, landscaping and educational signage. 

But the key part is the bridge, which promises great views of the river.

 

From below:

 

And usable space beneath the east abutment.

 

The bridge will also have lights for nighttime boaters. The NCPC presentation is here.

 

In December, NCPC 

• requested that the National Park Service continue to coordinate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure the proposed trail connections between Anacostia Park and the National Arboretum are accessible, and that appropriate signage and wayfinding is provided for trail users
• recommended that further evaluation of the trail intersections to ensure that the proposed lay-bys, benches and other uses will  not conflict with pedestrian and bicyclist circulation, considering the lines-of-site and set-backs necessary to allow for such uses
• requested further details about how the kayak and canoe launch will be accessed and if there will be impacts to the existing sea wall.

The CFA and NCPC both approved the design in fall of 2017, and preliminary design is expected to be completed in Fall of 2018, but no schedule for work is provided. Last year, DDOT told me that the full completion of Phase 2 was about 6 years away. 

The project was granted $6 million by the Federal Lands Access Program for construction. 

Comments

[Purple Eagle]

It has always seemed too me that it would make sense to create a connecting trail along the north side of the Langston Golf Course to MD Ave and M St NE. This would allow trail users to traverse the region outside of the Arboretum hours. If they don't do this (and I don't know if it's even an option), the new trail will have limited utility unless the Arboretum does two things: (1) expand their open hours at least to something like 6:00a -8:00p, at least by keeping open gates on the trail; (2) open the south gate near the intersection of M and MD. If they don't open that gate, the route to Capitol Hill/downtown is quite a bit longer and will require using Bladensburg Rd. Is there an opportunity for public comment?

[washcycle]

Isn't that - a connecting trail along the north side of the Langston Golf Course to MD Ave and M St NE - what the top map shows?

[Purple Eagle]

It's not clear to me which side of the Arboretum fence the path is on. Based in previously-published information I was under the impression they were planning to connect the new trail to the Arboretum and then trail users would travel Arboretum roads to get out to Bladensburg and/or M/MD. I hope you are correct.