Corridor #7 on this list is also known as Utility Corridor #1 in Montgomery County's Bike Plan. It stretches from Bells Mill Substation just outside the Beltway to the Dickerson Generation Station along the Potomac. It covers 22 miles. On the east side it ends about 3 miles from the Grosvenor Metro and on the west side it ends about 1000 feet from the C&O Canal Trail. Along the way it intersects with 6 other utility corridors including #12 and #8 on the list. The center portion, about 5 miles in length was turned into a trail this year.
Here, as with yesterday's corridor, Montgomery County is planning to build a trail on almost the entire corridor - in this case from Dickerson Road (Route 28) to Tuckerman Lane.
On the Bethesda side, while the bike plan ends the trail at Tuckerman, the corridor goes past Tuckerman to Westlake Drive. Tuckerman is the straightest shot to the Grosvenor Metro, but they should extend the trail to Westlake.
On the Dickerson side, the trail ends at Dickerson. Via bikeable shoulders on Dickerson, trail users could reach the Dickerson MARC station 1.2 miles away and the C&O Canal Trail in 3 miles. Future bike planners should create a direct connection to the C&O Canal at this point.
The utility corridor runs parallel to and just south of the MARC rail line and then it turns south before heading to Bethesda. On the east end, where it diverges from the rail line and moves through denser area, it might someday make a great corridor for Bus Rapid Transit, with a bike trail of course. It's wide enough to support both. A BRT line from Darnestown Road to the Grosvenor Metro would be a nice extension of the transit system.
This route is very hilly. But would love to see it built
Posted by: Brett Young | December 18, 2018 at 01:38 PM