Most Support Palisades Trail improvements near Arizona Avenue

DDOT is making plans to rehabilitate or replace the Arizona Avenue pedestrian bridge and ramp and so far it appears that the project has public support. The purpose of the project to provide proper clearance and an all-weather surfaced trail for the full 0.65 mile length of the project. This informal trail is built on the Glen Echo Trolley right-of-way and may become part of a longer, formal trail all the way to Georgetown University.

66% of comments received by DDOT about the project supported some kind of trail improvements while 25% did not. A small majority of residents support some change to the surface (which is now just dirt), whether that be crushed gravel, permeable pavement or gravel. 

Trail surface changes are supported more by people who want to a more accessible surface and those from outside the nieghborhood who would like to bike on it. Those who oppose it are almost all residents who want to maintain the natural surface, limit use or who don't want cyclists on it. 

This comment is somewhat emblematic of the opposition

It’s scandalous to be spending this sort of money here when so many neighborhoods are hurting, can’t even dream of a trail.
Mud is good. Leave the trail as is. We don’t need bicycles speeding on it as we walk dogs and kids play.
The Palisades doesn’t need any more hard surfaces, it’s not downtown but a rustic neighborhood.
Bikes already have a trail. Save your money for a poor neighborhood!

The positions seem to be

1. The Palisades is wealthy, has lots of trails and this money would better be spent elsewhere. (I'm sure this will be the same position taken when it is time to hand out funding for schools.) 
2. The trail is perfect as is and these changes will make it worse as they are inappropriate here.

The "poorer neighborhoods" actually have lots of trails. DC has 11 major trails (12 if you count the MVT across Columbia Island). Of those 6 are east of the river - with the Anacostia Riverwalk on both sides. Here's how they break out by ward

DC Trails by ward and total mileage

ward 1 (1.5)  - Rock Creek (1.5)
ward 2 (6.5)  - CCT (0.5), C&O (1.2), Rock Creek and Potomac (4.8) - Not counted: Mt. Vernon (2.2)
ward 3 (9.1)  - Klingle (0.9), Rock Creek (1.2), CCT (3.8), C&O (3.2)
ward 4 (6.1)  - Rock Creek and Potomac (6.1)
ward 5 (1.5)  - MBT (1.5)
ward 6 (4.9)  - MBT (1.0), Anacostia (3.9)
ward 7 (14.2) - Watts Branch (1.9), Penn Ave(1.0), Anacostia (6.8), Fort Circle Trail (4.5)
ward 8 (7.3)  - Oxon Run (3.4), Suitland Parkway (1.7) Anacostia (2.2)

So, while Ward 3 does have a lot of trails (all along the edges) the poor neighborhoods are not exactly trail poor. And of the 8 trails in the pipeline [South Capitol - W8, Shepherd Branch - W7&W8, NY Avenue - W5, the rest of the ART - W5, W6, W7&W8, rest of the MBT (W4&W5), extended Oxon Run (W8), Piney Branch (W1) and Palisades (W3)] and the rehab of the Suitland Parkway in Ward 8, most of those are in what we think of as the "poor neighborhoods".  The Palisades Trail is the only one in Ward 3. 

Not that I think we should be using Ward-parity as a criteria for trails in the first place. This trail will be used, both for recreation and transportation, and that's the most important criteria. 

As to the trail being perfect as is, that can be an eye-of-the-beholder issue, but not all agree. Another resident stated "Yes trail – current muddy situation is awful – any new surface would be preferable for strollers, scooters, wheelchairs, walkers, youth bikers." So it may be perfect if you want to walk - sometimes in the mud - alone. But if you want to use a stroller or scooter - it's less than perfect. 

I love that on the one hand there is this great concern for the poor people in other parts of the city and how they don't have nice things AND that this is such a nice thing that they wouldn't want more people from other parts of the city coming to use it. It would serve them right if some of the residents from the "poor neighborhoods" started showing up to walk it saying "You know, you're right. This IS perfect. We're coming every day."

Just a few more choice comments:

"The trolley trail should remain a green-way." (unlike the Capital Crescent Trail?)

"The local biking advocate(s) who has been lobbying to "pave the trail" for 3-4 years have recruited
bikers from Maryland and Virginia to attend our neighborhood meetings. (I consider this foul play and
unethical.)"

Comments

[darren]

Good thing that DDOT is actively pursuing the Shepherd Branch Trail (similarly, a trail that would better connect to neighborhoods, running parallel to an existing trail) in Wards 7&8. I'm happy to see both progressing in the concept-development phase.

[drumz]

Mud is not good. Please find me the avid hiker that loves mud pits and having to go off trail to avoid getting soaked thanks to runoff and erosion.

Meanwhile the Bicycle Lobby strikes again. Yes, they're the ones that put the Neighborhood in the exact corner of the city limits a stone's throw from both Virginia and Maryland.

[Brett Young]

I’ve been working on this for 5 years and it’s great to see that even along the trolley path, more people want improvements than don’t.
Btw almost all comments are below MacArthur blvd. I couldn’t find one negative comment from Anyone north of Macarthur blvd.
This project will improve the Palisades. There are always complainers in DC and we just need to keep showing up to meetings and press the issue. There are currently zero bike paths within the Palisades.

[Crickey]

My favorite comment was "Parallel chord box truss works fine, in black". That is a person with very particular tastes in pedestrian bridges.

[washcycle]

To put it in context, I think they were given a couple of options - as I recall - with that being one of them.

[huskerdont]

Man, if I had known it would have been unethical for me as a Virginian to attend the meeting, I woulda been there with bells on.

Permeable pavement would be great, except that it needs to be maintained to remain permeable. And judging by the state of the bike lanes on, say, 14th Street, DC is not good at maintaining infrastructure, so it wouldn't likely stay permeable for long. Crushed gravel, while not ideal for cycling, could be a nice compromise that would also help allay neighborhood fears of fast cycling.

[contrarian]

The problem with the 3.8 miles of CCT and 3.2 miles of C&O in Ward 3 is that there is limited access to them from Ward 3. Between Bethesda and Georgetown there aren't access points that are usable by people of all ages and abilities. There is informal access, but you have to carry your bike or deal with heavy traffic on Canal Road. Your options are scramble, gamble or ramble.

[Contrarian]

I have to quibble with the use of "right-of-way" to describe the trail. A right-of-way is the right to cross land owned by another. All of the land under the trolley trail is owned by the city outright. A better descriptor is "trackway."

This is important because many of the abutting neighbors feel that they have an ownership interest and the city merely has a right-of-way. They don't.

What confuses things a little is that Pepco and DC Water run pipes and wires under and over the trackway, they have a right-of-way which allows them to do so.

[Crickey]

Right of way is the strip that is publicly owned. Cartway is the paved strip. Easement is a right to go on or through the lands of another, which may be exclusive or non-exclusive. Property owners often consider the part of the right of way outside the cartway to be theirs, though they are incorrect.