Anacostia trails and Western Maryland Rail Trail expansions complete

Confession: There is just way too much going on with biking in the DC area to cover it all with 5 blog posts a week and zero link dumps. I have literally hundreds of skipped over subjects in the queue. So some posts are just going to include old bits, and this is one of them. 

Last week I mentioned that phase I of the South Shore Trail opened (the South Shore trail, Aannapolis Maritime Trails and the WB&A Trail are the only ones to be a part of the East Coast Greenway, American Discovery Trail and the 9/11 Memorial Trail, I think), but wait, there's more.

Back in August 2017, the Indian Creek Trail was extended north of Greenbelt Road (and across the East Coast Greenway). The trail used to end at 57th just south of Greenbelt Road, but now it crosses Greenbelt, on-road and in a crosswalk, and picks up on the north side of Branchville Road. From there it goes north between Indian Creek and a scrap yard to a loop around a little pond. Two other connections come off the loop with one connection taking it to Cherrywood Lane and another going across Indian Creek on a bridge. On the other side of Indian Creek, it splits again to connect to the new Greenbelt Station development in three places - at least one includes stairs with a runnel. [There are also bike lanes on the bridge over Branchville to Greenbelt Station that stop rather surprisingly]. Another trail on the west side of Indian Creek connects the Ryan Homes at Greenbelt Station to Branchville Road. 

When first installed, it didn't have a way to connect to Branchville - it just ended at a 30 foot long stretch of sidewalk that didn't connect to anything on either end. But since then a crosswalk and curb ramp has been added in. 

Unfortunately the trail doesn't extend another 2000 feet along the creek's west side to the Metro station. Altogether it's about 1 mile of trails. 

Elsewhere in the Anacostia Tributary Trail System (ATTS), Route1 Reporter reports that the Little Falls Trail is complete if not officially opened. 

You can now bike from downtown Washington, D.C., to Beltsville, Maryland, almost entirely on paved trails, courtesy of an effectively-complete, not officially-opened, extension of the Little Paint Branch Trail along Cherry Hill Road.

Also on the ATTS, on the Sligo Creek Trail, the trail used to cross Sligo Creek on the Park Valley Road Bridge, but now a new trail bridge and road crossing has been completed just north of that. This was done as part of a project to replace the road bridge with the new trail alignment designed to enhance pedestrian and bicycle access and safety. Sorry no photos yet. 

Finally, and very far away from the Anacostia, it appears that the Western Maryland Rail Trail is finally complete. A visitor sent these photos of the final 4.5 mile section from the Indigo Tunnel to Little Orleans and on to the Potomac river where it ends. 

WMRT Phase IV

WMRT Bridge to the C&O Canal

It is somewhat bittersweet, since as originally planned, this trail was going to go to Paw Paw, WV, passing through 3 large tunnels and over the Potomac 6 times. But the the state and NPS decided that the tunnels would be better used as wildlife preserves for bats. And that caused WV to drop out of the project. I still they they could extend by skipping the tunnels and using another abandoned railroad, but that is a fight for the future. 

Comments

[Purple Eagle]

The Indian Creek Trail extension north of Branchville has been an important improvement for biking in Greenbelt. It allows one to bypass the intersection of Cherrywood and Greenbelt Rd where the usual route involves riding through parking lots and using a short unofficial dirt trail to complete the connection.

There has been a long saga regarding the extension of the trail from the new housing development to the Greenbelt metro station. It's caught up in the decision not to move the FBI. Long story short - the city (of Greenbelt) and the developer both very much want the trail to happen, but WMATA has been reluctant to sign off on details because of the uncertainty of future development plans for the area around the station. They are requiring high-cost features (traffic light for crossing the station entrance drive, bridges that can handle maintenance vehicles, electric power for lights) that are in turn slowing down the process. There are lots of details in the archives of the Greenbelt News Review.

[Shalom]

I can confirm that the Cherry Hill Rd connection on the Paint Branch trail is now open and complete, turning at the northern end onto Sellman Rd. and then into Little Paint Branch Park, completely off-road the whole way (though also near-road the whole way).

You can also then head farther north on Old Gunpowder (where the "off-road" trail is more of a wide sidewalk), and connect to the other Little Paint Branch Park and Fairfield Park. Another nice piece of network connectivity, long overdue but good to have in place.

[Purple Eagle]

The Indian Creek Trail northern extension also went through some controversies that have since been resolved - I was reminded when I saw your photo. After the trail was built, initially it was not connected to the street. (not sure who is in charge but "they") did not want to create the curb cut because they thought it was a dangerous location, too close to where Branchville curves to meet Greenbelt Rd. Eventually they were convinced to make the curb cut, but it was off-set from the trail by a few feet so you had to make an awkward maneuver. Last fall that stretch of Branchville got sidewalks and new curbs, and the fixed the alignment so now the intersection of the trail and the road function correctly.