Seat Pleasant could become a trail crossroads

Seat Pleasant, located right next to Washington, DC's eastern corner, updated their Master Plan in 2018 and while it doesn't contain many specifics, it does in general plan for a more bike-friendly city, envisioning a future with more bike lanes connecting to regional bike infrastructure and taking advantage of the planned Central Avenue Trail.

Looking at the open space plan above, it becomes clear that what Seat Pleasant might lack in current facilities, it more than makes up for in potential. Along the east side runs Cabin Branch, a green corridor which Prince George's County has identified as trail corridor in their 2040 plan. On the south side is Central Avenue, a priority corridor which should be hitting 100% design some time soon. On the east is the only piece of remaining railroad ROW from the old Chesapeake Beach railroad. And running near the north end is MLK, Jr. Avenue, a priority trail corridor and one that WABA wants to be see built sooner rather than later. There are also two metro stations just beyond the south side of town, and an Orange line station that would be only 1.5 miles away on a Cabin Branch Trail that extended to it. That's a pretty nice starting point.

A Cabin Branch Trail, which the Master Plan mentions once, isn't even really a twinkle in the county's eye, but could become a trail from Cheverly to Capitol Heights where it starts about 1200 feet from Watts Branch. The plan seems to show it only from MLK to Drylog Street, which would be a mistake, but I guess it depends on who owns the land along it between Drylog and Central.  

The plan shows the current "Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail" extended north from Crown Street to MLK and then rebranded as "Maker's Alley" - a connector along which quiet maker spaces can exist with access to nature. Unfortunately for the trail, the whole CB railroad ROW has been built on within DC, but in MD the ROW picks up again to the east where the Blue line goes under ground again.  The addition of a boundary stone park at the NE Corner with DC is a nice touch. This would create an opportunity to connect to the Marvin Gaye Park Trail, which ends only 3 blocks away, if they can coordinate it with DC. 

MLK Jr. is also built on a former railroad ROW - the WB&A, which becomes a legit bike trail farther north. It currently has some unappealing bike lanes on it, but it's a good location for a protected bikeway. And here again, coordination with DC could continue it along Dix to the Marvin Gaye Park Trail.

The rendering above shows the bikeway on Central, but nothing on Addison. That's unfortunate, because a bikeway along Addison Road (north-south) and another on Drylog Street, with its extension through "Innovation Village" to the west, would complete the network and leave everyone within a few blocks of the bike network. 

Seat Pleasant has enviable opportunities to build a bikeable and walkable town, with the chance to serve as a connecting point for the Marvin Gaye Park, Anancostia Tributary, WB&A and Cheseapeake Beach Railroad trails, but the follow through will be critical. 

Comments

[mike]

i ride through here all the time ( i ride about 14,000 miles a yer, so...), when will these seat pleasant changes take place...in 2050? 2075??

im sorry: this is waaaay too little waaaay too late...that area is more hopeless than tysons.

i think bike advocates have a responsibility to walk away from some projects, as they are beneath them, and the needs of cyclists, on any kind of reasonable time scale. this is one of those projects in one of those areas...