Long Branch is a 2 mile long stream through Silver Spring and Takoma Park in Montgomery County. It's a tributary of Sligo Creek, and has a trail along part of it, but that part doesn't connect to the Sligo Creek Trail and it generally isn't considered a part of the Anacostia Tributary Trail System (ATTS) despite being built at roughly the same time as the other trails.
On the south end, there's a half-mile long gap from the Sligo Creek Trail at New Hampshire Avenue and the existing Long Branch Trail (LBT) at Maple Avenue. Closing this Takoma Park gap would tie the LBT into the ATTS as well as the connector trail at Jackson Ave and Becca Lilly Park. While the 2000 East Silver Spring Plan placed a high priority on closing this gap, the 2008 Countywide Trails update doesn't seem to show it.
2008 Update Countywide Trails Plan
On the north end, the creek in Silver Spring goes all the way to its headwaters at Indian Spring Local Park at the Beltway. Like the Takoma Park gap it passes through residential greenspace and parks. And like the Takoma Park gap, there is conflicting plans on whether to built a trail here. The most recent bike plan doesn't extend the trail, but it does recommend a bikeway north from the trail to Franklin Avenue, likely along Sudburry Road.
But the 2013 Sector plan shows a trail going north from Piney Branch a small distance to Garland Avenue. There's already a trail connector between Garland and the Long Branch Community Center and it's possible the driveway to that will be all that trail users will get.
A trail along the length of Long Branch and, dare we dream, to the Beltway and over it to Montgomery Blair High School would make for a great neighborhood trail and local alternative to New Hampshire Avenue. It's unclear why extensions aren't in the County Trails plan.
Extending the trail over or under the Beltway to Blair HS would certainly have great utility. If the beltway hot lanes project moves forward that would be a good time to press for the extension.
Posted by: Purple Eagle | December 10, 2020 at 07:09 PM