Paint Branch is a stream through eastern Montgomery and western Prince George's Counties that merges with Indian Creek near the College Park Airport to form the Northeast Branch of the Anacostia River. There's an existing trail that follows it from the NE Branch to a point south of the Beltway where the trail switches to the Little Paint Branch. Outside the Beltway Paint Branch flows flows from Spencerville Road and from Cloverly in Montgomery County south. After passing the ICC another Paint Branch Trail runs along it for about 2 miles from Fairland Road to Columbia Pike. From there it continues southeast through White Oak, Power Mill Community Park and the I-95/Beltway interchange to the Anacostia Tributary Trail system in College Park.
About 4.4 miles of trail would be needed to close the gap between the two sections of trail, and that would somehow need to navigate the I-95/Beltway interchange under which Paint Branch flow. It would also need to get across Powder Mill Road and Columbia Pike/US-29. Those won't be easy, but much of the stream flows through forests - even around the Beltway - meaning the trail would likely be a nice park ride without many other street crossings. In addition to connecting to the PG and MoCo trails, it could also connect to the Old Columbia Pike Bridge which is a bike and ped only bridge now. Just north of Powder Mill, a small tributary leads north to the shopping areas along Cherry Hill Road. Along the stream valley there's an assortment of neighborhoods, parks, shopping areas and employers creating an assortment of destinations.
The bad news here is that while this used to be in Montgomery County's Trail plan, the section from the existing MoCo trail to Old Columbia Pike was dropped to an unpaved trail in 2016 due to "Adverse Natural Resource Impacts" and the section to PG County was removed because the land is part of the FDA campus and unlikely to become available. That likely dooms any PG County expansion, which was unlikely anyway as it's not in that county's trail plan. The good news is that the natural surface trail was a top priority.
North of Fairland Road, where the MoCo section ends at a very narrow sidewalk, Paint Branch continues through wide woodlands crossing a few major roads including the InterCounty Connector before ending at the hills of Cloverly. This section of the ICC doesn't have a trail along it, but a trail along Paint Branch, along with one along the tributary to the west, could serve double duty and would go a long way to closing the gap between New Hampshire Ave and Columbia Pike. A barrier to this is that Montgomery County already decided that a trail through this area would cause too much environmental damage to be worthwhile.
Upper Paint Branch Stream Valley Park, between New Hampshire Avenue and Route 29 in northern Silver Spring, is considered the most sensitive to more asphalt, which could create storm water runoff. Its special natural resources include several streams where brown trout survive only in cold and very clean water, park officials said.
Instead they recommended sidepaths along New Hampshire Ave and Fairland Road and a future trail along the north side of the ICC between Cape May Road and Countryside Lane. The 2016 County Trails plan meanwhile calls for a natural surface trail from Fairland to Briggs Chaney.
Another tributary across the ICC leads to the Burtonsville Library and the park next door. North of the ICC, the Paint Branch goes to Maydale Conservation Park and Cloverly Elementary School and the adjacent park.
Altogether, an extended trail along the Paint Branch would connected dozens of destinations in Montgomery and Prince George's County, create a new outdoor opportunity and help fulfill the promise of the ICC Trail. A paved trail the length of the valley is unlikely due to environmental concerns, the FDA campus barrier (it's unclear that the FDA would oppose a trail across their land, but the security there is pretty serious) and the fact that new paved trails through it are not in either county's plans.
The bigger concern about FDA land access is the Army Research Laboratory that they share access points with. It is unlikely that any non-employees will gain access to the land. This shared campus is a major major obstacle for any east-west transportation.
Posted by: Beltsville | December 18, 2020 at 01:21 PM