The Other GAP trail 2022: An updated status of the Metropolitan Branch Trail

It's been almost 35 years since WABA began working to preserve the rail ROW that would become the Metropolitan Branch Trail. Despite numerous delays, large sections of the trail have been built and are opened. A key section from the Fort Totten Metro fo John McCormack Avenue just opened. So below is a look at where the complete project stands today.

Montgomery County

Starting at the northern end, two sections have been built. One, from Colesville Road to Ripley Street, opened in 2013 as part of the Silver Spring Transit Center and another 100 foot long stub was built south from Ripley as part of the Solaire Building.

MC GAP 1 - From Ripley, a one-block gap exists to Silver Spring Avenue. This section is currently under construction as the "Ripley II" project, which should be completed this year. The development will also include a special bicycle entry for those using the trail

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Between Silver Spring Ave and the B&O railroad station, a one block section was built as part of the Progress Place project, but that section has been imprisoned for crimes it did not commit.

What did you do trail? What did you do?

MC GAP 2 - From the B&O Station to the intersection of Fenton and New York Avenue is one gap that will be closed in two phases. Phase 1, from New York Avenue to King and then west along King to a dead-end was completed in 2018 (since the last report 5 years ago). The County had planned to complete  Phase II by 2021, but there have clearly been significant setbacks as completion now isn't planned until 2025 - and that is based on the premise that they started work in February, which I have heard nothing about. Last year, WABA reported that work could start in Fall of 2021. I'm not sure what the delays are caused by.

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Between New York Avenue and the DC line the trail is complete and has been for over 15 years.

Prince George's County

Another part of the trail is the Prince George's County Connector that will connect the trail at Fort Totten to the Northwest Branch Trail at Hyattsville in Prince George's County. One piece of that, from Eastern Avenue in DC to Russell Avenue was completed in 2010.

PG GAP 1 - 5 years later, I still can not find any information on closing the Russell Avenue to Chillum Road gap. I'm not sure it is even a desire for PG County anymore.

DC

From April to June of 2021, DC built a 450-foot section of the trail along Eastern Avenue from the Maryland boundary, where it connected to an existing section built by Montgomery County, to Piney Branch Road.

DC GAP 1 - The largest gap in the system is now, shoreter, from the Piney Branch to Fort Totten Metro. This has also been broken up into multiple projects. 

Farthest north is the Piney Branch Road to Blair Road section. This project is still in design and according to the public meeting in December, won't be done with property acquisition until spring of 2023 with work to begin sometime that year. They plan to have a 30% design meeting on June 7th. 

The Fort Totten to Takoma section of the MBT has completed final design and will go out for construction solicitation soon, with a groundbreaking this Fall (again about 3 years later than expected in 2018). Construction is expected to be completed in 2023. There is also a small 100-200 foot section of the Prince George's County Connector in DC, but DDOT currently doesn't have any plans to work on that.

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The Brookland to Fort Totten Metro section was completed this month, after a couple of years of delay.

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% years ago, I said that "from Bates to M St, NE, the trail is completed, having been built as part of several other projects including the New York Avenue Metro to 8th Street section" but now I think people see the 8th Street section as a new gap. o let's say the trail is complete from Fort Totten to Monroe St, NE. 

DC GAP 2

The 8th St, on-road section of the trail is built as originally designed, but we've come to expect a lot more from bike facilities over the last 20 years and so the section from Monroe to Franklin is now a new gap. The whole history of how a Protected Bike Lane facility along that section was designed and worked out and then in September it fell apart is pretty thoroughly covered here. But since then DDOT has started shopping around a new PBL project, so we'll see.

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From Franklin to M St NE, the trail is finished and has been for more than a decade.

DC GAP 3 - the last gap is a half block gap from just south of M Street to street level at L. Currently a trail and stairs exist, but the long-term plan has always involved a ramp here. This will be constructed along with the NoMa Station projects Phases II-IV. This lot has remained stubbornly undeveloped even as every other lot in NoMa blows up. All I can say is that it is still planned.

But there have been other improvements in the last 5 years, . The Z-Curve that used to be at R Street has been straightened out the whole trail there widened and improved thanks to development of One501 and Alethia Tanner park. The intersection at Monroe has also been improved - a little.

Five years ago I hoped that the project could be finished by 2028, and for the DDOT and Montgomery County parts that still seems possible. The NoMa station place - who knows? But if the PG County Connector Trail - from the Fort Totten Metro to the Hyattsville Metro/Northwest Branch Trail - isn't dead then it's at least in a coma and 2028 might be too ambitious a target for it. 

Comments

[Gray]

I follow up regarding the stretch in downtown Silver Spring every six months or so. As of March, I was told that MCDOT hopes to potentially put it out for bid again late this year but otherwise has no information on when construction could potentially start, let alone be completed. https://twitter.com/graykimbrough/status/1509691024242884608

[sbg1]

Great update on the status of the MBT - Thanks. Frustrating that this has been so slow to complete but even this progress is positive. I suspect that MoCo will shoot for completion of the Silver Spring MBT segment on or about the completion of the purple line. The trail to Bethesda will also connect at the transit Ctr.

[Purple Eagle]

Thanks for the updates. PG Co has done some work on the NW Branch trail in the vicinity of where the connector trail should "connect", but I have seen nothing about building the missing segment either. If the L St ramp project is contingent on the Union Station rebuild (?) that could take a while since that project has a very long timeline.

[washcyle]

The L Street ramp is not contingent on the Union Station project.

[Drew]

Thanks for the write-up. I rode the new segment from Fort Totten to Brookland twice last month. The first time was shortly after it opened and felt like a dream. Too bad they had to cut down so many trees, but at least they planted a few replacements.

The second time was more like a bad dream because I got a flat tire from a small piece of metal just south of the waste station. Maybe I was unlucky because lots of other people passed through that area without a problem, but I've gotten flats around there before, so do take care around there. Maybe next time I'll bring a broom to sweep ahead of my bike, or a Roomba.