Despite the gloom and doom of a few years ago about the WB&A Trail, it looks like things are moving along in a positive way. Phase I in Anne Arundel County opened last year. Construction on Phase II south of Strawberry Lane was suppose to begin in October of 2005. I haven't been out there so I don't know if that's true, but it seems encouraging. And then there's this bit of good news:
The County purchased six acres of land from Constellation Properties along Patuxent Road. Our plan is to build a future parking lot for trail visitors and possibly a Ranger Station for the WB&A Trail Park. When we completed the purchase Constellation gave the County an additional 200 acres of wetlands along the WB&A right-of-way to add to our greenway system. These two 100 acre parcels north and south of Patuxent Road allow the County to connect Patuxent Ponds Park to the greenway.
In addition the county is pursuing funding for the South Shore Trail, which will connect the WB&A with Annapolis and the B&A Trail. The news on connecting the two pieces of the WB&A with a bridge over the Patuxent is a less firm. The town of Bowie has it on its list of recommended projects for the state, but that's pretty much where it stands for now.
The bridge is what will make that trail more than a recreation trail. There are very few bike accessible crossings of the Patuxent and some of those are not very bike friendly. Near Bowie there are two crossings: Rt 3 and Governors Bridge Rd. Rt 3 requires hear protection to use and Governors Bridge Rd forces you to negotiate with the traffic of Mitchelleville Rd. To the north the next crossing is in Laurel and to the south is Central Ave with its clover leaf intersection with Rt 3. A crossing that didn't drop touring and commuting cyclists right into the belly of the motor beasts would really be appreciated.
Posted by: Mike Plakus | January 27, 2006 at 08:12 AM