October 2006 Recreational trails committee notes

  The Lonely Cyclist 
  Originally uploaded by Eye Captain.

At D.C.'s Recreational Trails Committee meeting, many projects were discussed.

Met Branch - The District has come to terms with CSX for their land north of Rhode Island Avenue, however the land between Rhode Island and Florida is owned by a developer and the District's estimate of the land's value is about half of theirs, so that will go to arbitration. (Coincidentally, the developer is owned by a construction company that's bidding on the trail project). The trail should go out to bid in a few weeks, then come back for reviews by numerous groups - including the Federal Highway Department - at which point a notice to proceed will be issued. Work could begin as soon as the start of the new year. Groundbreaking could come in the spring (later than previously reported). In addition to the trail, lighting will be added from L St NE all the way to Franklin Street. Stairs from the end of the trail at L Street will be built to the street (with a bike trough) and that work is to be done by Metro starting this fall. The bridge to the Rhode Island metro is still in the conceptual design phase but could go out to bid for design/build in 3 months. In addition, Kaiser Permanente has provided money to Rails to Trails to do a community outread to the Eckington neighborhood in an effort to integrate the trail and the community. The two are close, but separated by a strip of light industrial property.

Capital Crescent Trail/C&O - The Arizona Avenue Bridge Project, which will add lights and a call box to the bridge, looks to be ready to start very soon. The National Park Service is hoping to replace the bathrooms at Fletcher's Boat House to fix the "smell problem." WASA has to do some slip lining on the pipe that runs below the CCT and that will require some small detours. That should start in the spring.

Rehab of the trail in the Palisades area is moving along. The district hopes to hire a firm in January 2007, finish design and be ready to break ground by January 2008 (but won't until the last freeze of 2008). At that point the trail will need to be closed between the "secret" Norton St. exit and the Manning Street stairs - meaning riders will either have to use the dirt trail to Norton, ride along Potomac Avenue and then climb down the stairs (or vice versa), or use MacArthur Avenue. If NPS can build a detour without slowing the project too much they will, but the right of way is pretty narrow. They have to dig about 50 feet down and excavate a massive part of the hillside and then rebuild it. Count on the trail being closed AT LEAST three months.

Rails to Trails is putting together a 500 person ride from Pittsburgh to DC that will use the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal Trail

Rock Creek Park Trail - The trail rehab is in a 9 month design process, but the P Street to Virginia Ave section will start soon. That will involve a detour. The process is being slowed because any place where they plan to realign the trail (or build a new trail such as in Piney Branch) will need an Environmental Assesment. The whole process from now to completion of construction is estimated to take about 3 years. This includes either a new bridge or expanded sidewalk south of the Zoo Tunnel. The Rose Park Trail, where construction will also begin soon, is included in this project. A public meeting trailside information gathering session is scheduled for October 28th.

Fort Circle Parks - MORE is doing a mountain bike trail inventory and plans to do some volunteer work there.

Dalecarlia Parkway Trail - Sibley Hospital, as part of an amenities package needed for construction they want to do, offered $35k for the trail, but the ANC decided not to accept the money for NIMBY reasons (residents don't want to increase access to their the neighborhood because of crime/loss of privacy)

Addendum: the Rock Creek Park Trail info session will be on Oct 28th from noon till 4 at the Peirce Mill Parking lot (the 29th if it rains) for additional infor contact the park at 202-895-6000, or DDOT at 202-671-2638

Comments

[Chris]

While I'm glad to hear that things are moving along on the Rock Creek Park Trail, I'm still going to do what I do now - ride on the road. It might annoy the cars a little, but on most of the Parkway, the truth of the matter is that the speed I'm going at is pretty much the speed limit anyhow.

[washcycle]

I think riding on the road - for those interested in speed - is the right thing to do. But the trail is nice for those looking for a different type of ride.