[RP TownTalk] Great news in the Patch: Trolley Trail Bike-Ped path construction to start later this year!

[Dwight Holmes]

 Copy/paste from the Riverdale Patch - I assume I'm not the only one excited
by this great news!
Thanks to all who have pushed, nudged, and cajoled this along!


http://riverdalepark.patch.com/articles/plans-for-riverdale-park-trolley-trail-continue

<http://riverdalepark.patch.com/search/articles?cat=1998198824> Plans for
Riverdale Park Trolley Trail Continue

Planners face few obstacles before expected construction later this year.

By Marissa Miller <http://riverdalepark.patch.com/users/marissa-miller> | Email
the author<http://riverdalepark.patch.com/articles/plans-for-riverdale-park-trolley-trail-continue#>
| 6:00am
  0 Comments
<http://riverdalepark.patch.com/articles/plans-for-riverdale-park-trolley-trail-continue#comments>
   View full size
<http://riverdalepark.patch.com/articles/plans-for-riverdale-park-trolley-trail-continue#>


 Planning on the Rhode Island Trolley
Trail<http://riverdalepark.patch.com/articles/planners-update-riverdale-park-council-on-hike-bike-trail>,
to be built from Tuckerman to Farragut streets, continues, with construction
expected to start in early summer or late fall.

The trail will stretch two miles, will be 11 feet wide, except in sections
where it will be separated by utility poles.  Its construction could cost
about $400,000, which will be covered by parks and planning.  All future
maintenance costs will be the Riverdale Park’s responsibility, Councilwoman
Alice Ewen (Ward 1) said.

The trail is expected to be mostly asphalt, though one break in the trail
due to previously developed lots will send cyclists through a parking lot,
and pedestrians along a sidewalk, before meeting up with the paved area
again, Eileen Nivera of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning
Commission said.

Planners still need to obtain several quitclaim deeds —or when the owner
transfers interest from their property to the planners — from property
owners near the trail in order to secure the right of way needed to begin
construction.

"Because it was an abandoned railroad’s right of way, in the county records,
it doesn't recognize anybody owning it, so we have to establish ownership”
through the quitclaim deeds, Nivera explained.

“There has been a great interest in this trail already,” she said.
“Whenever I’m out there, people are either walking or riding their bikes
already on [what is] basically a dirt path.”  Nivera expects that the
activity along the trail will only grow when it is paved and completed.

Ewen agreed. She believes the increased pedestrian and cyclist traffic will
also increase the safety, since there is safety in numbers.

Lighting for the trail is not part of the budget, but none of the other
trails built by Parks and Planning have lighting, Ewen said.

The trail, which will run parallel to Route 1, will offer safer and more
pleasant commuter route than biking or walking on the street, Ewen added.
It will also provide access to areas such as the Riverdale Park Farmers’
Market.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20110410/5e6b4fa8/attachment-0002.html>