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<DIV>Dwight - I really like your idea of what to </DIV>
<DIV>name the trail. Let's go for it. Em</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 5/4/2009 4:08:31 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
dwightrholmes@gmail.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>I'm not
sure why I should be thinking ahead to the day our new bike<BR>trail is
operational on such a rainy, dreary day, but so be it. I<BR>finally got around
to posting the update on the trolley trail that was<BR>published in the
February 2009 Town Crier, complete with map and photo<BR>(that were not
included in the Crier). You can find it here, on the<BR>Wiki:
http://rpwiki.wetpaint.com/page/Trolley+Line+Hiker-Biker+Trail<BR><BR>There
are several reasons why I think it will be absolutely fantastic<BR>to have
this trail available for the use of pedestrians and bikers.<BR>For me, first
and foremost is that it will really make biking a viable<BR>alternative to the
car for doing errands, going out to eat, have a<BR>beer, etc. We are currently
blessed with a great network of trails<BR>that, while some do indeed use them
for commuting purposes, are<BR>largely used for recreational purposes.
And of course there's nothing<BR>whatsoever wrong with having recreational
bike trails -- au contraire.<BR>More is better! But to be able to add to
that the ready ability to<BR>hop on the bikes and get to any of the business
establishments<BR>starting with Rhode Island Reds to the south up to any of
the many<BR>establishments in "downtown College Park" to our north will
really<BR>enhance our lives here in Riverdale Park, I believe.<BR><BR>I only
have one question: What will we call the trail? I fear that it<BR>will
inherit some long and cumbersome bureaucratic name, as a result<BR>of its
history. Since it will subsume the old alignment of the<BR>Trolley Line,
it is perhaps natural to incorporate that into the name.<BR>You'll note that
the M-NCPCC refers to it in the February update as<BR>the "Rhode Island Avenue
Trolley Trail". And I suppose it could be<BR>worse. But I believe it could be
better. What do you think? I also<BR>fear that if we do nothing proactively,
it will end up with a long,<BR>bureaucratic name that will be too long to use,
and then we'll be<BR>reduced to calling it the "bike trail," only to cause
confusion since<BR>we already have "the bike trail" a few blocks to the east
(Northeast<BR>Branch Trail).<BR><BR>One idea I've had is to tie the route into
some even older history of<BR>our area. When Riversdale was one of the few
things on the local map,<BR>it shared that distinction with the George
Washington House (now home<BR>to the Anacostia Watershed Society offices) and
the Rossborough House,<BR>which is now part of the campus of UMd. The
old highway that<BR>connected Bladensburg to Baltimore and served these 3
historical<BR>buildings was known -- as best as I can tell from available
online<BR>documents, was the "Old Post Road." (There may well have been
other<BR>old names as well -- do you know of any?). Although the
alignment of<BR>that old 'goat path' highway may not precisely coincide with
our<BR>soon-to-be hiker-biker trail, I think it would be a great way to
bring<BR>in a bit of local history. Painted arrows or footprints (or
whatever)<BR>could direct tourists from each of the historical places to the
trail<BR>itself, and the trail could be marked with "street signs" that say
Old<BR>Post Road (or Old Post Road Trail); the signs likely would be
brown,<BR>to denote historical significance. That's one
idea.<BR><BR>Another idea plays off the "Alt 1" and "Route 1" highways we
have.<BR>Since this trail is by definition "green" since it uses
"alternative<BR>power", we ought to be able to come up with a short, sweet,
succinct<BR>name for the trail that connotes "alternative," "green" and Route
1<BR>(since it parallels, and provides an alternative route to that
ugly,<BR>unbikeable street 2 blocks to the west!) I welcome suggestions
for<BR>exactly what the name could be. "Alt 1 Green"? 'Alt Green
Trail"?<BR>???????????<BR><BR>Creatively done, this could perhaps even help
attract some grant<BR>funding - at least for the signs and historical plaques
and trail<BR>markings.<BR><BR>It could also provide a more unique and
prestigious address to our<BR>Town Center businesses. Currently there is
great ambiguity as to<BR>whether these buildings are on Queensbury Rd. or
Rhode Island Avenue.<BR>Why not have them be on Old Post Road? or Alt-1
Green?<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>TownTalk mailing
list<BR>To post to the list, send mail to
TownTalk@riverdale-park.org<BR>TownTalk-request@riverdale-park.org is for
automated subscription processing
only<BR>http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk<BR><BR>For more
information about Riverdale Park, visit
http://www.riverdaleparkmd.info<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT><br/><font style="color:black;font:normal 10pt arial,san-serif;"> <hr style="margin-top:10px"/><B>2009 3 Free CREDIT SCORES: <A HREF=http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221797372x1201397989/aol?redir=https:%2F%2Fwww.freescore.com%2FOffers%2FStart%2FFreeCreditReportAndScore.aspx%3FID%3D91831F371F138345B53A153F49D4D872%26siteid%3De927580bf7>See Your 3 Credit Scores from All 3 Bureaus FREE!</B></A></font></DIV></BODY></HTML>