I took a brief but lovely little walk yesterday afternoon, followed the future path of the trolley hiker-biker trail from Archie's Barbershop south to Madison St which is approximately, I believe, the Riverdale Park-Hyattsville boundary at that point.<br>
<br>One thing became crystal clear: the new cluster of shops & restaurants at Jefferson & Rt 1 will be a very pleasant walk away when they get the new streets finished, or the bike trail built - or both, obviously. You could walk it now, of course, but it's apt to be a muddy, messy walk traipsing across the active construction site.<br>
<br>Also noticed a new street name - for the most part they've been using existing street names there, Jefferson St., 45th Ave., etc. But the north-south street that comes out to Madison right at the Chambers Funeral Home is called Garfield St (or Rd., I'm not sure which). Made me wonder if there was an old Garfield that had existed there previously? Alternatively, I thought, maybe they picked the name to mesh with the Harrison and Cleveland Avenues we have here in RP (spokes of our famous Dupont Circle!). That, of course, would lead to the question, what's wrong with Chester Arthur?? where's his street??<br>
<br>Seriously, though, I've been looking forward to this bike trail being built since we first moved here, which is more than 5 years ago now. Many folks have worked hard to make this happen, and much progress has been made. We've been told that MNCPPC has it in their budget and workplan to construct at least a portion of it starting this spring.<br>
<br>And that leads to my question: What are the current plans for each of the segments of the new trail? The articles on the topic of the trail in our press have not been clear about this. As I see it, there are 4 pieces of the trail, each of which may have a different benefactor? But that's really my question - who is responsible for each sector, in what way, and what is the current status of each?<br>
<br>Starting in the south, from Charles Armentrout Rd/Northwest Branch Bike Trail (@Route 1):<br><br>1. Charles Armentrout/NW Branch Bike Trail north to north of Franklin's/"EYA" Arts District Development property<br>
2. the segment that traverses the "EYA" Arts District Development<br>3. the Riverdale Park segment from "EYA" Arts District property north to the Cafritz property<br>4. the segment that traverses the Cafritz Property (and WMATA property) and connects to the existing trail in College Park<br>
<br>-Is it true that "EYA" (or whatever it's called now) has a "trigger clause" which means they won't build the their section of the trail til they sell a certain percentage of their residential properties?<br>
-does the MNCPPC plan that's supposed to kick in this spring cover only sector #3, across Riverdale Park? or does it also include the southern segment #1?<br><br>Finally, ending on an historical note, here's some video of the old Beltsville Trolley line that used this path that ran from DC to Beltsville. For those who may have missed it when it first came around, or have forgotten it and would like to view it again, here's the youtube link. Thanks to Rob Oppenheim, Chris Suspect and everyone else who made this happen:<br>
<br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-80UDt0I-O8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-80UDt0I-O8</a><br><br>