Bicycling
TIGER grant funds Anacostia trail extension
DC was awarded a federal grant today, for $10 million to extend the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail into Maryland. The grant will cover construction for the segment shown as a pink dashed line on this map:
TIGER funding is for the pink dashed line section (labeled #9) in the upper-right.
USDOT announced this morning about $500 million in multimodal "TIGER" grants in 47 locations around the US. A combined DC/MD/VA regional application that would have funded $20 million worth of bike/ped projects near Metro stations, as well as bikesharing expansions in Montgomery and Arlington, was not funded. However, DC and MD worked together on one that was.
The winning application received $10 million in federal funds to help pay for a 4-mile extension of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail. The project will extend the trail along the east shore of the river, from Benning Road NE, through Kenilworth Gardens, to just shy of Bladensburg Road in Prince George's County. It will include 5 bridge segments, and some raised sections.
At its northern end, it will connect to the already-completed Anacostia River Trail. That trail currently ends just south of Bladensburg, and links to a network of trails in the Anacostia watershed, stretching up the Northeast Branch, Northwest Branch, Indian Creek, Paint Branch, and Sligo Creek.
Bridging this gap will give easier access to cyclists traveling between DC and points in the northeastern part of the region, including College Park and Wheaton.
AnacostiaWaterfront.org has a press release with additional information.
Location of Jefferson County, WV. Image by BeyondDC.
The TIGER grant process stipulated that some percentage of winners had to be in rural areas. One of those rural awards went to Jefferson County, WV, which is the next county west from Loudoun, and is only about 60 miles from DC. They received $5 million in federal funds to help pay for a $24 million project to convert Fairfax Boulevard through the town of Ranson into a complete street, extend Fairfax Boulevard to a retail area on the edge of town, and build a transit center in downtown Charles Town that when complete will be the transfer location for bus service to nearby MARC stations in Harper's Ferry, WV and Brunswick, MD.
The Town of Ranson's project fact sheet gives additional details, and this map shows the location of the projects.
Cross-posted at BeyondDC.
 | Dan Malouff is a professional transportation planner for the Arlington County Department of Transportation. He has a degree in Urban Planning from the University of Colorado, and lives a car-free lifestyle in Northwest Washington. His posts are his own opinions and do not represent the views of his employer in any way. He runs the blog BeyondDC and also contributes to the Washington Post Local Opinions blog.   |
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by Jim T on Jun 22, 2012 3:19 pm • link • report
I noticed that a lot of the number 9 "trail" is along surface streets, which is much less than exciting that the blue trail along and across the river! Imagine walking or biking from the arboretum to the aquatic gardens... that would be amazing!
by Tom A. on Jun 22, 2012 3:25 pm • link • report
The solid lines exist now, the dashed lines are in planning but do not exist at this time.
by Alex B. on Jun 22, 2012 3:36 pm • link • report
by BeyondDC on Jun 22, 2012 3:58 pm • link • report
Together with the stormwater project, this is another good step in the direction of a more lively Anacostia and waterfront.
by Gavin on Jun 22, 2012 4:48 pm • link • report
More generally, this trail will be a game changer because of the thousands of additional people who will be able to Rediscover the Anacostia and learn about its surprising beauty.
That being said, segment 8 is the really cool piece and we need to make sure that gets built too! Imagine accessing Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and the National Arboretum in the same trip, via a hiker-biker bridge over the Anacostia.
by Brent Bolin on Jun 22, 2012 5:22 pm • link • report
by John on Jun 22, 2012 9:37 pm • link • report
by info81 on Jun 25, 2012 10:04 am • link • report
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