Metropolitan Branch Trail
Moving forward in Mont. Co. and in D.C.
The Metropolitan Branch Trail (MetBranch) will extend along or near the CSX/WMATA corridor for over 8 miles from the Silver Spring Metro Station through Takoma Park to Union Station, in D.C. It will connect directly with the (future) Capital Crescent Trail to form the main spine of the trail network in lower Montgomery County. It will be an off-road trail where park land or rail corridor r.o.w. is available, and will be a side-path trail or will use bike lanes along streets elsewhere.
This trail is a priority project of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, WABA and the Rails to Trails Conservancy, RTC. A map of the MetBranch Trail is available at www.metbranchtrail.com.
In Montgomery County:
The Montgomery County Planning Board approved a facility plan for Montgomery County’s segment of the MetBranch Trail in 2001 that calls for a first class trail continuous between the Silver Spring Transit Center to the D.C. line in Takoma Park.
The City of Takoma Park has completed the section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail between Montgomery College and the District Line. It is a sidepath trail alongside Fenton Street and Takoma Avenue. A short section was first built with a temporary, water permeable stone-dust surface. That section was replaced with permanent asphalt in January 2006 after further evaluation indicated the trees in that area would not be significantly impacted.
Montgomery College has completed another section of the MetBranch Trail through its Takoma Campus as part of its college expansion project. The Trail was build as a sidepath trail alongside Fenton Street when the street was realigned. A pedestrian bridge has been built over the CSX tracks to connect the new Takoma College buildings on Georgia Avenue with the main campus. This bridge also provides access between the Trail and Jessup Blair Park and the neighborhoods west of the CSX tracks. The bridge opened on July 28, 2004.
These two adjacent trail sections complete an approx. 0.5 mile continous trail to the D.C. line. An approx. 0.7 mile trail section remains to be completed in Montgomery County.
The next section of the MetBranch to be completed in Montgomery County will be a short temporary section at the new Silver Spring Transit Center. The temporary MetBranch Trail is being built on the south west side of the new transit station, from the Red Line Metro station entrance at Colesville Road to Bonifant Street, as part of the transit center construction. The permanent MetBranch Trail will be built through the transit center at a higher elevation when the Purple Line is built. The permanent MetBranch Trail will be at a higher elevation so it can connect seamlessly to the future Capital Crescent Trail, which will be entering the transit center from the north on a trail bridge over Colesville Road. Transit Center construction began in summer, 2008, and will last several years.
It is the responsibility of Montgomery County DOT to build the remaining approx. 0.7 miles of the Metropolitan Branch Trail between the Silver Spring Transit Center and Montgomery College. MCDOT began Phase I concept design in 2004 and presented concept options to the Montgomery County Planning Board and to the County Council T&E Committee in 2006. The Planning Board and the Council T&E Committee both approved the “Option 1″ design that holds most closely to the approved 2001 M-NCPPC CCT/MetBranch Trail Facility Plan – with a trail alignment along the CSX corridor with a new trail bridge over Georgia Avenue and a trail tunnel under Burlington Avenue (East-West Highway). The trail project transitioned to Phase II preliminary design in June 2006.
In February 2008 design work on the project was put on hold in the belief that concurrence should be obtained from several agencies on the project plans, most notably CSX and WMATA. But in 2009 MCDOT reported to the T&E Committee that while the other affected organizations did not have any objections to the preliminary project plans that were available, they would not issue permits because the project design had not been completed to a suitable level of detail for final decisions. The 2008 decision to suspend design work had backfired – not having design detail to show was now the major problem. See the State of the MetBranch post for more from this briefing.
In February 2010, the County Executive proposed a new FY11-16 CIP Budget that would resume design work on the MetBranch Project in FY13 and included no funding for construction. But the Montgomery County Council T&E Committee rejected the County Executive’s recommendation and proposed that design work resume in FY11, and that funding be included in the CIP budget for construction. In May 2010 the full Council upheld the T&E Committee recommendation when it approved the final CIP budget.
This final approved FY11-16 CIP budget provides $12.1M of funding on a schedule to design the Mont. Co. section of the MetBranch Trail in FY11-12, acquire needed right-of-way in FY13-14, and build the trail from the Silver Spring Transit Center to Georgia Ave., including a new trail bridge over Georgia Ave., in FY15-16. Construction of the remaining section under Burlington Avenue to Takoma Park is not funded in the approved budget – an on road interim route on Philadelphia Avenue/Fenton Street would be used until funding for this last section can be found.
In the District of Columbia:
The District of Columbia is building the 7 miles of the Metropolitan Branch Trail within D.C. Parts of the Trail have already been built or are under construction. A one-mile section of the Trail was completed first along McCormick Avenue at Catholic University. Another early trail section was built at the southern terminus of the MetBranch, along First Avenue at Union Station.
A crucial 2000 foot section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail was built with the New York Avenue Metro Station in 2004. But this section of the trail remainded unconnected until spring 2010.
In June 2010 the section of the MetBranch Trail between the New York Avenue Metro Station and Franklin Street was completed and opened. This section of the Trail passes by the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station. This New York Avenue to Franklin Street Section, combined with the already completed sections at Catholic University and at Union Station complete the southern half of the MetBranch Trail in D.C. This is an approx. 3.5 miles of continuous trail.
The D.C. Department of Public Works (DDOT) is completing alignment studies and beginning acquisition of right-of-way for the rest of the Trail in D.C. The section from the end of McCormick Drive to the Fort Totten Metro Station is expected to be built next. The final concept plans for these remaining sections are being developed. More information on the status of the Trail in D.C. is available on the DDOT website, at www.metbranchtrail.com.