Metropolitan Branch Trail
On hold in Montgomery County, moving forward 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. A WABA map of the proposed MetBranch alignment is available at the MetBranch Trail website sponsored by the District DOT, at www.metbranchtrail.com (a pdf).
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. Transit Center design plans reserve space through the center between the CSX/Metro Rail tracks and the transit center bus bays for both the Purple Line and the MetBranch Trail. The MetBranch Trail is being built from the Metro entrance at Colesville Road to Bonifant Street as part of the transit center construction. The MetBranch Trail will be rebuilt along the east side of the Purple Line tracks through the transit center when the Purple Line is built. The Trail will be elevated at a higher level through the transit center 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 two years.
It is the responsibility of Montgomery County DOT to build the 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 five concept options to the Montgomery County Planning Board and to the County Council T&E Committee in 2006. MCDOT recommended that the lowest cost option be built which would have been indirect, would use the existing 5′ wide sidewalk on the CSX bridge over Georgia Avenue, and would cross East-West Highway at-grade. The Planning Board and the Council T&E Committee both rejected the MCDOT recommendation, and approved the “Option 1″ design that holds most closely to the approved 2001 M-NCPPC CCT/MetBranch Trail Facility Plan – 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 MCDOT recommended to the Council T&E Committee that the MetBranch Trail design project be removed from the next Capital Budget. MCDOT gave two reasons for their recommendation: 1) Concurrence is needed from several agencies before the project can proceed, most notably CSX, and 2) The cost of the project construction, estimated at about 23M$, is too high for a construction start in tight budget years. The T&E Committee accepted the recommendation, with the understanding that the project could be considered for construction funding as an ammendment to the Capital Budget after all of the needed concurrences were obtained. This project is now on indefinite hold.
MCDOT returned to brief the T&E Committee in July 2009 in response to a request for an update from Councilmember Valerie Ervin. MCDOT reported that CSX and the other affected organizations did not have any objections to the preliminary project plans, but CSX needed to see detailed plans before they would issue a permit. See the State of the MetBranch post for more from this briefing. MCDOT is now preparing documents to request funding in the next CIP budget to resume the project. Trail advocates will need to press the County Council and County Executive during the winter/spring 2010 budget hearings to fund this project for final design and construction. It is time to bring this project back to life in Montgomery County.
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 has been completed along McCormick Avenue at Catholic University. Another short trail section has been 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. The Metro Station opened in November, 2004. But the short connectors at both ends of the trail section to the neighborhood streets were not complete, and remain unfinished. This section of the trail, when connected, will give safe pedestrian access to transit from surrounding neighborhoods and a trail route that avoids the very hazardous New York Avenue/Florida Avenue intersections.
Construction began in spring of 2009 on the section of the MetBranch Trail between the New York Avenue Metro Station and Franklin Street. This section of the Trail passes by the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station. The work will be completed by winter of 2009.
Construction of this New York Avenue to Franklin Street Section, together with work underway to complete the trail linkages at the south end of the New York Avenue Station, will combine with already completed sections at Catholic University and at Union Station to complete the southern half of the MetBranch Trail in D.C. This will be 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 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.