Construction work is beginning on a crucial missing link to the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail in Hyattsville.
Orange barrels have been set up around Rhode Island Avenue and Charles Armentrout Drive where the bike path will be extended, and the city is telling drivers to prepare for occasional lane closures up to Farragut Street over the next several months.
The long-planned half-mile segment of the trail will start at its current endpoint near Franklins, across from Arrow Bicycle, and head south towards the Melrose Skate Park.
The project is important because it will directly link the Trolley Trail to paths along the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River, which heads towards Montgomery County, and the Northeast Branch, which leads to D.C.
Trail users would also pass by Streetcar 82 Brewing Co. as well as Pizzeria Paradiso, Art Works Now, Maryland Meadworks and Shortcake Bakery.
You can track progress on the construction online at the Maryland Department of Transportation here.
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Excellent! This is a really important link in the bike infrastructure. Slowly, the region is getting better and better for bicyclists.
Not just a connection to the NW Branch and NE Branch trails, but also to the Anacostia River Trail that goes nearly all the way to the Anacostia’s confluence with the Potomac! It’s a good step forward. But the design of the extension sets up a potentially dangerous blind spot where it meets Armentrout Drive. Car drivers coming west on Armentrout, and northbound drivers on Rt 1 turning right onto Armentrout, are notorious for rolling through without yielding to pedestrians and cyclists. And initially they won’t be used to even having a pedestrian crossing on the east side of Rt 1 at that intersection. Cyclist emptor!