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It’s not been well promoted, but Prince George’s officials want comments on a comprehensive overhaul of the future plans for the county’s bicycle and pedestrian path networks.
County officials have set up a website, which you can access here, that maps out proposed bicycle routes under consideration in the master plan, as well as existing bicycle routes. Clicking on a route allows one to record comments for planners to consider. Additionally, commenters can draw their own suggested routes. Even more, those user-submitted suggested routes are also displayed on the website (under the “view drawing comments” toggle.)
Comments must be received by Jan. 22, 2021.
This is the first time since 2009 that Prince George’s County officials have updated the bicycle and pedestrian master plan. The 2009 plan is also showing its age. Major elements of the plan have already been constructed.
For instance, the near-completion of the Trolley Trail through Riverdale Park and Hyattsville, the Bladensburg-to-DC extension of the Anacostia trail, and the Cherry Hill Road extension of the Little Paint Branch trail, are all major elements of the 2009 plan that have become reality since then. But construction of new trail networks outside of Prince George’s County’s inner-Beltway Route 1 corridor has lagged, comparatively.
In addition to outlining plans to add meager bicycle lanes to major thoroughfares, the proposed trail network is notable for what would be a massive expansion of the county’s separated paved trail network – if it ever is constructed. The new plan divides the proposed trail network into high and lower priorities. High priority trails include an extension of the Trolley Trail to Beltsville Heights along Rhode Island Avenue, and the long-planned, minimally-built, Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail, which would run from the eastern corner of Washington, D.C., through Prince George’s County along the right-of-way of the abandoned Chesapeake Beach Railway.