Prince George’s County, Maryland is awash in underused asphalt. We have empty parking lots all over. We have streets that were built for four lanes when only two are needed. We have overwide, highway-like roads bisecting our neighborhoods that were built like interstates, with wide shoulders and guard rails and overhead signs, instead of normal main streets. Meanwhile, our neighboring jurisdiction, Washington DC, builds bike trails on unnecessary pavement, like in the picture above. Why can’t Maryland?
Eight years ago, I proposed a bike trail on one such stretch of unused asphalt, to connect our local High School with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, a large regional employer. Nothing happened. Then in 2022, retired by the pandemic, I decided it was time to get the Greenbelt East Trail built for real. We’veset up a nonprofit and posted a website, won grants, organized trail walks with community and public officials, done a lot of community meetings, received letters of support, written lots of articles, scheduled monthly stakeholder calls, lobbied MDOT engineers and planners all the way up to the director of the State Highway Administration, and now ... nearly two years later, we have our first official feasibility study for one section of the trail. I’m very grateful end excited! But…
We still haven’t accomplished anything on the ground. Greenbelt Road is still terribly unsafe. The feasibility study has some ridiculous elements, like a requirement for 200 foot deceleration lanes to make right turns at traffic lights! The initial cost estimate is preposterous — this project could be built for far less cost if outdated and out-of-context requirements like those deceleration lanes were eliminated. And we’re still a long way from completing the feasibility studies for the whole trail — not just the NASA segment — and getting engineering design and construction started.
With a new Democratic Governor, Maryland’s DOT now has people in place whose job it is to remediate community roads for safety and climate change adaptation. The Greenbelt East Trail project will be a first test of their effectiveness. We’ve invited Governor Moore to join us for our Bike to Work Day convoy from Greenbelt to NASA next week. Who knows, he may even show up!
The Greenbelt East Trail would vastly improve safety for people biking, walking, or taking the bus. It would allow NASA commuters to get to work without being forced to drive. It would allow students to get to school and their internships without having to drive or get a ride. Ultimately, the full trail would connect trail networks in Central Maryland with the Anacostia River Trail System toward DC, Northern Virginia, and Western MD.
Not to mention climate change. We need to give people the opportunity to get out of their cars. Suburban Prince George’s County will always be a tough place to be car free, even if we create better walkways, bikeways, and busways. But we could be a successful Car-Lite community, where families only needed one car per household, rather than one car per person, if our active transportation networks were safer and better connected.
What follows is a picture set, showing some of the trials and tribulations we’ve had so far on this project. I’ll be around for any questions or comments, if you’re working on a similar project in your community and you’d like to share hopeful notes and horror stories about your state’s DOT!
Step 1. Reclaiming Unused Shoulder Space
Step 2. Widening Sidewalks Near Schools
Step 3. Eliminating High-Speed Right Hand Turn Ramps
Step 4. Coordination Between State and County Agencies to Build Out the Network Connections
Step 5. Community Outreach and Political Support
