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MDOT Launches Feasibility Study for Greenbelt East Trail

 

Engineering and design consultants from MDOT and Neighborhood Design Center (NDC) meet with advocates for the Greenbelt East Trail. Left to right: Diane Harris and Dan Behrend of Friends of the Greenbelt East Trail, Greenbelt mayor pro-tem Kristen Weaver, design consultants Ben Max (MDOT/JMT Engineering ), Micaela Ada (NDC), Toyin Animashaun (MDOT/JMT), and Laura Robinson (NDC), Charnell Ferguson from the Office of County Councilmember Mel Franklin, Greenbelt mayor Emmett Jordan, Jeff Lemieux (Friends of the Greenbelt East Trail). Not shown: Kalli Krumpos of the Capital Trails Coalition. Photo by Drew Sommers.

by Jeff Lemieux

The Maryland Department of Transportation/State Highway Administration (MDOT/SHA) launched a feasibility study of the Greenbelt East Trail (www.greenbeltnasatrail.org) on August 17th. To kick off the study, MDOT/SHA engineering contractors walked along parts of the proposed trail route with Greenbelt and County officials, volunteers from Friends of the Greenbelt East Trail, and designers from the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC). NDC’s work is funded in part by the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area and Maryland Heritage Areas Authority.

The design and engineering consultants walked from Eleanor Roosevelt High School past the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to the commercial district between Good Luck Road and Lanham Severn Road. The trail would ultimately continue past Lanham Severn Road to the WB&A trailhead at the Glenn Dale Splash Park, thereby connecting WB&A trail system toward Baltimore and Annapolis with the Anacostia River Trail System toward DC via Greenbelt. The trail would thus fill a key missing link for people walking and biking locally, regionally, and even nationally along the East Coast Greenway.

MDOT’s feasibility study is scheduled to be completed in December 2023. Friends of the Greenbelt East trail want MDOT/SHA to install a two-way protected shared use trail on the existing Greenbelt Road (MD 193) right of way. Our goals are to improve safety and access all along the route, as well as to connect two of Maryland’s major trail systems via Greenbelt.

Greenbelt mayor Jordan advocates for the Greenbelt East trail with consultants from MDOT/SHA and the Neighborhood Design Center. Photo by Jeff Lemieux

 

Greenbelt’s Drew Sommers gestures in disbelief to Kalli Krumpos of the Capital Trails Coalition beside one of Prince George’s county’s least accessible and most unsafe bus stops. The Greenbelt East Trail would help protect people using the bus stops from high-speed traffic on Greenbelt Road. Photo by Jeff Lemieux


Jeff Lemieux is president of Friends of the Greenbelt East Trail, Inc., a nonprofit 501c3 charitable organization. Donate here. Donations are tax deductible. 

  1. Jeff Lemieux
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    PS Friends of the Greenbelt East Trail gratefully accepts donations via PayPal. Here’s the link https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=295K2MD5S9TZG

    Donations are tax deductible and will be used for matching fund requirements for our grant from ATHA. Jeff

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