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Cyclists gather at the historic Silver Spring B&O Station at the start of the tour. The restored station will be a featured attraction along the future Metropolitan Branch Trail, with bicycle parking, water fountains, rest rooms, and exhibits featuring the history of the B&O Metropolitan Branch railroad.
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Paul Meijer, Co-Chair of the Metropolitan Branch Trail Coalition, welcomes the tour participants and outlines plans for completing the Metropolitan Branch Trail.
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The group prepares to depart on the start of an 8 mile ride to Union Station along the future Trail alignment.
The ride route followed the future MetBranch Trail alignment along the CSX/WMATA Corridor from Silver Spring to Union Station. The ride was a mix - on finished trail sections, on sidewalks briefly as needed to make transitions, on unimproved CSX property, and on-road.
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Robert Inerfeld addresses the riders on the finished section of the Trail at Montgomery College, Takoma Park. A mini park and memorial to Jim Benfield, a Takoma Park cycling activist, will be built here.
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Bob Patten leads the riders along Takoma Avenue, near the D.C. border.
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Riders are shown here on Blair Road. The future Trail is envisioned to be a sidepath trail between Blair Road and the CSX tracks in this location, on the right in this picture.
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Riders leaving the road at Kennedy to follow a dirt footpath to Riggs Road. The future Trail will be an off-road paved trail on City owned land in this area.
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Bob Patten describes the proposed alignment of the Trail at Fort Totten Park and through the Fort Totten Metro Station. This was one of several tour stops along the way to point out features of the future Trail.
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The group arrives at Dance Place on Eighth Street. The Trail will be along Eighth Street south of Catholic University, then will continue along CSX property. A short path will lead from Eighth Street to a small park and rest stop here.
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'Past', but present and still very active...
Ellen Jones, past Executive Director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, welcomes John Dugger, past Chair of the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail. Looking on is George Leventhal, Montgomery County Council Member. Ellen spoke about plans to build a rest area at the Dance Place pathway like those on the Capital Crescent Trail.
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Riders with "fat tires" continued off-road along the future Trail alignment, shown here approaching the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station, while those with "skinny tires" took an on-road route. The elevated Metro Red Line tracks are on the left.
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The last major stop along the way was at the construction site for the New York Avenue Metro Station. The pillars that will support the Trail alongside the elevated Metro Tracks through the new station have been completed and could be seen at the site.
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Chris Holben, MetBranch Trail Project Coordinator for D.C., announced that the City is in final negotiations with CSX to purchase the right-of-way for the Trail. John Thomas, WMATA Project Leader, also addressed the group at the construction site. He announced the spans for the elevated section of the Trail will be in place within a few weeks, and the station will open next year.
The ride concluded at Union Station.