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The Silver Spring Green Trail will be a sidepath trail along the north side of Wayne Avenue, from the Silver Spring Transit Center east through the Central Business District to Sligo Creek Park. It will connect the Capital Crescent Trail and Metropolitan Branch Trail to the Sligo Creek Hiker/Biker Trail, see the map below. It will pass by the Discovery Headquarters Building, Whole Foods, St. Michaels Church and the International Middle School.
The Trail is already complete through the Silver Spring Central Business District. The first section to be completed was at the new Cameron Hills Townhomes on Second Avenue, between Cameron Street and Colesville Road. This one block long section also serves as the start of the Georgetown Branch Trail. An adjacent section of the Green Trail from Colesville Road to Georgia Avenue opened in 2003 when the new Discovery Headquarters Building was dedicated.
Silver Spring Green Trail Alignment |
The most recent part to be completed was the section between Georgia Avenue and Fenton Street. With the opening of the trail in front of the Mariott Hotel in June, 2005, the Silver Spring Green Trail is continuous through the Central Business District from Cameron Street to St. Michaels Church beyond Fenton Street.
The Montgomery County DPWT will build the final 0.7 mile long section of the trail from the business district east to Sligo Creek and the Sligo Creek Trail. The first concept plans presented at public meetings called for converting this part of Wayne Avenue from a four lane road to a three lane road (two travel lanes and a turn lane) to make room for the sidepath bike trail, a separate pedestrian sidewalk, and good landscaping elements.
The Purple Line transit project is now impacting the Green Trail schedule and design. Wayne Avenue between Fenton Street and Sligo Creek Park is one of several alternate transit alignments that the State of Maryland is evaluating. The "medium investment" and "high investment" options for Bus Rapid Transit and Light Rail Transit would run on Wayne Avenue in shared use traffic lanes or in dedicated lanes. New left turn lanes would be created on Wayne Avenue to improve traffic flow at several intersections with these transit options, including at Cedar Street, Dale Drive, and Sligo Creek Parkway. Wayne Avenue would be widened near these intersections to accomodate these new left turn lanes, and the Green Trail design would be changed to be a single sidepath for both pedestrians and cyclists east of Fenton Street.
The "high investment" Light Rail Transit alternative with the Thayer Avenue tunnel design option would not use Wayne Avenue and would not impact the Green Trail design. Purple Line alternative alignments are described at www.purplelinemd.com. Final design and construction of the Green Trail will remain on hold until the Purple Line alternative is selected in winter 2008.
Wayne Avenue can be used as an on-road route between the Sligo Creek Hiker/Biker Trail and downtown Silver Spring. Elsworth Drive, to the north, is a much quieter on-road route from Sligo Creek into downtown Silver Spring. If you want the shortest route between the Sligo Creek Trail and the Georgetown Branch Trail or Capital Crescent Trail, see Sligo Creek to the Georgetown Branch for a very quiet on-road route through Woodside Park.
April 29, 2008.
