The idea of a protected shared use trail from Greenbelt toward the WB&A Trail is starting to get some attention. Here is the news best I know. Some of it is sort of hearsay, so corrections welcome. Also I'm sending this email via a commercial service so we don't get overwhelmed with "reply all" responses and deep threads -- replies will just go to me. I can make corrections and updates in later emails this month. It's easy to unsubscribe if you don't want these email updates, and please forward to your friends who might be interested so they can opt-in to this list. -Jeff

This week the Greenbelt News Review ran my short article (it's PDF, you have to scroll down to page 13) on the idea of creating a bike trail from ERHS to NASA, with some pics from our ride with Mayor Jordan. I won't repeat the article here, but it's a good read!

The East Coast Greenway, WABA, and Anacostia Trails Heritage have expressed support for the effort. Delegate Nicole Williams' office has arranged a meeting with SHA/District 3 on September 15. If that meeting goes well, we can try to schedule a community walk along the right of way in late Sept or early October and invite other elected officials.

Via Bob Patton at PG Parks, I had a nice email from Marguerrite Smith-Clark, the engineer at SHA who shepherded the Hyattsville Trolley Trail extension alongside Route 1 along through planning and toward construction. She said if Prince George’s county and City of Greenbelt assent, SHA could do a feasibility study, at first possibly a "desktop" study, then possibly a field study. Holly Simmons at the planning office of the City of Greenbelt is working on a letter from the City to the County planning office asking that a shared use path be added to the MPOT. Greenbelt will discuss that letter at the Sept 12 council meeting. The draft MPOT looks like it's running a bit behind schedule, and the first draft available to the public might not be until November.

That's all for now, and all suggestions welcome. -Jeff