For those of you who have been following my blog since 2013, you know how passionate I am about the lack of safe pedestrian connections from Fort Lincoln/Gateway to the rest of the city. We also know that it’s not just a Fort Lincoln/Gateway issue but affects surrounding neighborhoods such as Woodridge, Brentwood & Langdon. A year and a few months later, you have elected me as your ANC Commissioner and now we have the opportunity to push for the immediate connection of our rapidly developing communities to safe, pedestrian friendly, Walking & Biking Trails.
In our last ANC 5C Meeting, I introduced a resolution that would give the residents of the Gateway Neighborhoods of Ward 5 the opportunity to have a walking & biking connection to Kenilworth Segment of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail. This connection is vital to making the rapidly developing, car-centric community (including NY Ave.) , safely accessible to the rest of the city by alternate means of travel. With over 300 new young families in Fort Lincoln alone, this connection will provide multi-modal options for residents who could safely bike or walk to work, provide recreational opportunities to the river, and bridges the transportation gap between the Washington Gateway neighborhoods in an environmentally friendly manner. This connection is also aligned with the MoveDC Multimodal Transportation Plan.
In addition, the funding to making this connection a reality would be minimal because:
1. The right-of-way is already leveled and will require minor cost to configure into a walking biking trail.
2. The right-of-way travels along power poles which will minimize excavation cost for safe lighting of the trail.
3. The bridge across the Anacostia River, the most significant cost , is eliminated by placing barriers along the shoulder of the Rt. 50 overpass, similar to the 14th street bridge. This can be accomplished for only a fraction of the cost.
This resolution passed unanimously by the ANC 5C Commission and was enthusiastically received by the Developer of Fort Lincoln. We need your help to make this a reality by contacting DDOT and letting them know that it’s time to #maketheconnection!
