The B&A Trail uses an old rail line that connected, well, Baltimore and Annapolis. Today it’s a well-used 13-mile trail along part of that line that ties into the BWI Trail around the airport with the help of a short connector. Loved seeing the private connections from yards to the trail!
One of the many things I noticed this time is this East Coast Greenway sign on the overpass for Maryland 100 near the Marley Station Mall. Nice! (But a hard photo to take with just a cell phone.)
How I could have used the East Coast Greenway when I biked from Alexandria to Annapolis as part of my cross-country ride in 2000!
How I could have used the East Coast Greenway when I biked from Alexandria to Annapolis as part of my cross-country ride in 2000!
Back then, we couldn’t get a bike map of greater Washington D.C. and advice on the best route out of town. I remember riding on some fairly large roads, though traffic wasn’t bad. (I remember the two flats and the wet weather most clearly).
But this time…
I think Day 5 was even better than Day 4. Traffic was pretty light on our route out of Annapolis and included neighborhood streets and trails. Traffic stayed light and we kept hitting more trails as we got closer to D.C. Incredibly, if we weren’t on trails, we were on residential roads. Given the gridlock you see in D.C. (I mean the traffic kind, not the political kind), it was stunning how easy it was to get to the National Mall.
So here’s to the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail, the Anacostia Tributary Trail/Northeast Branch Trail and the Northwest Branch Trail, the Metropolitan Branch Trail and of course the Mount Vernon Trail for the last leg into Alexandria.
I hope Annapolis and/or Anne Arundel County gets recognized as a bike-friendly community soon.
I hope Annapolis and/or Anne Arundel County gets recognized as a bike-friendly community soon because the local advocacy group, BikeAAA, did a great job organizing our happy hour, getting some politicians to attend and getting them to proclaim Wednesday as East Coast Greenway Day in the city and county.
Now Anne Arundel County is about to get a “Complete Streets” policy. Communities across the country are adopting these policies, which basically say the roadway and right of way is for all users of all ages, not just motorists. So that means thinking about bike lanes and sidewalks (and hopefully adding them). There’s an out in all these things, of course, but having the policy on the books sets the tone for planners, traffic engineers and developers.
Baltimore has a trail system that gets cyclists downtown, around the inner harbor and then south using the Jones Falls Trail, the Fallsway, the Gwynns Falls Trail, the Middle Branch Trail, the BWI Trail and the B&A Trail.
I understand more about why Baltimore is a bicycle-friendly community and Maryland is ranked seventh among the states for bike-friendliness by the League of American Bicyclists.
Baltimore has figured out a trail system that gets cyclists downtown, around the inner harbor and then south. That’s pretty amazing for a large city.
It’s not always pretty and it could use some better signage in spots, but given that the trails (multi-use paths, sometimes just wide sidewalks, sometimes out-of-the-way roadways, like the one past an incinerator, and switching from side to side of the road in spots) came after the city, it’s impressive how officials got the Jones Falls Trails to connect to the Fallsway to the Gwynns Falls Trail to the Middle Branch Trail.
While we didn’t see Camden Yards, we did see the stadium where the Ravens play (photo courtesy of Melinda):
And once we were out of Baltimore County and in Anne Arundel County, we were on part of the 11-mile BWI Trail that loops around BWI airport and connects to the 13.3-mile Baltimore and Annapolis Trail, a straight line of asphalt that got busier and busier as we got closer to Annapolis. And an ice cream shop or two along the way. Bliss!
Police officers on bikes rode with some of the ECG riders along the BWI Trail (courtesy of jackbikes.org)
But Annapolis, what were you thinking when you put the World War II memorial on a large grassy section between two northbound and two southbound lanes of traffic? How accessible to visitors is that?
If you don’t ask, you don’t get. So I’m excited to see a number of “ask” (and “thank”) events as part of the Week-a-Year ride. Here’s what’s planned as of now.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
So I’m excited to see a number of “ask” (and “thank”) events as part of the Week-a-Year ride.
– A rally in Perryville, Maryland, in support of a bike-friendly crossing over the Susquehanna River.
– Happy Hour with Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides and state officials. I’ll be thanking state officials for the just-opened bike beltway in Towson, Maryland, one of our overnight spots. I’m hoping it can connect the East Coast Greenway and downtown Towson.
– A photo event and signage installation in Alexandria, Virginia.
Personally, I’d like to thank Philadelphia for the Spring Garden Street Greenway now in the works. It will connect the popular Schuylkill River route and the East Coast Greenway.
Exploring by bicycle 