Elizabeth M. Hewlett, Chairman
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Prince George’s County Planning Department
14741 Governor Oden Bowie Drive
Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772

Dear Ms. Hewlitt:

As the forests and farms of our community have gradually been converted to subdivisions, one of the few types of consistently good news to come from the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission has been the construction of hiker-biker trails. We still have too many cars and too few pedestrians and cyclists, but the partially completed Folly Branch and WB&A and Trails are valuable recreational assets.

The Glenn Dale Citizens Association would like to see you do more to make these trails part of our transportation system by providing direct bike routes to the Seabrook MARC and New Carrolton Metro Stations.

Glenn Dale to MARC. As the crow flies, the neighborhoods behind Glenn Dale Elementary School are barely over one mile from the MARC station. However, it is a three-mile drive, and the bike ride is hazardous given the fast traffic and narrow-to-nonexistent shoulders on Md-564. A short extension of the Folly Branch Trail to Harbor Avenue would provide a safe and reasonably direct bike route between Glenn Dale and the MARC station. This extension would be entirely on Park property. It would also create a loop at the west end of the WB&A trail, because one could take the Md-450 trail to the Folly Branch Trail, to Harbor Avenue and back to the WB&A via Glenn Dale and Daisy Lanes.

Glenn Dale to Metro. Looking farther into the future, the WB&A Trail should be connected to the New Carrollton Metro Station through a combination of trails and bike lanes. Doing so would make bike commuting to Metro much more feasible for thousands of people living in Lanham, Glenn Dale, and Bowie. Such a connection would also create an appealing bike route from the Metro to Annapolis. The new Transit-Oriented Development Strategy for New Carrollton includes a pedestrian crossing over the Capital Beltway from to Whitfield Chapel Park. Given the many side streets in South Lanham and existing trails in the area, a connection between the WB&A and Whitfield Chapel Park would not involve a great deal of new construction.

We understand that you have more possible trail projects than funds available. Nevertheless, we wanted to make sure that you and your staff are aware that the community of Glenn Dale supports bicycle trails for both recreation and transportation, and is ready and willing to work with Commission staff to move these projects forward.

                                                                                Yours truly,

                                                                                Henry Wixon
                                                                                President