County, Officials Formally Open Georgetown Branch Trail

ba/trail2.pr 97-155 Contact: Ed Daniel, 301-217-2976

COUNTY, COMMUNITY OFFICIALS
FORMALLY OPEN GEORGETOWN BRANCH TRAIL Immediate Release: May 17, 1997

A transportation trail connecting Silver Spring and Georgetown became a reality today
when the second link, between Bethesda and Silver Spring, was officially dedicated.
Known as the Georgetown Branch Trail, the five-mile link joins the Silver Spring and
Bethesda communities and the widely used Capital Crescent Trail and Rock Creek Trail
systems. Together with the Capital Crescent Trail, the new link provides a mostly car-free
environment for 12 miles between downtown Silver Spring and Georgetown.
The gravel-surface, off-street trail -- connected by on-street bike routes -- is built on
the trackbed of the former Georgetown Branch rail line which the County purchased form the
CSX Railroad in 1988. The new trail is an interim component of the Capital Crescent Trail.
Whether the Georgetown Branch Trail is ultimately paved or relocated depends upon whether
plans are finalized for a transit line in the same corridor.
Speaking at the ceremony were the County's Chief Administrative Officer Bruce
Romer, representing County Executive Douglas M. Duncan; County Council Vice-president
Isiah Leggett, who also chairs the Council's Transportation and Environment Committee;
County Councilmember Betty Ann Krahnke; Mier Wolf, mayor of the Town of Chevy

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Chase; Patricia Baptiste, member, Montgomery County Park Commission; and John Dugger,
chair of the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail.
Initial funding for the Georgetown Branch Trail was authorized by the County Council
in June 1995. The trail was recommended by a Council-appointed task force chaired by a
member of the Capital Crescent Trail Coalition. The task force studied ways to allow interim
public use of the right-of-way until future decisions are made whether to proceed with the
transit line.
To reduce initial costs, on-street and on-sidewalk bike routings are used to bypass a
tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue and office buildings in downtown Bethesda and a
deteriorated railroad trestle over Rock Creek Park. Special signs guide trail users along the
street and sidewalk segments connecting the Capital Crescent Trail, Rock Creek Trail, and the
Silver Spring Metro Station.
With the aid of traffic signals, the trail crosses three major streets -- Wisconsin
Avenue, Connecticut Avenue and Jones Mill Road. The trail connects to the Rock Creek
Trail through on-street connections in the Coquelin Run and Rock Creek Forest
neighborhoods.
The Georgetown Branch Trail is one of several trails planned or recently built by the
County to support the growing popularity of cycling as an alternative mode of transportation
and a healthy recreational activity.
The trail was built, with $563,000 in County funds, by Corman Construction
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Company, under contract to the Department of Public Works and Transportation. During
installation of the trail, 650 tons of steel rails and spikes and 9,000 railroad ties were
removed. Nearly 3,000 tons of crushed stone were used for the trail surface.
Where the trail crosses through Columbia Country Club, special underpasses and
fences were built to separate golfers from trial users, under a cost-sharing agreement with the
Country Club.
The trail is maintained by DPW&T and patrolled by County Police bike patrols.
Free copies of Georgetown Branch Trail maps will be available at area bicycle shops
next week. For more information about the Georgetown Branch Trail, call the County at 301-
217-2976 or the Capital Crescent Trail Coalition recorded message line at 202-234-4874.

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