Hiker biker trail could connect oldest and newest sections of Bowie By ANNETTE ESTERHELD Staff Writer
The proposed biker and hiker trail for Old Bowie might jog through Tanglewood Park on its way to hopefully connect the oldest section of Bowie with Bowie State University and the MARC train station.
The trail is all on paper now and it will be some time before a path is cleared for the potential trail, but the city's planning director, Joe Meinert, recently held two meetings with the community to discuss alternative trail routes.
"It's an important project," Meinert said at a public information workshop on the trail last Wednesday at Huntington Community Center. "We're talking about a trail that could possibly in the future connect Old Town Bowie to Bowie State University and the MARC station."
Meinert said there are several reasons to connect Old Bowie and BSU, including a planned mixed residential and commercial development that will be built just north of BSU in the future. "Residents of Old Town Bowie could walk or hike either way to enjoy shopping and eating," he said.
He also stressed that the trail is "still in the talking stages. There's no money for design or engineering."
Meinert told the group that as far back as 2005 the city's planning department held a community meeting in Old Bowie for residents to take a neighborhood walk to discuss the possibility of Old Bowie becoming a walkable community, which it later became in 2006.
Bob Patten described proposed trail alternatives that would begin at Zug Road, perhaps by Tanglewood Park, and wend its way through Old Bowie to eventually reach BSU.
"The East Coast Greenway, which is a trail that will run from Maine to Florida, will actually run through Old Bowie on its way to Annapolis," he said. "The trail is about 20 percent built now."
Patten said the hiker/biker trail in Old Bowie is tentatively titled Railroad Trail because a portion of the alignment follows along a "paper" street called Railroad Avenue that was planned for Old Bowie but never happened.
Meinert explained that the city claimed the street's right of way in hopes of designing this trail, a right given to the city in a Maryland law that said if the right of way for a street never built was recorded in the city's plat prior to 1908 that the land was "up for grabs."
Mike DeNardo asked Patten how close the trail would be to the railroad tracks and how fast the trains travel.
"The trains go over 100 mph," Patten said, "but I'm not sure of the right of way of how close it is to the tracks. I know it varies from approximately 40 to 70 feet wide. It would need to be surveyed. That hasn't been done yet."
He discussed several trail alignments including hopping the trail along a path that would connect it to already existing entities like Tanglewood Park, Northridge Park in the Northridge development and Jericho Park, located on the west side of Route 197 near BSU.
Residents like Lori Hazelton expressed concern about the trails. "I would use the trail if it's in my backyard, but I would rather the trail be in someone else's backyard."
She is located off Myrtle Avenue and has concerns that a white picket fence in her yard is located on what would be the railroad right of way.
John Illig, who lives near the Knights of St. John Hall, said he was concerned that the trail would take a small piece of his property for its right of way.
DeNardo, who owns the bike shop in Old Bowie, would like a paved road through Tanglewood Park. He also would like to see the trail go from Zug Road, to Fletchertown Road and through Northridge.
During discussions about naming the trail, DeNardo said it should be named for Morris Warren, who he said was responsible for getting the WB&A Trail connections in Bowie.
Meinert asked the group for volunteers to form a citizens advisory committee to work with city planners to help the city design the trail, get public support and lobby for funding.
"The most successful trails are those where the community participates in the details of the trail," said Patten.
For information or to volunteer for the committee, contact Meinert at 301-809-3045 or e-mail, jmeinert@cityofbowie.org.
