Bike groups sue to block demolition of bridge linking Maryland with Virginia

[mahatmakanejeeves]

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Bike groups sue to block demolition of bridge linking Maryland with Virginia

Neal Augenstein | [e-mail]

September 30, 2022, 7:16 AM

Bicycle trail advocacy groups have filed a federal lawsuit, trying to prevent Maryland transportation officials from demolishing a bridge across the Potomac River that cyclists say could link bike routes in the southern part of the state to Virginia.

The Maryland Transportation Authority is in the final stages of building a four-lane bridge parallel to the two-lane Gov. Harry W. Nice-Memorial/Sen. Thomas “Mac” Middleton Bridge, which opened in 1940, and carries 7 million vehicles a year on Route 301 between Maryland’s Charles County and Virginia’s King George County. ... The Nice-Middleton Bridge is located 60 miles south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, the nearest Potomac River crossing.

Original plans for the new bridge included a bicycle and pedestrian path, but that portion of the design was eliminated in 2019. Currently, MTA’s plan calls for the demolition of the old bridge, when the new one is completed. ... The lawsuit claims the late change to the plan, and the proposal to demolish the two-lane bridge with explosives, violates state and federal environmental review laws.

The plaintiffs — Potomac Heritage Trail Association, the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail Association and Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club — say removing the trail from the bridge plans amounted to “a bait and switch.” ... “Defendants in 2012 promised to construct a bridge with a separated and protected 10-foot path for pedestrian and bicycle traffic on the bridge,” wrote the bike groups. “Studying and selecting one configuration, yet building another violates the Environmental Review Laws, as well as the public trust.”

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Trial and hearing dates have yet to be determined in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Neal Augenstein
Neal Augenstein has been a reporter at WTOP since 1997. Through the years, Neal has covered many of the crimes and trials that have gripped the region. Neal's been pleased to receive awards over the years for hard news, feature reporting, use of sound and sports.

[e-mail]
@AugensteinWTOP

[underpants]

1. Good for them 🚲

[Crowman2009]

2. Nothing should prevent cyclists and walkers from being able to go from one city to the next safely.

Maybe there should be a bicycle/pedestrian path system in a similar manner to the federal highway system for motor vehicles.