Four exciting additions to the East Coast Greenway

Four new segments in Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington, D.C., gained official East Coast Greenway designation at the Alliance’s December Board of Trustees meeting.

In 2021, 18 safe, traffic-free segments - totalling 30 miles across eight states and Washington, D.C., were added to the Greenway route. 

December’s newly designated East Coast Greenway segments include:

Anacostia River Trail - Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge Path, Washington, D.C. (0.3 miles): The scenic Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge Path - pictured above - closes a key gap in the East Coast Greenway in our nation’s capital. Once the oval approaches are complete, the bridge path will create 12 miles of nearly continuous trail along the Anacostia River Trail from the National Mall to the Northeast Branch Trail in Prince George's County, Maryland. The Anacostia River Trail is the southeast leg of a larger 23-mile East Coast Greenway loop between Maryland and Washington, D.C., forming one of the most complete metropolitan stretches of the entire Greenway route. 

15th Street Cycletrack, Washington, D.C. (0.6 miles): This new two-way cycletrack is protected from traffic along 15th Street through the iconic National Mall, adjacent to the Washington Monument and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The 15th Street Cycletrack links to the Anacostia River Trail and forms the southwestern end of a 23-mile loop on the East Coast Greenway between Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland.

South Shore Trail (Phase I) Millersville, Maryland (1.6 miles): Stretching 1.6 miles, phase I of the South Shore Trail is Maryland’s latest addition to the East Coast Greenway. Primarily utilizing the abandoned road bed of the WB&A Railroad between Annapolis and Odenton, the South Shore Trail will eventually extend 13.6 miles when complete, linking Anne Arundel County's portion of the WB&A Trail (5.7 miles) to Annapolis' Poplar Trail (0.6 miles) of the Colonial Annapolis Maritime Trail System.

Multiple segments, Salem, Massachusetts (1.0 miles): At 0.7 miles, phase 2 of the Mayor Anthony V. Salvo Multiuse Path is the longest of three newly designated Greenway segments in Salem. Also included are the Bridge Street Sidepath and 28 Goodhue Street Path, which create short but important connections within the city’s growing trail network. Salem has designated 3-plus miles of the East Coast Greenway since 2019, connecting to the 4-mile Marblehead Rail Trail and the rapidly developing East Coast Greenway between Boston and the New Hampshire border.