La Plata is the only Southern Maryland community to land funding in this year’s $11.3 million round of statewide bicycle and pedestrian grants, with the Maryland Department of Transportation awarding construction money to extend a shared-use path connecting several of the town’s schools.
The project, known as the La Plata Bikeway: Radio Station Road Sidepath, is a joint effort between the Town of La Plata and Charles County that’s been years in the design phase. It calls for a continuous 10-foot buffered bikeway or shared-use path stretching roughly two miles along MD 6, MD 488, and Radio Station Road, linking Sommers Middle School and Mitchell Elementary School on Willow Lane to La Plata High School, Matula Elementary School, and Laurel Springs Regional Park. The state’s announcement this week didn’t break out a specific dollar figure for the La Plata portion of the award, describing it alongside a similar project in Edmonston as one of two construction projects funded this year to “fill missing trail connections and extend a new shared-use path.”
The funding comes through MDOT’s Kim Lamphier Bikeways Network Program, a state-funded grant program named for the late Maryland bicycling advocate, which has funded 256 projects totaling $42.1 million since its founding in 2011. This year’s program distributed $2 million across 12 projects statewide, part of a larger $11.3 million package that also included $9.3 million in federally funded Transportation Alternatives Program and Recreational Trails Program grants for 12 additional projects elsewhere in Maryland. “With these newly funded bicycle, pedestrian and trail projects, Marylanders will have more options to commute, exercise and get to school safely and efficiently,” said MDOT Secretary Katie Thomson. “Creating new paths and linking others together are key components of Maryland’s transportation future.”
The La Plata award comes as Charles County pursues a broader vision for regional trail connectivity. The county is separately using earlier Bikeways Program funding to design the first phase of an extension of the Indian Head Rail Trail toward the Three Notch Trail, a project county officials say would link Charles and St. Mary’s counties’ trail networks, expand the reach of the National Capital Trail system, and bring more visitors to both counties.
