Safety concerns over cars using Metropolitan Branch Trail

WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — There’s a major safety concern for a popular path in Northeast D.C.

Thousands of people use the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) every day to bike, walk and run, but increasingly cars have been getting on the trail.

Where the MBT crosses R Street there are metal bollards to block cars on the south side of the street but not on the north side.

Video from Sept. 26 shows a white Range Rover getting on at R Street and exiting a block up at Randolph Place.

“It would be nice to solve this before someone gets hurt,” ANC Commissioner Joe Bishop-Henchman said.

Bishop-Henchman said last Tuesday, Oct. 8, D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT) did install one concrete bollard, but it’s in the middle of the trail with enough room for a car to get by.

A week later on Wednesday morning, there was a car that entered later at night, another one.

“There were a lot of families who were walking down to go to the park. And then there was this speeding car heading straight towards them. Someone’s going to get hurt unless we do something,” Bishop-Henchman said.

A constituent told Bishop-Henchman the man driving didn’t know why people were yelling at him and that his GPS sent him that way.

Stacy Wallace witnessed another car on the trail Thursday night.

“I think he figured out that he was, not supposed to be on the MBT. And actually, passerbys were really nice and helped him back his car up out because he was unable to do it himself,” Wallace said.

Bishop-Henchman questions why both sides of R Street don’t have the same bollards.

“People are saying well, if it was good enough for this side, why can’t we do it for that side?” he said.

Bishop-Henchman said every part of the trail needs physical barriers.

“I think once we get past the bureaucracy and the decision-making in the ‘should we or shouldn’t we,’ we can get things deployed very quickly,” Bishop-Henchman said.

Bishop-Henchman encourages people to call 911 if they see a car on the trail so police can respond.

He said he’s continuing to press DDOT to improve safety along the MBT.

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