Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail

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The Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail - sometimes referred to as the Chesapeake Beach Railway Trail - is a set of short trails that utilize the original Chesapeake Beach Railroad route from Washington, D.C. to Chesapeake Beach, MD. Future sections will be built as available until this corridor serves as the spine for a number of potential greenway branches. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission(M-NCPPC) has acquired portions of the corridor through the subdivision process. Some sections have already been built.

The trail will be owned, managed, and maintained by M-NCPPC. The Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail will cross three counties in Southeast Maryland. 28 miles (45 km) of the corridor are in Calvert and Anne Arundel counties. Eleven miles of the corridor lie in Prince George’s County.

Calvert county acquired a 100-acre (0.40 km²) tract adjacent to Fishing Creek and the town of Chesapeake Beach which contains 1,800 feet (550 m) of the railroad right-of-way. This property, renamed Fishing Creek Park, is adjacent to the terminus of the trail at Chesapeake Railroad Museum. Plans are underway to develop this portion of the trail and connect it to residential communities within the vicinity, providing off-road access to the towns of Chesapeake Beach and North Beach and their in-town boardwalks and trails. In September 2004, the state of Maryland committed $1.6 million for construction of the first 1.4 miles (2.3 km) of trail. Construction for the trail was scheduled to begin fall 2005 but has been pushed back to 2008.

In Anne Arundel County the trail would connect Walker Mill Regional Park and Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary. It would also connect to the south with the town of Chesapeake Beach.

In Prince George's County, a 100-foot (30 m) long portion was built in Maryland Park between Crown Street and the Addison Plaza shopping center. Sidewalks along Ritchie Marlboro Road serve as the trail in the area near the Beltway.