The Chesapeake Bay Trail
Current state of project, 2023
The Proposed Loop
The Chesapeake Bay is a vital and delicate ecological resource that defines the culture, the geography, and the food and water sources for millions of people in the Tidewater region. As the largest estuary in the United States, we in the mid-Atlantic region have a special obligation to the bay.
The Chesapeake Bay Trail is the best method to ensure that the bay will exist in the years and decades and centuries to come. So that our children, our grandchildren, and their grandchilden can still enjoy this ecosystem that we all love.
The Chesapeake Bay Trail is a proposed 680-mile loop that encompasses the bay and uses existing infrastructure to allow multi-modal access to the culturally distinct and ecologically unique areas that surround the bay.Â
This project would use existing cycling and multi-modal trails, and share rural country roads, and even construct some new, low/no-impact cycling paths to expand access to this beautiful ecological area.
The economical impact of creating a multi-state tourist attraction can not be understated. One needs only to look at any of the example towns of the C&O to GAP trail that stretches between DC and Pittsburgh to see the positive impact that multi-day, multi-modal cycling trails can have on small rural towns. Or take a glance at the Appalachian Trail, which has completely transformed every town it touches into an economical and cultural strong point. Another example is the Taiwan Bicycle Route No. 1, which is a thematically identical trail that encompasses the entire island of Taiwan, and the tourism that the trail brings supports thousands of small local businesses - places like hostels, hotels, motels, bike shops, restaurants, cafes, camp sites, tourist destinations, retail, and more. Such a trail injects significant tourism dollars into existing businesses where before such clientele never existed.
It is also a significant boon to the ecological strength of the bay. Bicycling and walking have zero carbon emissions, and converting some underutilized car roads into bike lanes will reduce the pollutants that enter the bay. Things like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, benzine, oil leakage, and other common car side effects that don't exist in a cycling population. Increasing access to these areas of the bay also ensure that there is demand to maintain them for public use, preserve the natural beauty of the area, and prevent negative development patterns that would harm the bay.
Increasing access to passive and active recreation is incredibly important when the USA is struggling with an obesity crisis. These types of safe, multi-modal trails are extremely effective at combating these health issues. Giving locals a chance to safely walk, run, cycle, scoot, rollerblade, or skate, where they are not at risk of injury from immediately adjacent car use ensures that people can be outside, get exercise, enjoy their day, and even commute to work or visit shops and stores, safely.
These kinds of trails benefit the areas they are built in because they improve connectivity. Ensuring that culturally unique areas are connected by an enjoyable medium ensures that those cultural identities are preserved. This proposal also links more than a dozen universities, colleges, military academies, and community colleges together directly, and this does not even include the plentiful schools in Washington, DC or Baltimore.
This trail is also of great historical significance, as it passes directly through the birthplace of Harriet Tubman, and her parts of the Underground Railroad, as well as the old train hub of Cape Charles and the Eastern Shore Railroad.
This would be massive boon, in every metric, to the residents of these towns, and this project should be considered by YOUR town and county councils. Write your representative today to ask for increased connectivity, increased tourism, and increased security for the Chesapeake Bay.