For years, the Broadneck Peninsula Trail lived in most Arnold residents' heads as one specific thing: the 2.43-mile paved strip along College Parkway between Bay Dale Drive and Old Cape St. Claire Road, good for a stroller push or a quick evening ride and not much else. That mental map is now out of date.
The county's long-planned 8-mile corridor is no longer theoretical. Segments that were dashed lines on a master plan poster five years ago are now poured, striped, and getting signage, which quietly changes what a Saturday looks like if you live in Bay Hills, Ulmstead, Pines on the Severn, or anywhere with a driveway inside 21012. The trail is starting to do what it was drawn to do in 1999: connect the B&A Trail to Sandy Point State Park with useful spurs in between. Which means the coffee, the crab deck, the dog park, and the Magothy kayak launch are finally on one continuous line.
What Is Actually Open Right Now
The clearest way to read progress is by phase, because the county builds and opens them out of order. The trail is a planned paved 10-foot asphalt path generally along College Parkway in Arnold with a mainline length of approximately 8 miles, and when complete it will connect the B&A Trail to Sandy Point State Park with multiple spurs along the corridor.
Here is where the moving pieces sit:
- Phase III (Bay Dale Drive to AACC at Peninsula Farm Road). Bay Dale Drive to east of Jones Station Road and east of Jones Station Road to Peninsula Farm Road and AACC are in final details and signage, with a boardwalk at east of Jones Station Road not yet initiated. This is the segment that finally lets you ride from the B&A Trail spur straight to Anne Arundel Community College without gambling on the College Parkway shoulder.
- Phase IB (Peregoy Park Place to Log Inn Road). Peregoy Park Place to Yorktown Road is in final details and signage, and Yorktown Road to Log Inn Road is in paving with final details and signage in process.
- Phase V (Log Inn Road toward Sandy Point). Phase V extends from the Phase IB terminus and connects to Sandy Point State Park, with the Log Inn Road to Sandy Point State Park Loop in final details and signage and the Sandy Point Park Loop to Oceanic Drive Spur not yet initiated.
Translation: the western half is real, the AACC connection is real, and the eastern end is close enough that you can plan around it. Flagman operations for single lane use along East College Parkway may still be in effect during portions of construction, so mornings are gentler than afternoons if you are driving to a trailhead.
The practical upshot is that a resident who last checked the trail in 2022 is currently underusing about six miles of new pavement sitting inside their own zip code.
A Saturday Loop That Only Works Because Of The New Segments
Build the day around Broadneck Park at 613 College Parkway. It is the middle of the corridor and the only stop that carries every amenity you want in one lot: Broadneck Park lists a dog park, multipurpose field, pavilion, picnic area, playground, restroom, and trails, which makes it the natural regroup point on a longer day out.
- Coffee first, west end. Start near the Bay Dale Drive trailhead. Blue Rooster Cafe is the local breakfast anchor most Arnold regulars already know; if you would rather sit down, Donnelly's Dockside is a short hop south and reliably opens early on weekends.
- Ride or walk east on Phase III. With the AACC section wrapping up, you can now stitch a run from Bay Dale past Jones Station Road toward the community college without dropping onto the roadway. A worthwhile detour: the Allan and Edie Segree Rest Area near the Broadneck Library. Dedicated in 2014, it includes a welcoming bench, picnic table, bike rack plus a water fountain for people and a hose for a pet dish, all on pavers and landscaping. It is the closest thing the trail has to a natural halfway point.
- Detour to water at Spriggs Farm Park. If the group has kayaks on the roof rack, this is your Magothy access. Spriggs Farm Park in Arnold offers a cartop launch for canoes and kayaks on the Magothy River, though the county notes the carry is about 150 yards with a steep slope. That 150-yard carry is the local knowledge; plan the wheeled cart, not the shoulder haul.
- Lunch on the Magothy. The Point Crab House and Grill sits at 700 Mill Creek Road on Ferry Point Marina, located on Mill Creek on the Magothy River, only one river north of Annapolis. Deck seating fills fast on a clear summer Saturday, so aim for an off-peak table before 12:30 or after 2:00.
- Ride the eastern half if it is finished by the time you go. With Phase IB paving in and Phase V approaching Sandy Point, the payoff is a coffee-to-bay-beach line without a car shuttle for the first time in the trail's history.
The old routine treated the trail as a short workout and the restaurants as separate errands. The new geometry lets them share a morning.
The Sunday Shift: Indoor Anchors Worth Knowing
Not every summer weekend is a ten-mile day. The Arnold Chamber's calendar has been quietly filling in the shoulder hours, particularly around the Broadneck Library and adjacent venues. Recent listings include the Jefferson Star Quilt Guild Sew-In, a Romance Book Club meeting, a Trinket Dish Painting Workshop, Kids Time: Benjamin Franklin Science, a Color-By-Numbers Dino Scavenger Hunt, the Arnold Friends of the Library Book Sale, Keepsake Coasters, and Littles @ the Library: Summer Bash. The Book Sale in particular tends to be a resident magnet; it is the kind of thing you check the date on rather than stumble into.
AACC's summer classes are the other pull. Summer registration for AACC classes began Tuesday, May 12, and classes began Monday, July 6. The new Phase III connection to Peninsula Farm Road makes walking or biking to a class from the surrounding neighborhoods a real option, which is exactly the outcome Cliff Roop and the trail's early advocates argued for.
A quick map of where Arnold residents actually spend their weekends, per the community's own vote in the 2026 Best Of results, which include Best Pastor/Church Leader: The Rev. Erik Arnold at St. John the Evangelist and Best Physician: Dr. Mariaileen Sourwine at Inspire Integrative Medicine, gives you a shorthand for the social geography that has emerged around the trail corridor. Perilla Wellness, listed on the Severna Park Voice's local event calendar, is another Arnold-based stop worth knowing for a slower Sunday.
What Is Shifting At The Edges
Two pieces of local news are worth carrying in the back of your head as you plan.
The first is that the county's investment in the Broadneck corridor has been paired with parallel park upgrades. Arnold Park at 1325 Jones Station Road lists baseball, a multipurpose field, picnic area, playground, restroom, and trails, and it sits close enough to the Phase III alignment to fold into a family morning without a car swap.
The second is closer to home for anyone driving Ritchie Highway daily. Two possibilities are on the table to turn the Severna Park Golf Center property in Arnold into a townhome or single-family community. Whichever direction it goes, the trip-generation math for the north end of Arnold will shift, and the trail's usefulness as a car-free option for short errands becomes more relevant, not less.
None of this is the trail's original selling point. The 1999 master plan sold connectivity as recreation. What it turned into, quietly, is a way to run a Saturday without turning the ignition twice.
If you already live in Arnold and the trail's new segments have you thinking harder about which pocket of the peninsula fits your household best over the next few years, Romeo Santos III and the Romeo Santos Group are happy to talk it through with a neighborhood-first read on your options. Get your free home valuation and we will pair the number with a candid conversation about what your corner of Arnold looks like heading into the next season.
