D.C.’s last remaining trolley trestle could topple any day.
An inspection last week found the 122-year-old structure in “imminent risk of collapse,” prompting park rangers to renew a warning to keep pedestrians off a trail underneath the trestle in Georgetown.
That portion of the trail has been closed to bike users and pedestrians since August 2016, after the Park Service determined the trestle’s structural condition too frail to allow people to run underneath. But many trail users have ignored the warnings and jumped over a fence to stay on track.
After Thursday’s inspection, the Park Service said it is reinforcing the existing closure and reminding trail users that they can follow a detour along Foxhall Road, 44th Street NW and P Street NW.
“United States Park Police officers actively patrol the area and will hold trespassers accountable,” NPS spokeswoman Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles said.
Metro owns the trestle and conducted the inspection last week. But the agency did not provide details about the findings, the condition of the bridge or its plans for it. The Park Service, which owns the park land underneath it, said it was notified on Jan. 11 that the Foundry Branch Trolley was at “imminent risk of collapse.”
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The findings are not surprising. Other inspections in recent years have led to similar conclusions, frustrating preservationists and trestle enthusiasts who have been calling for its restoration. Some have asked the District Department of Transportation to take over the structure and turn it into a pedestrian walkway that would connect Georgetown and the Palisades neighborhood.
Supporters say this would take the trestle off the list of the most endangered places in the District and put it back in service after decades of neglect. The trestle has sat unused since the streetcar shut down in 1962, and its age shows; sections of the steel supports have rusted away and wooden ties have fallen.
The trestle is the last one standing in the District from the old streetcar line to Glen Echo, according to the office of historic preservation. It’s unclear if Metro and other agencies will come up with a plan for it before it falls apart.
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“We are aware of the situation and are working with NPS to evaluate the options moving forward,” Metro spokesman Richard Jordan said.
Palisades resident Brett Young, who has been advocating to save the trestle, said he is afraid Metro is choosing to let it fall apart.
“Metro has done nothing. They have elected to do nothing,” Young said.
A full restoration could cost $2 million and an initial stabilization could cost about $715,000, according to an assessment made in 2014. Metro in the past has expressed a desire to demolish the old structure, and last summer the transit agency said it was exploring adding fencing on the underside of the bridge to facilitate the reopening of the trail. The work was never done. DDOT has considered taking the bridge over from Metro but said last year that it was trying to determine the costs and benefits of restoring the structure and whether it would be feasible. It is unclear where that plan stands.
“There’s definitely a utility to this,” Young said. “I want to see all these agencies come together and come up with a solution, but they are just letting the thing collapse.”
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