Rock Creek Trestle demolition to close Rock Creek Trail section for two weeks

Teams have started tearing down the Rock Creek Trestle that once carried trains over Rock Creek, and more recently carried Georgetown Branch Trail users over it. As a result the Rock Creek Trail in the area will be closed for about two weeks. 

There has been a rail trestle in this location since 1892 when the B&O railroad constructed a 1400' long 67' high wood structure there. It was reputed to be the largest of its type in the B&O system at that time. "In 1904, much of the span was replaced by fill, reducing its length to 281 feet, and a single steel deck plate girder span inserted over Rock Creek. The trestle was rebuilt in 1928, and again in 1972 following extensive damage done by Tropical Storm Agnes", and a fire in 1967. The bridge was repaired in 2002-2003 at a cost of $1.3 million to allow trail access (working out to about $100,000 a year for the 14+ years it was open). At the time it was noted that

The prefabricated spans can be moved and used for trail bridges elsewhere if the trestle must be removed to make room for a new transit/trail bridge.

But it's unclear if there are plans to actually do this now that it is being removed to make room for a transit bridge. There was also once concern that repairing the trestle would make it harder to build the purple line.

Those who want the light rail say spending $1.3 million on the trestle is a waste of money because the trestle may have to come down to make room for a bridge holding both the rail and the trail. They also say the expense and popularity of the new bridge would make it harder to tear down and build light rail.

"We think it's a terrible waste of money to build this and then tear it down," said Ben Ross, head of Action Committee for Transit, which favors light rail and opposes rebuilding the trestle.

Anyway, it may or may not have been a waste of money, but it didn't stop the Purple Line nor was the PL built without tearing the trestle down as Wayne Phyillaier, chairman of the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail at the time theorized. What we do know is that trains will once again run above Rock Creek in this corridor and so will the newly expanded Capital Crescent Trail on a pair of bridges that will look like this:

It will also modify the Rock Creek Park Trail by raising it up higher.

In the meantime, the detour uses Jones Mill Road.

In other CCT news, the Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail has lost another lawsuit (or more accurately, had it dismissed). They're like the Washington Generals of lawsuits. 

Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the Maryland Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) request that he dismiss a lawsuit filed by the organization Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail and a couple of individuals. Leon wrote in his opinion that he granted MDOT’s request because the plaintiffs did not meet the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, which they had used in their arguments.

Judge Leon included criticism to plaintiffs in his written opinion, saying their first lawsuit was stronger, and since then, their arguments had weakened.

They still have another lawsuit active, and then I hope they'll just give up and move on. To paraphrase Betty Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, we could be such good friends. 

Comments

[washcycle]

To be more precise, the cost of repairing the bridge was $250 a day. That seems like a princely sum, but if the spans are reused it might bring the cost down.

[Crickey]

Reusing the spans likely doesn't save that much. The biggest cost is likely the abutments and approaches, and in fact forcing the design to be a certain way just to reuse the spans might impose additional engineering costs. So, great if it works, but not a big factor either way.