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HPRB rejected WMATA's application to raze the Foundry Branch Trestle

The Historic Preservation Review Board unanimously rejected WAMAT's application to raze the Foundry Branch Trestle. Next step is for WMATA to appeal to the Mayor. 

Hearing on Trestle raze permit next week and other trolley trail news

Last month Metro applied for a permit to raze the streetcar bridge over Foundry Branch. DDOT is interested in using the bridge as part of a trail that would follow some portion of the streetcar ROW between the Palisades and Georgetown, so razing it would force them to consider something else. WMATA has been warning for some time now that the trestle is in bad shape.

Since then advocates for saving the trestle for a trail crossing, such as the Palisades Citizens Association Trail Committee, have been busy getting support from local ANCs and Community organizations. ANC 3D has sent a letter to the Historic Preservation Office opposing the raze permit, and as they point out they're not the only ones. Their support was unanimous. 

ANC 3D supports preserving the Foundry Branch Trolley Trestle (the “Trestle”) as an enduring example of local rail history of the late 19th Century and for use by the public of a renovated/rebuilt bridge as a multi-purpose pedestrian trail and transportation corridor east of Foxhall Road.

ANC 3D joins the D.C. Preservation League, the Rails to Trails Conservancy, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, the D.C. Recreational Trails Advisory Committee, the Foxhall Community Citizens Association, the Palisades Citizens Association, the Community Association of Georgetown, and the Georgetown BID are all in favor of preserving and restoring the Trestle.

WMATA's actions are confusing since District Department of Transportation has stated that they plan to undertake a feasibility study starting this spring or summer, to determine the Trestle's reuse potential.

The Trestle is one of only two remaining bridges along the former trolley line linking Georgetown and Glen Echo, Maryland. This line, constructed around 1900, provided the transportation to a ‘trolley’ park and thousands of Washingtonians used the line annually to access the Glen Echo Amusement Park. The tracks have been removed, but the right-of-way continues as a trail along the Potomac River overlook through the Palisades neighborhood in Northwest DC. The steel bridge span crossing Foundry Branch in the park is an excellent example of one of the few remaining early transportation bridges in the city. Weathering and a lack of maintenance have seriously damaged the structure, but it may have some life in it yet.

CALL TO ACTION:

Help save the Foundry Branch Trolley Trestle by sending a letter or email (by May 22nd) opposing the raze application to:

Chair Marnique Heath
Historic Preservation Review Board
1100 4th Street, SW, Suite E650
Washington, DC 20024

or

Marnique Heath, Chair, Historic Preservation Review Board at [email protected]

If you are interested in testifying in person, please join us at 441 4th Street, NW, 2nd Floor for the hearing on May 24th. There is no need to sign up in advance.

The Post ran an article recently about this trestle, two others in Maryland along the same ROW and how WMATA ended up with all them. The Walhonding trestle would be useful if the ROW in Maryland were made into a trail, but the Wilson one is probably not worth it. 

Arizona Avenue

In a related matter, DDOT is in the early stages of redesigning the 110 foot long bridge over Arizona Avenue along the old ROW. That project, as currently envisioned, will also improve the trail from Galena Place to Sherrier Place. 

The improvements being considered include rehabilitation and reconstruction of the bridge and its ramp, create a more accessible multi-use trail and add stormwater management and green infrastructure. Community leaders want the bridge replaced, a natural-looking, all-weather trail made level with the bridge with minimal impact on adjacent landowners. 

The current bridge was built in the 1980's and has clearance and structural issues as do the abutments. A new prefabricated steel box truss could be built in its place on modified and improved abutments. 

The existing ramp on the west side would be replaced, and a new ramp added on the east side. There would also be a new sidewalk on the west side heading back down the hill to Dorsett Place (and maybe farther?)

The east ramp and west ramp would differ from the current west ramp in their aesthetics. The railing would be lower than the current fencing for example. 

There would be plantings beside Arizona Avenue as well.

The trail surface along the ROW would also be improved. A decomposed granite layer, similar to the crushed limestone along the C&O Canal, would sit atop a stormwater layer with a perforated drainage pipe running through it. 

Phase I, which includes the environmental documentation and preliminary design, could wrap up this month. 

 

2019 to be a very busy year in DC trails (if the TIP is to be believed)

Last November, DC amended the FY 2017-2022 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and it puts a lot of work of interest to cyclists into 2019. 

One of the most important changes to cyclists is that the bulk of funding for construction of the Metropolitan Branch Trail ($11M) was placed in 2019 signaling that DDOT plans to start construction on L&M Streets and Fort Totten soon. 

Meanwhile the "Safety Improvements Citywide" program, which pays for things like lighting, safety studies, roadway improvements (like at Blair Circle) and such received an addition $918,000 in SPR and local funding. This comes on top of previous increases that more than doubled funding for the program. They also added millions for additional streetlight upgrades citywide, which is nice for those who bike at night. 

Though not a change, DDOT plans to reconstruct C Street NE with a cycletrack in 2019. In the same year they will perform more construction on Pennsylvania Ave SE/Potomac Circle/Barney Circle which includes improving "pedestrian and bicycle access to the Sousa Bridge and along proposed Southeast Boulevard to the 11th Street Bridges."  They also have more than $11M set aside for construction of the South Capital Street Trail, $3.5M for the trail bridge across the Anacostia at the National Arboretum, $14M to replace the bike/ped bridges over Kenilworth Avenue, $27M for improvements to Southern Avenue

In 2018, they have funds set aside to rebuild Virginia Avenue (which they're currently doing) with a new Virginia Avenue Trail on the south side. There's also more than $10M for the Rock Creek Park Trail rehabilitation project, and $19M for the Maryland Avenue road diet. 

The reconstruction of South Capitol Street and a new more bike-friendly Frederick Douglass Bridge, which just started, gets oodles of money over multiple years as does "multimodal" roadway improvements around St. Elizabeths. 

The Florida Avenue Streetscape project is funded in 2020, which is also new. 

Oddly, there's $3.3M in the TIP for construction of the New York Avenue Trail in 2017. I don't think that happened. 

Many of the programs that support cycling in part or in whole, like goDCgo, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Management Program, Safe Routes to School, Roadway Reconstruction, Transportation Alternatives,  and the National Recreational Trails will continue to be funded as before.

There's also $500k in planning money to improve Aspen Street NW from Georgia Avenue NW to 16th Street NW to include new turn lanes and a multi-use trail on the north side of the street to support the Walter Reed redevelopment.

WMATA moves to raze the Foundry Branch Bridge

Metro has applied for a permit to raze the streetcar bridge over Foundry Branch. DDOT is interested in using the bridge as part of a trail that would follow some portion of the streetcar ROW between the Palisades and Georgetown, so razing it would force them to consider something else. WMATA has been warning for some time now that the trestle is in bad shape.

No action will be taken anytime soon because the permit application has to go through a review and public comment process.

“DDOT has offered to do a study on keeping the trestle and (assessing) its current condition, and WMATA’s response to that was to file this application for demolition. So, we don’t see that as working in good faith with other parties involved,” Miller said.

District Department of Transportation spokesman Terry Owens said his agency is still planning a feasibility study.

“Also, under the (D.C. Historic) Preservation Act, there is a requirement to show alternatives to demolition, and obviously WMATA has not looked at that, given that DDOT hasn’t had the opportunity to do their study yet,” Miller added.

The Preservation Act applies in this case, according to Miller, because the bridge is a contributing structure within the Glover-Archbold Park Historic Area.

Earlier, DDOT told the State Historic Preservation Office (HPO) that it intends to do a study of the trail including the Foundry Branch Bridge area. They then requested a meeting with HPO, NPS and WMATA to discuss their next steps, but WMATA declined the meeting and instead filed permits to raze the bridge.

 

HPO has since said that the current state of the bridge, based on their criteria, does not justify razing it.  They acknowledge it needs work, but that parts of it are structurally sound and they do not feel that demolishing it is necessary now.  Because DDOT has expressed interest in reusing bridge, there is justification for saving it.

 

HPO will meet with DDOT soon and hold a hearing on the raze permit on May 24th The public may comment on the razing.  

Metro claims that they have been trying to transfer the trestle to any "agency" that will take it, but so far none have stepped forward. I bet they have. Because right now the trestle has negative value. I'd be eager to give it away too. I've asked if they're offering to give away the trestle, the trestle and the land it sits on or the trestle and all of the remaining ROW in DC, but I've gotten no response. It may be that Metro needs to sweeten the pot. They own the ROW from Foxhall road to the old streetcar barn on Canal, along with some additional land between Canal Road and Georgetown U (I think they own everything between the black lines on the picture below and you can see how it widens on the east side of the park). Maybe if they offered all the land in DC, they would have better luck finding a taker. Or maybe they need to kick in some money too. 

Meanwhile, public support for the bridge continues to grow. The Foxhall Community Citizens Association voted in November to support restoration of the bridge for use in a trail. They join the Palisades Citizens Association and the Citizens Association of Georgetown. NPS also supports restoration of the bridge.  

WMATA asked to take over this bridge along with all the other property they got from the Rider's Fund in 1997. They could have argued that they only wanted the money the Rider's Fund had, but they didn't, and so they have a responsibility to be good stewards of this bridge. They've failed in that. And they've failed to sell most (all?) of the land they took over 21 years ago. Perhaps they can find a way liquidate the land, get rid of the bridge and save Metro from having to pay to raze the bridge if they do all three at once. 

Update: WaPo reporting on this includes this:

One plan is for Metro to transfer the property to the District Department of Transportation to be turned into a bike and pedestrian trail. But DDOT won’t commit to taking it until a study is done to determine the feasibility of it being repurposed as a pedestrian connection in the Northwest neighborhood.  That study will kick off in late June, city officials said.

In a statement Tuesday, DDOT said it is “actively working” to get the multiple agencies involved together to develop an interim plan to maintain public safety around the bridge while exploring opportunities to preserve it.

“If it is feasible to rehabilitate the bridge for a transportation purpose, DDOT remains willing to receive the bridge and property interests,” the agency said. “If it is not feasible to preserve for a transportation purpose, DDOT does not have an interest in owning the bridge.”

Brett Young, a Palisades resident who has been lobbying the city to convert the former streetcar bridge into a pedestrian path, said his hope is that in the weeks to come the agencies involved can come to a resolution “where the trestle can be saved and reused as a valuable connection to the Palisades and Georgetown region.”

And somewhat related is the issue of the Arizona Avenue Pedestrian Bridge rehabilitation. (I meant to write about this in this post and forgot.) This bridge is further north on the Trolley ROW and DDOT had a meeting on it this week. It deals with the bridge and 0.65 miles of the existing, natural surface trail. 

The purpose of this project is to rehabilitate or replace the superstructure of the Arizona Avenue pedestrian bridge and ramp, to provide proper clearance over Arizona Avenue, and to provide an all-weather surfaced trail for the full length of the project. In addition, during the preliminary design phase adding a pedestrian access ramp on the south side of Arizona Avenue will be evaluated.

The project will also include drainage, stormwater management facilities, and landscaping along the trail. This bridge and trail project will upgrade the existing facilities to current standards and provide improved access from the neighborhood to the Palisades Recreation Center.

The project is currently in the 30 percent design phase.

Tweaking the Montgomery County Bike Plan

It's been a month since I checked in on the Montgomery County Bicycle Master Plan, and in that time, they've been busy. They held a public hearing on February 25th and three additional work sessions, as well as posting the documents from work sessions 1 and 2 in February.

There's just too much material to put into one post. I'll hit some of the highlights, but if you care about biking in Montgomery County, I recommend poking around on the website and submitting comments. 

WABA comments

Most of the responses have been positive, and WABA is highly supportive of the plan so far. But they do have some criticisms that I'll highlight.

They're concerned that the Plan relies too heavily on sidepaths for separated bikeways on major roads. They don't think these will be attractive to most users and want the plan to recommend protected on-street bike lanes instead, wherever possible.

Planning Staff respond that these won't be like sidepaths they've built in the past

Since the main issue of concern is the quality of sidepath construction, the focus should be on improving sidepath quality, not on constructing separated bike lanes, which are likely to cost more than sidepaths. Pages 121 – 122 of the plan recommends that Montgomery County improve its sidepath and trail design standards. MCDOT will be revising their road design standards over the coming months and sidepath quality will be an important issue to be addressed.

WABA also worries about access to schools. 

The Plan also falls short in the area of access to county schools by bike. The Plan instructs the schools to provide parking for bikes, but in over half the elementary and middle schools full buildout of the Plan will not increase the percentage of students who can bike to school. While some schools will see a slight increase in low-stress bike access, too many will remain inaccessible. The same is true for 8 of 21 high schools and 13 of 30 County Recreation Centers. The Plan must do better, especially for school age children in the county.

The planners point out that the reasons so few schools have "bicycle connectivity" is that the standard is so high. For example, neighborhood sidewalks are not considered bikeable by children. And many schools are near high speed roads. 

To address this concern, the Planning Board could consider recommending a Safe Routes to School policy: "Safe Routes to School: Develop a Safe Routes to School policy that permanently (not just during school hours) reduces posted speed limits in front of schools and provides traffic calming features and/or traffic control, such as pedestrian median refuges, adjacent to schools to facilitate safe crossings."

In addition WABA requests several additional facilities such as a separated bikeway on East-West highway from downtown Bethesda to Beach Drive. One key piece of the plan is the system of "breezeways" that will connect key areas over long distances in the county - think intercity travel. Breezeways are a combination of Trails, Sidepaths, Separated bike lanes and Neighborhood greenways depending on the conditions. In many cases WABA would like those extended. When the plan calls for a sidepath, WABA wants one on both sides of the street which is the norm in the Plan. 

On the East-West Highway bikeway, staff writes

Adding a separated bikeway on East West Highway between Wisconsin Ave and Beach Drive will be challenging and costly. The Capital Crescent Trail is under construction and will serve many of the same users that would benefit from a bikeway on East-West Highway.

The SHA on the other hand is concerned that the Plan gives too much space to cyclists.  "The Bicycle Master Plan proposes two-way bikeways on both sides of the streets on many of the County’s major highways. SHA questions whether there is sufficient demand to support this investment, whether there is sufficient right-of-way and whether it will take away space from other elements of the roadway."

The County's position is that 

By providing a two-way facility on each side of the street, Montgomery County will enable bicyclists to complete trips to their destinations with minimal conflicts and delay and encourage more "Interested but Concerned" riders to consider bicycling.

Too much parking (for bikes)

Another interesting issue is the MCDOT thinks the plan calls for too many Bicycle Parking Stations (33 of them), so planning staff is removing two of them - at Gateway Center Station and Manekin Station.

CO2 reduction

The total calculated yearly reduction in emissions as a result of the implementation of the Bicycle Master Plan is between approximately 15,500 and 33,000 metric tons of C02e, which is equivalent to removing between approximately 3,300 and 7,000 cars from the roads each year. Based on staff’s judgment, we believe the reductions are closer to the higher end of the range.

Speeding tickets (for bikes)

The plan originally proposed speed limits of 10 mph on shared streets and 15 mph on neighborhood greenways . MCDOT pointed out that this would mean that a lot of cyclists would be speeding. So they've raised that limit to 20mph. 

A connection from the Capital Crescent Trail to Broad Street (where the Glen Echo Trolley once ran)

MCDOT recommended connecting the CCT to the C&O Canal towpath by providing a short trail between the Capital Crescent Trail and the Broad Street in the Brookmont community (Bicyclists would then use an existing connection between Broad Street and the C&O Canal Towpath), and staff thinks its a good idea - contingent upon evaluation of potential impacts to park land. This would also create a connection to the Trolley ROW (the same one that could build a trail from the Palisades to Georgetown). 

There are dozens of other goodies in the working section staff reports for those who have the interest to find them. 

The next work session is scheduled for April 19, 2018.

The State of the Foundry Branch Trestle is Poorer

WMATA has done another inspection of the Foundry Branch Trolley Trestle, and they now say it could collapse at any minute. 

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.

Trail advocates, including myself, have been eager to see this used as part of a trail that could run from the Palisades to Georgetown. Unfortunately WMATA has seemed much more eager to tear down the trestle than to make that happen. At the January BAC meeting DDOT said they were working towards a spring 2018 start date for the feasibility study. Despite that, WMATA is seeking permission from NPS and DC to tear it down, after which they would reportedly store the pieces some place in case a plan to restore it emerges. 

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.

It's not true that it has been unused since 1962. People used to walk across it until the 1980's when someone fell off it to their death, but it hasn't been used as streetcar trestle in that time. 

It may be that everyone has dickered around with this so long that demolition is the best remaining option. I'm not sure if this is a case of demolition by neglect or just garden-variety neglect, but either way WMATA has done a terrible job of managing this asset for the people they were supposed to serve and now, ironically it they - and everyone else - will be worse off than if they'd done the right thing back in 1996. Or if the Rider's Fund had in 1993. Or if DC Transit had before that. The right thing, of course, would've been to give it to DDOT for the purpose of making a trail. Making it into a trail in 1993, when everyone was interested in it, ironically, would have served bus riders far more than letting the thing sit for 25 years, and certainly more than spending ~$200,000 to remove the trestle (and then store it). A further kicker is that I suspect the riders fund will have to come up with the money for that. Winning! 

Unfortunately, all 3 owners held out hope of making money off the right-of-way. That hope hinged primarily on Georgetown U, since they're one of only 3 parties that would be interested in it. Of the other two, NPS has no reason to buy it since basically it's in the exact state they want it to be. DDOT could use it, but it's never quite made it up to a high priority for them. 

Several years ago I talked to the person at WMATA who managed this property and asked him how much they wanted for it, thinking, if it wasn't too much, I could find a way to raise the money and then get DDOT to take it over and build a trail on it. But the guy wouldn't even give me a number because he thought it would hamper negotiations with Georgetown. Then Georgetown didn't buy it (even after WMATA tried to force them to when they expanded the driveway that crosses it). I'm not sure they were even really interested.  Now WMATA's left holding a strip of land with negative value while a much-used hiking trail sits closed for 1.5+ years. Sigh.

Making it worse is that DC tried to help them get historical preservation grant money to repair it, and they failed to turn the paperwork in.

But that's all runners under the trestle now. At this point the question is, is the cost of tearing it down and building a new bridge less than the cost of restoring it, even if we consider the historical value of it - whatever that may be? I think, sadly, that it probably is. But there's another wrinkle. Will NPS let DDOT build another bridge if WMATA tears this one down? It's hard to say, and DC should figure that out before they let WMATA tear it down, but if not, than restoration is the only option to save the trail. 

Palisades resident Brett Young has watched with dismay in recent years as Foundry Branch Bridge has fallen further into disrepair. Back in 2014, Young pushed Metro to commission an architectural study of the structure. The transit authority obliged that June, with architecture firm Structura concluding that a host of necessary replacement and repair efforts would cost approximately $2 million, while a temporary stabilization would cost around $800,000.

“It is recommended that a restoration program be implemented within the next three years to address noted structural concerns and to maintain the stability of the framing system and limit further deterioration,” the report reads, adding that until that happens “the structure should be regularly monitored for any changes from its present condition.”

On Sunday, Young showed a reporter several sizable wooden planks that had fallen recently from the bridge — and could have injured someone walking underneath at the wrong moment. The most rapid deterioration happens during snowstorms, Young said. Other curiosities at the site include a bicycle lodged in a tree atop the bridge.

Young has long floated the possibility of converting the three-mile trolley right-of-way from Georgetown to Galena Place in the Palisades into a 30-foot-wide trail with separate lanes for pedestrians and bicyclists, rather than a narrow path that’s periodically interrupted by impassable abandoned rail bridges. But given that agencies don’t yet agree on short-term plans, his proposal will likely have to wait a while.

One part of Palisades Trail Project moves forward, while other slowly falls down

A couple of stories about the Palisades Trail have popped up this week: DDOT has started the Palisades Trail Project Over ArizonaAvenue, NW study and the Post wrote an article about the decaying Foundry Branch Trestle and the effort to save and reuse it. 

DC owns the ROW from Foxhall Road all the way to Norton Street. They bought it back in the 70's to build a water main, but after insisting that the water main come with a trail, neighbors changed course and decided they didn't want it.  So it has pretty much sat untouched with DDOT occasionally saying it would make a good place for a trail and putting it into long range planning documents. Last summer, DDOT proposed upgrading the section from Nebraska to Galena as part of the upgrade to the recreation center, but when the final design was presented last spring, it did not include the trail other than to note it as a "proposed pedestrian path".

But now they're going to study a larger section of the trail as part of a project to rebuild the Arizona Avenue pedestrian bridge.

This study will consider the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the superstructure and substructure of the approximately 110 ft. long existing pedestrian bridge across Arizona Avenue NW and the related existing connecting trail.

The study consists of two phases. This first phase will generate a preliminary design for the bridge, trail alignments and widths, storm water facilities, and other amenities along the trail. The timing and schedule of the second phase will be determined once the scope is determined and the first phase of the work is completed.

Both phases of the study incorporate multiple opportunities for community input. The first community meeting will share existing condition information and is anticipated to occur in the fall of 2017. Meeting details will be provided as they are available.

I've been told the Arizona bridge is in bad shape and also needs to be raised because it has insufficient clearance below. I don't see how this is worth the cost if a more formalized trail isn't built as part of it. I think either the people of the Palisades should get a trail from Galena to Nebraska (or Canal) or they should just have the bridge removed. 

The trestle over foundry branch is a little more complicated. That still belongs to the Rider's Fund/WMATA. 

But the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which inherited the structure after the trolley closed in 1962, has signaled only a desire to demolish it. Only recently, faced with the difficulties of bulldozing a designated historic structure, has Metro grown more receptive to ceding the property to the city for use as a trail.

Metro spokesman Richard Jordan said the transit agency is in discussions with various agencies to determine the best solution moving forward and is working with the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) “to gauge their interest in taking over responsibility for the bridge and advancing repairs. These discussions are ongoing and no decisions have been made.”

[WMATA didn't get the bridge in 1962, but rather in 1996] 

“The bridge is a historic resource,” DDOT spokeswoman Maura Danehey said. She said the city is interested in the restoration of the bridge if it could potentially be reused as part of the city’s growing trail network. But before assuming responsibility for the structure, DDOT would first need to conduct a trail feasibility study to determine costs and benefits, Danehey said. The agency plans to launch that study this year.

But there’s no clear timetable when the agencies involved will determine if the restoration is feasible, how to fund such an effort and what would it take to rehabilitate it. A push from Metro to seek demolition isn’t completely off the table.

DDOT is reportedly starting a study to determine if the bridge has any transportation value. If that comes up positive, then it would be followed by another study to determine what would be needed to rehabilitate the bridge or if that's even possible. 

This trail still has considerable obstacles to overcome, but if the north section is built and the bridge preserved/rehabilitated, that would represent huge steps forward. 

From the Archives: Another missed opportunity for the Glen Echo Trolley line

There have a few near misses for the rail-to-trail conversion of the Glen Echo and Cabin John Trolley line. There was a missed chance for the DC section in the 1970's and numerous times that the line has found its way into plans that never came to be. Back in 1993, there was another missed chance on the part of the line in Maryland, from Cabin John to Brookmont.

It all started with the end of the streetcar system in DC.

Transit riders filed a successful class-action suit in the 1960s challenging fare increases by the D.C. Transit System Inc., which operated Washington's bus system and street cars in addition to the trolley.

That class-action lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court and wasn't settled until 1989

The ROW continued to be owned by the D.C. Transit System until it defaulted on its debt to the Washington Metropolitan Area Riders Fund, a nonprofit group created to hold the millions of dollars of refunds. They forced the auction of the ROW, which they then bought (because all the revenue of the sale would go to them and they'd thus get the land for free? Just guessing.)

They bought the 3 mile, 15 acre ROW for $42,500, which seems like a steal

[Leonard N. Bebchick.], court-appointed counsel for the Riders Fund, said he has no plans to develop the property, which was assessed at $571,000. "I think the bulk of the property has no value, except to the National Park Service," he said. Bebchick added that he'd like to sell the land to the Park Service so it can make the Clara Barton Parkway four lanes throughout.

But Audrey Calhoun, assistant superintendent of the George Washington Parkway, said the Park Service doesn't have the money to widen the two-lane part of the Clara Barton Parkway.

Still, a lot of people were interested in getting it for free.

Nevertheless, [Calhoun] added, "If someone were to donate {the trolley corridor} to us, we'd be more than happy to take it."

Glen Echo Town Council member Bill Shultz attended the auction and approached Bebchick yesterday about donating the Glen Echo segment of his new property to the town of 350. He was turned down.

At the time, the Post wrote

The fund now has $11 million, most of it invested in Treasury notes, and is still owed $4.8 million by the D.C. Transit System, Bebchick said.

When the Riders Fund is finally tapped, Bebchick doesn't want the millions used to lower bus and subway fares. "I want something tangible to show the riders that after 30 years of litigation they've got something for their money," he said. What does he have in mind? More bus shelters.

In 1996, the Riders Fund (and the related Bebchick fund) was transferred to WMATA with the conditions that the money be used to buy buses and that it not offset any contributions due from the jurisdictions that fund WMATA. The land was transferred too, though there was one suggestion to not transfer the land (I don't know what they wanted done with the land instead). If only someone could have made the argument that turning the ROW over to Montgomery County and DC for the purpose of a trail would benefit bus riders. 

DDOT asks Georgetown to consider Palisades Trail as part of Campus Plan

Georgetown University has been working on a new Campus Plan since 2012. In includes plans for dealing with an increased student population, by adding student housing and new facilities while improving neighborhood life and expanding the Medstar GU hospital. It also contains a transportation element, with the goal of creating a more bicycle and pedestrian friendly campus. The plan was completed in September and brought before the zoning commission this month.

DDOT has reviewed and supports the transportation element, but had a few requests.

• That Healy Circle be reconstructed as a non-auto oriented, bicycle and pedestrian gateway - GU didn't oppose this, but didn't see it as having much of a purpose beyond aesthetics. They viewed it as a "nice to have" but they didn't have the money for it, so they wouldn't commit to it.
• The provision of a connection at the campus border at a point where the future Palisades Trolley Trail can be connected to the campus bike network if the trail proceeds. - GU does not want to commit to this because they're neighbors don't want them to.
• Include bike routing and wayfinding on the university's new wayfinding system - which GU agreed to.

Later they were asked about bike sharing. They noted that they have one station on campus and are working on two more. 

DDOT also requested a new N-S pedestrian path along the west side of campus, which GU resisted because they plan on improving two other north-south routes for pedestrians, and they fear a path on the west side (which wouldn't connect to anything in their view) would create noise and light issues for neighbors.

GCP seems to misunderstand what DDOT is asking for. They're opposed to a high-speed commuter bikeway across campus, but that's not what DDOT is asking for. What DDOT wants is an agreement to connect the University to trail on the Glen Echo Trolley right-of-way if one is built. Nonetheless, the spokesman for the GCP added onto his statement his opinion that "The university is correct... and that the offer to look at [DDOT proposals] in the future when more facts are available, especially the proposed east-west bikeway through campus, is an appropriate and indeed very generous offer. I think what's underlying the caution here, is that this is a pedestrian campus with thousands of students and another thousands of hospital workers, patients and visitors all they're all traversing this on foot and I think we should be very, very careful before agreeing to have high-speed commuter bike pathways going through a campus like this. So I think the University has gone at least as far as appropriate by saying let's look at this in the future, if and when it comes up.  I do not believe a commitment to do that is right at this point." 

During his time, the DDOT representative also brought up the connection to the Palisades Trolley Trail, which he said is also a connection to the Capitol Crescent Trail. He said it was not meant to be a commuter route, but a way for people to get to and from Georgetown (which I would call commuting, but he means not a high-speed bike commuter route for cyclists heading into town). He said he did not think it was unreasonable to ask for a commitment for GU to allow for a connection to the trail if it came to fruition during the lifespan of the plan.

The GU representative disagreed. On the subject of the Palisades Trail, the GU representative echoed the concerns of the GCP and said they were not willing to commit to a connection to the trail. Like the GCP, GU was concerned that "even if the intent is solely to provide this connection for people to get from the campus to the trails (and I think that's a great idea), if it has the potential to create that through traffic, that's something that would impact both the University and, in particular, West Georgetown, though also potentially Foxhill uphill the other way. And that's something that we all need to look at together, so that's why at this point we can agree to look at it, we're happy to look at it, but we can't say we'll make the connection, because that gets us in hot water with our partners, potentially. So, we need to look at it thoughtfully. So that's why we can't agree to that."

When asked about the trail, the DDOT representative said DDOT didn't know what the volume would be on the trail, and noted that they weren't even sure the trail would be built in the 20-year span of the plan. 

What's interesting is that GCP says they agree with GU and that they think they're being wise; but GU says their main concern is that GCP seems to be concerned. So GCP is trying to hide behind GU.

From the Archives: Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway

Here's an August 1897 ad for the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway that once ran from Georgetown to Cabin John. The ROW has been eyed for a trail since the 1970's and the trestle over Foundry Branch was the subject of a post earlier this week. The structural condition report states that the trolley along this line started running in 1897, but actually it was running as early as November 1895, though only to the District line at first.