Metropolitan Branch Trail
Encyclopedia
The Metropolitan Branch Trail, also called the Met Branch Trail, is an 8 miles (12.9 km) shared-use trail that, when complete, will run from the Silver Spring, Maryland Transit Center to Union Station
in the District of Columbia. It serves to extend the Capital Crescent Trail
where it merges with the active WMATA/CSX railroad into the National Capital. At Fort Totten
a connector trail to the Northwest Branch Trail of the Anacostia Tributary Trail System
at Hyattsville, Maryland
will be constructed; and an on-street connection to the National Mall
will be constructed from Union Station. When completed, the Metropolitan Branch Trail will serve as part of the East Coast Greenway
.
Seven miles of the trail are within Washington, DC and one mile (1.6 km) is in Maryland. The trail gets its name from the Metropolitan Subdivision of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
(B&O), which the trail parallels. It is considered a rail-trail conversion, because a key section of the trail is on former B&O right-of-way
. The remainder of the trail closely parallels the current WMATA/CSX tracks into Maryland. It is anchored by two significant railroad landmarks, Union Station and the old B&O Railroad Station
in Silver Spring
.
neighborhood. Working with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
, in 1989, Hare organized a group of eleven area cyclists to conduct an exploratory walk/ride. Soon after the Coalition for the Metropolitan Branch Trail was formed to explore and promote the potential for a multi-use trail. The Metropolitan Branch Trail entered the DC Comprehensive Plan in the early 1990s and in 1997 the DC Department of Public Works (DCDPW) completed an engineering feasibility study that proved it would be possible.
In 1998 Congress
allocated $8.5 million in demonstration project funding to the District for the trail through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
(TEA-21), the six-year federal transportation funding bill. In 1999 WABA published a concept plan for the trail that envisioned creation of a large urban park and greenway
along the abandoned, and as yet undeveloped, CSX Transportation
property; and later that year a groundbreaking
ceremony was held at the Brookland-Catholic University Metro station where a one-mile (1.6 km) portion of the trail had been built along McCormack Road as a part of routine street reconstruction in 1998. Another short, on-road trail section was built along First Street NE from Union Station in 2000.
With funding secured, planning began in earnest. In April 2001, WABA published a study describing the necessary acquisitions for the trail. In 2002, when the city and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
(WMATA) agreed to construct a new Metro
station at New York and Florida Avenues, trail advocates and city staff negotiated for WMATA to construct a portion of the trail as a part of the station construction project. Around the same time the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
(M-NCPPC) completed a Feasibility Study and Concept Plan for one mile of the MBT between DC and Silver Spring. In 2003, the District Department of Transportation
(DDOT) hired a special project manager for the trail, prepared a Takoma Alignment Study and initiated development of the comprehensive concept plan, which was completed in 2005.
When the NoMa – Gallaudet University Metro station (then named New York Avenue – Florida Avenue – Gallaudet University) opened in November 2004, it included about 2000 feet (609.6 m) of trail on a raised structure. In the same year, a half mile of trail was built in Takoma Park, Maryland
from the District line to Montogomery College. It was later paved in January 2006. On July 28, 2004 a bridge was built from the Takoma Park section over the railroad tracks to Jessup Blair Park in Silver Spring. Stairs from the New York Avenue Metro Station section to L Street NE, a trail under the tracks along L Street NE and a one block portion along 2nd Street NE were completed in the spring of 2008. In May 2010, a new 1.5 mile segment from New York Avenue to Franklin Street opened.
. It was converted into railroad sidings for industrial uses on Capitol Hill in the late 19th-early 20th century, parallel to B&O railroad.
The Metropolitan Branch sidings became disused as industrial applications left the city, and the owner, CSX, which had already sold the active B&O railroad tracks within the District to the Washington Metro under a joint use agreement, made plans to redevelop many of the properties along the right-of-way, leaving it as a staging ground for temporary construction uses. During this period, the wide, grassy strip became a popular short-cut for pedestrians and cyclists trying to access the new Red Line (Washington Metro)
which runs along the corridor.
Initially, WMATA engineered the Red Line to accommodate existing railroad uses in the corridor, bisecting the existing rail line and preserving many of the Metropolitan Branch sidings. In 1988, a decade after WMATA purchased and widened the active tracks, Montgomery County, Maryland
purchased the Georgetown Branch of the B&O, a single track spur feeding into the Metropolitan Branch from the north, for transportation use including an extension of the Capital Crescent Trail. The remaining disused portions of the Metropolitan Branch spanned the distance parallel to the Red Line between the Georgetown Branch and Union Station, including sizable gaps north of Franklin Street, where the railroad had been widened by WMATA; the only available right-of-way for a trail in these areas was on adjacent parkland, or streets parallel to the railroad tracks.
Subsequent alterations to the Metropolitan Branch Trail route have reduced the amount of right-of-way acquisition by placing substantial portions of the proposed trail on-street, while retaining a continuous off-street trail between Franklin Street and the NoMa – Gallaudet University Metro station.
Union Station (Washington, D.C.)
Washington Union Station is a train station and leisure destination visited by 32 million people each year in the center of Washington, D.C. The train station is served by Amtrak, MARC and Virginia Railway Express commuter rail services as well as by Washington Metro subway trains and local buses...
in the District of Columbia. It serves to extend the Capital Crescent Trail
Capital Crescent Trail
The Capital Crescent Trail is an long, shared-use rail trail that runs from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Silver Spring, Maryland. The portion from Bethesda to Silver Spring is also called the Georgetown Branch Trail but is recognized as the Future Capital Crescent Trail.The Capital Crescent...
where it merges with the active WMATA/CSX railroad into the National Capital. At Fort Totten
Fort Totten, Washington, D.C.
Fort Totten is a park and neighborhood in northeast Washington, D.C.. The neighborhood is bordered by N Capitol St to the west, Riggs Rd NE to the north, the Red Line tracks to the east, and Hawaii Ave NE to the south. It is named after a Civil War-era fort. The Fort Totten Metro station is named...
a connector trail to the Northwest Branch Trail of the Anacostia Tributary Trail System
Anacostia Tributary Trails
The Anacostia Tributary Trail System is a unified and signed system of stream valley trails joining the Northwest Branch, Northeast Branch, Indian Creek and Paint Branch stream valley parks, set aside and maintained by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in the northeastern...
at Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 17,557 at the 2000 census.- History :The city was named for its founder, Christopher Clark Hyatt. He purchased his first parcel of land in the area in March 1845...
will be constructed; and an on-street connection to the National Mall
National Mall
The National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
will be constructed from Union Station. When completed, the Metropolitan Branch Trail will serve as part of the East Coast Greenway
East Coast Greenway
The East Coast Greenway, or ECG, is a project to create a nearly urban path linking the major cities of the Atlantic coast of the United States, from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Florida, for non-motorized human transportation...
.
Seven miles of the trail are within Washington, DC and one mile (1.6 km) is in Maryland. The trail gets its name from the Metropolitan Subdivision of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
(B&O), which the trail parallels. It is considered a rail-trail conversion, because a key section of the trail is on former B&O right-of-way
Right-of-way (railroad)
A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...
. The remainder of the trail closely parallels the current WMATA/CSX tracks into Maryland. It is anchored by two significant railroad landmarks, Union Station and the old B&O Railroad Station
Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station
The Silver Spring Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station is a historic building located at Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland. It was built in 1945 on the foundation of the original station, a Victorian-style brick structure built in 1878. It was designed in the Colonial Revival style and...
in Silver Spring
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
.
History
The Metropolitan Branch Trail was first conceived in 1988, by Patrick Hare, of the BrooklandBrookland, Washington, D.C.
Brookland is a neighborhood in the Northeast quadrant of Washington, D.C., historically centered along 12th Street NE. Brookland is bounded by 9th Street NE to the west, Rhode Island Avenue NE to the south, and South Dakota Avenue to the east...
neighborhood. Working with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is an American nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that works with communities to preserve unused rail corridors by transforming them into rail trails within the United States of America...
, in 1989, Hare organized a group of eleven area cyclists to conduct an exploratory walk/ride. Soon after the Coalition for the Metropolitan Branch Trail was formed to explore and promote the potential for a multi-use trail. The Metropolitan Branch Trail entered the DC Comprehensive Plan in the early 1990s and in 1997 the DC Department of Public Works (DCDPW) completed an engineering feasibility study that proved it would be possible.
In 1998 Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
allocated $8.5 million in demonstration project funding to the District for the trail through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century was enacted June 9, 1998, as Public Law 105-178. TEA-21 authorized the Federal surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and transit for the 6-year period 1998-2003...
(TEA-21), the six-year federal transportation funding bill. In 1999 WABA published a concept plan for the trail that envisioned creation of a large urban park and greenway
Greenway (landscape)
A greenway is a long, narrow piece of land, often used for recreation and pedestrian and bicycle user traffic, and sometimes for streetcar, light rail or retail uses.- Terminology :...
along the abandoned, and as yet undeveloped, CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
property; and later that year a groundbreaking
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
ceremony was held at the Brookland-Catholic University Metro station where a one-mile (1.6 km) portion of the trail had been built along McCormack Road as a part of routine street reconstruction in 1998. Another short, on-road trail section was built along First Street NE from Union Station in 2000.
With funding secured, planning began in earnest. In April 2001, WABA published a study describing the necessary acquisitions for the trail. In 2002, when the city and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including the Metrorail, Metrobus and MetroAccess...
(WMATA) agreed to construct a new Metro
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name...
station at New York and Florida Avenues, trail advocates and city staff negotiated for WMATA to construct a portion of the trail as a part of the station construction project. Around the same time the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is a bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland.-History:...
(M-NCPPC) completed a Feasibility Study and Concept Plan for one mile of the MBT between DC and Silver Spring. In 2003, the District Department of Transportation
District of Columbia Department of Transportation
The District of Columbia Department of Transportation is an agency of the government of the District of Columbia which manages and maintains publicly-owned transportation infrastructure in the District of Columbia...
(DDOT) hired a special project manager for the trail, prepared a Takoma Alignment Study and initiated development of the comprehensive concept plan, which was completed in 2005.
When the NoMa – Gallaudet University Metro station (then named New York Avenue – Florida Avenue – Gallaudet University) opened in November 2004, it included about 2000 feet (609.6 m) of trail on a raised structure. In the same year, a half mile of trail was built in Takoma Park, Maryland
Takoma Park, Maryland
Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., and part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City," is a Tree City USA and a nuclear-free zone...
from the District line to Montogomery College. It was later paved in January 2006. On July 28, 2004 a bridge was built from the Takoma Park section over the railroad tracks to Jessup Blair Park in Silver Spring. Stairs from the New York Avenue Metro Station section to L Street NE, a trail under the tracks along L Street NE and a one block portion along 2nd Street NE were completed in the spring of 2008. In May 2010, a new 1.5 mile segment from New York Avenue to Franklin Street opened.
Right-of-way
A substantial segment of the original Metropolitan Branch right-of-way south of Franklin Street NE (in some places, 200 feet wide) was originally marked as an extension of Delaware Avenue under the L'Enfant PlanStreets and highways of Washington, D.C.
The streets and highways of Washington, D.C. form the core of the city's surface transportation infrastructure. As a planned city, streets in the capital of the United States follow a distinctive layout and addressing scheme...
. It was converted into railroad sidings for industrial uses on Capitol Hill in the late 19th-early 20th century, parallel to B&O railroad.
The Metropolitan Branch sidings became disused as industrial applications left the city, and the owner, CSX, which had already sold the active B&O railroad tracks within the District to the Washington Metro under a joint use agreement, made plans to redevelop many of the properties along the right-of-way, leaving it as a staging ground for temporary construction uses. During this period, the wide, grassy strip became a popular short-cut for pedestrians and cyclists trying to access the new Red Line (Washington Metro)
Red Line (Washington Metro)
The Red Line of the Washington Metro is a rail rapid transit service operating between 27 stations in Montgomery County, Maryland and the District of Columbia, United States. It is a primary line through downtown Washington, and the oldest and busiest line in the system...
which runs along the corridor.
Initially, WMATA engineered the Red Line to accommodate existing railroad uses in the corridor, bisecting the existing rail line and preserving many of the Metropolitan Branch sidings. In 1988, a decade after WMATA purchased and widened the active tracks, Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...
purchased the Georgetown Branch of the B&O, a single track spur feeding into the Metropolitan Branch from the north, for transportation use including an extension of the Capital Crescent Trail. The remaining disused portions of the Metropolitan Branch spanned the distance parallel to the Red Line between the Georgetown Branch and Union Station, including sizable gaps north of Franklin Street, where the railroad had been widened by WMATA; the only available right-of-way for a trail in these areas was on adjacent parkland, or streets parallel to the railroad tracks.
Subsequent alterations to the Metropolitan Branch Trail route have reduced the amount of right-of-way acquisition by placing substantial portions of the proposed trail on-street, while retaining a continuous off-street trail between Franklin Street and the NoMa – Gallaudet University Metro station.
External links
- Metropolitan Branch Trail - official site (DC Department of Transportation)
- Northwest Branch Trail - Montgomery County Department of Parks
- Silver Spring Trails