If you’ve ever traveled on Canal Road, near Georgetown University, you’ve probably caught a glimpse of history — but it won’t be there to see for much longer.
The last remaining streetcar bridge in D.C. will soon be demolished.
On Wednesday, the National Park Service announced a Memorandum of Agreement to allow removal of the Foundry Branch Trestle Bridge, which is owned by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority — or WMATA.
The 280 foot bridge was built in 1896. It carried the Glen Echo Line, which took streetcars from Georgetown past Glen Echo Park, in Montgomery County, Maryland, until 1960.
Over the years, it became overgrown, and weather took its toll on the largely wooden structure.
The trestle bridge is located on federal parkland in Glover-Archbold Park, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and the D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites.
Since 2014, the National Park Service has been doing feasibility and engineering studies to determine whether the structure could be preserved or integrated into the parkland.
The Glover-Archbold Trail, which runs beneath the bridge was cordoned off in 2016, when debris from the bridge began falling.
Under the Memorandum of Agreement, during demolition of the bridge, WMATA will “preserve and protect the remaining concrete Trestle footers (in place) to provide tangible evidence of the former location.”
After demolition, the landscape will be reestablished with native vegetation, and the Glover-Archbold Trail will be reopened.
“This will allow the park to continue to function as a critical greenway that extends from upper Northwest Washington, D.C., to the Potomac River,” according to the MOA.
Signage will be developed to provide the historical and architectural characteristics of the trestle, as well as its function as part of the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company operations.
The Park Service said the signage will be placed along Canal Road NW in a location and manner that is accessible to all visitors.
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