WASHINGTON — Metro wants to demolish the last standing streetcar bridge in D.C., but before it can move forward the plan will get a public hearing next week.
The historic Foundry Branch Trolley Trestle in Northwest was built in 1896 and was abandoned when the city’s streetcars stopped running in the early 1960s.
The bridge is owned by Metro but stands in Glover-Archbold Park, which is controlled by the National Park Service.
Because of the bridge’s crumbling state, a trail underneath has been closed since 2016 to protect visitors from falling debris.
In January, Metro warned the Park Service that the bridge was at “imminent risk of collapse.
In March, Metro applied for a permit to demolish the structure.
The D.C. Preservation League and others would like to see it repaired and reopened as a trail for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The District Department of Transportation is interested in taking over control of the bridge from Metro in order to make that happen, but it plans to do a feasibility study first.
A public hearing about the bridge’s future is scheduled Thursday before D.C.’s Historic Preservation Review Board.
A staff report recommends that the board find Metro’s knockdown plan inconsistent with the purposes of the National Historic Preservation Act.
