WMATA, the agency that owns the Foundry Branch Trestle over Glover Archbold National Park, hired a law firm to make its case for razing the abandoned span that once carried trolley traffic between the District of Columbia and Glen Echo Park.

A public hearing on the agency’s request for a permit to demolish the trestle was set for this morning, but was postponed.

In a letter dated August 2, the law firm, Beveridge & Diamond, requested 90 days to “allow us adequate time to prepare a case on behalf” of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

The law firm says its “more than 110 lawyers in 8 U.S. offices help clients around the world resolve critical environmental, natural resource, project development, and sustainability issues relating to their facilities, products, and operations” and the team includes “former in-house lawyers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Justice, and other federal and state resource and environmental agencies.”

WMATA says “failure to approve the raze permit will result in an unreasonable economic hardship,” while the city department of transportation and preservationists have viewed the trestle as a potential bike and pedestrian connection linking Georgetown with points west, according to the city’s State Historic Preservation Office.

A new hearing date has not been set, according to C. Andrew Lewis, senior historic preservation specialist in the Office.

National Park Trail Closure Enters Third Year

The trestle, located just north of Canal Road, has been out of commission and deteriorating since the early 1960s. The park trail that runs under the trestle has been closed since August 2016 and a plan to install a covered walkway that would guard people against falling debris has not materialized.

A 2014 evaluation of the trestle by Structura, a Rockville, Maryland, firm, determined that the “structure is in poor condition” and 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.” The firm estimated “full restoration” of the trestle at $2,040,000, but cautioned that the firm was not a “professional cost estimator” and that repairs would depend on the span’s intended use.

Foundry Branch Trestle information, provided by DC Historic Preservation Office.