09 November 2010

Sights along the Met Branch Trail

The Metropolitan Branch Trail has been open between Franklin Street NE and the New York Avenue Metro Station for a few months now. Richard Layman and I must have both been on the trail within a few minutes of each other on Sunday, because I saw the cat at the top of this blog post in about the same spot. Here are some photographs I took of oddities and interesting things.

There is a continuing problem with erosion just south of the New York Avenue bridge. The area to the left where this mud is coming from is a steep slope half covered with weedy growth. Without it, there would probably be even more mud.

There is now signage for every street connection from the trail into Eckington. Here's R Street and Randolph Place NE.

For whatever reason, an R2-D2 look-alike looks over the trail at Randolph Place NE.

The pocket park where 4th and S Streets NE meet the trail is an overlooked gem. Each bench is accompanied by a place to lock up your bike, and there are trees that will hopefully live long enough to provide shade and beauty to this light industrial spot. (Richard makes a very good point that there should be garbage cans here, as well as in other locations along the trail.)

Neat how the trail's 5th and T Street NE signs are reflected in the signs across the street.

The parking structure that's going up at the Rhode Island Avenue station looms over even the elevated tracks.

The entrance to W Street NE is not as nice as the others. It's basically just a hole cut in the fence.

No idea what this is. It's just north of the Edgewood entrance to the trail. It looks like it could be for composting or something similar, but those light layers are rocks, not organic material.

Finally, here's a shot of the Rhode Island Avenue Station parking garage. Part of me would like to see it very underutilized, since the station is very well served by buses, and it's becoming easier to walk to. I think this garage will attract suburban drivers who will come down Rhode Island Avenue from Maryland. It could serve as a way to get close to downtown without having to drive all the way into the congestion of the center of the city.

1 comment:

  1. It is supposed to be some type of water feature. It was installed as part of the DCBIA pRoject on the Edgewood section of the trail.

    ReplyDelete

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