Working with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in 1989, Hare organized 11 cyclists to conduct an exploratory walk/ride.
The Metropolitan Branch Trail entered the DC Comprehensive Plan in the early 1990s and as early as 1993, the NPS was planning to build the 0.75 mile section from the Fort Totten Metro Station to South Dakota Ave;[3] in 1997, the DC Department of Public Works (DPW) completed an engineering feasibility study that determined that it would be possible.
[1] In 1999, WABA published a concept plan for the trail that envisioned a large urban park and greenway along the abandoned, and as yet undeveloped, CSX Transportation property.
In 2003, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) hired a special project manager for the trail, prepared a Takoma Alignment Study, and began development of the comprehensive concept plan, which was completed in 2005.
[9][10] Five days later, a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the Brookland-Catholic University Metro station to celebrate its designation as a Millennium Legacy Trail.
When the New York Ave–Florida Ave–Gallaudet University Metro station opened in November 2004,[13] it included about 2,000 feet (610 m) of trail on a raised structure, but that section would remain inaccessible until 2010.
Construction on the core of the trail, a 1.5-mile segment from New York Avenue to Franklin Street, began in June 2009; its opening in May 2010 made the whole DC section usable.
[30] In 2003, Montgomery College built a half-mile of mostly-paved trail from the District line along Fenton Street to its Takoma campus expansion.
[37] The first piece built by Montgomery County not as part of some other project was a two-block section along Fenton and King Streets that was completed in June 2018.
[41] A substantial segment of the original Metropolitan Branch right-of-way south of Franklin Street NE (in some places, 200 feet wide) was marked as an extension of Delaware Avenue under the L'Enfant Plan.
These Metropolitan Branch sidings became disused as industries 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.
During this period, the wide, grassy strip became a popular short-cut for pedestrians and cyclists trying to access the Red Line, which runs along the corridor.
[42] 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.
Work on the section along South Dakota Avenue to Blair Road NW started in November 2023 and is also expected to be completed in fall 2024.
[46] In March 2024, Montgomery County began work on Phase 2A, which is to complete the trail from Silver Spring Avenue to Selim Road, including the extant portion behind Progress Place.
[49] As of September 2024, officials have announced no start or completion day for Phase 2B, the section along the west side of Selim Road to a new tunnel under Burlington Avenue to King Street.