It is imperative that we act immediately to have our voices heard by DDOT. At the meeting on 9/30/25, DDOT clarified this is still in "planning", and they are taking comments inso our voices matter RIGHT NOW.
Email the public engagement team:
Eric Feldman ericf@rhiplaces.com
Christian Piñeiro christian.pineiro@dc.gov
We are a group of over 430 Palisades residents. Families who have raised our children in Palisades, attended Key School, biked down Potomac Ave to access the Capital Crescent Trail to watch inaugurations, young children and elderly who have donned rubber boots to walk our dogs on the trail when it's raining. We are former Palisades Citizens Association Presidents, former Key School PTA Presidents and Committee Chairs, former DCPS LSRT Chairs, and neighborhood volunteers. We have taught our children to ride their bikes on this trail, and we have held birthday parties and frisbee golf games there. We are joining together as a neighborhood to make it better--filling holes, planting clover, unearthing drains, and making plans to plant native species and work on drainage
Black Asphault. We are therefore advocating “no change” to the trail.
There are two stages to this trail redevelopment. The first, and most imminent, is the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of the Pedestrian Bridge and Connecting Trail at Arizona Avenue, NW (from Galena to Nebraska Ave.) The second, which is just in the feasibility stage, is the Palisades Trolley Trail and Foundry Trestle Bridge Feasibility Study (which would span from Galena Place to Georgetown.)
Yes, the trail isn't in perfect condition. Nature isn't perfect! Not everything needs to be paved. Grass is beautiful and critical to the biodiversity to our green, tree-lined neighborhood. Rails to Trails doesn't need to mean paved or resurfaced. It can mean grass! Part of our mission is to harness volunteer energy to repair parts of the trail and improve its condition. We've already held 3 work parties with 58 volunteers in less than 3 months. We would love to do much, much more.
The landscaping around the Palisades Park playground, the median strip along Macarthur Boulevard, and the gardens and grounds of Key School have all been maintained by amazing Palisades volunteers and families for decades. We live in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the city, and our neighbors and green spaces have helped make it that way!
We don't know exactly, because to date DDOT has not made us aware of having conducted an environmental impact survey. We do know this: our native fireflies bury in the soil. So do 80% of bee species, all of whom are in danger of disappearing. Our hearty Palisades bird population takes their needed dust baths there in the dead leaves. Displacing such a large amount of soil with a glued-together artificial non-grass surface will affect insects, as well as nearby trees. “The root network is in charge of all chemical activity [of a] tree.” (1) “There are more life forms in a handful of...soil than there are people on the planet...Miles of fungal filaments...work the soil, transform it, and make it so valuable for the trees.” (2) (Wohlleben, Peter: The Hidden Life of Trees, 2015)
Let's keep our beautiful trail grass instead of DDOT's 2 paving proposals!
The DDOT has stated publicly and documented in writing that the only option for the Trolley Trail is 2 forms of paving. Please read below:
"Based on project team recommendations and resident comments, DDOT agreed to consider a loose gravel surface (i.e., non-stabilized loose stone or gravel). However, the project involves Federal funding and the District's own policies require that all new and renovated trails must be accessible in accordance with the American Disabilities Act. A loose, non stabilized surface will not be considered accessible and a more stable surface type has been recommended to allow compliance...The only two viable surface materials are stabilized decomposed granite and porous asphalt."
-May 2, 2019 letter from Zahra Dorriz, Project Manager at DDOT
The Trolley Trail Preservation Group is therefore advocating NO CHANGE on the trail, and is working to improve it using Palisades community volunteers.
Our Board:
Christy Halvorson Ross, Co-Chair
JB Schramm, Co-Chair
Kim Snedden, Co-Chair
Renée Blankenau, Secretary
Bill Slover, Advocacy & Government Liaison
Jackie Dunn
John Kupcinski
Phong Trieu
Landscaping Consultation: Lindsey Truitt Landscaping
430 Members and counting.
We'll be scheduling a third TTPG Work Party soon! Stay tuned!
