Rating:
2 votes

Capital Crescent Trail - C&O Canal Bridge

Washington, District of Columbia

Photos 

Photo taken by M.V. Jantzen

License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

View this photo on Flickr

BH Photo #235374

Map 

Street View 

Description 

According to railroad historians and railroad blueprints, the Whipple span of this two-span bridge originally was built in 1885 at Ridley Creek, Ridley Park, Pa. (southwest of Philadelphia), and was relocated to this location in 1909 when it was replaced with a deck truss span.

Facts 

Overview
Whipple through truss and Pratt through truss bridge over Canal & Arizona Avenue on Capital Crescent Trail (formerly B&O Railroad)
Location
Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia
Status
Open to pedestrians
History
Originally built for the Baltimore & Ohio RR at Ridley Creek, Ridley Park, Pa. (southwest of Philadelphia); dismantled and rebuilt by the B&O at this location 1909, converted to trail use in 1992
Builder
- Keystone Bridge Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Whipple span)
Railroads
- Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O; BO)
- Rail-to-trail
Design
Whipple and Pratt through spans
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 223.0 ft.
Total length: 342.0 ft.
Deck width: 13.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+38.92476, -77.10733   (decimal degrees)
38°55'29" N, 77°06'26" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/317320/4310538 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Washington West
Inventory number
BH 50184 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (424)
Built 1909 (743)
Built during 1900s (7,011)
District of Columbia (63)
Georgetown, District of Columbia (1)
Have street view (26,087)
Keystone Bridge Co. (60)
Open to pedestrians (3,964)
Owned by state (15,512)
Pratt through truss (5,206)
Pratt truss (9,019)
 Preserved (1,149)
Rail-to-trail (1,444)
Railroad (14,941)
Relocated (844)
Span length 175-250 feet (1,946)
Through truss (14,549)
Total length 250-500 feet (5,073)
Truss (31,945)
Washington, District of Columbia (63)
Whipple truss (362)

Update Log 

  • May 6, 2020: New photos from Patrick Gurwell
  • February 19, 2014: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Name corrected; crosses Canal Road, not Arizona Avenue
  • February 18, 2014: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Additional history and photo added
  • April 6, 2013: New photos from Andy Peters
  • August 10, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Railroad"
  • July 17, 2012: Photo imported by Luke Harden
  • November 13, 2011: Photo imported by Luke Harden
  • November 13, 2011: Added by J.P.

Sources 

  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Andy Peters - anpete1971 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Alexander D. Mitchell IV
  • Patrick Gurwell - pgurwell [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Capital Crescent Trail Canal Road Overpass
Posted February 20, 2014, by Alexander D. Mitchell IV (LNER4472 [at] verizon [dot] net)

Read the description; that's exactly what happened.

Arizona Avenue Railway Bridge
Posted July 17, 2012, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

If this was really a railroad bridge I think it would be hard to even consider the Pratt a 1909 structure, let alone the Whipple. By 1909, railroad bridges were far more massive than this. Could this be a bridge relocated and reused in this place in 1909?

Either way, an excellent find, I was unaware of this rare bridge in DC.

Arizona Avenue Railway Bridge
Posted November 13, 2011, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

This bridge looks to be much older than dated.

The Pratt could be 1909 but the Whipple would be pre-1900.

Arizona Avenue Railway Bridge
Posted November 13, 2011, by J.P.

Bridge has a curve built it. Not sure of the builder though. Here is a image from the deck where you can see the curve. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvjantzen/248793397/