The Klingle Valley Trail is a
trail
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. Th ...
in the
northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C.
In 1990, erosion led to the closure of a 0.75-mile section of the road between Cortland Place and Porter Street. This touched off a decades-long dispute between people who wanted the road repaired and those who wanted to keep the portion in
Rock Creek Park
Rock Creek Park is a large urban park that bisects the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The park was created by an Act of Congress in 1890 and today is administered by the National Park Service. In addition to the park proper, the Rock Cr ...
free of automobile traffic. In 2017, that portion of Klingle Road became Klingle Valley Trail, reserved for hikers and bicyclists.
Location
The valley forms the boundary between the
Woodley Park
Woodley Park is a neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, DC. It is bounded on the north by Woodley Road and Klingle Road, on the east by the National Zoo and Rock Creek Park, on the south by Calvert Street, on the southwest by Cleveland Avenue, a ...
neighborhood to the south and the
Cleveland Park
Cleveland Park is a residential neighborhood in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C.
It is located at and bounded approximately by Rock Creek Park to the east, Wisconsin and Idaho Avenues to the west, Klingle and Woodley Roads to the ...
neighborhood to the north. A small stream, usually called Klingle Creek (but sometimes the Klingle Tributary), flows through it, and empties into
Rock Creek. Much of the valley is administered by the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
as a part of Rock Creek Park. The mouth of the valley joins the mouth of another narrow valley occupied by Porter Street.
History
Formerly Klingle Ford Road, Klingle Road became a public roadway in 1839, but only later was named Klingle. The road is named for Joshua Pierce Klingle, the nephew of Pierce Mill owner Joshua Pierce and was originally known as Klingle's Road. Klingle, who was adopted by Pierce when his parents died, inherited Pierce's land upon his death and in 1891 sold a large portion of it to the federal government for the creation of Rock Creek Park.
In 1885, the Klingle Road right-of-way was deeded to the city for use as a public highway. Five years later, when Congress authorized the creation of Rock Creek Park, Klingle formed the rough southern border of the new park. Along with Peirce Mill and Military Roads, it was the only roads that spanned the park north of the National Zoological Park.
In 1913, the city generated a plan to straighten and widen the street as Klingle Parkway, connecting Beach Drive and Reno Road. Before World War I, the road was used by farmers to bring grain to
Peirce Mill
The Peirce Mill is a historic mill building located in Rock Creek Park, at Tilden Street and Beach Drive, Northwest, Washington, D.C., United States.
History
Issac Peirce, a millwright,NPS publication "Peirce Mill" GPO: 2004--304-337/00145 Repri ...
.
Klingle Road remains listed as an arterial roadway for vehicular traffic on the District of Columbia's Functional Classification Map and is a part of DC's permanent system of highways. Klingle Road remains a right-of-way on the federal-aid system and has not been officially or administratively closed.
Closure and ensuing dispute
A section of the roadway was barricaded in 1990 after
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
severely damaged a section. Because the road had been used by up to 3,200 cars a day, a campaign was launched to repair and reopen the road. But a competing campaign, led by the Sierra Club of DC, advocated for replacing the road with a bicycle, hiking, or bridle path.
![Klingle road](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Klingle_road.May2008.websize.JPG)
The repair-and-rebuild group persuaded the DC government to commission a feasibility study by the Berger Group, and engineering consultancy. Published in August 1999, the study ruled out no options, and so did not end the dispute.
In 2003, Mayor
Anthony Williams expressed opposition to the demands that the road be rebuilt, but was overruled by the
Council of the District, which in 2003 passed a line item in the District budget bill requiring that Klingle Road "be re-opened to the public for motor vehicle traffic." The construction schedule called for the road to be re-opened to motorized traffic in 2007.
An
environmental impact study
Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...
was performed in order to apply for federal funding for the construction. Repeated efforts at this environmental impact study were returned by the federal government to the District for rewriting and changes. In 2008, District Mayor
Adrian Fenty
Adrian Malik Fenty (born December 6, 1970) is an American politician who served as the sixth mayor of the District of Columbia. He served one term, from 2007 to 2011, losing his bid for reelection at the primary level to Democrat Vincent C. Gra ...
attempted to bypass the environmental impact statement by providing full local funding of the automobile road. But Councilmember
Mary Cheh
Mary M. Cheh (born 1950) is an American Democratic politician from Washington, D.C. In November 2006, she won a seat on the Council of the District of Columbia representing Ward 3.
Background and family
Mary Cheh was born in Elizabeth, New Jer ...
, Ward 3, succeeded in replacing this appropriation with a provision calling for the road to "remain closed to motorized vehicular traffic," and the
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
employed instead for a non-motorized use trail. Councilmember
Jim Graham
James McMillan Nielson Graham (August 26, 1945 – June 11, 2017) was a Scottish-born American politician and a member of the Council of the District of Columbia. He was a Democrat who represented Ward 1 in Washington, D.C. from 1999 until ...
, Ward 1, attempted to restore funding for the automobile road, but his amendment was rejected by the District Council by a 10–3 vote.
Outcome
After two decades of dispute, the road was replaced with a trail for hikers and bicyclists.
A 2011 Environmental Assessment resulted in a finding of "No Significant Impact"
. This Assessment identified, as the "preferred option", a 10-foot-wide permeable-surface multi-use trail, full stream channel and bank stabilization for Klingle Creek, a multi-use trail connecting this trail to the existing Rock Creek trail, and pole or bollard lighting of the trail to facilitate nighttime use. On February 28, 2011, the Federal Highway Administration accepted this finding. But the assessment was challenged in Federal Court with a November 1, 2011 lawsuit demanding that the District and Federal governments "refrain from any further planning, acquisition of right-of-way, financing, contracting, or construction of the Klingle Trail Project".
On February 1, 2012, the defendants submitted a motion to have the court dismiss this suit.
On August 9, 2012, the U.S. District Court did indeed dismiss the suit, "for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction".
A permit to begin restoration of the creek bed, retaining walls, and water permeable trail was granted in Oct. 2014. Preliminary work on the Trail began in July, 2015 and on June 24, 2017, the Klingle Valley Trail was opened to the public.
![Klingle_valley_trail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Klingle_valley_trail.June_2017.jpg)
References
External links
Klingle Valley Trail ProjectThe Coalition to Repair and Reopen Klingle Road
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Streets in Washington, D.C.
Rock Creek Park