Rhode Island Trolley Trail bridge closing for repairs in College Park

A bridge on the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail between Campus Drive and Paint Branch Trail will close on Thursday, April 16, forcing walkers, cyclists, students and commuters onto detours for about six weeks while repairs are made.

The closure, handled by the Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation, is expected to last until around May 28, with severe weather capable of shifting the schedule. A detour map will be provided for trail users who rely on the crossing to move through College Park.

The bridge sits on one of the city’s most heavily used active-transportation routes. College Park describes the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail as a 3.8-mile hiker-biker path that links to the Paint Branch Trail and other local trails, making the closure more than a minor inconvenience for nearby neighborhoods and the University of Maryland community. For many residents, the route functions as a daily connection between campus, city streets and parks.

The trail itself follows the path of the old Rhode Island Avenue streetcar line, which ran from 1903 to 1962 before becoming a hiker-biker corridor. That history has helped turn the trail into a visible part of College Park’s transportation network, not just a recreational amenity.

The bridge work also highlights how closely the city and county are tied to trail maintenance and expansion in this corridor. College Park has a Campus Drive Sidepath project planned between the Rhode Island Trolley Trail and Baltimore Avenue, aimed at strengthening the shared-use network along one of the area’s busiest travel paths. The city’s trail materials also place the Trolley Trail alongside Lake Artemesia Trail, Indian Creek Trail and Northeast Branch Trail as part of an interconnected system.

College Park has also used the corridor as a community space, including public mural installations along the northern portion of the trail through the Trolley Trail Heritage Arts Project in partnership with the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area. That makes the temporary shutdown especially visible in a place that serves both transportation and neighborhood identity.

For now, the closure is a preventive move meant to keep the trail safe before a problem becomes a failure. When the bridge reopens, it will restore an important link in College Park’s growing network of paths, sidepaths and trail connections.