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On this day in 1983 - NPS announced plans to permanently close Beach Drive, between Joyce and Broad Branch to car traffic once the red line opened in 1985.
Modeled after a similar plan in NYC's Central Park the idea was to return Beach to the park road it was meant to be instead of the commuter route it had become following the opening of the Zoo Tunnel in 1966.
When the Zoo Tunnel was planned, NPS warned that it would turn Beach into a commuter highway. They were assured that it would not. It did. So as early as 1973 NPS proposed closing part of Beach and in 1980 they started formal planning.
The 1983 plan involved closing one lane of the Joyce-Broad Branch section of Beach during rush-hour starting May 1st to create a bike-ped area. The plan never came to fruition.
Under intense pressure from AAA and local leaders in both DC and Montgomery county the soft closure was delayed and then cancelled, along with the permanent closure, 6 months later. Instead NPS promised to build a parallel trail in that section by 1986.
That never happened either. NPS stated that the area was too narrow to allow for the road and the trail. Instead in 2004 they promised to lower the speed limit on the shared section of Beach and add in traffic calming measures.
That never happened either. In response to the 2020-2021 Covid-19 pandemic, the road was closed for recreation over the 4.5-mile stretch from Broad Branch Road to the Maryland state line.
NPS says this will end when the pandemic does, but DC is considering whether this is a good idea or not.
