Convenient Rock Creek Park trail will close for up to three months for storm drain work

D.C.’s Klingle Valley Trail, a popular 0.7-mile multiuse trail that traverses Rock Creek Park near the National Zoo, is closing to pedestrians and cyclists starting September 3 and lasting for as many as three months, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced Wednesday. The closure is due to storm sewer upgrades that will require excavations along the trail, which runs between Cortland Place NW and Porter Street NW, according to DDOT.

A detour for trail users will be implemented during the closure, but the department does not specify in a release where the detour will be. The trail, which debuted in 2017 and replaced a road for cars, took more than a quarter-century to open, in large part because of community conflicts about how the space should be used. It connects Woodley Park and Mount Pleasant.

Before its reconstruction, the trail had been shuttered since 1991. The project cost $6 million and entailed new trees, landscaping, retaining walls, lighting, pavement, and other additions.