The redesigned Talbot Avenue Bridge in Silver Spring reopened Friday after roughly seven years of closure, marking the return of a century-old connection between two neighborhoods as well as a milestone for the Purple Line.
The bridge is ADA compliant and features multi-layer safety fencing and an updated two-way road surface, as well as a ramp, new curbs and wider sidewalks that are intended to improve safety for cars and pedestrians crossing CSX train tracks and the parallel Purple Line tracks under construction below, according to a Friday news release from the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT).
Under construction since 2017, the Purple Line is a 21-station light-rail line that will run from Bethesda to New Carrollton and connect riders to the Metro’s Red, Green and Orange lines as well as to MARC and Amtrak trains and bus services. Construction of the line has faced numerous delays since the project’s inception, but state transportation officials expect that it will be open for service in late 2027.
A Lyttonsville station under construction near the bridge is one of the future stations.
The opening of the bridge follows news last week that the Capital Crescent Trail is projected to reopen between Bethesda and Silver Spring in spring 2026—a year earlier than expected. The 11-mile trail, which runs from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Silver Spring, has been partially closed since 2017 due to Purple Line construction.
According to Senior Project Director Ray Biggs II, the Purple Line is more than 60% complete, “including thousands of feet of completed rail track, underground utility and stormwater management systems installed, and communications ductwork for electrical wiring and telecommunications lines well underway.”
In 2018, residents of the Lyttonsville and North Woodside neighborhoods voiced concerns to MoCo360 that the construction of the new bridge and the Purple Line would cause travel bottlenecks, noise issues and decrease interest in the community.
The original 100-year-old, one-lane wooden-and-steel Talbot Avenue bridge was once the link between segregated communities. African Americans lived on the Lyttonsville side and North Woodside was primarily white. The bridge passed over the CSX and Metro tracks and provided Lyttonsville residents a connection to employment, shopping and recreational opportunities in Silver Spring, according to the Greater Lyttonsville Sector Plan.
Montgomery Parks planners have pitched a new park to be built in Lyttonsville that would act as a rest stop along the Capital Crescent Trail and highlight the history of the historically Black community. Pieces of the original Talbot Avenue Bridge would also be integrated into the park. Residents lobbied for preservation of the original bridge on historic grounds when the initial plans to replace it were introduced.
