The Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail preserves one of the last remnants of the streetcar line that ran from the Treasury Building in downtown Washington, D.C. to Laurel. Riders can again travel from Hyattsville to Branchville on the same route used daily by the Number 82 streetcar carrying commuters and shoppers downtown. The region has a long history of transportation innovation. U.S. Route 1 was established before 1794 as a post road for carrying mail. In 1835, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad built the Washington Branch into D.C., and that route is still used every day by freight and commuter trains. The Maryland and Washington Railway began streetcar service from Florida and New York Ave NE in Mount Rainier in 1897. Mergers in 1898 created the City and Suburban Railway, which extended service to Riverdale by 1899 and Berwyn by 1900. A financially weak Berwyn and Laurel Electric Railroad built the last portion into Laurel and provided shuttle car service back to Berwyn. After more mergers, the first through car service from Washington to Laurel began in 1902 via Mount Rainier, Brentwood, North Brentwood, Hyattsville, Riverdale Park, College Park, Berwyn, Branchville, and Beltsville. Operations continued under the Washington Railway and Electric Company, Capital Transit Company, and D.C. Transit System. Streetcars ran on the line from Washington to Branchville until 1958, with region-wide service ending by 1962. The former line then continued as a utility right-of-way until the first major steps to convert the alignment into a trail began in the late 1990s in College Park. The final portions of the trail between Charles Armentrout Drive and Farragut Street in Hyattsville and Branchville Road and Greenbelt Road in College Park were scheduled for completion before 2020.
