Bush Hill Drive Overpass (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact site where the bridge once stood. No visible remains exist.


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Here follows an excerpt from "The Iron Road of Franconia" book written by Nathaniel Lee:

Bush Hill Drive was originally the private driveway leading to the Bush Hill House. It ran southward from the house out to an intersection with Franconia Road. When the railroad was realigned through the Bush Hill property in 1905, a narrow wooden overpass was built over the tracks that stood until the late 1980's. The bridge was built for two reasons. First, removing an at-grade crossing is safer for traffic, both vehicular and train. Second, it keeps trains moving faster when they don't have to slow down for the crossing.

It wasn't until the federal government took control of the property in 1942 that a second roadway was cut to the north to intersect with the Southern Railroad. When Eisenhower Avenue was constructed in the 1960's, there was also a driveway built to meet that road as well.

The federal government gave final approval for the construction of the Capital Beltway (also known as the Circumferential Highway in the planning stages) on September 28, 1955. The first section was opened on December 21, 1961; the highway was completed on August 17, 1964.

The Bush Hill Drive beltway overpass shown in the photo above was built in the early 1960's as part of the highway construction, and was finally removed circa 2000 to make way for the construction of new housing developments on both the north and south sides of the highway. The bridge was located approximately at highway mile marker 173.6.