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When will the Trolley Museum relocate?
The Trolley Museum is developing new facilities adjacent to its present location in Northwest Branch Park for occupancy in 2009.
Why must the Museum move?
Changes in the location of the ICC alignment by the State Highway Administration (SHA) to reduce environmental impact require that the highway now cross through the area of the visitor center, car barn, and parking lot. In addition, the highway alignment will interrupt the existing railway near the present passing siding. These factors require construction of new facilities.
What will the new Museum look like?
The new facilities will include a streetcar display barn, a building for streetcar maintenance, and the visitor center. These facilities employ architectural elements of former electric railway buildings in Washington, DC. A new railway segment will connect these facilities to the end of the present railway at Dodge Loop. For the first time in the Museum's history, visitors will be able to see, inside a building, an exhibit featuring streetcars from the Museum's collections. Museum programming will expand with dedicated auditorium, classroom, library, and archival storage spaces.
When will the Museum move?
The Museum has committed to SHA to vacate the present location by December 31, 2008. Museum staff have worked with design teams to develop construction drawings based on a master plan approved in 1999 when the threat of the ICC made improvement/expansion of existing facilities impossible. Unfortunately, delays in the permitting process and the need to reuse some materials from the current site will mean an interruption in Museum service to its patrons. Current projections are for the Museum to be back in operation by Summer 2009.
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