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Project Location: Chevy Chase neighborhood, near Broad Branch Road NW and Linnean Avenue NW.
Project Status: This project was completed in October of 2014.
Project Goals: The goal of this project was to daylight a 1,600-foot portion of Broad Branch. Daylighting a stream is the act of restoring to the open air some or all of the flow of a previously covered stream or stormwater drainage.
- Get more information on daylighting
Project Overview: The project is located along a portion of Broad Branch, a perennial stream (meaning it flows continually year-round) that drains into Rock Creek. Broad Branch stream had been piped underground since 1937. Daylighting this section of the stream created half an acre of new wetlands and recreated streamside habitat in an area that had no surface stream flow for eighty years.
In addition to creating habitat and improving the hydrology of the stream, this project also improved water quality in Broad Branch and downstream by exposing this previously piped water to sunlight, air, soil, and vegetation. The restoration project also reduces nutrient and sediment from erosion caused by fast-flowing stormwater by increasing the ground’s ability to absorb precipitation, creating meanders, wetlands, and wildlife habitat.
Additional stormwater from streets, alleys, and rooftops in the surrounding neighborhood was redirected into rain gardens by creating curb cuts and redirecting storm sewers. These rain gardens further slow, cool, and filter that stormwater which then recharge groundwater and reduce stormwater flow. This also provides an additional source of clean baseflow to the new stream throughout the year.
Project Partners: Department of the Environment (DDOE), the Department of Transportation (DDOT), the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DCWATER), and the National Park Service (NPS).
Broad Branch in the Media
- Shining ‘Daylight’ on the Chesapeake Bay’s Buried Streams (Bay Journal, 2023)
- Buried Stream Sees the Light of Day (National Geographic, 2014)
- D.C. Brings Underground Streams Back to Light (WAMU, 2014)
- The Broad Branch Stream Restoration is Now an Award-Winning Project (Forest Hills Connection, 2015)
- The Broad Branch Stream Restoration and Culvert Daylighting
Project Awards
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