[Carfreeliving] DC considers replacing elevated fwys with boulevards

Sun May 8 21:14:52 MDT 2005

Metro considered going to Georgetown when it was initially planned in 
the 1960s, but the neighbors blocked it, citing risk of damage to 
historic buildings and miscellaneous complaints.  They have regretted 
that decision ever since.  A couple of years ago, Metro drafted a 
concept plan with a new Potomac River tunnel going through Georgetown, 
but it's way too expensive for Metro's current capital budget.  Reston 
and Dulles Airport are the top priorities right now.

Andrew

-------------------
   ANDREW SULLIVAN
h:     415 673 0626
f:     415 673 0686
m:     415 609 8801
e: andrew at sulli.org
w:    www.sulli.org
-------------------
On May 8, 2005, at 19:30, Jason Henderson wrote:

> Guy from Palisades: "if this adds 15 minutes to my commute, what does 
> that do to my land values?" Profound. Wasn't Metro considering a route 
> to Georgetown a couple of years back? I pasted the full story below in 
> case the link didn't work for some of you.
> -jh
>
> *District Trying to Topple the Whitehurst*
> It's View vs. Convenience on the Georgetown Waterfront
>
> By Steven Ginsberg
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Sunday, May 8, 2005; C07
>
> There are two sides to the Whitehurst Freeway: The one above, where 
> drivers catch a sweeping view of the Potomac as they swing around 
> Georgetown on the elevated bypass. And the one below, a darkened, 
> grimy underbelly of urban highway, filled with exhaust and the 
> constant clack-clack of the cars rumbling overhead.
>
> It is the latter view that is propelling D.C. officials to move 
> forward with plans to tear down the structure. They say the freeway 
> divides Georgetown and casts a dark shadow, literally, on a slice of 
> waterfront that is fast turning into a chic hot spot.
>
> District Transportation Director Dan Tangherlini said knocking down 
> the three-quarter-mile freeway would make K Street NW, which runs 
> below the thoroughfare, "something other than the basement. There's a 
> chance to really capture that riverfront, have a beautiful boulevard, 
> an enlivened streetscape. Rather than a bunch of back doors and 
> shadowed entryways, that could be a real place."
>
> Elevated freeways like the Whitehurst were built in the mid-1900s in 
> many cities with the goal of connecting suburbanites to their downtown 
> jobs. Sixty percent of the 42,000 drivers who use the Whitehurst on 
> weekdays come from Virginia and Maryland.
>
> But there has been a strong effort to take those hulking highways down 
> as cities look to reclaim neighborhoods and skylines.
>
> San Francisco dismantled the earthquake-damaged Embarcadero Freeway in 
> 1991 and has replaced the waterfront property with parks and 
> developments. Boston sunk its elevated "central artery" as part of its 
> Big Dig, and green space now stands in its place. Other cities as 
> varied as Fort Worth, Portland, Ore., and Milwaukee have made similar 
> changes.
>
> Washington officials considered doing the same to the Whitehurst a 
> decade ago before community and construction concerns caused them to 
> instead spend $35 million to rebuild the freeway.
>
> Nonetheless, the idea is back under consideration -- to the chagrin of 
> the communities that sit off its ends -- as part of a broader look at 
> dismantling the city's elevated freeways. Others that could be taken 
> down include parts of the Southeast Freeway, which officials say block 
> off the Capitol and separate neighborhoods, and a short stretch of the 
> Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway near the Lincoln Memorial.
>
> "Part of the issue is turning back the clock a little bit on this 
> freeway plan," Tangherlini said. "We have these bits of infrastructure 
> that are designed to connect but that also impede. The question we're 
> asking more broadly is how do you make these communities more 
> livable."
>
> The Whitehurst was built in 1949 to link the Key Bridge to a citywide 
> freeway system that was never completed. In those days, the Georgetown 
> waterfront was not the hip destination it is today; it had a 
> lumberyard, cement works and a meat rendering plant.
>
> The waterfront has changed considerably, even since 1998, when the 
> city finished rebuilding the freeway. A Ritz-Carlton residence, a 
> 14-screen movie theater and other attractions have come. Construction 
> on a 10-acre riverfront park is slated to start in the fall. And 
> property values have more than doubled in the past seven years.
>
> The Whitehurst, some say, is all that stands in the way of creating a 
> premier spot.
>
> "Georgetown is arguably the most historic district in the world," said 
> D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2). "But you look at the 
> waterfront and it looks like Camden, New Jersey. It's horrible. It's 
> ridiculous."
>
> But what drivers see in the Whitehurst, which connects to Key Bridge 
> and Canal Road on its western end and 27th Street to the east, is a 
> way around Georgetown.
>
> "It's just an invaluable road," said D.C. resident Will Meyer, who has 
> spent the past two years commuting across the Whitehurst. "All the 
> other streets are either clogged with traffic or stop signs or both. 
> It would double or triple the amount of time it would take to get a 
> couple miles" if it were removed.
>
> District officials, however, say drivers such as Meyer have the 
> illusion of time savings because stoplights at both ends reduce the 
> average freeway speed to as little as 9 mph in rush hour.
>
> The plans to take down the freeway hinge on whether there's a way to 
> give those people another route downtown. District officials said K 
> Street is wide enough to turn into a four- or six-lane road with 
> traffic lights that would favor cars during rush hour and walkers the 
> rest of the day. The trick in doing that, though, is finding a way to 
> connect K Street and Canal Road, which sits about 60 feet above the 
> waterfront.
>
> Gary Burch, the city's former chief transportation engineer who was in 
> charge of the Whitehurst project in the 1990s, said he could never 
> figure a way to do that.
>
> "We looked at the same thing, but it's a difficult transition," Burch 
> said. "I wish the people there well."
>
> Tangherlini said the city is studying ways to make it happen. "I look 
> at it, and I don't see what the big deal is," he said. A bigger deal, 
> he said, is the connection to Key Bridge: The ramp might have to be 
> eliminated if the freeway goes.
>
> Tangherlini added that "if everyone gets on board and everything's 
> great, we could be moving forward in less than a year's time."
>
> That seems optimistic. There is a fierce battle over the Whitehurst, 
> just as there was a decade ago, that pits some residents and 
> developers in Georgetown against their deeply suspicious neighbors.
>
> "Over here in Foggy Bottom, we're afraid," said resident Ed Gable. "If 
> the Whitehurst comes down, that's bad enough, but it will lead to 
> development of land between Georgetown and Foggy Bottom. It'll be 
> exposed, and developers, I'm sure they can't wait."
>
> A recent informational session in Palisades began with an audience 
> member screaming profanities at District officials. That got another 
> resident yelling, and security had to be called before city officials 
> returned to their presentation.
>
> Palisades resident Larry Doyle summed up the sentiment of those at the 
> meeting. "My main concern is that there are a lot of wealthy 
> developers in Georgetown who understand their property values will go 
> up considerably if their condos didn't look over a freeway," Doyle 
> said. "Clearly, the key thrust of this study is the effect on land 
> values in Georgetown, but if this adds 15 minutes to my commute, what 
> does that do to my land values?"
>
> Raymond Kukulski is one of those whose land values would probably go 
> up. He can see the freeway from his townhouse windows in Georgetown, 
> and he said it should come down because it's ugly, dangerous and 
> inefficient.
>
> These are the same arguments he made a decade ago to no avail, but 
> this time, he said, he thinks things will be different.
>
> "I think this time there is a much fairer assessment going on," 
> Kukulski said. "This time, I see real intent of getting the job done."
>
>
>
> Andrew Sullivan wrote:
>
>> It worked here, it can work in the nation's capital:
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/07/ 
>> AR2005050701194.html
>>
>> -------------------
>>   ANDREW SULLIVAN
>> h:     415 673 0626
>> f:     415 673 0686
>> m:     415 609 8801
>> e: andrew at sulli.org
>> w:    www.sulli.org
>> -------------------
>>
>>
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>
> -- 
> Jason Henderson San Francisco CA (415)-255-8136
> jhenders at sbcglobal.net
> <jhenders.vcf>