Posts about Whitehurst
Public Spaces
Students fix Foggy Bottom's waterfront problems
Lydia DePillis's constant attendance at community meetings turned up a fascinating plan from the Catholic University Urban Design Studio to improve some of Foggy Bottom's biggest flaws: the mess of freeways between the neighborhood and the waterfront.
A professor and team of students came up with the vision, which has no funding but which DePillis reports they hope the Office of Planning will incorporate into the DC Comprehensive Plan.
Left: Area around 27th and K now. Image from Google Maps.
Right: The same area in the plan. Images via Housing Complex.
The "ramp spaghetti" in front of the Kennedy Center, the freeway under Juarez Circle, the ramps to the Whitehurst, and Rock Creek create a big barrier between Foggy Bottom and the waterfront, and many small park segments many of which are inaccessible or underutilized.
The plan includes new pedestrian connections across Rock Creek and the Potomac, and suggests decking some of the freeway ramps to the Whitehurst to build better parks. It also resurrects the Kennedy Center's ideas to cover the ramps between it and E Street to connect it to the neighborhood.
Of course, covering freeways is expensive, or we'd do it all the time. That freeway is also wider than it needs to be, since it was originally built to continue up along Florida Avenue or K Street. Some of the ramps could probably come down instead of being decked over.
Besides improving the waterfront access, DePillis reports that the plan includes a new entrance to Foggy Bottom Metro, benches at Juarez Circle, a Native American cultural center, and another performing arts center near the Kennedy Center. DePillis couldn't post the entire plan, but we look forward to seeing more!
Bicycling
Family fun in the Flickr pool
Thanks to everyone who joined the Greater and Lesser Washington Flickr pool and submitted photos! Here are a few of our favorites this week.
The new Petworth Market. Photo by petworthmarket.
Family crossing at 27th and K. Photo by M.V. Jantzen.
Tourists learning DC geography. Photo by M.V. Jantzen.
Kayaks below the Key Bridge. Photo by lehnermd.
If only Independence Avenue could look like this more often. Photo by katiesalay.
Photo by nevermindtheend.
Photo by mediaslave.
More bollards needed? Photo by katiesalay.
Under the C&O. Photo by lehnermd.
Join the Flickr group and submit your own photos! Photos will ideally depict either great or not-so-great features of a part of the Washington, DC region, showing people, roads, parks, stores or buildings as beautiful and lively places filled with people, or unsightly or desolate places that could be greater.
Transit
Support streetcars at Georgetown ANC meeting tonight
ANCs across DC have been weighing in on streetcars recently, with some opposing streetcars with any wires in their communities and otherswelcoming streetcars even with a wire on some streets. Tonight, Georgetown weighs in at its ANC meeting at 6:30pm, when the ANC considers both the planned streetcars on K Street under the Whitehurst and the "planned to be studied" streetcars on Wisconsin.
Under the Whitehurst. Photo by marc.benton.
The K Street portion is significant, as it is the ultimate western end of the K St/H St/Benning Rd route that will soon be started in Northeast DC. This route is part of Phase 1 of DDOT's streetcar plan, and the route overlaps much of the busiest bus route in the city, the 30s buses.
In Georgetown, the line would only travel long K Street, under the elevated Whitehurst Freeway. That would seem to address any concerns about historic vistas, since the road has a giant overhead freeway already. However, According to a Georgetown ANC rep, some are concerned about an overhead wire on K, since many Georgetowners want to remove the Whitehurst. If that happened, the wires would become more visible.
This concern may lead to a resolution opposing streetcars on K if it means a wire under the Whitehurst. I too want to remove Whitehurst, but the way to get there is not by opposing alternative transportation options.
Here are a few reasons why you should show up at tonight's meeting and support streetcars on K, even if they require a wire under the Whitehurst.
Reducing the need for the Whitehurst will facilitate its removal. The main roadblock to removing the Whitehurst is the fear that Whitehurst traffic will end up in the Georgetown and Foggy Bottom neighborhoods. While this fear is largely ungrounded, given that 14-25% of the demand for a freeway disappears when the freeway is removed, this elasticity goes way up when ready transit alternatives are available. When New York's West Side Highway came down, a full 53% of the traffic vanished, thanks to plentiful public transit alternatives.
Streetcars reduce traffic and parking congestion. First, drivers don't double-park on tracks. Second, streetcars will pull completely out of traffic at stops (DC streetcars will run in mixed traffic). Third, streetcars hold more people than buses. Finally, people ride streetcars who wouldn't ride buses.
In fact, studies show that 30-40% of streetcar riders would have otherwise driven, whereas only 5% of bus riders would have otherwise driven. That's because streetcars provide smoother rides, are more fun to ride, and the tracks remind people that the routes exist.
Georgetowners want more transit. While Georgetown sometimes gets a reputation of opposing transit, the facts are very different. 20% of households and 1/3 of rental households in Georgetown own no car, and over half of Georgetowners don't drive to work.
This is roughly the same as the city average, despite the absence of a Metro stop in Georgetown. The busiest bus route runs through Georgetown, and Georgetowners rallied to extend and keep the Circulator on Wisconsin Ave.
This shouldn't come as a surprise. What kinds of folks would move to a neighborhood where you can visit multiple parks, schools, stores, libraries and so on within a 5 minute walk? Folks like my carless family. I bus to my software gig in McLean, my wife buses to her Sibley job, and we bus our 18-month-old to the Wilson Aquatic Center when he isn't frolicking in one of 5 Georgetown playgrounds.
If the Georgetown ANC is trying
The ANC meeting is tonight,
to represent Georgetowners5:00 6:30 pm at the Georgetown Visitation School, 35th and Volta Place, in the Heritage Room. It's in the first building on the left by the gatehouse, on the 2nd floor.
On Page 1: After Kwame Brown scored political points with River East by suggesting a Circulator there, DDOT is studying the broader potential for Circulator expansion but "pausing" actual growth. Maybe turning the 30s into a Circulator would satisfy both Mary Cheh and Kwame Brown and make DDOT prioritize H and I Street bus transit?
Also on page 1, MWCOG isn't about to study tearing down the Whitehurst as the Foggy Bottom Association reported, though Carol Buckley quotes me saying it's not a bad idea to discuss what we'll do in 10 years when the road needs major maintenance. This was just on COG's list of projects, from which ideas (good or bad) never actually get deleted.
The above-the-fold story covers the proposed "N Street Follies" hotel. Architect of the Capitol representative Michael Turnbull seemed to express his agreement with some of the points I made, that the hotel should have less parking (since the N Street dead-end alley couldn't possibly accommodate parking traffic), and that the shadows cast on the Tabard are specifically disallowed by zoning.
Page 3 discusses the great streetcar wire debate. Dupont Circle Conservancy President Rauzia Ally talks about the organization's decision not to sign onto the anti-wire resolution, instead choosing to ask questions about power systems but being open to the hybrid approach if wireless is more expensive. Buckley quotes me again in the page 7 continuation where I actually praise the Committee of 100's efforts, insofar as they seek to get information to the public about the various options. (Comment)
Roads
Silverman demagoguing on Whitehurst
Cary Silverman is sending a postcard to voters in Foggy Bottom and Georgetown promoting misguided notions about traffic. Many people believe that more roads = less traffic and fewer roads = more traffic, but that's not true; converting a freeway to a boulevard usually makes about half the traffic disappear, with the boulevard usually able to handle the rest. But Silverman is playing to the cheap seats for votes:
Photo by Pak Gwei on Flickr.
Jack Evans wants to demolish the Whitehurst! Dump 42,000 more cars each day onto residential streets in Georgetown and Foggy Bottom and get rid of a key emergency evacuation route? That's what happens when you put developers before neighborhoods.Converting the Whitehurst to a boulevard wouldn't "dump" cars onto residential streets. If there's any spillover, it would be on M and Pennsylvania, which aren't so residential, but if properly designed like Octavia Boulevard, spillover should be minimal.Cary is the only candidate who will
- Keep the Whitehurst intact and working
- Enhance its appearance and functionality
- Make better use of the area underneath the structure
- Improve traffic and pedestrian conditions at either end of the Whitehurst
The "key evacuation route" argument is one we hear a lot about freeways, but is fairly silly. The Whitehurst doesn't go much of anywhere; at the western end, you have to go through a traffic light to the Key Bridge or Canal Road. Canal is no wider than M, so if cars are evacuating on the Whitehurst onto Canal, then they'll just block cars evacuating from M, and the boulevard plus roads like 31st would easily fill the bridge. Quite simply, the Whitehurst isn't the bottleneck; the Key Bridge and Canal Road are. And the Whitehurst already jams up constantly at rush hour; how would an evacuation be any different?
The pedestrian connections at either end could indeed be much better, but what does Silverman mean by "improving traffic conditions"? The east end is already a tangle of ramps to and from Rock Creek Parkway. It's about as "improved" for car speed as possible. And I doubt Silverman means removing some ramps to make traffic movements more straightforward and easy to understand at the cost of some speed.
Boulevardizing the Whitehurst isn't "putting developers before neighborhoods," it's putting neighborhoods before traffic. Championing the freeway is like McCain and Clinton's gas tax scam from back in May.
Politics
Evans-Silverman: two worlds, two boxes of tools
Interviewing Jack Evans and Cary Silverman, the candidates for the Ward 2 DC Council seat, one could think the two are running for completely different offices. Evans seems to be running for reelection as the Council version of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, devoting his energy to financing deals that will stimulate development throughout DC. Meanwhile, Silverman sounds like a candidate for a more powerful, larger Super-ANC, focusing on local neighborhood needs and problems.
They're both right. Every ward Councilmember is some blend of the two, a shaper of citywide policy and simultaneously steward of a ward. In Evans-Silverman, we have candidates who represent each end of that spectrum. But the Council job isn't just one or the other, and we need a Councilmember who will do both jobs.
Evans and Silverman don't just focus on different problems, they apply their own boxes of tools to the same ones. For example, I asked both whether the O Street Market (which both enthusiastically support) would finally revitalize Ninth Street. Both said it's a start, as well as the convention center hotel, but we need more. What else? Silverman wants a convention center exit near the neighborhood retail and wayfinding signs directing convention-goers to nearby businesses; Evans discussed the other projects underway in the area that will add more retail space and more residents. We need both types of tools in our toolbox, and our Councilmember should pursue all avenues for revitalizing that avenue.
Evans and Silverman even speak different languages. Coming out of the Shaw Logan Circle ANC and, more recently, the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association, Silverman speaks the language of the neighborhood activist, which explains why he is so popular among ANC and citizens' association members. That community's vocabulary centers around keeping the governmental ship sailing smoothly, enforcement of existing laws, quality of life issues, and often a cautious approach to change. Evans' vocabulary, meanwhile, is one of growth and fulfilling the potential of DC as a major city.
This dichotomy mirrors the debate we have on Greater Greater Washington. DC has many residents who moved here when DC was a small town and like it that way. They are (at the moment) more likely to belong to the local citizens/civic association or sit on the ANC. They are more likely to own cars and drive. On the other hand, we have a growing number of newer residents who are putting down roots here. They (or should I say we) see DC not as it was but as it could be, maintaining the beautiful houses, strong sense of community, and range of ages, races and creeds while also accommodating more people and enjoying more vitality.
Ironically, unlike in the mayoral race where energetic Adrian Fenty out-campaigned the more seasoned Linda Cropp, it's the younger (though long-time resident) Silverman who represents small-town DC, and Council veteran Evans who champions the cosmopolitan vision. Their policy prescriptions reflect that: Evans would like to make K Street more mixed-use, voted for the hiker-biker Klingle trail and supports boulevardizing the Whitehurst; Silverman would have voted for the road (though he is willing to let throughly-beaten sleeping dogs lie) and would keep the freeway. Yet Silverman bicycles to work, while Evans drives and enjoys the free parking in front of the Wilson Building. Evans cites the many events he has to get to each day, and the 45-minute public transit ride from Georgetown, as obstacles to transit (though not to bicycling).
At the moment, I plan to vote for Evans, if nothing else because of his reliable vote for transit infrastructure but against roadway expansion. His experience with economic development is also an asset to DC, and his power benefits the ward. But it's good that Silverman is running. We need his energy and dedication to improving the neighborhood. Many problems, like dealing with vacant properties, require the Councilmember to personally push city agencies for a resolution, which Evans doesn't do but Silverman promises to.
It's too bad Evans can't replace Carol Schwartz as Councilmember at-large, letting Cary represent the ward. Barring that, my ideal outcome would be for Evans to narrowly win reelection, preserving his good policy vote and his experience on economic development while also pushing him to devote more time to the ward over the next four years. And if he doesn't, he ought to lose in 2012, whether to someone new, or to a future version of Cary Silverman with a little more political experience and a policy sophistication to match his constituent-service energy.
Want to hear more from the candidates? There's a debate on Thursday, August 7th, 7:00-8:30 at the Phillips Collection at 21st and R.
Roads
Does "moving" sound like "removing" with an Oklahoma accent?
In May, USA Today ran an article, "Oklahoma City swaps highway for park":
Photo by nalilo on Flickr.
Oklahoma has a radical solution for repairing the state's busiest highway.Wow, sounds great! OKC is getting rid of a highway and replacing it with nothing. How intelligent of them to realize that replacing highways with boulevards often doesn't create gridlock at all, but simply causes fewer driving trips altogether.Tear it down. Build a park.
The aging Crosstown Expressway — an elevated 4.5-mile stretch of Interstate 40 — will be demolished in 2012. An old-fashioned boulevard and a mile-long park will be constructed in its place.
Oklahoma City is doing what many cities dream about: saying goodbye to a highway.
Some cities want traffic routed around downtowns. Others want tunnels or highways that pass under streets. A number of cities want to close highways and replace them with — nothing.
Let's keep reading the article:
In Oklahoma City, the interstate will be moved five blocks from downtown to an old railroad line. The new 10-lane highway, expected to carry 120,000 vehicles daily, will be placed in a trench so deep that city streets can run atop it, as if the highway weren't there.Wait, what? That doesn't sound like "nothing." That's a 10-lane highway a mere five blocks away. Sure, burying it is a good thing to do, and OKC can eventually build on top of the highway. But it's still more capacity, 173,000 per day instead of the 120,000 carried by the aging old road.
Call it a smart idea to move the highway away from downtown and stimulate development in its place. Call it a better way to build a ten-lane freeway, if you must build one. But don't call it removing a freeway. If there's a new freeway five blocks away, that's called moving, not removing.
Except for the pesky fact that Oklahoma City isn't actually doing what the article is discussing, it's a good article that lays out the case for removing freeways. It cites Buffalo, Nashville, Cleveland, New York's Sheridan, and DC's Whitehurst as examples of proposed removals. And there's this great quote:
"Highways don't belong in cities. Period," says John Norquist, who was mayor of Milwaukee when it closed a highway. "Europe didn't do it. America did. And our cities have paid the price."H/T to commenter Bianchi.
Roads
Induced non-demand
Should we really convert freeways to boulevards? In my quick link Saturday about boulevardizing the Southeast-Southwest Freeway, TJ wrote, "the volume day and night is pretty heavy, so a street conversion would just make it a nightmare."
SF's Central Freeway off-ramp recon-
struction. Photo by drain on Flickr.
What's the reality? We can't know for sure about this case, but in other cases where cities have removed freeways and replaced them with boulevards, the volume decreased significantly. Traffic demand is elastic, meaning some people do start carpooling, taking transit, or driving at less congested times of day. But how many? Would a boulevard's capacity suffice for the remaining traffic?
The Preservation Institute has some stats. According to studies they quote, "reducing road capacity does reduce traffic - but not as dramatically as increasing capacity increases traffic." New freeways generate 50-95% new induced demand Would boulevard handle the remaining traffic volume in DC? DC's Whitehurst is most similar to this. It's simply a high speed bypass from one crowded intersection at 27th and K to an even more crowded intersection at 36th and M. With almost westbound traffic going to Canal Road in the afternoon backing up well onto the freeway, the real capacity constraint is the traffic light there. We could replace the freeway with a boulevard along M Street and easily move as much traffic as Canal can take off the road on the end.
The Southeast-Southwest Freeway is somewhat of a through route, though as TJ points out, with the Wilson Bridge reconstruction finished much of the through traffic can (and should) take the Beltway instead of cutting through downtown DC. I'm sure most of the commuter traffic coming from Virginia goes to the Capitol or the 395 Central Leg tunnel under the Mall, and likewise for the traffic coming in from Anacostia which may also continue west to L'Enfant Plaza. If that is the case, a new F St SW/Virginia Avenue SE boulevard only needs to handle the capacity needed to get cars to the already constrained side streets.
But we should be able to reduce demand even further. There is a rail line running very close to the freeway for its entire length. If VRE and MARC increased their frequencies and ran trains through from Maryland to L'Enfant and Virginia as I proposed in my fantasy map, many more commuters could shift to trains. We could convert the freight rail line to Anacostia to passenger service.
With many of the commuters going to the innumerable and free Congressional parking lots, parking policy changes by Congress could reduce driving demand and free up land for more Federal employees. While I'm not holding my breath for this, Congress should set up a parking cash-out where, instead of just giving a transit pass or a free parking space, each staffer could receive money equivalent to the amount their parking space costs the Federal government.
And I haven't even gotten into congestion pricing. Between all of these factors, I'm pretty confident that a transportation demand management study would find plenty of ways to cut down on demand enough for a boulevard to comfortably replace the Southwest-Southeast Freeway.
@ggwash
- Community stories show the shift to a walkable lifestyle
- Focus transportation on downtown or neighborhoods?
- Young kids try to assault me while biking
- Some are pushing to limit sidewalk cycling
- Where is downtown Prince George's County?
- Metro bag searches aren't always optional
- Endless zoning update delay hurts homeowners
Greater Washington
District of Columbia
