At least 60 people attended a Community Meeting on December 11th, led by Councilmember Tommy Wells, to discuss the pros and cons of 3 SE Boulevard options that have emerged from the 6-month Neighborhood Planning study led by the DC Office of Planning (OP) with the active participation of ANC6B Commissioners and DDOT staff.
This study came about because of 6B’s major disappointment with the options proposed by DDOT in November 2013, as I discussed in my posting DDOT’s Barney Circle & SE Boulevard: Is This What We Want? In early 2014, ANC6B actively promoted the alternative of planning this new boulevard within the context of the emerging neighborhood. CM Wells intervention during that time made the OP study a reality.
Two of the new options use a large portion of the land area now available for a freeway for housing. One of these (A) includes a road between Barney Circle and 11th Street SE with two lanes in each direction with the possibility of adding a bus parking/streetcar facility underground. The other (B) includes a two-lane road without the bus facility. The third option (C) includes the underground facility but sets aside space above for a linear park and 4 lane boulevard instead of housing. All options extend the existing 13th, 14th, and 15th Street grid to the new boulevard and, most importantly, provide pedestrian and bicycle access over the CSX tracks to the Anacostia waterfront at Boathouse Row.
While the 3 options are based on detailed knowledge of the available swath of land and surrounding neighborhood, they are conceptual plans. The next step in this process will be a feasibility study by DDOT that will include traffic flow analysis. The land area was turned over to the District by the Federal FHWA with the requirement that it be used for “transportation purposes.” The DDOT study will provide an analysis of the necessary disposition of a portion to use for housing. DDOT says it does not have a time frame for this study as the elements have not yet been identified but has promised to update the ANC on a quarterly basis.
You can view the detailed OP presentation of Options A, B, and C here.
Also see my A New Vision for the SE Boulevard posting on the previous August 4 presentation of 7 options that form the basis of the current 3 options.