A Trip Within the Beltway

1973 PEPCO I-95 Extension Inside The Beltway

2009-06-10T22:10:00.017-04:00

PEPCO-B&O I-95

Who Really Stopped Washington, D.C.'s Freeways

A Telling Deletion About the Politics Subverting D.C. I-95

A Telling Deletion

2009-05-14T03:03:00.031-04:00

About the political influence of
Catholic University of America and
Masonic Eastern Star
in Blocking PEPCO-B&O Washington, D.C. I-95
as property holders along the route

Deleted conversation from Imagine DC:

---

Douglas A. Willinger said...

[Dave Murphy- Imagine D.C. quote]

" Now, I'm not endorsing HOV and HOT lanes (and certainly not any new construction of such roads) as any sort of a cure for our traffic problems here in Washington. But this is a very poignant reminder of how entitled we believe are cars should be. "

[my reply]

In that area?

With that giant gap in the northern radial net and the center hub?!

I do not ever see the original 1955-59 system being built for good reason - aka footprint. Why clear cut trees and or houses when there is a 250 foot wide power line, a rr industrial corridor and a 147 foot wide street to go beneath?

I do see a modified version of the 1971 plan somewhat with a redesigned center section (see "Trip" Nov 2007) with the northern I-95 continuation via the PEPCO route.

But only after something major politically happens about what runs that area (aka that Masonic Eastern Star property [on New Hampshire Avenue near Eastern Avenue], which I am suspicious of given the lack of anything from them about that route or the logical to me option of it as a cut and cover tunnel to preserve the property's dignity.

Likewise with CUA's apparent lack of interest in a deck along the B&O corridor. Please note the 1966 plan proposed it to run north to Taylor Street, but that is deleted by the 1971 plan.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2008/05/1966-1971-covered-north-central-freeway.html

And as well that attitudes I have witnessed, aka at the end of the following article; do recall the active participation of the Jesuit Georgetown Law Center in the anti highway crusades.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/02/sampling-of-attitudes-towards-dc-i-95.html

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2008/01/physical-realities-undermining-north.html

Knowing my history beyond that of the planning of the D.C. area highways, I see no reason to go along with any sort of white is black and black is white placating (as I witnessed at say college frat parties).

February 28, 2009 5:16 PM

Dave Murphy said...

Douglas,
I fail to see the relevance of this...

March 1, 2009 3:43 AM

Douglas A. Willinger said...

You made a strict statement against any new highways in an area with huge gaps in the road network and in common sense.

I think a far better constitutional argument would be the lack of the freeways in the northern sector as placing a disproportionate amount of the traffic burden to the south east of the Anacostia River as classic environmental racism.

Of course Georgetown Law Center apparently would make the situation worse by truncating I-395 at Mass Ave, and with their unjustified influence get their way.

That our government continues with these completely unjustified strict anti freeway policies and boondoggles as street cars while pushing domestic surveillance (while ignoring civil defense) speaks volumes about its nature.

March 1, 2009 9:02 AM

Dave Murphy said...

I made a passing opposition to new construction of HOT lanes and HOV lanes. Are you saying lack of construction of HOT lanes and HOV lanes is unconstitutional?

I fail to see how any of what you said relates to this post.

March 1, 2009 2:03 PM

Douglas A. Willinger said...

No, rather the lack of freeways in the northern sector relative to placing the burden where it is, might be.

HOT/HOV lanes though are a good way IMHO to throttle usage, particularly with transfers to WMATA rail parking garages.

Also the tolls are good for funding the extra high dollar designs of cut and cover and drilled tunnels necessary for accommodating a high speed highway in an urban area.

If you search misc.transport.road, my late 1990s advocacy of the PEPCO-B&O route coupled it with a southbound variable rate toll at Fort Totten and rail transfer facility.

March 1, 2009 4:25 PM

Dave Murphy said...

In the future, I'd appreciate it if you kept the comments focused on the issues presented in the articles I post and save your crusade to have I-95 constructed through NE DC for your own website (unless, of course, it is pertinent to something written about here.) Any further such comments will be deleted.

March 1, 2009 4:35 PM

Douglas A. Willinger said...

The comment was relevant to this and your preceding post.

I did not see any reason to post it twice.

March 1, 2009 6:45 PM

Douglas A. Willinger said...

The link to my blog on your blog vanished, though I do not know why.

March 1, 2009 6:47 PM

---

Masonic Eastern Star Home
on New Hampshire Avenue
between railroad and Eastern Avenue

Proposed D.C. I-95
dashed lines indicating connecting segment of
PEPCO power line-B&O route
through Masonic Eastern Star property

1966 D.C. I-95 proposal
with red area of proposed air rights development
extending alongside CUA northwards to Taylor Street

1971 D.C. I-95 proposal
with proposed air rights development extending south from CUA
(leaving area alongside CUA uncovered-
hence preserving the local isolation from the east via the surface railroad)

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/05/1964-north-central-freeway-routing_08.html

http://cos-mobile.blogspot.com/2008/07/homeland-security-goal-would-be-better.html

http://cos-mobile.blogspot.com/2009/05/romish-masonic-religious-drive-against.html

The Doctrinaire Anti New Highways Position of the 1970s- Continued

2009-04-24T00:02:00.005-04:00

Canceling highways because private automobile an obsolete concept by the 1990s...

... This request is made because, from my review of the “Combined Corridor and Design Report”, it is obvious that Mr. Airis is proceeding from demonstrably erroneous or obsolete premises, errors that would be manifest if there were an adequate hearing. For example, his report proceeds from the assumption that there will be a 50 percent increase in area population by 1990 with a 100 percent increase in auto travel. Such an assumption is incredible in the face of (1) recent actions by EPA under the Clean Air looking toward the necessity of reducing future auto travel and (2) the growing fuel crisis which, according to Administration spokesmen, will lead to gas rationing within six months and, by 1990, may well render the private automobile as obsolete as the horse and buggy. Furthermore, it should be noted that the proposed six-lane South Leg is designed on the premise that at least 50 percent of the traffic utilizing it would come from two highly controversial (and unapproved) freeways- the [I-66] North Leg Freeway and the [I-266] Three Sisters Bridge."

The Doctrinaire Anti New Highways Position of the 1970s- Peter S. Craig

The Doctrinaire Anti New Highways Position- 'Green' Party

Washington, D.C. Unanimous Cave In On Route Chock

2009-03-08T18:02:00.005-04:00

D.C. City Council votes unanimously to subvert transport corridor chock in total violation of post 911 evacuation route concerns, approving 'Brookland Small Area Plan' that shoehorns development to even block adding a single northbound track.

From Greater, Greater, Washington:

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=1747

The DC Council's Committee of the Whole approved the Brookland Small Area Plan this morning. Technically, they just placed a resolution on the calendar to approve the plan, with some comments; the full Council will vote on the plan later today. However, after this vote, final passage is overwhelmingly likely. Update: The plan passed unanimously.

David-
What was the vote? Was it unanimous or was their some diversity of opinion, debate??
by Douglas Willinger on Mar 3, 2009 11:34 am

Unanimous on a voice vote.
by David Alpert on Mar 3, 2009 11:41 am

That's some government.

That is utterly consistent with my experience when I was promoting the Alexandria Orb and the preservation of the proposed Washington Street Urban Deck.
It was proposed to cover 1,100 feet of the Beltway but which was cut back by some 80% to trade away the funds for things as prettier sidewalks along and around the Prince Street area, voted unanimously by the Alexandria City Council in Dec 2000 and by USNCPC in March 2001.
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-happened-at-alexandria-city-hall.html
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-could-have-been-said-backroom.html
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-this-was-outcome-of-highly.html
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/03/rubber-stamp-resolution-by-us-national.html
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-others-got-from-siphoning-urban.html
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-things-went-at-us-nati_117295465376800441.html
See more at my blog 'A Trip Within the Beltway' under the tag "Alexandria Orb"
by Douglas Willinger on Mar 3, 2009 12:00 pm

D.C. Transportation Led By Jesuitical Traitors

2009-03-01T21:57:00.010-05:00

4 decades ago doctrinaire anti freeway activists cried out for canceling all of the un-built highways to 'give rail transit a chance', resulting in some of the worst transportation problems within the U.S.

Now they want to spend millions on slow speed street trolleys, while sanctioning haphazard real estate development to block transport corridors, subverting commuter/evacuation routes, blocking even adding rail capacity.

Our government, including the so-called Defense Department, must be led by traitors...

From Commuter Outrage:

Streetcars Are Stupid, And So Are Our Leaders
by Lewis Derkins
February 28th, 2009, 12:05 am

Metro Employees Hard at Work*
[*my caption would have it as planners who seek to chock transport corridors]

This morning I slogged along to work on the Metro as usual. For some reason, it takes me half an hour to make a trip that takes five minutes in a car, but the upside of this inconvenient delay is that I get to read the Express.

For those unfamiliar with this publication, it’s basically a cliff notes version of the day’s big news events. On page 9 of today’s issue, a headline jumped out at me – “Metro Scours for Revenue”.

This article dutifully informed me that my ride was probably going to become more miserable since Metro is considering “cutting costs and changing services” – read: “cutting services” – to close a $28.8 Million budget gap.

The surprising thing about this announcement is that I read about a DC Department of Transportation plan to announce the revival of streetcars in the district to the tune of $25 Million the previous day.

I’ve talked about this streetcar project before and, spoiler alert: I’m not a fan.

The line is supposed to run a little over 2 miles from Anacostia Metro to Boling AFB. This is idiotic for several reasons including the cost, the limited service and the lack of need.

The streetcars are a part of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative which is supposed to revitalize Anacostia. New flash – if you want to revitalize Anacostia, crack down on the crime. No tourists are in a hurry to ride your pretty streetcars from nowhere to nowhere else with the threat of being shot looming over their heads. And FYI, tourists are the only people who are going to ride this thing.

The idea that Streetcars are going to lead to an urban renaissance is a fairy tale. Let’s be honest about streetcars, they’re something in between a half-assed Metro, and a glorified bus. They’re not as good as Metro because they’re above ground, running on the street, so they don’t protect riders from the elements (just like buses), and they have to travel at the prevailing speed of traffic (and are consequently subject to traffic delays). They’re admittedly prettier than busses, but they don’t have the ability to change routes. If we find out that the line we’ve laid out isn’t necessary, well, oops! Looks like we laid tracks in the street and we’re screwed. At least a bus can be easily rerouted to an area where it’s needed and it doesn’t require any new infrastructure.
But let’s not get too far off track here, why are we spending $25 million on something completely unnecessary when the Metro, which services Anacostia and the surrounding neighborhoods, needs $29 Million? We could give that streetcar money to Metro and alleviate a huge part of the budget shortfall problem.

For Metro’s FY09 Budget, DC gave $295.2 Million, or roughly 16% of the total budget. There is good reason for this, Metro maintains the second largest rail system and the fifth largest bus system in the nation and a huge proportion of its riders are federal government employees.

Why isn’t DC giving this streetcar money to Metro to do something useful with it (the merits of how useful Metro’s actions would be are concededly up for debate) instead of frittering it away on something that looks nice but provides very little real value? And why the hell isn’t the Metro Board of Directors screaming bloody murder about this proposed boondoggle?

Maybe I should be realistic about this, when half of your board of directors rarely even use the system it really isn’t any wonder that they’re out of touch.

A big thanks to the hard-hitting journalism at the Express for not highlighting this stupidity. Perhaps they were just too busy trying to come up with a witty quip for their next headline to bother focusing on something like real journalism.

Thanks also to the average brain-dead DC resident [or hold one's finger up to the wind careerist suck up] who fails to say anything to prevent this buffoonery. Maybe I’m asking too much though. For someone to notice this they’d have to have an attention span longer than 30 seconds and an interest in something other than American Idol so they would 1) read both stories and 2) actually be able to remember the contents of the stories and connect the dots. While we’re at it, thanks public school system for ingraining a sense of intellectual curiosity and civic responsibility in our nation’s future leaders. Bang up job!

We should paint the Metro like a bunch of clown cars and start to play circus music over the intercom in all the stations. We should apply this same technique to the DC DoT offices downtown. What’s the next step in our bright transportation future you clowns, rickshaws or pony rides?

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Virginia's Inside the Beltway Corridor Chock Epidemic

2009-02-22T23:02:00.007-05:00

It's not only within D.C. where railroad industry personal subvert highway competition

- spot improvement project was to add an axillary lane between on and off ramps in the westbound direction to better serve local traffic, yet do nothing about the infamous eastbound I-66/Dulles Access 267 merge

http://groups.google.com/group/misc.transport.road/browse_thread/thread/967fed697fa6831e/38da3d7b52ee5607?hl=en#38da3d7b52ee5607
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Oscar Voss

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More options Feb 21, 3:09 am

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From: "Oscar Voss" ...@comcast.net>

Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:09:41 -0500

Local: Sat, Feb 21 2009 3:09 am

Subject: VA - I-66 "spot improvements" in limbo

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The Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's Transportation Planning Board voted this week to remove three proposed "spot improvements" to westbound Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway from next year's transportation improvement plan. Work on the first project, to create a westbound auxiliary lane connecting the Fairfax Drive on-ramp to the Sycamore Street off-ramp (that stretch is one of the worst off-peak chokepoints), would have started next year.
This decision was supposedly driven by VDOT's failure to fully fund a $15 million study of transportation alternatives in the I-66 corridor. VDOT points out, however, that the projects were never tied to completion of that study. My sense in any case is that the expensive and time-consuming study ($15 million and three-four years, as a precondition for projects totaling about $75 million which have already been talked about for ages, seem disproportionate) was sought as a stalling tactic, by people (lots of them in my Arlington County, including the county government) who will be dead set against the projects no matter what the study ends up concluding.
This decision could be revisited later, but VDOT seems resigned to having the projects put on hold for a few more years.
"Vote to Forgo I-66 Expansion Imperils Federal Funds, Increases Ire,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/19/AR200...
see also:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/getthere/2009/02/i-66_spot_improveme...
--
Oscar Voss - oscar.v...@comcast.net - Arlington VA
my Hot Springs and Highways pages: http://home.comcast.net/~oscar.voss/
Hawaii Highways: http://www.hawaiihighways.com/

D.C. Corridor Chock Epidemic

2009-02-20T20:47:00.009-05:00

Contempt of the Medievalists

The proposed DC CUA-Brookland Small Area plan is not the only threat to major transportation corridors within Washington, D.C., particularly regarding or connecting to the built and un-built I-395.

Here's is a list of the most infamous transgressors:

Capital Square Townhouses
I-395 SW Freeway bottleneck pinch

Eakin-Youngentob "Capital Square" townhouses, on land plot between 6th, 7th, G Street SW and the SW Freeway, with row of 28 townhouses a mere 16 1/2 feet from SW Freeway retaining wall, one block south of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This 16 1/5 foot setback is significantly less then that of all of the other buildings along the southern side of the SW Freeway, which have 70-90 fete of setback.

This makes it more difficult and expensive to construct new retaining wall for tunnel roof (as the existing walls would not be likely to be so designed), hence keeping the existing SW Freeway in a configuration that divides DC SW - hence contrary to long term NCPC planning for the removal of the mass of elevated highways and railways that now cross over South Capital Street. This also makes it more difficult and expensive to improve safety and decrease congestion and pollution with mitigating the SW Freeway bottleneck southwards and westerly of the Center Leg -- hence more likely remaining a traffic bottleneck with ripple effects well into Virginia.

Increased costs required for Eminent Domain and Demolition for row of 28 townhouses : $30 million.

Increased costs required for obtaining construction staging area elsewhere, and for required extra construction equipment trips on local streets: $10 million by denying a logical staging area for achieving the long touted goal of constructing a new monumental replacement "14th Street Bridge"

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2008/07/takoma-dc-tranport-chock-developer_4323.html

Golden Rule Apartment
I-395 Center Leg (3rd Street) Tunnel on ramp blockage

Placing senior citizens in new apartment house that blocks the 2nd Street NW I-395 northbound tunnel on-ramp, placing greater traffic on a New Jersey Avenue where it established new migratory pattern of senior citizens carrying their groceries from food market owned by the same entity owning this apartment building.

Blocks currently unused on ramp built as a part of the 1978-82 3rd Street Tunnel north of Massachusetts Avenue for later use, hence increasing traffic load upon New Jersey Avenue north of K Street.

Establishes a migratory pattern of elderly pedestrians carrying groceries across New Jersey Avenue with its increased traffic load, with this new "Golden Rule" apartment building on the west side of New Jersey Avenue, with the closet grocery store being the "golden Rule" Market 1-2 blocks east.

Capital Gateway
I-395 NY Avenue Alternative Tunnel blockage

None of the official studies address the practicalities of constructing a tunnel directly beneath heavily traveled NY Avenue rather then partially alongside in undeveloped land, particularly at the spit where the existing cross RR bridge lands in the vicinity of Florida Avenue. Building beneath open adjacent land by definition will be less disruptive to traffic, yet officials say nothing about preserving an easement alongside New York Avenue, first with the Fed Ex building to the north, and now this project to the south.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2008/08/washington-gateway-chock_11.html

CUA-Brookland Area Small Area Plan
North Central Freeway Tunnel Chock

This blocks any multi-modelization of the Metropolitan Branch RR other then the multiple level stacked elevated concept proposed in 1965.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-obama-must-do-for-transportation.html
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2008/05/cuabrookland-transport-corridor-chock.html

Takoma Metro Area: Elevation 314, and Cedar Crossing
North Central Freeway Tunnel Chock

New residences in wood framed structures within 15 and 45 feet respectively of elevated heavy freight RR, largely within the footprint of a potential RR derailment, tumbling downward.

What Obama Must Do For D.C. Transportation Security

2009-02-03T00:31:00.026-05:00

Official planning to chock northern Washington, D.C.'s sole grade separated ground north south transportation corridor, subverting valuable evacuation route

Left: Brookland Metro station area today. Image from Google Maps. Right: Metro station sub-area plan. (from article within Greater Greater Washington)

Corridor Suitable for Cut and Cover Railway - Highway Tunnel, yet official planing sells out to real estate development

Chocks of the construction of the hugely useful North Central Freeway corridor, proposed by the Kennedy Administration in November 1962, but hugely botched with a 1964 engineering study that routed the highway needlessly through neighborhoods.

North Central B&O Metropolitan Branch RR corridor midway between Potomac and eastern Capital Beltway. (shown with I-95 Northeast Freeway via the Fort Drive - Northwest Branch Route).

1962 Kennedy Administration plan with WMATA and B&O Route North Central Freeway

1964 North Central Freeway engineering study deviates seriously from the 1962 Kennedy proposal, officials considered this until the late 1960s as a 'cheaper' alternative
to the 1962 concept featured in the
supplementary North Central Freeway study report of 1966

1971 North Central Freeway
with I-95 Northeast Freeway via the Fort Drive - Northwest Branch Route,
with cut and cover tunnel segment
from Rhode Island Avenue to north of Monroe Street NE
displacing 34 existing houses
with new development and parkland

My preference is for a new multi model transportation tunnel -- upgraded railways and new highway -- beneath a new linear urban park- the Washington, D.C. Grand Arc

Inside the Beltway I-95:
1971 PEPCO Power Line -B&O
1964-73 Northwest Branch Park - Fort Drive - B&O
1960 Northwest Branch Park - Catholic Sisters College - B&O

PEPCO-B&O offers greatest serviceability and least displacement
with greatest use of existing corridors.

Yet this is all often poorly reported.

Washington, D.C. FICTITIOUS I-95 Route

Brookland CUA Area Small Area Plan

Public Hearing Notice

A TRIP WITHIN THE BELTWAY 101

2009-01-24T23:38:00.070-05:00

D.C. Freeway Schematic:

A basic introduction to Washington, D.C.'s truncated freeway system

Illustration: Capital Beltway with Inner System, 1971 plan
with I-95 Northeast Freeway via the Fort Drive - Northwest Branch Park route

The Washington, D.C. area’s best known road is probably that which essentially circles it, the I-495 Capital Beltway.

Washington, D.C.’s main freeways are the upside down ‘T’ of the SW-SE Freeway and the north south Center Leg, and the short stretch of I-66 which enters D.C. via the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge before heading north to end in the vicinity of the Watergate complex.

Washington, D.C.’s freeway system is highly truncated with most of it unbuilt, as marketed by numerous truncations with the northern and southern ends of the Wet Leg, the north end of the I-395 tunnel at New York Avenue, the western end of the SW Freeway at Maine Street and the eastern end of the SE Freeway at a set of underpasses beneath Barney Circle at Pennsylvania Avenue SE. These freeway segments were planned as components of Washington, D.C.’s currently uncompleted Inner Loop Freeway.

Today, the term “Inner Loop” often is used to described the ‘inner’ aka clockwise running direction of the Capital Beltway. But it was to apply it an inner loop system – a sideways figure 8 – as a hub of a system with radial spokes connecting to and to points beyond the Capital Beltway. It was to accommodate both today's Capital Beltway as well as an Intermediate Loop, as shown in the 1959 plan.

1959 plan with 3 separate northern radials

1955 Inner Loop

The Inner Loop Freeway components were planned to connect to the Capital Beltway, in Virginia with I-66 from the west, and I-95 from the southwest, and in Maryland with I-295 from the south, Route 50 from the east, and I-95 from the northeast, as readily apparent by the truncated roadways at the interchange with the I-495 Capital Beltway near Greenbelt.

Such unbuilt highways underwent significant routing and design revisions from the 1950s into the 1970s to satisfy concerns, yet were canceled outright to provide extra funding to construct the WMATA rail transit system. This is even as the transportation plans from 1962 and later included highways and the WMATA rail transit system.

1962 Railways and Highways

1971 Inner Loop system
with 1975 Virginia I-595 to National Airport
(Scott M. Kozel)

Notable amongst these design revisions to reduce local negative impacts were replacing the open trench western North Leg along Florida Ave and U Streets NW (and, east of New Jersey Avenue elevated), and 11th Street NE/SE with the K Street Tunnel and the Mount Olivet Road Tunnel with surface continuation to R.F.K. Stadium.

1955 North Leg West of the Inner Loop

1971 North Leg West of the Inner Loop

Elizabeth Rowe of the U.S. National Capital Planning Commission and opponent of the 1955 Inner Loop plan was an early promoter of the I-66 North Leg K Street Tunnel in the mid 1960s.

Washington, D.C. Freeways
Scott M. Kozel - Washington, D.C. Interstates and Freeways

I-495 Capital Beltway
Scott M. Kozel - Capital Beltway

Steve Anderson D.C. Roads

Inner Loop Components:

Built:

West Leg

SW –SE Freeway

Center Leg (3^rd Street Tunnel)

Unbuilt:

North Leg - K Street Tunnel Alternative

East Leg

South Leg

Radials:

Built:

I-270 (Maryland)
Scott Kozel Roads to the Future
I-66 (Virginia)
Scott Kozel Roads to the Future

I-95 (today's I-395 and Route 1) 14th Street Bridges
Scott Kozel Roads to the Future
I-95 (today’s I-395) Virginia Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway
Scott Kozel Roads to the Future

I-295/DC 295
Steve Anderson D.C. Roads
Baltimore Washington Parkway
Steve Anderson D.C. Roads

New York Avenue - 50 (theoretical I-66)

50 - unsigned I-595 (theoretical I-66) Maryland
Scott Kozel Roads to the Future

Partially Built:

Clara Barton Parkway

Unbuilt:

Virginia Route 1 Bypass

Virginia-Georgetown I-266 Crossing

I-70S Northwest Freeway

1959
I-70S/I-95 North Central Freeway – I-95 Northeast Freeway
1959
1960
1962
1963-64
1965
1966
1971
1971 - 1973: Replacing the I-95 Fort Drive NW Branch Park Route with the PEPCO power line Route
1964 North Central Freeway Highway Routing Mystery- making enemies for a far more destructive and longer route

1959

1959
I-70S at Friendship Heights, at the Maryland-District line

The freeway system’s earliest opposition manifested itself in NW, particularly in the area of Georgetown where the Canal Road – Whitehurst Freeway extension and Glover Archibald – Three Sisters axis crossed, and to the north.

1958-59 I-70S Cross Park Freeway

That was even as most of the dwelling displacement was to Rock Creek Park's east, through Mt. Pleasant and the along 14th Street to the intersection with the I-66 North Leg of the Inner Loop at U Street.

1958-59 I-70S east of Rock Creek Park,
interchange with I-66

That these canceled freeways – indeed freeways in general to the west of Rock Creek Park – had less impacts then those remaining under consideration after 1960 led to increased political opposition to the east, as such routes as the original North Central Freeway roughly paralleling Georgia Avenue would displace considerable more dwellings.

Just imagine-
a North Central Freeway along the Georgia Avenue corridor
right by Howard University

Yet such routings were simply unnecessary.

Washington, D.C. fortuitously has its sole north south railroad industrial corridor -- the B&O Metropolitan Branch RR/ today's WMATA above ground Red Line -- about directly in the middle between the Potomac River and the Capital Beltway’s eastern portion. It could accommodate the existing railway, the rail transit that became WMATA, and freeway.

1960

The initial D.C. I-95 Northeast Freeway engineering study report issued in 1960, considered a variety of routings before settling upon a route preference of this railroad - industrial corridor which runs next to Catholic University of America.

1960

As such, this corridor was proposed to accommodate a generally below grade North Central Freeway routing serving both inside the Beltway I-70S (I-270) and I-95 , accommodating a spur for the latter to and from the north-east, via the Administration of John F. Kennedy in a report dated November 1962.

1962

1964

Nonetheless, that proposal would be seriously undermined by the subsequent initial North Central Freeway engineering study that issued its report in October 1964; that report altogether excluded the JFK B&O railroad route with an upwards of 37 route options with many running nowhere near the railroad corridor, and with a recommended route (#11) that ran partially along the railroad but with serious deviations away with far greater dwelling displacement in Brookland, D.C., notably with the Turkey Thicket neighborhood, and particularly within Takoma Park Maryland with 471 houses in a 1.1 mile segment.

1964

1966

By 1966 a supplementary engineering study adhered to the 1962 Kennedy concept proposal, however that would be politically undermined by planning organizations and officials that wafer between the 1964 and 1966 plans on account of the earlier plan's lower construction costs due to its use of sloped embankments rather then retaining walls.

A 1971 design report would work to reduce local opposition by including a lid (cap) over a length of the North Central Freeway from a few hundred feet north of Michigan Avenue southward to Rhode Island Avenue; however it would in explicitly delete the idea of such a highway (and even railroad) cover northwards alongside the main campus of Catholic University of America to Taylor Street.

1966 Proposed Air Rights Area

1971

By 1971, with the planning refinements for reducing impacts, with the 1970 refinement of the I-95 North Central Freeway in the west Brookland area with a retaining wall (reducing the dwelling displacement from 69 to 34), along with the Inner Loop component substitutions, most notably with the I-66 K Street Tunnel, the overwhelming amount of dwelling displacement for completing the then proposed freeway system was the 1,048 or so for the North Leg’s central portion connecting the I-66 K Street tunnel east of Mt Vernon Square to the I-95 Center Leg and carrying I-95 northeasterly towards the interchange with the I-95 North Central – Northeast Freeway, the Route 50 (or I-66 eastern continuation) New York Avenue Industrial Freeway and the Inner Loop East Leg.

Of this, I48 were for the I-66 tunnel, 600+ for the I-95 North Leg, and 172 for the Mt Olivet Road tunnel area of the East Leg northern portion, with its southern portion and the New York Avenue Industrial Freeway taking 0, and the I-95 portion of the North Central – Northeast Freeway displacing 34 in D.C., and about 110 in Maryland, with the subsequent PEPCO route taking 0 in Maryland but about 25 just inside D.C. just north of New Hampshire Avenue.

1971

I-95 PEPCO-B&O Route

Inside the Beltway I-95:
1971 PEPCO Power Line -B&O
1964-73 Northwest Branch Park - Fort Drive - B&O
1960 Northwest Branch Park - Catholic Sisters College - B&O

1973 PEPCO Power Line Inside the Beltway I-95
note sharper curve at New Hampshire Avenue

The popular anti-freeway battle cry would be “no white man’s roads through black mans; homes”.

Yet the most driven latter 1960s protesting would be for the I-266 Three Sisters Bridge in the vicinity of Georgetown University, and the I-95 North Central Freeway in the Brookland – Catholic University of American area.

This arrangement leaves a disproportionate amount of the through traffic burden in the less politically affluent D.C. SE, without extra environmental mitigation, in what may be sarcastically called "social justice".

Who Really Stopped Washington, D.C.'s Freeways

A Sampling of Attitudes Towards D.C. I-95

A Washington, D.C. Big Dig

I-395 Extension

2009-01-24T22:10:00.000-05:00

What happens north of New York Avenue?

Today's I-395 3rd Street Tunnel, initially known as the I-95 Center Leg, ends at K Street with a transition road to New York Avenue.

Obviously this highway was intended to extend further.

Planning staring in the mid 1900s shows how this was intended. The 1955 Inner Loop study shows this- created from connecting two separate scans.

1955

By the mid 1960s planning looked to a K Street Tunnel as the alternative to the open trench roadway along Florida Avenue and U Street. The following illustrations show the routing evolution.

Early I-66 North Leg West K Street Tunnel proposal From the 1966 North Central Freeway Supplementary Study

I need illustrations of the proposed ramp connections at each end of this early version of he I-66 K Street Tunnel.

1967 Urban League proposal

1971 Center Leg -- North Leg Interchange

1971 I-66 K Street Tunnel

Initially the I-66 K Street Tunnel would extend all the way to the Center Leg; this was soon changed to having the cross town I-66 tunnel remain beneath K Street to the vicinity of Mt Vernon Square before turning northeasterly to follow the north side of New York Avenue.

1971

This would provide a 10 lane cut and cover along the north side of New York Avenue, intercepting 6 lanes from the 8 lane I-95 Center Leg, and 4 lanes from the I-66 K Street Tunnel. It would provide about a 50 mph design speed through the transition radii. The I-66 tunnel segment from Mt Vernon Square to 4th Street NW would displace 148 dwellings; the I-95 tunnel segment easterly from 4th Street and New Jersey Avenue to 1st Street NE would displace 600+.

Center Leg with curved connection to North Leg East

1996

This was the first official Washington, D.C. highway proposal since the 1983-1996 planned Barney Circle Connector, presented by the Office of the D.C. Mayor in 1996. It would extend I-395 via a 4 lane tunnel wrapping behind the rear side of the Bible Way and continuing entirely within and beneath the New York Avenue right of way with 0 building displacement, but with a relatively tight transition radii.

2002 - unofficial

I developed this concept of a two deck cut and cover tunnel with 4 lanes per direction with superior operationability geometry of a gentler transition radii, taking advantage of the convenient location of the Dunbar HS with its recreation field to there route a tunnel extending beneath O Street NW-NE to the Florida Avenue area.

This provides a 60 mph design speed, with a 95% reduction of the building displacement of the 1971 design, instead of 600+, it would be some 34 within the lower triangle between 4th, M and N Streets and New Jersey Avenue.

It would be far less disruptive to maintaining traffic during the construction phase then the 1996 design tunnel directly beneath New York Avenue.

Nonetheless it has not been formally considered.

I-395 3rd Street Tunnel Jammed

2009-01-22T00:51:00.009-05:00

See the labels I-395, I-395 extension, Center Leg, North Central Freeway, Northeast Freeway and the post A Sampling of Attitudes Towards D.C. I-95 to learn why this highway dead ends in neighborhoods along New York Avenue

http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/01/20/the_tunnel

I-95 Center Leg (today's I-395 3rd Street Tunnel)

Survivors of the 'Purple Tunnel of Doom' - Facebook

1955 Inner Loop Engineering Study

2009-01-20T00:30:00.011-05:00

1955 Inner Loop Freeway Proposal Guide to Plates

Plate 1

Plate 3

Takoma Park Appreciation For Express Road

2009-01-12T22:41:00.001-05:00

More or less ...

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Kopal Barnouin-Jha <kopalb@gmail. com>
> Date: Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 4:31 PM
> Subject: sligo creek pkwy closing
> To: takoma@yahoogroups. com
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've been trying to figure out (from the mayor, my ward rep and
> through the PWD) why Sligo Creek Pkwy is closed between Maple and Old
> Carroll. It's totally fine, to the somewhat-trained eye, and having
> walked it routinely, know that nothing has gone on in the few months
> that it's been closed off.
>
> Not only is it hugely inconvenient, it's also dangerous (traffic has
> to go through that stretch via other smaller roads that are not set up
> for that kind of traffic, and Lincoln, in particular, has terrible
> visibility when it comes to crossing over Carroll.)
>
> Who can tell me:
>
> - why is it closed?
> - when it will open?
>
> If no one can, who should I ask - suggestions welcome.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kopal
>
> --
> Dr. Kopal Barnouin-Jha
> kopalb@gmail. com
> www.ecologyfund. com
> www.greyhoundwelfar e.org
>

Obaminaugeration Changes Attitudes on D.C. Radial Freeways?

2009-01-09T13:46:00.017-05:00

Bridges from, and particularly the inside the Beltway radial freeway closures within Virginia, on Barack Obama's inauguration, reveal attitudes of disconnect from the denial of freeways into Washington, D.C. from Maryland.

As found at Sam Smith's:

GRIDLOCK WE CAN COUNT ON

Dorothy Brazil, DC Watch - The Secret Service released its plans for street closings in DC on inauguration day, January 20, and they're wildly disproportionate to any past inaugural closing plans. They're not just meant to clear the area around the Capitol ceremony and the Pennsylvania Avenue parade, as they always have been in the past. Instead, they're designed to paralyze the city as a whole and to overburden Metro so much that it will be unusable on that day. Not only will three and a half square miles of downtown DC be closed to car traffic, but, in addition, all bridges and major roads linking the District to northern Virginia will be closed to vehicular traffic. These plans will inconvenience DC residents and workers, and they'll make it difficult for all the visitors to DC to get to the inaugural events they came to see. As these plans have been made by the Secret Service and the Obama Presidential Inauguration Committee over the past few weeks, it has become increasingly clear that neither group cares in the least about accommodating DC residents, commuters, and visitors. It has also become clear that neither Mayor Fenty nor any DC government representative has played an independent role as a spokesman for our interests, and that nobody representing the city has tried to introduce common sense into the overblown, grandiose "security" schemes that will shut down our city unnecessarily.

Washington Times - The Secret Service announced unprecedented security measures for the presidential inauguration, saying it will shut down all bridge crossings from Virginia into the District and establish a security perimeter that closes or limits vehicular access on 100 city streets. AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John B. Townsend II predicted the bridge closings will overburden entry points to the city through Maryland and create gridlock throughout the metropolitan area.

"It's overkill," he said. "It totally cuts off access from Virginia. This is the most ridiculous thing I've heard of in my life. It just doesn't make sense.". .

On January 20, 2009, the date of Barack Obama's inauguration, the bridges into Washington, D.C. from Virginia and the radial freeways within the Beltway in Virginia will be closed, and critics of this fail to see the similarities to the same regarding the lack of radial freeways from Maryland!

One can enter Washington, D.C. from Virginia by diverting to the Capital Beltway and entering from the Maryland side of the Potomac, via I-295 from the south, Route 50 from the east, or any of the surface streets: a situation decried by those that say nothing, or have actively opposed any radial freeways in the entire within D.C. arc from the Potomac River clock-wise to Route 50!

As a scholar of the planning of the Washington, D.C. freeways who was part of the panel Freeways in Washington (a review by Mark Bentley) at the 1998 annual conference of the D.C. Historical Society, and did a presentation on behalf of NE D.C. Historical Society in 2005, who has perused numerous documents at the D.C. Martin Luther King Public Library Washingtonia Division, as well as at the George Washington University Gelman Library Special Collections, my recollection is that Sam Smith took a strongly derisive attitude towards the North Central Freeway, including its far less intrusive 1971 design.

And So Does The U.S. National Capital Planning Commission

A Sampling Of Attitudes Towards D.C. I-95

North Central Freeway Routing Mystery

See the tag "Highway Routing Mysteries"

Who Really Stopped Washington, D.C.'s Freeways

2008-12-28T00:34:00.018-05:00

From Zachary Schrag

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/00/magazine/levey112700.htm

Washington, D.C.: I enjoyed the article, especially the profiles of Booker and Abbott. But let's not forget who really stopped Natcher's attempt to force the city to accept the freeways.

While the ECTC was gathering a few dozen people to march on picket lines and disrupt hearings, Congressman Robert Giaimo of Connecticut was gathering votes in the House of Representatives to release subway funds from Natcher's control. Thanks to his efforts, on Dec. 2, 1971, the full House voted 195 to 174 to release the D.C. share of Metro funds without forcing the city to build the Three Sisters Bridge. Following this defeat, a very rare case of the full House overruling an appropriations subcommittee chairman, Natcher never again seriously threatened Metro. And without that threat, the D.C. government had no reason to build the freeways.

Essentially there were three challenges to the freeways: in the streets by the ECTC, in the courts by Peter Craig (and his pro bono counsel, Roberts Owen), and in Congress by Robert Giaimo. Craig and Owen bought time, and Giaimo stopped Congress's blackmail. The ECTC, however noisy, did relatively little to change the minds of people in power. Radical protest can make a difference, but in this case the real victory was won by people working within the system.

Zachary Schrag
Columbia University

Proposed I-266 Three Sisters Bridge
looking from Virginia to Washington, D.C.
with Georgetown University at upper right.

... Peter Craig, a junior lawyer at the prestigious firm of Covington & Burling. Craig had come to Washington after graduating from Yale Law School in 1953.

In September 1966, following the N.C.P.C. vote, the Committee of 100 resolved to file a law lawsuit against the D.C. government and the N.C.P.C. to block [3 Sisters] bridge construction. Peter Craig, acting for the committee, turned to his former law firm, Covington & Burling. Partner Gerhard Gesell agreed to take the case for a nominal retainer and assigned lawyers Roberts Owen and Gerald Norton to the matter. Owen, the lead counsel, had paid little attention to the highway fight, but he enjoyed suing the government to force it to obey the law.

p 41 and 125 The Great Society Subway by Zachary M. Schrag

Covington & Burling

Read About the Committee of 100's opposition to US NCPC's Extending the Legacy

Committee of 100 Ruminations

Frederic Delano 'Family' : U.S. NCPC, Committee of 100, and Covington & Burling

Subverting the North Central Freeway

Physical Realities Undermining the North Central Freeway

A Sampling Of Attitudes Towards D.C. I-95

Under Selling The B&O Metropolitan Branch

2008-12-17T02:45:00.001-05:00

From Richard Layman:

UnderSelling by not mentioning the potential linear park, let alone render that corridor to be more multi-model with an underground North Central Freeway

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2008/12/transportation-infrastructure-plan-for.html

Crazy Hard and Expensive Proposal

12. If you really want to spend money on infrastructure....

a. put the CSX Metropolitan Branch railroad underground.
b. There would have to be at least two levels of tunnel, for both the railroad -- three tracks -- and for the subway.
c. Make the subway tunnel two levels, or capable of carrying doublestack trains to double the capacity of the red line subway.

This one is so expensive that I won't put it in the priority list, but it could be done and would impact the region's and especially the city's competitive advantage for generations. See the blog entry, "Rethinking the Metropolitan branch railroad and subway tracks in northeast DC" for much more about this.

I have cut and pasted that below:

Rethinking the Metropolitan branch railroad and subway tracks in northeast DC

1. I find it interesting that last week's Current Newspapers announced in an editorial that Mayor Fenty has ordered a cessation of planning to remove the Whitehurst Freeway, something opposed by some but not all of the citizens groups in the Greater Georgetown neighborhood.

2. This is counter to the trend across the country, such as in San Francisco and Milwaukee, not to mention cities like Seoul, where this has already been done. Seattle probably will remove the Alaskan Way Viaduct as well (and there is no question that the Viaduct there cuts off the city from the water).

AP photo: Seattle's 2-mile-long Alaskan Way Viaduct.

See "15 SECONDS THAT CHANGED SAN FRANCISCO / The sweeping makeover that transformed the city began 15 years ago today with the Loma Prieta earthquake," by John King from the San Francisco Chronicle about removal of the Embarcadero Freeway and the subsequent positive impact.

Also see "Freeway Deconstruction and Urban Regeneration in the United States," a paper from the University of California Transportation Institute and the webpage "Removing Freeways, Restoring Cities."

3. At the Congress for the New Urbanism meeting in Philadelphia there was a session on removing freeways along riverfronts. Michael Lewyn has some notes about the session in his blog. From the entry:

Jeff Tumlin asserted that freeways export real estate value from cities to suburbs; their absence maximizes cities' property value. He used Vancouver as an example of life without freeways: while downtown vehicle trips increased in every other Canadian city since 1995, such trips decreased in Vancouver- even while total trips (including walking/transit/bike trips) increased by 22%!

4. Plus, the City is removing part of the Frederick Douglass Bridge on South Capitol Street, putting more of the roadway at grade, and restoring the street grid in that area. See "Dead End at the Anacostia," subtitled "Two-Month Project Will Complicate Life for 77,000 Douglass Bridge Commuters" from the Washington Post, and ignore the focus on the very short term inconvenience to commuters. Instead focus on how the area will be improved by the reduction of the amount of aerial freeway span and the restoration of the grid.

From the article:

The bridge repairs are being done to extend the life of the span until a new bridge is built. The $27 million project also will allow the new bridge to be built and connected to the street grid without major interruptions, officials said.

About 400 feet of bridge will be eliminated on the northern side of the crossing and 200 feet will be lowered about 10 feet so the span touches down at Potomac Avenue. As part of the project, the stretch of South Capitol Street just north of the bridge will become a tree-lined boulevard.

Click here for the complete Washington Post graphic about the South Capitol Bridge project.

MARC train and subway at Rhode Island Avenue Station
5. In the context of the current underway Brookland Small Area Plan, some of the residents have come up with an alternative suggesting that the railroad and subway tracks and subway station be "depressed" or decked, and the street grid be restored in the area between the two railroad bridge overpasses at Monroe and Michigan Avenues.

(In a conversation last night with a colleague he mentioned that it is not possible from an engineering to depress the railroad tracks for that depth for such a short distance. Railroad locomotive engines like even grades.)

MARC train north of the Rhode Island Avenue Subway Station

But after reading the piece about the re-configuring of the South Capitol Street bridge, to remove one span and put the street back in and on the grid, I have been thinking that it doesn't reach far enough. The Brookland "alternative proposal" doesn't suggest extending this idea and removing the bridges.

Looking at the Michigan Avenue Bridge, Brookland

Monroe Street bridge, Brookland

Monroe Street bridge and the streetcar, Joe Testagrose Collection.

6. Extending this idea further, like the Reno Retrac project or the creation of the Alameda Transportation Corridor to connect the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, how about putting the railroad tracks and subway tracks and subway stations below grade, from the Rhode Island Metro Station to perhaps as far as the Silver Spring Metro Station? Definitely to Takoma.

Reno Retrack project. Image by JBR Environmental Consultants.

Mid-corridor tunnel, Alameda Transportation Corridor.

Both the Reno and Alameda Corridor projects created ditches. (See "The Train Line" for more about the LA project, and the City of Reno website on the Retrac project, including a section on the history of the project.) Instead, I suggest creating the ditch and covering it over, and restoring the street grid.

At Rhode Island Station, the subway tracks are high high above the street, but starting somewhat south, around the big Post Office Complex off Brentwood Road, the tracks could begin to go underground, instead of climbing up very very high. (The tracks start rising just south of the equivalent of T Street NE, around the WMATA maintenance facility.)

Subway bridges over Rhode Island Avenue NE, looking west

Corner of T and 5th Streets NE, adjacent to Sanitary Grocery, near the beginning of the rise of the subway track bridge

Around Franklin Street NE, the tracks go back to grade and a little further they even go underground a bit, where one of the railroad tracks cuts over to the east, and from that point going north for a ways, the railroad tracks bracket the red line subway tracks.
Metro tunnel heading north to Brookland around Girard Street at 9th Street NE.

At the very least, it could be done in Brookland, say from Franklin Street up to Ft. Totten. By Franklin the tracks come down to grade or below anyway, from very high up at Rhode Island Station.
Lawrence Street stub at 9th Street NE
7. Another example would be the proposal for a Tysons Corner tunnel, which proposed a two level tunnel, using Spanish technology.

This idea could be further extended, and a two tunnel system could be created to separate the railroad from the subway.

See this blog's articles on the Grand Arc Mall Tunnel

Eastern SE Freeway Bastardization

2008-11-24T01:07:00.002-05:00

Converting the eastern portion of the SE Freeway to a boulevard not only increases vehicular-pedestrian conflict, but is totally unnecessary, as evident from the cross sections in the Middle Anacostia Transportation Study, seen here [warning- PDF] at page 35 "Boulevard Typical Section #2 - Looking East towards Barney Circle". Alas, a printer-computer glitch prevents me from printing this page to scan it for an illustration to place here.

Evidently the topography favors covering over the existing freeway, with the new boulevard atop; not shown is the idea of covering the RR nor extending the cover towards the Anacostia River with a terrace/staircase, as already done at the Lincoln Memorial. As this involves covering the existing freeway -- IOW no new depressing -- this is a comparatively cheap freeway undergrounding, unlike say this freeway to the west between the 11th Street and 1th Street Bridges.

The idea of covering the segment of this freeway between 14th and 15th Streets SE appeared in this late 1960s illustration seen here.

Continuing this cover westerly requires removing the elevated approaches to the 11th Street Bridges, something that I propose with a replacement with below grade approaches that would conflict with the existing heavy RR, though compatible if converted to vehicular traffic or lighter rail which can tolerate grade changes upwards of 5% whereas heavy RR can only tolerate a 1% grade. As with the highway, this railroad right of way is coverable.

Continuing this cover easterly to Barney Circle would be feasible with allowances for the ramps.

Likewise, the topography allows such a relatively easy undergrouding for this freeway's needed extension to RFK Stadium- East Capitol Street, and is fully compatible with planning for a slow speed waterfront boulevard atop, including the idea of a traffic circle at Massachusetts Avenue SE. Here to the railroad should also be covered.

Only those promoting a mindless ideology against urban freeways -- alas those traditionally in control of the governments -- would rather place all of this vehicular traffic upon the surface waterfront boulevard.

11th Street Bridge[s] Fiasco, Evacuation Route Ramp Demolition To Come

2008-11-15T15:04:00.000-05:00

From the JD site:

Then there's the bridges: Reconstruction of the 11th Street Bridges is scheduled to begin in mid-2009. (The shortlist of firms vying for the design-build contract was announced a few weeks ago.) Whether we actually see heavy equipment moving in mid-2009, or whether this just marks the first part of the design-build project is not quite clear. I was also told that the contract to demolish the flyover ramps to and from RFK could be completed soon, and that demolition would happen not long after the contract is signed.
Plus, the final Environmental Impact Statement for South Capitol Street and the Douglass Bridge is expected in spring 2009; that's when we'll hear which of the four bridge designs has been chosen.

This fatally flawed project -- RFK ramp demolition, eastern SE Freeway boulevardization with traffic lights, and replacement with new elevated ramps -- needs to be stopped and seriously re-planned... as currently proposed the project fails to pass even a laugh test, as so with the controlled opposition that focus only upon the increased public utility of the connection to the Anacostia Freeway.

The Nature of DC Area "E" Organizations

2008-11-15T14:17:00.001-05:00

From the Yahoo ICC list:

Re: Md.: Chevy Chase to retain firm to study Purple Line

Posted by: "C. P. Zilliacus" CPZ@OS2BBS.COM cpzilliacus

Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:12 am (PST)
The Town of Chevy Chase Town Council voted unanimously at a Thursday night meeting to hire a law firm on a pro bono basis to analyze a state report on the Purple Line.

The above is curious. If the firm is working for them on a pro bono (free) basis, do they really hire them? I don't know, as I am not a lawyer, and I don' t play one on T.V.

And any Maryland municipality that has the string Chevy Chase in its name is not exactly my idea of a place that needs free legal help anyway.

The council voted to hire Sidley Austin, a Washington, D.C., firm to examine the Alternatives Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Purple Line released by the Maryland Transit Administration last month. The statement analyzed several options for the Purple Line mass transit project, which would connect Bethesda to New Carrollton.

This is even more interesting. Sidley Austin was very involved in efforts to disrupt and delay the DEIS and FEIS for the InterCounty Connector on behalf of Environmental Defense, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and others. Examples here
<http://www.mwcog. org/uploads/ committee- documents/ vV1eWFc200407261 53649.\pdf> ,
here
<http://maryland. sierraclub. org/Montgomery/ press/ICC_ 122006.htm>
and here
<http://www.arnoldpo rter.com/ resources/ documents/ Audubon-v- DOT.pdf>

Are they a CAVE (citizens against virtually everything) law firm?

Doug Willinger, have you run across this firm in your research into anti-highway activities elsewhere?

My reply:

I have not researched Sidley Austin, though in checking out their Wikipedia entry I found this:
Famous alumni

* President-elect Barack Obama was a summer associate in the Chicago office, but never joined the firm as a full-time associate. He met his wife, Michelle Obama (who was an associate at Sidley Austin at the time), while he was a summer associate at the firm. [8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidley_Austin
I do not have time right now to continue this research, but have already researched that power house Pennsylvania Avenue law firm Covington and Burling and have turned up much (C&B just happens to be involved with practically everything I have blogged about.

http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/08/college-frats-as-satanic-romish-masonry.html

(In particular check out the links within the above article regarding Transport Network Subversion)

I suggest similar lines of research upon Sidley Austin, including its founders and their fraternal memberships.

FH Covington's frat happens to pop up in a new book about Illuminati government control discussed here.

http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/11/explaining-people-like-fdr-etc.html

quote:
"Albert C Stevens (the respected historian) also makes this interesting connection between the Masonic Kappa Sigma society, founded in 1867 at the University of Virginia, and Skull and Bones. On page 355, Stevens states, “The badge [of Kappa Sigma] is an inverted crescent of gold, attached to and below which, by four of its points, is a five-pointed star [the pentagram] with the letters Kappa Sigma in its center…. At the top, on the crescent, a skull and bones are engraved; at the left, the crossed keys [a symbol of the pope’s power], and at the right, crossed swords.”[17] Is this all mere coincidence?"
I highly doubt that that Chevy Chase Country Club is the only example of a disproportionate influence of entities who control a particular piece of real estate.

Note for instance CUA, as well as that "Order of the Eastern Star" property that connects the I-95 PEPCO-B&O Routes, which just happens to be the entity which hosts the Committee of 100 Christmas Party (an organization that is notoriously anti grade separated highways).

http://cos-mobile.blogspot.com/2008/07/homeland-security-goal-would-be-better.html
http://wwwsouthcapitolstreet.blogspot.com/2008/09/appearances-of-power-ruminations.html

I suspect this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

ECTC VC Marion Barry For Private Use Eminent Domain

2008-10-31T14:02:00.004-04:00

Marion Barry, now a member of the Washington, D.C. City Council, and the Vice Chairman of the 1960s-70s organization, the 'Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis' (ECTC) which strictly opposed grade separated highways providing a vehicular alternative to surface streets, FAVORS the use of eminent domain for PRIVATE use, to the east of the Anacostia River.

http://anacostianow.blogspot.com/2008/10/eminent-domain.html

It was the ECTC which conducted protests over the demolition of 69 dwellings (reduced to 34 in 1970) in western Brookland, D.C. near the railroad tracks that run alongside Catholic University of America, for PUBLIC use eminent domain for the B&O Route low level North Central Freeway, which was to be the sole north-south northern radial such facility within Washington, D.C.

Union Station Centennial

2008-10-02T23:50:00.000-04:00

Grand Arc Headpiece

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2008/10/union-station-celebrates-its-100th.html

From 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday, Amtrak will be displaying historic rail cars. Union Station Redevelopment Corporation will be displaying historic photos.

AP has a story, "Washington's Union Station celebrates 100 years."

Don't forget the in-process dissertation about Union Station by Bill Wright. He's a great writer. Check out his website.

Congress for 'New' Urbanism Seeks Eliminating SE Freeway and 11th Street Bridge

2008-09-30T19:55:00.002-04:00

Advocates Removing Evacuation Route, if not increase vehicular - pedestrian conflict!

http://www.cnu.org/highways/freewayswithoutfutures

10. 11th Street Bridges and the Southeast Freeway, Washington D.C.
The Southeast Freeway is a 1.39-mile stretch of freeway running through Washington D.C. built in the late 1960s. It connects Interstate 395 to Interstate 295 at the 11th Street Bridges and was prevented from continuing west due to local opposition at the time. To address congestion and traffic routing problems at the interchange connecting the Southeast/Southwest Freeway and the Anacostia Freeway (I-295) over the Anacostia River, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) began investigating how to reconstruct and reconfigure the interchange at the 11th Street Bridges.

The Concerned Citizens of Eastern Washington, the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, some of whom were involved with the freeway revolt in the 1960s, began investigating the FHWA's preferred alternative in the Final Environmental Impact Assessment. Working with the transportation engineering firm Smart Mobility, Inc., the Capitol Hill Restoration Society discovered that, while the DC Department of Transportation states that there will not be an increase in capacity, the “preferred alternative … will result in a 50% increase of freeway capacity into central DC, even though this is contrary to the DC Comprehensive Plan.” This project has renewed discussions about improving surface-street and pedestrian connections in the near southeastern section of the district by removing the Southeast Freeway -- what the DC Office of Planning refers to as a “formidable psychological barrier.”

Actually the highway was not prevented from extending to the west, as that was built as the SW Freeway. Rather it was prevented from extending to the east and the north by canceling the East Leg, and afterwards via canceling the Barney Circle connector.

Washington Gateway Chock

2008-08-11T23:47:00.007-04:00

New Demolition Special to Complicate I-395 Tunnel Extension; builds upon remaining sliver of land adjacent to New York Avenue, forcing tunnel directly beneath existing Avenue as it rises to overpass railroad

Number "17"

Project is in immediate need of cancellation, for blocking the remaining sliver of land allowing construction of the I-395 tunnel extension alongside New York Avenue - particularly along the highly useful O Street axis.

Project chocks the I-395 extension whether to the (eastern) New York Avenue corridor or the (northern) B&O corridor.

Project also conflicts with lowering the B&O railroad and the idea of covering said railroad as done via the Grand Arc.

Project testifies to the sheer incompetence of D.C. planning and the degree the authorities are beholden to medievalists that would chock publicly valuable evacuation route, disregarding civil defense (while nonetheless embracing 1984-esque domestic surveillance).

Is scheduled to start construction autumn 2008.

I-395 Tunnel Extension Superior Option
MRP Reality
MRP Reality- Washington 'Gateway' Project

Evacuation Route To Be Demolished This Summer!!

2008-08-04T19:17:00.003-04:00

U.S. DOT approves demolition of RFK Stadium Access Ramps
& Highway

Mary Peters, U.S. DOT
http://www.dot.gov/bios/peters.htm

From Jacqueline Dupree:

http://www.jdland.com/dc/index.cfm?id=2641

The FAQ mentions that the existing flyover ramps to and from RFK (the ones that head east over M Street) are supposed to be demolished "this summer", but I've been unable to get any details from DDOT as to whether that's still happening. I'm also not sure whether that's part of the bigger plan (not technically part of the bridge replacement project) to completely do away with the current below-grade freeway to Pennsylvania Avenue and replace it with "Southeast Freeway Boulevard", running at-grade from 11th Street eastward. (Read the EIS for more on that.)
How much is it going to cost? The ROD says that a cost review meeting in December "indicated that the estimate was consistent with an 80th percentile probability that the year-of-expenditure project cost would not exceed 465 million dollars." Those of you well versed in bureaucracy-speak can translate that as necessary.

http://www.11thstreetbridgeseis.com/reports.asp?DocGroupID=10033
http://www.11thstreetbridgeseis.com/

Media Talking Head Bob Novak Hits Pedestrian With His Black Corvette

2008-07-24T01:59:00.002-04:00

Apparantly Bob Novak is a man who drives to make time, to say the least.

Particularly when driving within Washington, D.C.

In a Black Corvette.

So, can anyone point to what this man has ever said publically on any of his talk shows about the government's 'inability' to construct a continuous freeway system?

With all of the talk about the changed reality after 911, what has Novak or any of the other Washington, D.C. media talking heads said about evacuation routes?

Surely he's aware of how I-395 just dumps out onto New York Avenue, etc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/23/robert-novak-taken-into-p_n_114510.html