Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Takoma D.C. Tranport Chock Developer Chocked SW Freeway

An Epidemic of Corridor Chocks
right within the Nation's Capital City
Washington, D.C.


The developer that is pushing the development project at the Takoma WMATA Station is the same developer that irresponsibly chocked the SW Freeway corridor with the row of 28 townhouses at the northern edge of the Capital Square townhouse project, Eakin Youngentob.

As I wrote in my original "Highways And Communities" web site:

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 significently 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 conjestion 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.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060207152135/www.highwaysandcommunities.com/Planning_Errors_D.C._Real_Estate_Development_built_ALERT.htm

WMATA's awarding this developer underscores a blatant disregard for long term transportation corridor planning.

If numbers of dwelling were the overriding favor why was the Capital Square project built as townhouses rather than something more substantial with greater numbers of such along with the setback from the SW Freeway.


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