I-95 Should Go Through Washington, D.C.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155075149785392&set=gm.764000643688058&type=1&theater

  

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2015/01/answering-critic.html

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-dc-95-project.html

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2015/01/grand-arc.html

57 plus 33 houses (plus whatever Comstock Builders KNOWINGLY placed in the path), versus 50-60 for the Purple Line

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2012/01/crafted-controversy-scuttling-of-jfks-b.html

1963 Park Covered Boston Inner Belt Fenway Segment

 1965 Park Covered Boston Inner Belt Fenway Segment

JFK was from the Boston area.

He took a greater interest in planning than perhaps any other U.S. President since.

Might he have imagined such a park covered highway tunnel alongside Catholic University of America, beneath today's John William McCormack Drive?

John William McCormack was the U.S. Speaker of the House from 1962 to 1971:
born December 21, 1891 – died November 22, 1980.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/04/b-dc-i-95-corridor-photos.html

German A7 Project shows the proper basic idea for an urban highway, and what's happened with such since the 1970s 'de-mapings'- outside of Washington, D.C.:

http://www.rebhatech.com/design/reuniting-a-divided-city-with-an-ambitious-covered-highway-project/

Instead of a park covered cut and cover tunnel in places such as alongside Catholic University of America, the policy within Washington, D.C. is to place a disproportionate traffic burden in its least affluent areas, with non tunneled freeway configurations that block off local waterfront access.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2014/09/getting-over.html

Open Letter To Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Feds, DDOT and Congress

http://dc.curbed.com/archives/2014/12/capitol-crossing-developers-outrage-congress-over-i395-closing.php

Dear Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, The U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Highway Authority and Members of the U.S. Congress;

It is good that the proposed temporary closure of the I-395 segment was averted for the construction of the Capitol Crossing I-395 Air Rights Project..

But are you aware that the Capital Crossing I-395 Air Rights Project PERMANENTLY shuts off 50% of the  I-395 right of way?

 Capitol Crossing Center Leg Right of Way PINCH

http://pgp.us.com/pdf/395_air_rights_property.pdf

Perhaps not, as that fact has not been reported in any of the newspaper or real estate cheerleader web sites.  This includes so far the site Greater, Greater Washington.

That freeway was designed and built with a 8 lane right of way plus shoulders.

I-395 Center Leg showing extra capacity

That includes its northern tunnel segment, built from 1975 to 1978, but unopened until a 1983-1986 finishing project was completed, after the cancellation of the extensions.  Hence it includes non-load bearing walls to block off the extra space for storage space for such things as the Lions from the Taft Bridge.  Supposedly I-395 is to end simply at New York Avenue, dumping its traffic there.  That can be seen by an aerial showing the expansion joints upon K Street that mark off its 4 lane southbound, 5 lane northbound and one lane northbound on-ramp.

Note the expansion joints showing the true capacity potential

Non load-bearing wall- I-395 northbound
http://www.dcroads.net/roads/center-leg/

That is because the Center Leg was not supposed to simply end at New York Avenue making that road itself the main artery.

 Northern Center Leg Tunnel with connections to the northeast and to the west.

Rather it was to have continuations.

I-395 was to continue as planned through the 1970s alongside New York Avenue, previously being designated as I-95.

And there was to be a freeway heading due west as an extension of I-66.

Planning for these urban highways dated back at least to 1955 for plans that were largely unpopular for their potential building displacement and permanent impacts.

The original 1955 Plan

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2006/12/1950-62-plans.html

Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis (ECTC) poster 

showing the 1955 Center Leg-North Leg routing, 
plus the highly politicized and sabotaged B&O North Central Freeway

Above ECTC poster close-up of names showing Marion Barry

However the design of the built northernmost Center Leg segment was to accomodate later plans designed to largely avoid these displacement problems and to avoid the permanent disruptions via being built as cut and cover tunnels.

The crosstown I-66 link by the mid to late 1960s has been envisioned as a tunnel entirely beneath K Street for most of its length, with its western connection beneath Washington Circle and a brief stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue: a plan initially promoted by opponents of the 1955 plan such as Elizabeth Rowe.

The I-395/I-95 continuation meanwhile had been redesigned to a cut and cover tunnel starting  alongside New York Avenue, limiting a cutting of a new swath for the 3 to 4 block segment from 4th Street NW to North Capitol Street and 1st Street NE displacing about 600 dwellings (those between North Capital and 1st Street NE were torn down under the administration of Anthony Williams), plus 148 for the I-66 connection westward to Mt Vernon Square.   These were the plans featured in the November 1971 DeLeuw, Cather and Harry Weese study "District of Columbia Interstate Highway System".

Center Leg-North Leg Interchange

DeLeuw, Cather, with Harry Weese "District of Columbia Interstate System" November 1971

These extensions avoided almost all of the displacement of the 1955 planning.

Yet they were 'demapped' during the 1970s.  That was primarily for the sake of jumpstarting the funding for the WMATA rail system which had been design together with the freeway system, along with two other ideas: that private automobiles would become obsolete by the 1990s when it was envisioned that the world was going to run out of petroleum (with zero consideration of alternative fuels nor electric propulsion); and assuming that Virginia was not going to build their inside the Beltway segment of I-66 which was in fact completed and opened by 1982.


In the years since, an alternative design for the I-395 tunnel continuation was promoted through the Office of the D.C. Mayor, Marion Barry, who himself was a 1960s era activist against earlier planning efforts, known as the Ron Linton plan.  That was for a tunnel not alongside but rather beneath New York Avenue, thus avoiding the 600 or so dwelling displacement of the plans in the above mentioned 1971 plans.

That plan featured a total of 4 lanes within a street right of way sufficiently wide to accommodate 6 lanes with shoulders.  It also featured a pair of one lane connections to the west into an underground loading and perhaps parking area of the new D.C. Convention Center.  This 1996 study additionally included consideration of new WMATA rail line for the New York Avenue corridor, as a shot of life for new development opportunities along the New York Avenue corridor towards the Maryland border.  Although that would also be true for a revived crosstown I-66 K Street Tunnel, such was not included, as the 1996 study simply viewed the right of way beneath New York Avenue only for I-395.

This 1996 'Ron Linton' tunnel was favorably received, but was formally allowed to languish owing to the idea that a nation as wealthy as the United States of America was somehow too poor to afford even such a tunnel beneath New York Avenue to the vicinity of Florida Avenue and the B&O-CSX-WMATA Red Line railroad corridor.  Strangely it did not even consider the idea of swinging this tunnel alongside New York Avenue in the area to the east, despite the ample brownfields area.

Even more strangely, an alternative design concept for an I-395 was never considered: one that would avoid the traffic construction disturbances of a cut and cover tunnel beneath New York Avenue between New Jersey Avenue and Florida Avenue NE without an alternative means of routing traffic, displacing as few as 33 dwelling (a 95% reduction from the 1971 plans) while providing vastly superior geometrics, and accommodating an I-66 K Street  New York Avenue Tunnel, that I devised as a private citizen: a tunnel arcing beneath the intersection of New Jersey Avenue and N Street and outwards as a double stack beneath O Street, taking advantage of the corner of the open recreation field of Dunbar High School.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-395-extension-superior-option.html

The existing 2009-2001 planning makes ZERO consideration of any of this.

It even pinches the Center Leg median further than an unjustified restriction to only 2 lanes per direction by virtually eliminating the media shoulder.

It gives away this existing design flexibility to further maximize developer profits, simply assuming that there shall never be an extension from I-395, either to the west or the northeast.

Again- this permanent right of way constriction was not reported to the public by the news media.

Though the project was planned with the idea of keeping the I-395 open through the construction, it is like the developer was recently proposing its closure in order to largely prevent people from seeing for themselves the right of way constriction until completed.

That and the fact that the project's web site fails to show the portion of the plans with the right of way constriction further suggests such a cover-up, until it is too late to change without massive expense.

What is the public going to think about the lack of attention given to stopping the proposed permanent I-395 right of way pinch, following all of the attention given to the proposed temporary closure?

However, it is not too late- yet.

Suspend this project now, until it is redesigned to fully respect the sunken I-395 8 lane plus shoulders right of way.

Current I-395 Center Leg Air Rights ROW PINCH- Shoddy Consideration & Misrepresentations

Developer give-way ZERO consideration of I-395 flexibility
Needlessly assumes I-395 will never have an extension,
nor consideration for an I-66 crosstown tunnel

This right of way PINCH is unreported in every article that I have seen on this project outside of A Trip Within the Beltway.

I-395 Center Leg Capital Crossing right of way pinch

from 4 to only 2 lanes per direction

"Typical I-395 cross section"  page 10 2009 Air Rights EIS

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2014/12/erased-comments-from-wp-article-dc.html

DDOT's behavior here reeks of behind the scenes deals and bribes.

Their weird silence, stonewalling of the WP requests for information, and then their idiotic stance that since it's part of 395 that they can't weigh in was absurd.

New email message to info@3rdstunnel.com   --  December 12, 2014

I received no reply to my email of November 21, 2014.

Does your project use the designs shown in the 2009 report that pinch the I-395 right of way?

What is the width of the northbound and southbound mainlines once the project is completed?

A Trip Within the Beltway: Unanswered Questions- 3rd Street Tunnel Support Columns and Tunnel Roof

Facts:

The underground I-395 Center Leg was designed to feature 4 lanes in each direction within the tunnel segments on both the north and the south sides of the open trench that is the site of the current air rights project.

As the segment to the south may have issues of inadequate merge-split lanes it may be viewed as a 3 through lane plus one axillary lane in each direction facility, unless the outer walls are re-located outwards beneath the mall.

However, the northern tunnel being a newer design and with its potential merge area to the north of K Street, is properly an 8 through lane tunnel.

Center Leg trench looking north showing the unused righthand lanes- 

the jersey barrier separates the 3rd lane which is now used as a shoulder from the 4th and rightmost lane which remains in its original concrete with the original right-hand shoulder in asphalt.

Center Leg northbound transition to the southern portal of the northern tunnel segment at Massachusetts avenue- note the non-load-bearing wall coordining the space off for the 2 outer lanes

The North Segment:

The segment to the north, between Massachusetts avenue and K Street NW, was built between 1975 and 1978, with a finishing project from 1983 to 1986.  It features a design for a full 4 lanes in each direction, plus shoulders, plus space for an additional - 5th - northbound lane for a left lane ramp to the planned crosstown I-66 Tunnel that would have been under K Street between Franklin Square and Washington circle.  Additionally it features a separate one lane northbound on ramp that would have merged with the northbound mainline to the north of its northern portal at K Street.   Although what people may see today is only a 2 lane plus shoulder in each direction tunnel, that is only because of walls that were added as part of the 1983-1986 finishing project- as the K Street Tunnel and the I-395 extension to the northeast were both canceled once the initial project was underway. These walls are not load-bearing, as can be seen in the expansion joints visible on the surface of K Street and thus could be easily removed.

Northern Center Leg Tunnel 

showing pair of 3 lane continuations to 1971 plan for freeway extension to the northeast, with pair of one lane connections towards I-66 K Street Tunnel

Note the expansion joints on the surface of K Street marking the load-bearing walls.
Note the unused northbound on-ramp, with its merge area north past the tunnel's portal at K Street.

This design with the 4 southbound lanes and the 5 northbound lanes was designed to connect to a pair of 3 lane connections to the northeast, and a pair of one lane connections to the west.

The South Segment (The Mall Tunnel)

The Center Leg tunnel segment to the south, known as the Mall Tunnel, extending from D Street NW to just south of C Street SW,  was constructed between 1966 and 1973.

Unlike the newer northern tunnel segment, the older southern tunnel segment has no afterthought walls, and features an unobstructed space for 4 lanes in each direction.  The site DCRoads, by Steve Anderson states that each direction is 66 feet wide- which would allow 4 lanes at 12 feet each - 48 feet -- plus 18 feet for shoulders.

That appears to be the case with the northbound carriageway.  It starts at its southern end just south of C Street SW where it intercepts a 3 lane roadway and a single lane on-ramp from D Street SW that converge into a 4 lane roadway just inside the tunnel.   (The 3 lane roadway intercepts a single lane for the I-395 northbound transition from the SW Freeway, and a 2 lane roadway that intercepts one lane apiece from the westbound SE freeway and from South Capitol Street).

These 4 northbound lanes continue northward beneath the Mall before 'loosing' the rightmost lane with the two lane off-ramp at C Street, with the second to right hand lane being an 'indecision' lane where one can take that off-ramp or continue upon the center leg now as the outermost of 3 northbound lanes next to an extra wide shoulder that is subsequently striped as a 4th northbound lane.

Further north in the vicinity of the Mall Tunnel's northern portal at D street NW, the right hand two lanes split off from the mainline to the 2 lane exit ramp at Georgetown Law Center, leaving two northbound lanes in the trench with the space for the 2 additional lanes unused.

The Mall Tunnel's southbound carriageway appears to be somewhat narrower at its northern end beneath the Labor Department Building.   There, it intercepts the two open lanes from the trenchway, picking up a 3rd lane from the southbound on-ramp from 3rd Street, re-aligned from its original design, with an extra wide right-hand shoulder that though marked by an overhead light, is unused as a 4th lane, apparently to provide extra space for the subsequent southbound on-ramp from D Street just south of the labor Department Building.

Ideally, the Mall tunnel should have its walls eventually relocated outwards in the area south of the Labor Building to allow a continuous 5th lane between the southbound on and of ramps, as well as perhaps providing somewhat wider shoulders. Without doing that it may be best viewed as a 6 through lane plus 2 auxiliary lane facility.   If the space beneath the Labor Department Building is considered inadequate for a proper merge area for the on-ramp currently scheduled for reconstruction, than a new design that carries that on-ramp in a separate tube carrying it past the Labor Department Building ought to be considered.  THAT would thus allow maintaining the southbound off-ramp that is to be eliminated by the current air rights project: its elimination is another stupid idea that assumes the freeway shall never be extended.  (Rather, that ramp should be retained.)  Such actions would become more needed once a northern extension from the Center Leg is constructed.

The 2009 Center Leg Air Rights Study fails not only for misrepresenting the Center Leg capacity, but also for assuming that the freeway shall never be extended, nor that an I-66 K Street Tunnel project would never be built.

It fails to consider the feasibility of either project, even as a 1996 design for a New York Avenue tunnel employing that avenue's existing right of way, and shown with 2 lanes in each direction is actually wide enough for 3 lanes in each direction.  That plan, by using the existing right of way beneath New York Avenue, would avoid the displacement of 600+ dwellings along that Avenue's north side between New Jersey Avenue and North Capitol Street.

1996 'Ron Linton' New York Avenue Tunnel proposal for 4 lane tunnel 

within right of way sufficient for 6 lane version

Both the 1996 I-395 extension proposal and the I-66 K Street Tunnel would use existing right of way.

An alternative concept for a tunneled extension arcing beneath the intersection of New Jersey Avenue and N Street and continuing as a double stack beneath O Street meanwhile would only displace about 33 or 34 dwellings while providing vastly superior geometric operationabilty then either the 1971 or 1996 plan.

Yet the 2009 EIS fails to consider flexibility for any of these proposals with its willful and unnecessary pinching of the I-395 Center Leg right of way to a fixed 2 lanes in each direction.  It even pinches the median shoulder, trading away safety, simply to maximize developer profits.

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2014/12/unanswered-questions-3rd-street-tunnel.html

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2014/12/erased-comments-from-wp-article-dc.html

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-66-north-leg-west-k-street-tunnel.html

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-395-extension

http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2011/02/us-ncpc-perjury-2006.html

If people can get so upset over the recent developer suggestion to entirely shut down the Center Leg segment north of the Labor Department Building, why than should they be so complacent about the permanent giveaway of 50% of its right of way?

And why should this permanent right of way giveaway go so unreported by newspapers as The Washington Post, numerous real estate development blogs, including of course Greater, Greater Washington, which has so far declined A Trip Within The Beltway suggestion to include it in their breakfast links recently?

Unanswered Questions- 3rd Street Tunnel Support Columns and Tunnel Roof

http://3rdsttunnel.com/

Note that the project website contains NO illustrations of the underground construction, such as the tunnel ceiling, walls or supports.  Why might that be?

So I sent them an email on November 21, 2014:

To info@3rdsttunnel.com

Nov 21

 

Do you have any schematics to share showing the tunnel roof and the support columns?

How will the tunnel roof look, and how will the columns and any other structure relating to this project impact the original 48 foot x 2 plus shoulders right of way?

Thanks

Douglas A. Willinger

A Trip Within the Beltway

-----

As of December 12- NO ANSWER.

Might it be the design shown in a 2009 report?

 http://pgp.us.com/pdf/395_air_rights_property.pdf

See image at page 10 showing the I-395 right of way pinch.

 I-395 right of way pinch

Yellow- Parking

Grey-  Service and Loading

Blue- Water Storage

Pink- Concourse

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2014/12/11/developer-capitol-crossing-is-very-tough-to-get-but-will-be-worth-it/

Note the garage structure pinching the southbound roadway.

Note the water tank structure pinching the northbound roadway.

Travel lane capacity is reduced from a potential of 4 lanes with shoulders, 50% to only 2 lanes per direction.

Note the pinched center median WITHOUT a set of left hand shoulders.  Though the freeway has such a set, this design shows pinched center median greatly reducing or eliminating that segment of the left hand shoulder- further reducing design flexibility.

This highway segment had been designed with a 2x4 lane right of way plus shoulders as part of I-95.

When I-95 was canceled following the planning botching generated controversies, the highway was striped for only 2 lanes in each direction, with the extra space in the northern tunnel segment cordoned off with non load bearing walls.  As those walls are non load bearing they can be removed at relatively little expense.   This highway segment, though designed for lanes in each direction was so re-striped to only 2 per direction as it would for a time be truncated at New York Avenue.

Center Leg trench looking north showing unused lanes - photos by Douglas A. Willinger

Prior to the mid 1970s, this area was to include a left hand ramp from the northbound lanes to connect to the planned I-66 K Street Tunnel that had been designed to save neighborhoods.  That explains why the northbound carriageway there is wider then the southbound carriageway.

The Plan- cir 1971 of the northern Center Leg tunnel

Northern Center Leg Tunnel aerial showing expansion joints on K Street

Non load-bearing wall- photo and below caption from Steve Anderson's dcroads

This 2004 photo shows the northbound Center Leg Freeway (I-395) approaching the Massachusetts Avenue tunnel portal. The northern terminus of I-395 at New York Avenue is less than one-half mile ahead past the tunnel. Note how the two additional travel lanes in each direction are separated by concrete "Jersey" barriers. (Photo by Jim K. Georges.)

Since then, an I-395 Tunnel extension has been proposed.

1996 'Ron Linton' Plan for I-395 Tunnel Extension

That plan, would likely involve some modifications to the existing northern tunnel segment that is located between Massachusetts Avenue and K Street.  Given the existing 4 northbound lanes have 50% of their capacity diverted to the offramp just south of Massachusetts Avenue by the Georgetown Law Center, such planning could have likely involved a re-striping to at least 3 lanes per direction, if not 4 owing to merge lane issues.

So, is this I-395 Air Rights Plan, now called the I-395 Tunnel Project adhering to this disastrous 2009 design?

That design PERMANENTLY blocks off the extra existing trench-way lane space for extra parking and water tanks.  It even despicably pinches the center median to greatly reduce or eliminate the median shoulder so the highway can not even be expanded from 2 to 3 lanes in either direction while maintaining shoulders!

If so, have any studies been done on how much it would cost to recover the lost capacity, either by partial demolition or by constructing parallel cut and cover tunnels on either side of the Center Leg?

---

New email message to info@3rdstunnel.com   --  December 12, 2014

I received no reply to my email of November 21, 2014.

Does your project use the designs shown in the 2009 report that pinch the I-395 right of way?

What is the width of the northbound and southbound mainlines once the project is completed?

A Trip Within the Beltway: Unanswered Questions- 3rd Street Tunnel Support Columns and Tunnel Roof

				A Trip Within the Beltway: Unanswered Questions- 3rd Str... http://3rdsttunnel.com/ Note that the project website contains NO illustrations of the underground construction, such as the tunnel ceiling, walls or supports.  Why...
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Douglas A. Willinger

A Trip Within The Beltway

http://www.i395ea.com/

http://i395ea.com/public/documents/meeting1_boards.pdf

Federal
Air Rights Project Environmental Assessment
Table of Contents
http://www.i395ea.com/ea-and-fonsi


See page 16- shows 'typical' I-395 segment with 2 12' lanes plus a 4' left and 12' right shoulder.
See page 62- states "No room for all 4 lanes on either side of Air Rights Tunnel"
NOTE not entirely true- the northern I-395 tunnel segment is designed for 4 southbound lanes and 4-5 northbound lanes plus shoulders (the existing walls are non load bearing and were a later design addition that being non load bearing could be relatively easily removed) ; the southern I-395 tunnel segment has 4 lanes in each direction with at least a set of right shoulders, but perhaps inadequate width for the necessary merge lanes and hence has its outermost lanes required as merge lanes.

http://www.i395ea.com/public/documents/appendices/Appendix%20J%20-%20Selection%20of%20the%20Preferred%20Alternative.pdf


This report gives little or no consideration to ever constructing an extension of I-395 to the north-north-east, nor any connections for an I-66 K Street Tunnel- a plan created by opponents to the original I-66 plans, and which was 'demapped' during the 1970s to jump-start WMATA rail funding at a time when it was believed that the world was going to run out of petroleum by the 1990s, hence somehow making private automobiles obsolete.