Whitehurst freeway changes may cut off MVC shuttle

Posted Thursday, April 14 2005 02:58:33 am

By Riki Parikh
Managing Editor

The District of Columbia has begun six-month study to determine the possibility of tearing down the route of the Mount Vernon Shuttle, which transports hundreds of GW students to and from the auxiliary campus daily.

The District Department of Transportation held a town hall meeting last Friday at St. John’s Episcopal Church, one of five such meetings and design workshops with the community, to discuss the feasibility to remove the Whitehurst Freeway, which runs adjacent to the Potomac River above K Street in Georgetown.

The freeway, which is the main route to the Mount Vernon campus from Foggy Bottom, “is a physical barrier separating Georgetown from the waterfront,” said DDOT’s website. “It blocks vistas of the waterfront and prevents full utilization of the Georgetown waterfront park.”

The removal of the Whitehurst Freeway, which has been used to get around Georgetown since 1949, would ease residents’ concerns that the Freeway detracts from the scenic waterfront view.

“It’s been around for a while,” said DDOT spokesman Bill Rice of the deconstruction plan. “It was discussed ten, twelve years ago and people have continued to think about it.”

According to the DDOT website, an extensive study has been underway for several months on exactly how to properly remove the freeway. A report released on March 8 shows that DDOT collected numerous data, including traffic patterns and comparable infrastructure projects in Portland, San Francisco and Boston.

The study will also consider engineering requirements for new road connections, as well as any economic impact it will have on the surrounding areas.

The next public hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, April 26, follows a community outreach effort in which GW was involved. As an integral part of the Foggy Bottom, West End and Georgetown communities, GW was notified of the city’s plans, said Michael Akin, the Director DC & Foggy Bottom/West End Affairs.

At the March meeting, Akin said the community wanted to know what would happen after the freeway was removed.

“The community concern here is... if the freeway were to come down, the traffic would be funneled into these neighborhoods, like Foggy Bottom, West End, and other neighborhoods, that really couldn’t accommodate this kind of traffic, which would really lead to other problems,” he said. “They need to be convinced on how the traffic will be handled otherwise.”

Rice said these and other public hearings are designed to allow the community to give feedback and let the city know what they would like to see in the area. “We’ll see what these ideas are go and see if they can work,” he said.

He added that a deconstruction plan would need to be coordinated with several other area projects, including the Georgetown Waterfront and the Kennedy Center. He said that some suggestions that have been tossed around include an expanded K Street and an improved municipal park, parking area, or maintenance yard.

Although the university was informed of the potential plans, Akin said GW has no intention of becoming involved in the discussion.

“We have not taken an active role and we’re not going to take an active role,” he said. “It doesn’t really have a huge impact on us.”

Akin said that even though the Mount Vernon Shuttle has used the road since the service began, the university will plan to use any new road that the city will build.

“My understanding of this is the freeway would come down in conjunction with other transportation initiative, whether it would be an improved K Street,” he said. “It wouldn’t be like the freeway would disappear one day.”

GW will continue to monitor the progress of the study, said Akin, as public meetings continue to be heard and DDOT continues to build potential models and plans for the area.

“If it ever becomes a point when we do need to step up and take a position, that would be something different,” he said. “But this is just another six-month study of what’s going on with the Whitehurst Freeway.”