| DDOT is still trying to decide if the streetcar will terminate inside of Union Station (better metrorail connectivity) or go under the bridge (might make more sense if the line is extended to Georgetown). What do you think? [111 votes total] | |
| Under the bridge to the other side. (31) |  28% |
| Inside the station (there is an unused tunnel). (80) | 72% |
All things must come to an end, and that includes this poll. Some people suggested that I should have offered a third option that would allow the streetcar to go to both places. Here's why I didn't give that as an option:
-I heard about the existing options from people that attended the meeting & they only
mentioned 2 options (I couldn't go to the meeting because I had class). The suggested
advantages of each option also came from the first person who suggested a poll (so I suspect
that maybe these advantages we somehow made clear at the DDOT open house).
-I'm not sure this was an option to stop at both places (sometimes when the city presents an
either, or question, they won't pay for both choices).
-The issue wasn't raised until after I created the poll, so changing it would mess with the results.
Some people also wanted more details before making a decision. Again, I'm sorry I couldn't make the meeting. I also haven't seen anything from DDOT that exactly lays out the details that would be useful. At any rate, this is just a little informal/for fun poll to show us all what the rest of us are thinking.
3 comments:
Hey Elise,
Thanks for featuring this issue so prominently on your blog of late. I've pasted the report from the last ANC 6A Transportation Committee meeting below. Hopefully this will help clear up some of the confusion regarding what DDOT told our committee. For one, I think there may be some confusion regarding the "secret tunnel" at Union Station. Although Union Station lies outside of ANC 6A, we were interested to hear DDOT's initial thoughts on the “connection” to Union Station. The only tunnel Karina Ricks discussed with us was the unused H St. underpass. As far as I know, this does not enter Union Station. In addition, the streetcar tracks being laid during the streetscape will end at 3rd St. NE, at the foot of the Hopscotch Bridge, since that is where the streetscape improvements end on that end of H St. At this point it is unclear how the streetcar will "connect" to Union Station given that the tracks being laid in the near term will end at 3rd., but I believe the long term plan is to take the streetcar tracks under the Union Station tracks via the H St. underpass and provide a passenger connection to Union Station somehow from there via a walkway from H St. to the Metro and Amtrak/MARC. Given the cost and logistics involved, I don’t believe DDOT is entertaining any thought of building a tunnel for the streetcar under Union Station with a streetcar stop under or near the Metro stop.
Omar
ANC 6A Transportation Committee March 2, 2006 Meeting Report
Committee Attendees: Dea Varsovczky, Diana Hoover. Omar Mahmud, Aryeh Fishman and Warner Sterling
The committee first held introductions of the members, guest speakers Ms. Karina Ricks and Mr. Chris Delphs, and community members present.
Capitol Hill Transportation Study
Mr. Chris Delphs, Ward 6 Transportation Planner gave some background on the Capitol Hill Transportation Study and mentioned that they had over 70 people visit the open house in January and provide tremendous amount of feedback.
The existing conditions report is completed and it should be available on the study’s website soon. Based on this report, DDOT will present their initial recommendations at the next public meeting, which will be held in May (no final date yet). He anticipates the study should conclude sometime around September, but that timeline is not firm.
Starbust Plaza and H Street
Ms. Karina Ricks reported that the Starburst Plaza design is 100% complete. The actual construction will be coordinated with Pepco, who are also planning to do major work in the area.
65% engineering plan for the H Street corridor is submitted Friday, 2/2/06. The draft construction drawings are presented at an open house on March 7.
In late May, the 90% submission will be up for review, at which point only major problems will be addressed for revision.
Construction work along H Street, as with the Starburst Plaza, will be coordinated with service providers (Pepco, WASA, Verizon) who are also planning major work for the corridor. Ms. Ricks is working with H Street Main Street to coordinate with businesses on H Street. They would like to “get a picture of the corridor” to include in the bid process to get an idea of when it would be a terrible or a better time to do work on that particular section of the street.
The majority of attendees were very interested in discussing details of the streetcar project such as the type of car that might run, who will operate the service (not yet determined), how it will connect to Union Station (it will connect to the back of Union Station, not the front). However, the tracks being laid during the streetscape improvements this Fall will end at 3rd St. since that’s where the streetscape project is ending. Although it is still unclear how the streetcar will “connect” with Union Station, Ms. Ricks discussed the possibility of taking the streetcar tracks underneath the Union Station train tracks via the old H St. tunnel (this was in use before the hopscotch bridge was built). According to Ms. Ricks, the hopscotch bridge is not suited to support all the weight of a streetcar line over it.
Ms. Ricks reported that the steel has already been purchased for the tracks, but that there is a two year lead time required for purchase of the Skoda streetcars DDOT plans to put into use and the order has not yet been placed. In addition, a location must be identified for maintenance and storage somewhere on the line (no land has been acquired for this purpose yet).
Ms. Ricks also talked a little about the unique materials that will be used in construction on H Street. For example, the sidewalks will be of a material that will allow messages, perhaps quotes, to be etched into them.
There are no major milestones for any relevant project in the next two months outside of the ones mentioned above. The meeting concluded with the agreement that the committee would meet again in two months with the date to be determined.
Thanks Omar,
This is very helpful. Here is the comment (left by an ANC Commissioner) that first mentions the tunnell in Union Station:
DDOT is still trying to decide if the streetcar will terminate inside of Union Station (there is an unused tunnel that starts at 2nd Street and ends at the actual Metro Station) or send the streetcar over the bridge towards the convention center.
My goal is to "encourage" them to make this decision this year so we can move forward with pushing the city to purchase the streetcars.
As you can see, this comment says "over the bridge," not under it. The poll originally also said over the bridge, but I changed the wording very early on after someone (I think it was you) said DDOT was concerned about the weight issue on the bridge.
As I've mentioned, I didn't make the DDOT open house & I haven't been to any transportation committee meetings. So, I'll yield to you on this one.
The DC Transit Future website (at http://dctransitfuture.com/corridors/) lists Corridor 4 as going all the way from Georgetown continuing east across H St. to Minnesota Ave. The site doesn't say whether the streetcar would go over or under. Still, this tidbit, plus the fact that the Post reported 3/19/06 (on page C 11) that the east-west Circulator bus gets 75% of all passengers, and earlier reported that the X2 is among the busiest and most efficient bus lines in the Metro system, are strong reasons to think that the H St. streetcar could/would/should extend to points west beyond Union Station.
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