CONNECTIVITY ECOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

Bringing down the highway offers opportunities to largely reshape the river corridor in several ways. In the course of our research, we identified three frameworks which capture the range of opportunities presented by a project of this size.

They are Connectivity, Ecology, and Development. In this section, we will discuss how these frameworks served as a guide to ensure our proposal meets the corridor’s most pressing challenges.

Connectivity

Despite its regional and local significance, there are connectivity challenges that the highway presents. The highway encourages a heavy reliance on driving, however, transit and other modes of travel are important for residents of the Anacostia River Corridor. Only 40% of households have access to a vehicle6. As a result, 2 out of every 5 corridor residents rely on transit to get to work7.

• To create safe and welcoming ways to access the riverfront park - for residents of all ages and abilities

• To improve connections between neighborhoods East of the River, and ensure more equitable access to goods and services

• To enhance access to and from jobs, opportunities, and attractions in the Greater DC area.

Ecology

The River Corridor has enormous potential. The area boasts over 1,800 acres of parkland along the Anacostia River. By comparison, New York’s Central Park offers only 843 acres8. Boston’s Emerald Necklace sweeps in six linear miles around the city, compared to the Anacostia River Park’s nine-and-a-half mile circuit around both sides of the river. This waterfront includes more than 700 acres of water and wetlands, including the stunning Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.

• Use new roadway infrastructure as a vehicle for capturing water.

• Bake-in resilience strategies to any development that is triggered by the highway- to-boulevard intervention.

• Connect more people to nature through better park and recreation access.

Development

In terms of development, the River Corridor has already seen a lot of construction activity in recent years. In the Historical Anacostia area alone, 2,600 new units of housing are in the pipeline, which outpaces the number of new units slated for many other parts of D.C.9 Relatedly, median home values and average rents have continued to rise over the past decade. At the same time, the study area has a low homeownership rate and an aging housing stock. A fifth of the River Corridor has lived in their homes for 20 or more years and more than half of residents are considered cost burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on rent10.

• Increase housing stock while maintaining affordability and alleviating cost burden.

• Ensure new development is climate resilient and zoned for responsible land use.

• Ensure new development expands upon neighborhood character and amplifies existing assets.

Highway removal precedents around the world reflect three main ways to remove a highway: reroute the highway into an underground tunnel, convert the highway into a boulevard, and replace the highway entirely with a new or restored street grid. The table on this page lays out benefits and challenges of each approach.

Tunnel Benefits

• Traffic going north and south through the corridor remains continuous

• Improve health equity through removing pollutants, mitigating heat, and reducing flood risk

• Restore open space that increases biodiversity gains and improves climate resilience

• Increase access to public amenities, recreation, and active transportation

Tunnel Challenges

• Highest cost and longest time to implement

• Does not shift travel behavior away from polluting, private vehicles

• Likely requires high-end/ luxury development to recoup project costs which does not fit in with goals of equitable development or the existing neighborhood fabric.

Boulevard Benefits

• Maintain a high level of travel capacity throughout the corridor

• Create smoother connections to the riverfront recreation spaces

• Shape development along the boulevard, contributing to place- making and re-knitting efforts for the community

• Increase opportunities for resilience through the use of blue-green infrastructure assets lining boulevard and a depressed median

Boulevard Challenges

• Will require some former users of DC-295, especially those who use it for through travel, to shift away from driving motorized vehicles or take new routes

• Non-motorists could still face issues safely crossing at busier stretches of the boulevard

Removal Benefits

• Eliminate infrastructure barriers to open and recreational space for the community

• Expansive multimodal transit corridor investments would create new highcapacity connections north-south between existing neighborhood transit nodes, routes, and trails

• More green space and storm water interventions to address flood risks, air quality, and urban heat effects

• Catalyze development that amplifies existing assets and preserves neighborhood character

Removal Challenges

• Will require the largest change in travel behavior away from driving alongside the largest investments in transit.

• Biggest change from what exists today

In considering the Anacostia River Corridor and the advantages and challenges of each approach, the boulevard approach appears to be best suited for the local context and for advancing connectivity, resilience, and equitable development in the communities that surround DC-295.