By Mr. T in DC on Flickr.

The National Zoo recently won approval for a new Master Plan containing an aerial tram, to transport visitors around the Zoo, and a new parking garage, to consolidate parking and free up some space for exhibits. Unfortunately, while they say they want to encourage people to ride transit to the Zoo, its plan still sounds like a suburban zoo’s car-oriented plan with a few transit bones thrown in.

The Zoo’s preferred alternative, according to the NCPC staff report, would have more than doubled visitor parking spaces from 628 to 1,497. NCPC rejected a proposed 300-space garage off Connecticut Avenue, but the Zoo will still end up with 1,119 visitor spaces, for a 78% increase.

Today, Zoo director John Berry appeared on the Kojo Nnamdi show. I called in to ask why the Master Plan focused so heavily on adding parking instead of encouraging transit. Berry said that there’s not much new parking, since the new spaces mostly replace those being lost, and that the Zoo wants to equally promote driving and transit. Unless the NCPC staff report and the Office of Planning’s analysis are way off the mark, their intentions may be good, but their actions fall short.

The plan makes the curious statement that,

The addition of the new underground parking structure …. would add additional parking … but the carry capacity of the National Zoo is more determined by the physical space of the facilities and its amenities. As a result, [the alternative] is not anticipated to increase vehicular trips … and therefore, emissions levels would be same.

This sounds a lot like NPS’s bizarre assertion in its Rock Creek plan that closing Beach Drive at off-peak times would have no effect on air quality. Assuming that more parking won’t increase vehicular trips because of the Zoo’s overall capacity only makes sense if everyone drives to the Zoo. And they don’t.

As Berry was replying to my question, Kojo jumped in, talking about families of seven he’s seen struggling with strollers and screaming children, as a reason to need parking. I agree with Kojo that some families do need parking. But most families do not have five children. Many families absolutely could take the Metro, or park elsewhere (like the underutilized DC USA garage). Many families who should be able to use the Zoo (including some families of seven) don’t own cars. Many families take the NYC Subway to the Bronx Zoo, even some families of seven.

Just because some people need parking doesn’t mean everyone needs or wants parking. Yet Berry seems to assume as much. For example, earlier in the show he said that becoming a Zoo member pays for itself in only two trips to the Zoo, because members get free parking. What a bad policy! Once someone joins the Zoo, there’s little incentive not to drive, and it effectively makes membership quite a bit more expensive for those who don’t need to drive to the Zoo. How about a lower, non-free-parking membership rate?

The Zoo is taking some other meaningful TDM steps. According to the NCPC staff report, the Zoo has agreed to create outdoor bike parking for visitors at both ends, indoor bike parking for staff, a bike lane along North Road, and to create a SmartBike location when DC expands that program. They will also improve the signs from Metro stations helping visitors walk to the Zoo or find the shuttle buses.

On the other hand, the plan calls for a pedestrian walkway over North Road from the parking garage, and new MUTCD-compliant street signs. The EIS and NCPC’s staff report call these pedestrian improvements. While the bridge may take pedestrians away from the road, it’ll only speed up traffic, making the new bike lane less safe. And will these new signs just make North Road feel more car-oriented?

We’re lucky to have a world-class zoo and, best of all, one so close to the Metro. It’s too bad that Zoo officials say they want to encourage non-auto use (and probably genuinely do mean it), but then plan their facilities around outdated traffic concepts like skybridges and the belief that the number of people who drive has nothing to do with the amount, or price, of parking.