North Capitol study recommends parkway and boulevard
North Capitol Street study area.
The North Capitol Street study has released a set of recommendations, WashCycle notes.
North Capitol Street has gradually evolved into more of a freeway over time, including a 19-acre cloverleaf interchange where it meets Irving Street, which the report calls “an anomaly” in DC. But the surrounding neighborhoods are growing, and the street abuts properties planned for development, including the McMillan Sand Filtration Site and the edge of the Armed Forces Retirement Home.
Right now, the freeway character makes the street “a barrier” to any users except for automobiles traveling between the neighborhoods. To the south, the report writes, “where North Capitol joins the more typical urban fabric of the city, the street should fill the role of a symbolic entry to the Capital, but largely fails because of the poor streetscape conditions and unwelcoming pedestrian environment: gaps in the sidewalk network, little or no street furnishings, sparse and inconsistent street trees, chain-link fence, and overscaled, highway-style “cobrahead” light fixtures that leave sidewalks dimly lit.”
The study recommends a “parkway” character for the segment north of Irving Street, similar to Rock Creek Parkway with a wide hiker-biker trail along side (hopefully wider and less windy than Rock Creek’s), and an “urban boulevard” to the south, with a median, better sidewalks and lighting, and furniture and street trees similar to DC’s other axial boulevards.
Renderings of North Capitol Street north of Irving Street now (left) and proposed (right).
Renderings of North Capitol Street south of Irving Street now (left) and proposed (right).
For the cloverleaf itself, the study doesn’t choose between the three options, the parkway/memorial, the circle, and the “four corners.” I recommended the circle, which has the most development potential ($188 million) but also the least parkland (2.7 acres). The cheaper “four corners” option, with 10 acres of parkland, splits it into four pieces with a major road cutting through, and the parkway/memorial option is both the most expensive and the least likely to develop a usable sense of place.
The study team also looked at the possibility of realigning North Capitol to follow the straight axis from the Capitol. A realigned North Capitol could become a main street for the new AFRH development instead of having it turn its back on the street. However, they determined that it’s infeasible because of historic buildings a cemetery, and part of AFRH’s grounds in the way, and the fact that the AFRH planning has already progressed very far. An at-grade intersection at Irving and North Capitol was also rejected because of traffic volumes.