What will it take to finally fix North Capitol?

St. Martin's Church on North Capitol Street in 1949 and now. Image on left from DC History Center. Image on right by author.

A coalition of community stakeholders is pressing District leaders for a study to redesign the entire corridor in pursuit of safety and more livable communities.

For all the grandeur of its name, North Capitol Street falls far short as a prominent gateway to DC. A wide, fast road connecting periphery neighborhoods and out-of-state suburbs with downtown, the street largely functions as a pass-through rather than a destination in and of itself.

That convenience for drivers comes at a high price. In addition to the way the street creates a barrier between neighboring communities and a difficult environment for small business, it’s taking lives as well. One year ago, in response to the 6th death on the street in 18 months (which would later grow to 8 in 22 months), a coalition of ANCs, civic associations, business groups and others sent a letter to DDOT (of which I am an organizer) demanding the implementation of safety improvements the agency had promised a year prior in the North Capitol Needs Assessment study.

That letter resulted in a meeting with the District Department of Transportation the following summer. Then-Director Jeff Marootian agreed that finishing the recommendations of the study was still the right short term action step, but he also made clear that the department felt long-term fixes required a larger, multi-agency planning process with budgetary support from the Mayor and DC Council. Without a broader evaluation of the overall purpose and priorities of the road, and a more explicit reckoning with hard tradeoffs, DDOT’s current treatments would continue to largely be limited band-aids on the problem.

So this year, a similar coalition has reunited and is pushing for exactly that; the coalition has sent another letter asking Mayor Bowser and the Council to fund a concept study to redesign the entire corridor in the FY22 budget.

The letter suggests the study should answer questions like whether to add bus-priority lanes to the corridor, how to improve the safety of pedestrians and people on bicycles when crossing the street, and which streetscape changes will effectively reduce the chronic dangerous driving behaviors we see now. The study should also pay particular attention to how to address the three underpasses on the street, and could incorporate analysis of the already-underway proposal to deckover the one bracketing T Street.

Righting past wrongs

North Capitol, of course, didn’t always function this way. The corridor used to feature fewer lanes, streetcar tracks, and regular, four-way intersections (plus a traffic circle in the vestigially named Truxton Circle neighborhood). But, in a micro version of the highway projects that devastated American cities in the mid 20th century, urban planners widened the street and built those underpasses to better help suburban car commuters.

60 years later we’re still feeling the impact of that decision in the disconnected communities. The cost is steep for adjacent communities: North Capitol Street’s two underpasses prevent pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor vehicles from traveling east or west on nine local streets. The addition of vehicle lanes resulted in narrower sidewalks and reduced space for commercial and residential uses. Local residents suffer from increased air and noise pollution, and risk injury or death simply crossing the street.

North Capitol Street and T Street. (Looking North) - 1959. Image from DC History Center. Image used with permission.

North Capitol and T Street. Image by the author.

The architects of this dramatic change to North Capitol didn’t limit the scope of their vision to the streetscape status quo they inherited, and we shouldn’t either. We should build the street to meet the needs of the next 60 years, rather than continue to serve the priorities of the past.

No stranger to plans

One of the key frustrations for North Capitol residents and stakeholders is that the city has long acknowledged the safety problems on the street, but made few changes. The last 20 years have seen at least 15 different studies (that I can find) that include a portion of this corridor. The discrepancy between the prodigious studying and the glaring inaction is a black mark on multiple generations of political leaders.

Nearly every one of these studies at least mentions the way the street’s fundamental design creates challenges for safety, community well-being, and economic revitalization on the corridor. But acknowledging the problem is not the same thing as solving it, and most of these studies were too small in scope, or not politically brave enough, to try to do so. Instead, their recommendations largely suggested marginal improvements or ways to mitigate the central problem.

The good news is that a new study doesn’t need to completely reinvent the wheel; it can and should start by rounding up the recommendations from this past work that are still relevant. But in order to break the cycle of inaction, the city needs to set this attempt up for success by ensuring a) it covers the fullest possible scope of the corridor and b) it’s empowered to tackle the hard question of who this street serves.

Comprehensive planning

Ending the crisis of deaths on the street is the primary reason to fund this study urgently, but there’s also medium and long-term value to coordinated planning for how a redesigned North Capitol can best prepare for the anticipated wave of development that is coming to the corridor.

Most DC residents are familiar with the rapid change in the North Capitol-adjacent NoMa neighborhood, and many have probably heard of the large mixed-use development and park coming to the McMillan site at the North end of this stretch. But few are probably aware of the full scope of projects in the pipeline already that will add new neighbors and welcome back many returning residents, not to mention the scores of long neglected properties that may swiftly follow them.

Map of pending development projects in the North Capitol Corridor. (Updated by the author to the best of his ability).

The pending changes to the Comprehensive Plan also propose opportunities for more density and more mixed-uses on many sites, which may incentivize more property owners to kickstart their own projects soon.

DC Proposed Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map -- Changes from present day outlined in black. See PlanDC website for interactive version.

Creating a single, cohesive plan for the entire corridor will maximize the area’s ability to successfully integrate these new buildings, residents and businesses while ensuring they are best meeting the needs of the whole community and will have the infrastructure to help them thrive

One of the additional benefits of defining that roadmap is that the community can then point to specific elements as “shovel-ready” projects when opportunities to leverage funding arise. Some of the permanent fixes the study should consider will likely be quite expensive, and the city may need outside financial partnership to accomplish them. Whether that involves grant opportunities from a federal Department of Transportation with a new approach to urban highways or community benefits agreements from potential Planned Unit Developments applications on the corridor, city and area leaders should be ready in advance to take advantage.

Crafting a budget is a difficult exercise in prioritizing many similarly worthy projects, and the focus this year likely will and should be first and foremost on navigating our ongoing recovery from the pandemic. But if, as some reports suggest, there may be some additional dollars available for further investments, funding this study would represent a relatively modest investment for a very large medium and long-term return.

The District is at a crucial decision point with respect to its roads. Elected officials have committed to clear goals around eliminating deaths on the street, reducing car trips, and lowering our city’s carbon emissions. But progress towards those noble commitments will continue to flatline unless we take more dramatic action. North Capitol’s current configuration is a prime example of the kind of street that is holding us back – at real cost to the community. The city should take bold steps now to rectify these problems and build a model for a better, safer future.

Thanks for reading!