April 26, 2006
District Celebrates 50 Years of Interstate Highways
It's somewhat ironic if you think about it -- a celebration of the country's interstate highway system in a train station. But that's where the District Department of Transportation has chosen to mark the 50th anniversary of the interstate highways that helped changed the course of the United States.
On Monday, DDOT opened an exhibit in the West Hall of Union Station dedicated to the American interstate highway, centered around historic pictures, maps and documentation of their design and construction. As noted by a DDOT press release:
The display will help citizens of the nation’s capital learn of the impact the Interstate had on the nation, learn about President Eisenhower’s reasons for backing and signing the legislation that created the Interstate system, and underscore the important role of public input from DC citizens in shaping the Interstates in the District.The exhibit is slated to run until May 6.
Of course, the interstate system brought both the good and the bad. As a massive infrastructure project, it created the connections and arteries that help maintain the country's economic well-being. Conversely, it promoted much of the urban sprawl that extends outwards from most major cities, increasing dependence on the automobile for travel and clearing wild land for residential and commercial development at an alarming pace. And as many cities can attest -- the District included -- interstate highways cut straight through the heart of many densely populated urban areas, creating stark social and economic divisions that remain today.
If you choose to go, you may as well be true to the spirit of the exhibit -- drive there. I-395 puts you out right on Massachusetts Avenue, mere blocks from Union Station.
|
Now if only the District had finished some of the highways they started 50 years ago. Fat chance that'll happen now, but it would be nice if Barney Circle, 3rd St. Tunnel, etc. were more than just underutilized eyesores. And why the hell doesn't 295 south have a connection to Pennsylvania Avenue west?
The timing is kind of ironic, given Jane Jacob's death yesterday. Had it not been for her fights against urban Interstates elsewhere, we very well might have an 8-lane expressway carrying suburban commuters right through Rock Creek park (among several other atrocities that thankfully weren't built)
...or an interstate slashing through Dupont and Logan
I don't think finishing the highways is what we want. Remember there were originally plans for THREE beltways. The two others would have been INSIDE the existing one. As for 295 south, that is a mess. No access to Penn Ave. west or 295/395 west (what is that road technically called? Every map has a different designation).
I have heard there is a plan out there to fix the access to Penn Ave West from southbound DC-295.
I've heard the 295/395 combo referred to mostly as the Southeast/Southwest Freeway, or just "the freeway" when it's clear they're talking about that one (as opposed to, say, the Whitehurst). My ADC map also calls it that.
Interestingly, the "3rd St Tunnel" isn't actually signed as such, but it's just one of those things we all know.
It looks like the road W-E from Potomac to 395(N-S) is "Southwest Freeway/395" and W-E from 395 to DC 295 is "Southeast Freeway/I-295", hence the SE/SW Freeway moniker. I guess the breakpoint could technically be S. Capitol St.
There are 1,000 numbers out there, and they had to pick the same two to name four distinct roads. Brilliant.
Looks like there is definitely ROW available to stick a westbound exit to Penn. Ave. Doubt that would be a pretty merge, though.
Completing the DC highway system as originally envisioned would have been catasrophic to the city. Just look to the neighborhoods that have been sliced apart by the highways that were built (SE/SW Freeway as an example) to see the negative consequences.
However, at least the highways that were (mostly) completed provide some benefits (commuter mobility, commericial deliveries, increased tax base, etc.). The half-completed abortions like the aforementioned Barney Circle Freeway do nothing to increase mobility yet still destroy neighborhood connectedness. I subscribe to the idea that highways alone can't solve congestion and sprawl issues (*cought* L.A. *cough*), but the notion that this region can prosper on a 1960's era road network is asinine. When a region grows by a few million people the infrastructure needs to scale accordingly, by road and rail. We should do everything in our power to encourage transit usage, such as high-density development around Metro stations, but we also need to realize that newcomers will still bring their cars. Building an occasional new bridge or highway won't be the end of the world, contrary to what the uber-NIMBYs would have you believe.
For the record, the SE Freeway between I-395 and I-295 is offically known as I-695, although it is unsigned for its entirety. Similarly, US-50 between the beltway and the Bay Bridge is also I-595. Just a little factoid to wow your peers at cocktail parties and whatnot.
Technically, I-295 exists from the interchange with the SE Freeway across the 11 Street Bridge and down the Anacostia Freeway. DC 295 exists from the interchange with the 11 St. Bridge to the District line. The SE Freeway east of I-395 is technically (though unsigned) I-695.
There are plans to expand The 11th St. Bridge/Anacostia Freeway interchange to provide full connections between the two roadways.
I'm big on Joseph Passoneau's proposal to tear down the SE portion of the SE-SW freeway... to reopen the area to the Anacostia River. It's not an Interstate, but the same goes for Whitehurst.
And wrt freeways, there are precious few (are there any) examples where the freeways were good for cities and urban residents as opposed to the suburbanite commuters who come in and out, quickly, although not silently, to extract...
I've never rec'd an example yet, when I've posed this question to freeway advocates.
Speaking of Martin's suggestion to drive to the exhibit, I have been amazed more and more to see people walking in the "darnedest" places, including Massachusetts Avenue between New Jersey Avenue and 6th Street NW...
Oh and about irony and the railroad station, check out the hideous hideous parking garage stuck on the back. Burnham must be spinning like a Gyro in his grave.
It is fashionable to rip on suburban commuters, but keep in mind that it is in the city's best interest to provide suitable commuting paths for them, be that road, rail, or other. The commuters provide the majority of employees for the businesses that inhabit the commercial sector, which provide a large portion of the tax base for the city. Also consider the second order effects of commuters for service industries such as restuarants. As the majority of suburban workers commute via automobile, it makes sense to provide means for them to use their cars. Obviously we should do our best to convince them to use the available transit options, but no American city other than N.Y. moves a its workforce predominantly by transit. Unfortunately, DC is prohibited by law from developing the density that would make a N.Y. transit solution tenable. So bitch all you want about those bastard Marylanders/Virginians stealing from your city and clogging your roads (I do it myself), but be mindful of the fact that no city exists in a vacuum and it behooves us to have a high degree of mobility with our suburban bretheren.
I now I'm in the minority, but I actually like the Whitehurst for asthetic reasons. I know it sounds nuts, but I like the way K st. feels more industrial with an elevated highway over it. Plus it gives it shade. That street would turn into a sunbaked dutch oven in August without the freeway (like M st. does). I've never bought the argument that the Freeway is preventing the development of a riverfront park. I think the only people that would benefit from tearing down the freeway and diverting traffic to K St. would be those condos that would suddenly get million dollar views.
Rather, I know I'm in the minority...
http://www.11th
streetbridgeseis.com/news
lettersandpres.asp?DocGroupID=10032
click on the maps and pictures link to view renderings of what the new 11th st brdg interchanges on both sides of the anacostia will look like.
http://dcbiz.dc.gov/
dmped/frames.asp?doc
=/dmped/lib/dmped/pdf/
NC-GS-Presentation-051805.pdf
somebody stop me!
I'm no great defender of motorism (I happily don't have a car myself), but with a little planning, freeways don't have to be neighborhood-destroying horrors. I used to live in Oakland a few blocks away from the MacArthur freeway (a stretch of I-580 connecting San Francisco to the East Bay suburbs), which is elevated, landscaped, and integrated quite well into a vibrant neighborhood. (It helps that trucks have to use alternate routes.)
you want to see some fascinating stuff...check these maps out:
DC Interstate Maps
there are many maps of the freeways that were planned for DC. basically would have obliterated EVERY neighborhood. I'm not exaggerating. check out this one:
Bye-bye U Street
enjoy U street? I did when I lived there. but, my house wouldn't have existed if the plan mapped here went through. I-66, continuing from where in ends at the whitehurst freeway now, would have paralleled U street and destroyed where I lived. countless other examples exist...