A few months ago, we were told a story about a couple that had just bought a condo on the Georgetown waterfront with a prime view of the … Whitehurst Freeway. (Ooops, you didn’t see the highway during the open house? The curtains must have been closed.)

“Oh, we have a strong citizens’ association!” the wife said. “We’re going to have the freeway taken down.” We thought, boy, it’s amazing how far one’s condo fees can go. For such a critical piece of rush hour commuter infrastructure, it’s hard to think how the city could even fathom taking it down, but taking its cues from San Francisco and Portland, Ore., Washington, D.C., may get in the freeway-removal business. The District has been at least considering it. And the process is moving forward. Two meetings are planned for next month to discuss the feasibility of freeway removal.

The battle lines could cross in unusual ways. This could get just as interesting as the FDR Drive-Sutton Place garden debacle in New York. Instead of a fight involving entrenched bluebloods protecting an elevated secret private garden and views of the East River, it’ll be newcomer condo owners facing off against entrenched townies upriver over lanes of decades-old elevated concrete and views of the Potomac.

In the meantime, read the District’s Whitehurst removal feasability study. Do you think the Whitehurst Freeway should be torn down?

(Photo of the Whitehurst Freeway from the archives of Drew McDermott.)