Photo by IntangibleArts

Heads up, Columbia Heights. You know that massive, $42 million publicly funded parking lot that’s been sitting largely unused underneath the DCUSA shopping center? It could soon be filling up with commuters from Maryland, thanks to a new program being offered by the District government.

As the Washington Business Journal notes, starting this week, 350 spaces in the garage are being made available for daily and monthly parking contracts. Spaces in the lot will cost $6 per day for those who arrive before 9 a.m. and leave by 7 p.m. on weekdays.

While we can imagine this could end up creating even more rush hour congestion around the already screwed up intersection of 14th, Park and Kenyon streets NW, it’s probably worth it if the city can recoup some of the $2 million it’s spending every year just to operate a parking lot that nobody’s really using. And offering Maryland commuters a chance to park in Columbia Heights and then take the Metro makes some amount of sense.