When it was first announced that the Coast Guard HQ would be moving from the shore of the Anacostia to a hilltop location at the old St. Elizabeths West Campus I was cautiously hopeful for the old rail spur there. When the concept Master Plan was being worked, there was talk of building an access road along that route, but nothing about bike access. Now the Final Master Plan is out and lo and behold, the access road (pictured below) is in the plan and it MAY include a bike lane from Firth Sterling to the campus limits, if the access road is limited to two lanes. From the plan
It may be feasible to reduce the access road to two lanes, thereby reducing impacts associated with the roadway. If the access road is reduced to two vehicle travel lanes then a bicycle-lane and sidewalk could be accommodated from Firth Sterling Avenue into the campus within the same currently proposed cross section. The bicycle-lane and sidewalk would help provide improved access from the west campus to the Anacostia Metrorail Station, the Naval Support Facility Anacostia and the Barry Farm Redevelopment. The bicycle-lane and sidewalk would end at the campus limits and would still allow for reduced impacts through Shepherd Parkway to Malcolm X Avenue. With further design GSA will continue to study reductions to the roadway footprint and provisions for bicycle-lane and sidewalk trail during final design.
If they did include these facilities (Orange Line on above picture), it would make sense to connect them to Malcolm X Avenue - along the continued access Road (Purple line - and a connection from that to 2nd St SE that I didn't show), as well as on a MUP through the forest preserve on the SE side of the campus to MLK Avenue at Milwaukee Place (Blue Line). This would create a better option to Congress Heights than presently exists. Neither S. Capitol Street nor MLK is particularly easy for cyclists. MLK traffic is fast, and going east needs a climbing lane to help cyclists up a steep hill. And with the Master Plan calling for a third lane on MLK it probably won't get better.Obviously the bike lanes should be open for use by anyone.
I know that there are all kinds of reasons why this project is controversial (oddly the report worries about preserving the historically-designated Shepherd Parkway but not so much the unspecified number of historic building the plan will destroy), but if they're going to build it - and based on who supports this, it appears they will - it should include a complete bicycle network.
If you want, you can tour St. Elizabeths this April 4th.
And then of course, we can start wondering what to do with the old Coast Guard HQ (hello waterfront park with Chain Reaction store - though this photo shows more buildings).
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