L'Enfant Plaza Do-over

L'Enfant Plaza has long served as a much-maligned pedestrian dead zone within the city and it also serves as an important connection for cyclists as the north end of the Francis Case Bridge's active transportation lane (ATL). The National Capital Planning Commission is starting a public examination of L'Enfant Plaza (The 10th Street Corridor Task Force) to transform the area to, among other things, improve mobility. This a great opportunity to correct some of the problems in the study area, bounded by Independence Avenue and Maine Avenue between 7th and 12th Streets, SW, for cyclists.

One improvement would be removing the ridiculous and unnecessary switchback that connects the Case Bridge to 10th Street and replace it with a gradual ramp. From the bridge to the park is 269 feet, and the height difference is 19 feet (as I've measured it). ADA rules require a 12:1 slope, so a gently curving path, with no switchback, should be feasible.

Other possible improvements include

• Add a curb ramp to allow access to the bridge.
• Remove the paving blocks that make cycling on 10th so jarring.
• Create a better connection to Maine Avenue
• Continue the ATL across I-395 down to D Street. There is a sidewalk on the west side of the 12th Street ramp that I can't imagine anyone uses (it doesn't look used). Remove that, and shift the road over to make for a wider sidewalk on the east side. 
• There's a sidewalk that serves as the west side exit of the L'Enfant Plaza VRE station and connects to C Street. Continue that sidewalk (and widen it) along the north side of the rail ROW, and connect it directly, via a ramp, to 10th Street. Even better, continue it to 12th or even Arlington.
• Rebuild the weird intersection of F, G and 9th Street SW, so that G Street connects directly to Banneker Circle (if Banneker Circle is even kept, which maybe it shouldn't be).
• Replace the staircase from D to 10th Street with an ADA compliant ramp, or at least add a bike channel to the staircase.

There is a meeting scheduled for Feb 2, from 5:30pm-7:00pm for those who are interested. It's at the National Capitol Planning Commission at 401 9th Street, NW.

RSVPs by February 1, 2010 are appreciated, but walk-ins are always welcome. Please contact us by email or phone at (202) 482-7200 to let us know you're attending, if you require special accommodation, or if you have any questions.

Comments

[John]

I have worked at and commuted by bike to L'Enfant for most of the last 26 years. You pretty much summed up all the problems. One addition would be to put in some decent street lighting.

I. M. Pei designed most of this mess. (The leaks in the L'Enfant underground shopping plaza continue after 30 years of repairs and redesigns.) I once worked in his "plywood palace" in Boston. I wonder when we will stop praising people who design dysfunctional buildings and street scapes.

[Michael]

You're not kidding when you call L'Enfant Plaza a pedestrian dead zone. That area becomes awfully deserted by early evening, at least every time I've been there. Just walking from the Smithsonian museums to the Metro station there takes some nerves.

When you said that the NCPC was looking to transform the area, I was half-expecting to read that all of those modernist/Brutalist (or whatever design school it's supposed to be) would be torn down. But I guess that's too much to hope for. I've never cycled to L'Enfant Plaza. I find it much easier to ride up 14th St. to get to the Mall and downtown.

[Michael]

... modernist/Brutalist buildings...

[David]

Do those of you who commute to L'Enfant by bike know of a good place to park or to shower? I will start riding there soon.