In late July, NPS hosted an open house on the Environmental Assessment for the Buzzard Point Park Improvement Project. The Project will include about 1000 feet of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, filling in a gap between two sections currently under development as part of the River Point and 1900 Half Street building conversion projects. Comments are due on Monday at noon, so hurry if you have any.
The trail is one of the driving forces for the park improvement, so it was the focus of much of the presentation even if it wasn't much of the discussion (turns out a lot of wildlife lovers are interested in this project for other reasons).
The purpose of the Buzzard Point Park Improvements project is to transform the Park into an accessible community waterfront amenity that continues the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail (ART).
At the meeting NPS presented the preferred alternative which was to change the park into a linear waterfront amenity settled in the neighborhood. And then of the two options for that, they settled on Option 2 which mostly deals with how the park connects to the waterfront (with a stone revetment or, in the preferred option, a boardwalk). The trail is basically the same.
For both Options, the ART would be extended through the Park as a multi-use trail of varying widths (between 10-16 feet) to allow for access to recreational features along the trail without inhibiting circulation. The multi-use trail would be higher in elevation than the passive walking trail and would continue through the central portion of the Park. The trail would then tie into the terminus of the existing ART at the southern end of the Park.
The trail would start at the Half street property line (where it will connect to that section of the trail), pass by the small parking lot and Matthew Henson building before going through the pinchpoint. South of V there's a wider area where it would pass through some activity areas, with access to the water and then connect to the River Point Section of the trail. [On the other side of River Point it connects to the PBL on 2nd. And on the other side of the Half Street project to T Street and then I don't know what?]
Earlier in the process they had considered a trail structure over the water, but that was eliminated because of public concern, worry about trash and safety and possible impact on fish. But people asked if perhaps a small one could be used at the pinch point, where V meets Half Street. I suggested that DC or NPS try to buy the old right-of-way of Water Street (visible as a dotted diagonal box at the intersection) when PEPCO disposes of the power plant there. Then the road can be shifted over to there and the park can be expanded a bit where it's needed. For now the plan is to separate the trail and road with an 18" wide wall/fence and have the boardwalk right next to that, and to narrow the trail to 10 feet.
A lot of the discussion was about bird habitat and fish and it was all very pleasant with no one fearing for the children or complaining about parking. There was no opposition to the trail that I heard. Hopefully this will go smoothly and then DDOT will get a plan for getting from T Street to the South Capital Street Bridge part of the trail.
Why are they widening Half Street to 22 ft?
Posted by: eric | September 09, 2019 at 02:49 PM