TheWashCycle

Anacostia Riverwalk Trail Construction update Nov 2015

About 3 months ago I went out on a tour of the section of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail currently under construction from Benning Road to the Maryland boundary. Since then work has continued and more sections of the trail are paved.

Starting from the north, jeff sent these photos of the causeway and bridge near the New York Avenue bridge. 

Bridge over a small stream just north of New York Avenue.

Trail causeway

South of this, in the area of Kenilworth Gardens, I heard the trail is paved, but I haven't been out there to confirm that. But on the section between Nash Run and Benning Road there is more pavement.

"Traffic circle" north side of Watts Branch

Traffic diverter on the south side of Watts Branch Bridge (view previously seen in this photo)

Where the trail connects to Anacostia Avenue, it is at road width, which likely means it will be used by cars too. (same area)

Trail as road  (same shot from August)

Where the road dead-ends - the old road continues through the park though

Where the trail connects to the road (same shot from August)

Trail over the hill (same shot from August)

Where the pavement begins, next to the old Pepco plant site (same shot from August)

Anyway, the whole trail is now paved from just north of Benning Road to Anacostia Avenue. There's still some work to be done on that stretch though, and bridges over Nash Run and the outflow stream as well as the causeway to tie it all together. But a fall 2016 opening, as projected on the project page, does seem within reach.

And though not part of this section, here's another piece of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail under construction. This is the promenade at Florida Rock, right next to the baseball stadium (though for some reason it is all fudged up).

Final Concept Plan for Virginia Avenue separates trail users, restores Eye Street stub - to be reviewed tonight

The Final Concept Plan for Virginia Avenue will be rviewed by the DDOT Public Space Committee tonight and they will render a decision on the record about it. 

Special Public Space Committee Hearing
Final Concept Plan for Virginia Avenue
Thursday, November 12th at 6:30PM
1100 4th St. SW, 2nd Floor Hearing Room

The plan has changed a little since previous reports, and for cyclists, those changes have been for the better.

The original design had a shared trail from 2nd to 4th before switching to a bikeway and parallel brick sidewalk. But now the parallel facilities has been continued to 2nd. [Project-wide, there's also more use of brick sidewalk and less of concrete, and some landscaping changes - all of which I'm agnostic about].

In addition, the Eye Street stub that was removed in the October rendering is now back. The small trail section from Eye to Virginia Avenue has been shifted a bit north so that it now connects with Eye in the middle of the street instead of the south side. There are also more trees in that lot and a driveway to the east of 5th now hits Virginia perpendicularly instead of slightly offset.

Further east, a sidewalk was added to the north side of Virginia Avenue from 8th to 9th Street and another along the north side of L fromm 10th to 11th . The trail looks basically the same around the Virginia Avenue Park, except now there's a bike rack! and a potential fitness area!  [The renering doesn't show any explicit space for a dog park, which might generate a bunch of news stories if that is to be excluded]

DC Water Building to have cool bike parking, and other renderings

Read more here. Check out the covered bike parking facility

Bike parking facility at, what appears to be, the east end of N Place NE

As seen from Diamond Teague

 

And from the Yards Park side

Aerial View

From above Yards Park

With wide sidewalks to connect to the trail

 

More bike parking at the south side of the existing pump station.

Virginia Avenue Bikeway to have better connections on east side

At the Virginia Avenue Streetscape meeting a few new tidbits trickled out that are relevant to cyclists. And most of it is good news, specifically about the east side of the bikeway (h/t JDLand)

While the presentation about the bikeway seemed to focus on what was already known, Jim Sebastian (DDOT) also mentioned a couple of critical connections for the trail. First of all, in addition to adding green space on the north side of the 100 block of H Street, that block will also reopen (that may have seemed obvious, but I didn't mention it before) and it will now connect 2nd St, SE, and the east end of the bikeway, to New Jersey Ave, SE. More important is that "The Architect of the Capitol will complete their construction project in 2018, and has indicated willingness to reopen Virginia Avenue between South Capitol Street and 2nd Street SE." Those changes will create direct connections between the bikeway and New Jersey Ave and South Capital Street (the left side of the image below). 

If those two blocks of Virginia Avenue reopen, DDOT has plans to extend the bikeway to South Capital Street. [If you want to get crazy, they could extend take it across South Capitol to the circle at E Street and Virginia Avenue that I, until recently, used to call "Bruce Springsteen Circle* and from there over I-395 on a bridge parallel to the railroad tracks - thus reconnecting Virginia Ave SW for cyclists and pedestrians]. In addition, the 800 block of Virginia Ave will become a two-way street. 

Other future bicycle facility connections include I Street SE/SW, 2nd Street SE, and the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.

On the downside, the 400 block of Eye Street is no longer being turned into a stub because of community feedback. Along with the lost green space there, the 10-foot wide bike path connection to the remaining Eye Street stub is being removed. Before and after renderings below.

Before

After

Of course, the bike path itself had some detractors. Won't someone think of the children?

Bike lane is highly concerning with young kids and frankly not necessary on the south side of VA Ave. If a bike lane is attractive to others, then it should be located on the north side of the VA Ave, where less children play

*Someone pointed out that if there is to be a Springsteen Circle, the only place to do it would by turning the intersection of New Jersey Ave, E Street, North Carolina Ave  and 1st Street SE into a traffic circle and so naming it. To this I must agree.

A new bikeway along Virginia Ave SE will connect the Anacostia to Capitol Hill

CSX is rebuilding the railroad tunnel under Virginia Avenue SE, which means tearing up and rebuilding the streetscape. When the project is finished, the street will have a new sidewalk and bikeway next to each other, along with a new connection to a trail that runs along the Anacostia River.

The Virginia Ave Tunnel Project recently released renderings of what the streetscape, including the trail, will look like when it's finished; as part of a release of detailed plans.

The project will come with a bikeway along Virginia from 2nd to 9th Streets SE, including a small spur where Eye Street is now. There are future plans to connect the bikeway to 11th Street, creating an extension to the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail. This would be one of two planned "mall connectors," the other being along New Jersey and 2nd SE.

The plans include more than the street and trail. On the north side of H, between 1st and 2nd, WC Smith Developments has proposed creating an "H Street Greenspace" between H Street and the railroad tracks. The trail will cross over the tracks at 2nd and eventually through Garfield Park to 1st Street.

Anacostia Riverwalk Trail status in 2010

The DDOT Public Space Committee is accepting comments on these plans until September 20th and some ANC members are asking for comments too. On October 15, 2015  November 12 at 6:30 p.m., 1100 4th Street, SW, Washington DC, in the Hearing Room on the 2nd Floor, at the conclusion of the review period, DDOT Public Space Committee will hold a special meeting to provide their feedback on the submitted plans, evaluate community recommendations and make a final decision about the scope and nature of the restorations to be implemented. Prior to that DDOT, ANC 6B and ANC 6D are hosting a meeting on this on Monday, Sept. 28, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at 200 I Street, S.E., Washington DC, in the community room.

Virginia Avenue will look like this:

From 2nd to 4th, the trail will be a 10' wide shared use path on the south side of Virginia Avenue along side a wide green area. To reduce stormwater runoff, the trail will be built with porous asphalt pavement and the project will include porous asphalt parking lanes, several bioretention areas and permeable pavers for some sidewalks.

Going east from 4th Street, the path will split into an 8-foot wide bike path and a 6-foot wide sidewalk with 3 feet of separation between them and a wide green space to the south. This is a slight variation on a similar design for C Street, NE.

Part of the block of Eye Street between 4th and Virginia Avenue will be removed; the space will used to increase the size of the existing pocket park and create a 10-foot wide bike path connection to the remaining Eye Street stub.

The 8 foot bike trail/6-foot sidewalk configuration will continue to 9th.

But east of 7th, the green space on the south side of the trail will narrow and the number of driveway crossings will increase. 

 East of 9th, the plan is for the trail to cross the Virginia Avenue Park along the north side.

The path through the park will be built by "others" and is not a part of the reconstruction.The park will feature a lawn, dog park, benches, catch basins and an interpretive area.

On the east side of 11th, the rail portal will be moved east creating more space. While some of that space will be used to eventually extend 12th Street to M, it would be good to use part of what remains to create a direct trail connection from the end of the Virginia Avenue Park Trail to the existing ART, instead of moving trail users along 11th and M Streets.

There's also space for a playground that would be more shaded, and more inviting, than the one that currently exists on the Hobson Apartments property south of K Street SE between 11th and 12th. 

RFK Stadium and Parking would be better as a Recreation Area

RFK site as envisioned by NCPC

Events DC is hosting the first of two community meetings to discuss its study on the future of the RFK Stadium site this Wednesday. There are no shortage of plans for utilizing the area for something other than a sprawling parking lot, so let me add mine here. It's actually not too different from ideas that have already been pitched, like the grass roots effort to turn the northern piece into the Capital Riverside Youth Sports Park, or the NCPC's RFK Stadium Site Redevelopment Study from 2006 which stated that

NCPC planners believe the RFK site should be an environmentally friendly gateway into the monumental core. It should include a large waterfront park, with recreational fields and open space, augmented by commemorative works and connected to the surrounding neighborhoods by pedestrian and bicycle paths

My idea is to turn the area, at least the area east of 22nd street, into Kennedy Brothers National Recreation Area. The land is already owned by the National Parks Service and so keeping it in their hands is probably the easiest option, but other NRA's are managed by other organizations, so it might be possible to have DC Parks manage it - since technically it's a part of the federal government. With RFK Stadium and the Ethel Kennedy Bridge nearby, keeping the connection to the Kennedy's - with sports and recreation areas especially - would be great way to honor the family which includes a President, a Senator, a cabinet Secretary and a WWII aviator who died in action. Also, it would likely gain support from some MA Congress members. 

Fill the area with sports fields and facilities, playgrounds, appropriate open green space, expanded trails and a simple memorial. Perhaps a museum could be included too.

The space, larger than many other urban parks, would make it possible to add some more niche facilities as well. For example,  the 2012 DC Olympic bid at one time considered the RFK site for the needed velodrome (although later that was moved to Baltimore at a site TBD), but the area would be a great place to build one. Attempts have been made to build one in Long Bridge Park and more recently at Buzzard's Point, but both have fizzled. But a real velodrome - like the one in Lehigh Valley, PA or the one frequently considered outside Philadelphia, could bring regiular events to DC, while creating a unique recreation opportunity too. 

Capital Riverside Youth Sports Park

It won't be easy. The politicians seem to already support a new football stadium.

View of the new DC Water Building from the ART

A new rendering, and others here.

It also looks like the trail is to get a new connection at 2nd Street, once that is opened. 

"D.C. Water operations have been designated as a Tier 1 National Asset by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For that reason, the property will be protected by security zones and a security buffer. There will be no interior bicycle parking..."

The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail Kenilworth Park North Section

Completing our look at the under-construction "Kenilworth Section" of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, here's a look at the north section. On previous posts I've shown an out of date map, and based on the current map, the trail will not connect to Anacostia Avenue north of Watts Branch, nor will it cross around the SE side of the Mayfair Mansions Apartments. What is being built now is the pink and white line labelled "9" below, with the blue and white "8" to be built later. 

Starting at Nash Run, this is the other side of the under-construction bridge seen in the center section. No turkeys this time.

The whole northern piece is alongside the river within Kenilworth Park, but far enough from the river that one does not get many views of it. No work has been done on it really. It's just an overgrown dirt road that has recently had the plants on it pressed down by vehicles. This is basically what the entire piece looks like.

There are a few places where one gets a view of the marsh

And then there is this mysterious concrete tower just before Beaverdam Creek.

At the northern end is the under-construction boardwalk over Beaverdam Creek and under the railroad and New York Avenue bridges.

I hope they do more to connect the trail to the community than the map at the top shows. There are three roads they've built/used to allow construction equipment to access the sites, and each of these should become a part of the trail.

Just south of Beaverdam Creek, there's an old dirt road from the Visitor's Center to the trail as seen on the map below.This should be made part of the trail - even if it is just crushed gravel - as it would create a connection to both the Visitor's Center and Anacostia Avenue NE.

Then there is a connection to the trail from Deane Avenue (see below) that would make a good addition to the trail, especially if the closed portion of Deane south of here were upgraded to a trail as well.

Finally there's a small connection to Anacostia Avenue just north of Benning Road. Right now it would give a more direct connection for those wanting to go across the Ethel Kennedy Bridge on the north side, but would have much more utility if the Power Plant site is redeveloped.

In addition, I hope the trail between Watts Branch and Deane Avenue from the trail to Kennilworth Terrace (as shown in the EA map in the earlier post) gets built as it creates a better connection to the Marvin Gaye Park Trail.

When I was leaving I finally realized that there is a way to access this area on bike/foot without trespassing or using the bridge from the Metro. From the corner of Foote St and Kenilworth Ave NE, there is a sidewalk along Kenilworth Ave NE and Benning Road, that doesn't meet best pedestrian design standards but is rideable. Along Benning there are light poles all down the middle of the sidewalk making for a nice slalom opportunity.

Finally, I noticed that many of the streets here seem to be named for Union Army Civil War generals and soldiers [Grant, Hayes, Ord, Nash, Burnham, Foote, Meade] and I wonder if Lee St NE is named for Robert E. Lee. If so does anyone know how that happened? (Or is it Albert Lindley Lee?)

The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail Kenilworth Park South Section

Last week I had some photos of the center part of the under-construction Kenilworth section of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail (from Foote Street to Nash Run). After getting requests for more, I can now present these photos of the southern section from Ethel Kennedy Bridge to Foote Street. I also have photos of old Deane Avenue from where the trail meets it to where it's closed just past Watts Branch. This won't be part of the trail, but it probably should be.  

First, here's what's left of the old Benning Road PEPCO plant (and here in all its past glory).

 

Just north of the Kennedy Bridge, a small bridge will need to be built over the outflow stream from the power plant Piney Run*. Nearby, kayakers enjoy the Anacostia.

 

The bridge over the outflow stream Piney Run will be built just past this point. The Metro bridge can be seen in the background.

 

North of the outflow Piney Run, the trail is not paved yet, but one can get an idea of how wide it will be.

 

 

One trail neighbor is the NPS' Kenilworth Maintenance Yard.

 

And another is DC's Solid Waste Transfer Center which can be seen sticking up above the treeline with the NPS's Kenilworth Maintenance Yard's fence on the right:

 

 

And a better view of the building later

 

 

 

There's a small, unnamed stream that goes around the trash transfer center, and it passes under the trail through a culvert just past this retaining wall/bridge:

 

 

They haven't graded and gravelled the whole thing yet, namely where it goes up this steep but small hill

 

 

After going up and down the hill past the trash transfer building, it connects to old Deane Avenue.

 

Looking back at the new section of trail whre it connects to old Deane Avenue. There's this large mound of dirt, but I assume it's temporary.

 

The trail will then head east on old Deane Avenue towards Foote Street. Hopefully this part will be repaved.

 

Coming off of Foote Street head south, this is the old entrance to the Park and the future trail.

If instead of heading east on old Deane Avenue, one goes west and then north through the Kenilworth Park Landfill South section, one can see some signs of when the road was open. I'm not sure when that was, but I think it was from 1980 to 1997 maybe?

All of Kenilworth Park was created in the 1930s and 1940's by the Army Corps of Engineers by filling in wetlands with dirt dredged from the Anacostia. Then the area south and north of Watts Branch became a landfill

The District used the land for disposal and burning of municipal waste. The landfill extended directly into the river without any barrier, and landfill wastes mixed with soil entered the water. By the time the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) became law the District Landfill was closed, so the landfill never had a permit.

From 1968-1970 

Sanitary landfill operations were used at Kenilworth to dispose of the District’s waste. When the filling was almost complete, the landfill was closed and largely capped (no impermeable cap was used; it is believed that sediment was dredged from the Anacostia River). At completion, the Kenilworth landfill contained around 4 million tons of raw refuse, incinerator ash, and other burned residue

At which point NPS began to turn it into a park. By 1980 the park opened with a grassy area served by a road, with public toilets (see below), a parking lot, and a set of exercise stations around the periphery. Then in 1997-1998

New fill was deposited to cover part of the old landfill south of Watts Branch, raising the park surface by as much as 27 feet. The fill was mostly excavation materials and construction debris.

Nice job NPS. In 1998, DC Department of Health issued a Notice of Violation to NPS regarding the placement of fill with objectionable materials (construction debris) on the site without a permit. And some cleanup has been carried out since. 

Some remnants of the park that you can see are the old road (and parking lot?)...

 

 

this old fire hydrant...

 

This old water fountain...

 

And the old, now colorfully decorated, abandoned park bathroom:

 

Just north of Watts Branch this jersey wall across Deane Avenue marks the closed section of the road [the far part is what is open].

 

Deane Avenue goes over Watts Branch, but if you aren't paying attention you'll miss it. A small walk from the closed side and one can see this trash trap in Watts Branch where it joins the Anacostia.

 

From the EA it does not appear that he trail will use Deane Avenue, but will instead use a new path built closer to the river. Deane could be used as an interim path though, and maybe in the future could be an additional route through what I hope will be a reopened park (assuming all the toxic waste can be cleaned up and the site made safe).

I've always thought that what DC needs is a place where one can legally go camping - a state park if you will. And maybe someday NPS can make the Kenilworth Park Landfill South into that place. Toxic waste and possibly sketchy neighborhood aside, it would be a wonderful location.

There are a few places where trail users will get great views of the river.

 

 

And heron (I assure you, there are two in this photo)..

And flowers...

Despite the illegally dumped construction debris, trash transfer and hazardous waste neighbors and the less than ideal neighborhood, this trail has the potential to be DC's nicest (OK 2nd, it's hard to beat the CCT). It will run mostly through park land, along a river with amazing views and wildlife (I also saw a beaver or something like it on the ride) and without a parallel road like in Rock Creek. If you were someone who valued living next to a trail with a park-like feel, this might be some place to look into moving next to. 

 * I thought Piney Run reached the Anacostia at the inlet near DPW's Trash Transfer Station, but I learned I was wrong. Not sure what that culvert is.

Future Norton Plaza along the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail

I believe this is at the south end of the Wharf development between M and P Streets SW along the Washington Channel of the Potomac.The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail will use the Promenade in the front and a trail currently is on the east side of this plot from the Titanic Memorial at O, past the Thomas Law House, to 6th Street. It looks like that will remain.

According to SWLQTC, a building permit was just issued for this.

park elements include plantings, pergolas, a water feature, play mounds, pathways, seating areas, an access road for the Harbor Patrol, and a plaza. The plaza will be named after DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton - the section of the park between the access road and the Wharf promenade. 

Construction on Waterfront Park should begin later this year and should last about 11 months, with delivery scheduled sometime in 2016 after the new church/condo buildings are complete.

I would like it better if it were named for this Norton. 

 

Update: Here's a site plan to put the plaza into perspective, a secondary bike route is along the waterfront.