DDOT just announced that work will start early next month on the I-295 /Malcolm X Avenue Interchange Improvement Project which, in addition to other things, will extend the St. Elizabeths West Campus Access trail a mile south to the intersection of South Capitol and MLK Ave.
The WCA trail was built in 2014 along the West Campus Access Road (aka St. Elizabeths Ave SE) and has only been useful to those who work at the US Coast Guard HQ. But this interchange project will extend it south to Malcolm X Avenue and then on to MLK Ave. For those heading to or from the Douglass Bridge it will be a much better to traverse Ward 8 than using MLK itself, which has a large hill and high speed traffic.
The interchange project will rebuilt bridges add retaining walls; reconfigure interchanges; add storm drainage, lighting, extensive landscaping, continuous shared use path, and other related improvements along 295/South Capital about a half mile north and south of Malcolm X Avenue.
The shared use path will run from the south end of the west campus where the current trail ends, to Malcolm X Avenue where a wider sidewalk on the north side will connect to JBAB. At a controlled intersection at Malcolm X, trail users can continue south to MLK. (I've tried to highlight the trail in blue.
While not the same as the South Capitol Street Trail it could serve a lot of the same users, and the design has been changed to not block that trail, which was once a concern.
Currently there is a narrow 4-5' sidewalk on each side of Malcolm X, but that will be replaced with one sidewalk on the north side that appears to be larger (I can't find a measurement on it).
Because the trail crosses DHS property, it might be closed or require screening for security if needed.
“Physical screening for the access road and shared use path closures, if and when needed, will be determined and implemented by the Federal Protective Service, on behalf of DHS, and in coordination with the DC Metropolitan Police Department and other law enforcement agencies. Physical access road and shared use path closures would be done through the use of law enforcement vehicles and/or temporary barriers and not through any permanent measures or equipment. When physical screening is performed, the turnarounds at the north and south ends of the existing West Campus Access Road will be used as designed to reject unauthorized traffic from transiting the access road.”
Construction will complete in the winter of 2021. Maybe then they can add a CaBi station at USCG HQ.
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