Pepco is planning a major redo of its Georgetown infrastructure over
the next 12-18 months, which will involve tearing up large sections
of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue and will cost in excess of $30 million.
Meanwhile, Jack Evans previously had managed to include $9 million (being
administered by DPW/DOT) for redoing the sidewalks along M and Wisconsin
in this year’s District budget, since these sidewalks were improperly
planned and installed several years back and have been badly deteriorating
since. What makes better sense now, is for the Pepco project, the other
utility companies and the streetscape project to be merged and coordinated
so that the streetscape work follows behind the infrastructure work
to minimize the disruption and duplication.
Knowing that Georgetown needs to remain competitive
and up-to-date, the Georgetown BID last year hired Gorove Slade (a transportation-planning
firm) to take a look at potential transportation improvements for Georgetown
including the possibility of taking away a lane of traffic/parking along
M Street in order to widen the sidewalks by 5’ on each side. The conclusion
from this study was that the sidewalks could, in fact, be widened and
the through-traffic lanes reduced from 6 to 5 without any real impact
on the commuter traffic, the parking or the loading as they exist today,
assuming that the following changes would occur:
• Recalibrate traffic signals on M Street.
• Redo the flow patterns at either end of M Street.
• Add more one-way streets both north-south and east-west to minimize
multiple opposing turns and to replace parking spaces lost on M Street.
(Issue!)
Based upon the outcome of this study, the Georgetown
BID then requested that DPW look at the possibility of wider sidewalks
as an option when working on its plans for the redo of the streetscape
along M Street.
DPW has been working on the Georgetown Streetscape
plans for a number of months now. WMATA has been hired (on the basis
of a design-build contract) to oversee the M Street/Wisconsin Avenue
streetscape project. WMATA in turn has hired the firm of Lee and Liu
as landscape architects for the project as well as a transportation
consultant. Together with DPW, these firms have come up with several
“gateway” optional designs, as well as three alternative schemes for
M Street. The schemes for M Street are as follows:
1. Redo the sidewalks with tree boxes as they currently exist;
2. Redo the sidewalks as they currently exist, but without any tree
boxes (using hanging baskets only to introduce greenery); or,
3. Widen the existing sidewalks by 5 feet so as to introduce a generous
5-foot zone for street trees and furniture.
DPW and the consultants have shown these alternatives
on several occasions to BID representatives and to the Old Georgetown
Board. They also have made presentations to the ANC and the CAG. When
making these presentations, however, DPW has clearly stated the following
facts:
• While Scheme 1 includes street trees, they do not believe any new
trees can live for more than 1? years in the present configuration due
to the soil impaction, root spacing and crowded surface and underground
conditions.
• While Scheme 3 clearly provides the conditions necessary to grow healthy
trees as well as allow needed space for high pedestrian levels, DPW
has stated that this is not a workable option given time and cost constraints
related to dealing with signal and catch basin relocations necessary
with this scheme.
Therefore, all along, DPW has been stating a preference
for either Scheme 2 or a hybrid of Scheme 1, which would include only
a very limited number of street trees (rather than a consistent row
of trees) in those locations where DPW felt they may actually survive.
The Old Georgetown Board has yet to approve any scheme,
but one of the board members stated being “wildly enthusiastic” about
Scheme 3, which incorporates the wider sidewalks. Meanwhile, commercial
owners, tenants and residents have appeared more divided in their preferences.
The residential community has been strongly in support of a scheme that
provides for the growth of healthy trees. Given that the residents have
been told Scheme 3 is not an option, they have leaned towards Scheme
1, not fully understanding that DPW says that this scheme cannot work.
The business community (through the BID) has been supportive of further
investigating Scheme 3 because of its visual and pedestrian benefits,
but has been skeptical about the effects on parking and loading. Richard
Levy, however, has been one commercial property owner who has been strongly
in support of Scheme 2 (without street trees), and he has done his best
to sell this scheme to Dan Tangherlini at DPW knowing, of course, that
this is the cheapest and easiest scheme to implement.
Behind the scenes, two representatives from WMATA and
Lee and Liu state that they believe “any five-year old would know that
Scheme 3 is the best” and that they think the community should be pressuring
DPW to focus on this scheme. Contrary to what DPW publicly says, WMATA
says that it is entirely possible to structure a phased design-build
contract by September for $9 million, which would provide for work commencing
on Wisconsin Avenue and then could be later adjusted for M Street. These
representatives from the two groups both also stated that money should
not be the driving issue in the decision process, since the cost differential
is probably in the $2-3 million range, which is a small portion of the
overall $40 million plus utility/streetscape package. Also, there is
still the possibility that WASA may be doing work as well, which could
further impact everything. Finally, there should be other sources of
financing for this project if the community really wants Scheme 3.
While all these discussions have been going on, a certain
Georgetown resident and businessman has been suggesting ideas such as
getting DPW to hire an outside group like the Project for Public Spaces*
(currently working with the Downtown BID and designing the area across
the Air & Space museum) to look more carefully at Georgetown’s needs.
Regardless of where things stand today, it seems clear that there is
a unique opportunity to improve Georgetown, which should not be missed
because of some potentially pressing September funding date.
Because of the massive amounts of construction work
(and money) involved, there is a unique opportunity to look carefully
at Georgetown and plan for the future rather than just redoing the rather
unsuccessful streetscape which currently exists. Other cities throughout
Europe and the United States are revisiting their main streets and are
attempting to better balance pedestrian and commuter uses and afterwards
are making changes such as reducing through traffic lanes and widening
sidewalks. With the increasing popularity and increasing pedestrian
traffic, the viability of this commercial district is vital to this
city.
Somehow, the City needs to take the necessary steps
to allow time to study what will really work for M Street and Georgetown
as a whole.
