On track for fewer car lanes, more focus on parks, bikes
WASHINGTON — Known as America’s Main Street, Pennsylvania Avenue is at the center of democracy, where Americans gather to protest, celebrate incoming presidents and mourn along funeral processions of dignitaries. It is the physical and symbolic link between the U.S. Capitol and the White House.
But most days, it’s a sleepy route.
Few cars use it. Not many businesses or residents call it home. Its numerous office buildings, mostly emptied during the pandemic, have kept its sidewalks almost desolate day and night.
“It’s a very important asset for the city and the nation,” said Marcel Acosta, executive director of the National Capital Planning Commission, which provides planning guidance for federal land and buildings in the Washington region. “But how does it fit into the day-to-day lives of our community? Can it be better?”
Federal and local officials say it not only can be better, it also can be grand. The planning commission, in coordination with city and federal agencies that help to manage the 1.2-mile stretch, are advancing a plan to insert new life into Pennsylvania Avenue NW. They envision a boulevard with fewer car lanes and more parkland, pop-up markets and cafes, art displays and lively events year-round.
With its iconic Capitol vista, it is every four years when Pennsylvania Avenue shines while hosting the presidential inauguration parade. On other days, planners say it lacks the vitality of other grand boulevards in national capitals, such as the Champs-Elysees in Paris — the popular roadway lined with cafes and theaters that runs the same length as Pennsylvania Avenue.
After eight years of studies, multi-agency input and panel discussions, the federal planning commission recently unveiled three concepts up for public review beginning this month. They call for overhauling a route that carries traffic on four car lanes in each direction and in a central bike lane. The revitalized avenue would reduce or eliminate vehicular traffic, expand public spaces that increase foot traffic and create flexible venues for cultural and civic events.
The Urban Capital option would include two lanes of car traffic in each direction, a bus lane each way and a two-way cycle track. It would expand sidewalks, add parkland and shopping kiosks, and create a gathering place for visitors and local residents.
A more ambitious transformation would occur under the Linear Green concept, which would remove cars while prioritizing public transit, people and bikes. The option would create a milelong green park with traffic lanes for buses and bicycles. Planners say it would be a unique destination for outdoor gatherings and a “connection to nature.”
A third alternative, dubbed the Civic Stage option, would create a center median promenade for pedestrians with space for venues to host events. It would include a single bike lane, bus lane and car lane in each direction, as well as flexible public spaces.
Elizabeth Miller, director of the planning division of the capital planning commission, said the concepts aim to be an “inspirational overview” of what could become of the route, but the final result could include a combination of the concepts.
The main goal, Ms. Miller said, is to reduce the size of the 100-foot curb-to-curb road because traffic volumes can still be accommodated with the removal of two traffic lanes, a rare opportunity in Washington to repurpose extra space. A remake, she said, is also needed to modernize the road’s aging infrastructure, from telecommunications to lighting to water hookups.
Some business leaders and public officials say a facelift also could bring more foot traffic downtown after a pandemic that left businesses ailing and city blocks empty.
Acting D.C. Planning Director Anita Cozart said at a recent NCPC meeting that proposals for a new avenue come at a timely moment when the city is working to bounce back from the pandemic.
“We’re at a critical moment, and this is a milestone,” she said of the three concepts. “There’s just so much energy and ideas and creativity and just a sense of urgency as it relates to downtown recovery.”
Although hotel occupancy levels are slowly rising and restaurants are bouncing back, telework policies continue to limit daytime traffic. About one-third of the workforce is back on a given day, said Gerren G. Price, acting president and chief executive of the Downtown DC Business Improvement District.
He said the corridor has the key elements for success: Already flanked by the White House and the Capitol, it houses iconic sites such as the National Archives and the National Gallery of Art, luxury hotels such as the Willard Inter Continental and Trump International, and scattered restaurants.
Mr. Price said the proposals would bring pop-up markets that highlight local vendors and food, and could kick-start ways to convert aging office buildings into residential and mixed-use spaces. Among the prospects is a plan to redevelop the FBI headquarters at Pennsylvania and Ninth Street NW, after the General Services Administration resumed plans to relocate the agency.
“As important a space it is to our country, and to sort of the central functions of our democracy, it also is just not particularly inviting and not welcoming and not that memorable,” Mr. Price said. “This is a chance to change that course.”
A popular host
Before the pandemic, Pennsylvania Avenue hosted about 150 local and regional events each year. In recent years, parts of the corridor have closed to traffic to accommodate crowds at food and cultural festivals, Pride parades and a celebration of the Washington Capitals’ Stanley Cup victory. Scores of
people came to see President Joe Biden walk in the middle of the street on Inauguration Day last year. Thousands have marched there in support of racial equality and women’s rights and against abortion.
In recent days, Ukrainian and American flags have hung along the avenue amid the Russian invasion. It was also the route Mr. Biden took from the White House to the Capitol to deliver his first State of the Union address.
Federal planning commission officials say it could take years before an option is selected. But after a 120day public comment period this spring, officials plan to start piloting ideas in the concepts, such as reducing car lanes.
The corridor is managed by multiple agencies: the D.C. Department of Transportation maintains the road, while the National Park Service is responsible for sidewalks, parks and plazas. The General Services Administration and NCPC also have jurisdiction in some spaces. All have agreed on developing a new vision for the corridor, NCPC officials said.
In the next couple of years, Ms. Miller said, travelers might see improvements to the road surface and better connectivity with sidewalks. There might be improved re-striping of the road to create more space for transit, bikes and pedestrians.
The changes would better accommodate events already held there, officials say, and make the corridor more suitable for events held at the National Mall.
Many makeovers
Pennsylvania Avenue has gone through numerous makeovers over more than two centuries. It was the first street to be cleared and graded in the city, according to National Park Service records, and by the 19th century was Washington’s first downtown street with shops and markets at the center of a growing financial district.
Thomas Jefferson established the tradition of an inaugural parade from the Capitol to the White House after being sworn in for his second term in 1805. Sixty years later, the funeral caravan for President Abraham Lincoln traveled along the avenue. It was paved after the Civil War and had streetcars crossing by the 1890s.
A push for redevelopment in the 1960s and ’70s promised more attractive landscaping and more “shops, restaurants and specially sidewalk cafes,” according to historical records from the Park Service. The Capitol Reflecting Pool was built, and so were Freedom Plaza and Pershing Park, creating more inviting spaces for pedestrians.
The most significant change in recent decades was the addition of a bike lane in 2010, one of the first on-street bike paths in the city. Three Metrorail stations and about two dozen bus routes also serve the corridor.
The route was a major east-west thoroughfare until 1995, when it closed at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW in front of the White House for security reasons. The closure changed traffic patterns, shifting east-west traffic to nearby routes.
About 20,000 vehicles use the road daily, according to DDOT. The agency said in a statement that it supports the “effort to reimagine Pennsylvania Avenue and help revitalize the corridor to encourage multimodal use of the space.”
Because traffic is so light and the road so wide, planners say the avenue is ideal for becoming less car-focused and more pedestrianfriendly.
“We want a corridor that prioritizes people first, not cars,” Ms. Miller said. “So it’s now time for the public to give us their thoughts and their input on how do we strike the balance between the avenue as a place for these extraordinary special events and the avenue as a place for daily enjoyment.”
The 120-day public comment period on the three options will open March 16 at https://bit.ly/34z8Pw2.