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The $540,000 study, which took more than two years to complete, examined the effects of 14 proposed construction and destruction plans, and how they would affect traffic. Of the 14 plans originally released in November 2005, the report only recommended five - all of which include tearing down the freeway, which runs along the Georgetown Waterfront.
The aboveground, four-lane thoroughfare connects K Street in Foggy Bottom with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Georgetown. Commuters, including the Mount Vernon shuttle, use the road to bypass Georgetown traffic when traveling to and from Rosslyn, Va., or Northwest D.C.
Two of the five recommended plans include building a tunnel under K Street to take the traffic that the freeway carries. The other three plans present various ways to extend K Street to Canal Street, the Key Bridge or both. One proposal also includes significant enhancements to the intersection of 27th and K streets, which is currently the beginning of freeway.
According to DDOT, the study addresses Georgetown residents' concern that the Whitehurst segregates Georgetown from its waterfront, which is undergoing a $15 million beautification project.
The study's purpose is to "see if we can find an alternative way to the Georgetown downtown area," said Kenneth Laden, project manager and associate director of transportation policy at DDOT. He said recent development in Georgetown and the beautification project call for the freeway's demolition.
Ten years ago, the Georgetown waterfront was home to "a solid waste incinerator, an abandoned paper mill, old warehouses and was a dumping ground for public works," Laden said.
The meeting was held at Francis Junior High School, located at 2425 N St. Representatives from DDOT and Daniel, Mann, Johnson, Mendenhall, Harris - the consultant agency hired by DDOT to conduct the study - were available to explain the results and field questions.
