861 NEW JERSEY AVE SE

BCIV1400064 / CONSTRUCTION

THE VIRGINIA AVENUE TUNNEL RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT WILL MODIFY THE EXISTING CSX OWNED-AND-OPERATED TUNNEL AND TRACKS IN SE WASHINGTON DC APPROXIMATELY FROM SOUTH CAPITOL STREET TO WATER ST SE AND UNDERNEATH THE EASTBOUND LANES OF VIRGINIA AVE SE.

I wondered, Is this the biggie? The one that would allow start of construction on the expanded Virginia Avenue Tunnel, if lawsuits and judges don't bring a halt (temporarily or permanently) to the proceedings?

I contacted CSX, and was told that no, this permit is just to allow the start of site-preparation work on CSX property at both ends of the tunnel, and does not cover any work that might occur on public space.

Construction trailers are expected to appear within the next few weeks at the New Jersey Avenue site, and there will also be "some minor work on CSX property at the north end of the tunnel."

As for the project itself, to expand the single-track tunnel into two one-track tunnels, those permits are not yet issued.

If you have questions about this permit or about any other part of the project (!!!), CSX is holding an open house on Thursday, Feb. 5, from 4:30 to 7:30 pm at the Courtyard by Marriott at 140 L St., SE., in the Admiral Ballroom.

In the announcement of the open house, CSX says that it will be providing information "about upcoming construction activities near the Virginia Avenue Tunnel, including the general locations where activity will occur, the type of activities and a preliminary schedule."

There will be "information displays detailing constructions activities, locations and timelines," and "representatives of CSX and Clark/Parsons, CSX’s design-build contractor, will be on hand throughout the event to answer questions."

But of greater interest may be the ability to register for the "CSX-funded pre-construction inspection program," which will allow construction-area residents and property owners to "document the current interior and exterior condition of properties and will help expedite processing of any construction-related claims that may be made in the future."

The company is offering a free shuttle to the hotel from the Capper Seniors building at 900 5th St., SE.

As the flyer says, the goal of this session "is to listen to your ideas in order to develop a design that celebrates the best characteristics of the Van Ness community," looking toward what elements of the neighborhood's history and its riverfront location should be incorporated and "celebrated" in the design.

Architectural firm Quinn Evans is working on the project, and the bidding process for the construction itself will happen this spring.

Free childcare and food at the Slam will be provided by the Van Ness Parent Group.

And while it's still a couple of weeks away, this is a good time to also mention that the Near Southeast Community Partners group is hosting a Van Ness Elementary School Fundraiser on Feb. 17 at Nando's Peri-Peri. From 6 pm to 10 pm, the restaurant will donate 40 percent of its receipts from all sales made to people with the fundraiser flyer in hand. [insert "Winner winner chicken dinner reference here]

* FITNESS FAIR: On Wednesday, Jan. 28, VIDA Fitness will be hosting a free "Fitness Fair" from 5 to 7 pm at all six of its locations, including Tingey Street, with information about the programs and classes available as well as "complimentary fitness consultations, health screenings and nutritional counseling."

* 1244 SOUTH CAPITOL: I have been remiss in not mentioning sooner that JBG's designs for a 290-unit residential building on the northeast corner of South Capitol and N received a 5-0 final action vote from the Zoning Commission earlier this month. The building, just north of Nats Parking Lot B on the old BP Amoco site, will also have 26,000 square feet of retail. Next step: the building permit gauntlet.

* SOUTH CAPITOL STREET MEETING: I didn't make it to last week's meeting on the latest plans for the new Douglass Bridge and other South Capitol Street improvements, but here are the presentation slides and display boards.

* MONTADITOS'ED: Mr. JDLand is within striking distance of completing his quest to eat all of the sandwich offerings on the 100 Montaditos menu. (You really have to admire the man's commitment.) It's looking like Thursday (Jan. 29) at lunchtime may be when he crosses the finish line, if anyone wants to be there with me to toast his accomplishment. I'll update with actual times here and on Twitter. (And yes, the blog about the quest is only at #45.)

The main purpose of an annual meeting--beyond the networking and schmoozing--is the unveiling of the Annual Report, which is worth digging into for all sorts of numbers and graphs and summaries, though note that it hides no truly bombshell pieces of news for loyal JDLand readers (whew!).

That said, there were some items I haven't passed along before, one being that Forest City is planning to build a 190ish-unit apartment building alongside the PN Hoffman condo building coming to 4th and Tingey on the current Trapeze School site, with construction expected to begin on both late this year or early next. Forest City is also apparently planning to begin work this year on the marina and piers at Yards Park, and expected 2015 start dates were shown for Skanska's 99 M Street office building and Ruben's 909 Half Street residential building, alongside the already expected pending starts of Ballpark Square, Homewood Suites, and 82 I.

Also unveiled was a spiffy new promotional video for the neighborhood, which I encourage all residents to watch mainly to see if you are in it anywhere (UPDATED with the link).

The featured speaker was Andrew Altman, who helped spearhead the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative during the Williams administration, then became the first chief executive of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation before moving on to jobs that including helping London plan for the future of its Olympic Park and other sites after the 2012 summer games. A quick characterization of one aspect of speech--which included visuals of a lot of watercolor renderings and photos that took me down memory lane--could be something along the lines of "Wow, all this stuff we planned is actually happening!"

I took the opportunity of a visit to the ballpark to get a few photos, including one that may address the question many people have had: will any of the rooms at the new Hampton Inn have views of the playing field? I'm still not sure if the angle will allow unobstructed views of anything other than the center of the infield, but it is at least visual confirmation that the skyline outside the ballpark has changed for the first time in a few years.

In other news, fences went up this week in front of the Center Field Gate, leading some to hope that perhaps the planned move of the team store to its new home inside the stadium and the arrival of a restaurant in the N Street space might be moving forward. But apparently the work (which I captured sneakily from above) is to move the entrance gates a few feet closer to N Street.

I also had to get a shot I shall call Monument Valley in Winter, plus a decent view of the No Longer Spooky Parcel A at 1st and N. Forest City says that the parking lot planned for the near portion of the lot should arrive in late spring, with the sidewalks, grassy areas, and Trapeze School space coming later in 2015.

Other Capper-related projects have not gone to the CFA, but somehow this one has ended up there, meaning that a permit for construction of the building past the foundation can't be approved by DCRA until the CFA signs off.

The Housing Authority has prepared a lovely booklet for the commission with the details of the project, including renderings, proposed layouts, construction materials, and more, along with a cover letter from DCHA executive director Adrianne Todman.

There's no buried announcement of an operator for the building's programs and activities, but the two documents together make for a handy (DCHA-prepared) summary of the project if one might be wanting to get up to speed on it and are finding other information sources wanting.

*Just trying to accommodate the million different phraseologies that are out there for this project.

Champagne, wine and light hors d’oeuvres will be served. Aura Spa will be offering complimentary lip or brow waxing (quantities limited) along with special pricing on massages and facials ($99 for 60 minute treatments). At Bang Salon, stylists will provide personal hair consultations, and guests will receive courtesy gift bags in addition to "fun swag" that will be raffled off.

They're asking that guests RSVP their attendance to ksimmons@vidafitness.com. The entrance to both spots is through the VIDA doors on Tingey Street east of 4th.

I sent my unpaid stringer out in the dismal weather today to grab a photo or two of the work on the 5,300-square-foot space, which sources say has been progressing rapidly, perhaps with an eye toward opening before, well, Opening Day (Monday, April 6).

Eater DC shared some renderings and details about the interior, though reading that the architects are "designing the restaurant to include a sports bar" -- I've never heard of a "sports bar" as an object within a restaurant rather than just an appellation for a restaurant, but maybe I don't move in the right circles. Nevertheless, Eater says that there will be seating for 200, and that the full bar will have "both Asian and American craft beers."

Anyone wishing to thank my stringer for his work can probably arrange a meeting at 100 Montaditos.

(A small update on another restaurant in the pipeline: the planned Scarlet Oak at 909 New Jersey still does not have its necessary building permits, but they are at least in process.)

Looking to do something to pass the time while it's cold?

Want to be even colder?

Want to have fun while being cold?

Want to do stuff to warm up while being cold?

If you're 21 or older and answered "Why, yes!" to any of the above questions, head down to the Yards Park on Saturday, Jan. 17 for Ice Yards, billed as the "ice version" of the big Splash Yards party last summer.

With a "ski chalet vibe," the shindig will run from 2 to 6 pm and is slated to have ice bars, a "frosty beer garden," a DJ, live music, a "ski lounge," fire pits, hot tubs, "Absolut Snow Cones" (SOLD!), and interactive winter-themed video games.

The forecast for Saturday currently calls for a bit of a warm-up, to around 45 degrees, but if that temperature was cold enough to hold the NHL Winter Classic, I'm sure it'll be fine for a party.

It's free, but give them an RSVP at EventBrite or on Facebook if you think you're going (1,800 of your closest friends have already clicked "Yes").

It's a Gas - Food - Lodging sign, ubiquitous across this great land of ours and often a very (VERY) welcome sight, when the gas gauge has fallen below the Empty line and panic has begun setting in.

And while regulations generally say that an establishment can be located within three miles of the exit in order to allow for such a sign to be posted, in urban settings stressed low-fuel drivers have some level of expectation that when they get to the end of the ramp they will be greeted with at least one gas station within view, or a sign pointing where to go to find it and how far it will be.

Up until about nine years ago, that's exactly what would happen when taking the South Capitol exit. There were Exxons on the east side of the street (at I) and the west side (at K). There was a BP Amoco station at N, plus a Sunoco at Half and M and another Exxon at 11th and M if one wanted to stray a little or a lot.

But then they started to close, and were all gone by 2008, though I will note that not a single one of those sites has been developed as of now.

So, if you are a desperate driver looking for gas, and you see that sign, and you start to head south on South Capitol Street, where is the first gas station you'd come across? You'd have to be smartphone-equipped to find your way 3.4 miles to the King Gas Station on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, just north of the intersection with Malcolm X Avenue.

But more likely you'd stay on the Suitland Parkway, and perhaps your Spidey Sense might then lead you north on Alabama Avenue to the BP at the intersection with Alabama, Naylor, and Good Hope Roads, 4.6 miles away from your exit.

Chances are though that you'd follow the Suitland Parkway until you are alerted otherwise. There's no signs as far as Google Street View shows for stations at Naylor Road (4.8 miles) and Silver Hill Road (6.3 miles), though the stations at the latter can probably be seen once you passed the exits, launching just the sort of in-car recriminations that end up being the highlight of so many car trips.

Eventually you end up at a T-intersection with Rt. 4/Pennsylvania Avenue, where if you are lucky--and clearly you aren't--you will guess that you should turn left, and be rewarded with a BP about a mile later, a total of 14.1 miles and God knows how many minutes since you exited the Southwest Freeway.

If instead you decide to keep heading forward in your same general direction, you could be all the way to the Sunoco in Lothian before you at last find your station, though of course you would totally have run out of gas somewhere during the 19.7-mile divorce-inducing trek.

The reality is that Pennsylvania Avenue SE is a frantic driver's best bet from the South Capitol Street exit, either by getting back on 695, heading across the 11th Street Bridge, and then going north on DC-295 to the Sunoco at the Pennsylvania Avenue interchange (2.7 miles), or by getting yourself north of the freeway and then taking a pick of the stations at 9th, 12th, or 13th (we're just going to ignore the Platinum-Coated Exxon at 4th and Pennsylvania), all of which are 1.5 miles-ish from the exit.

Residents figure these things out, so there's not the same scenario of needing gas, seeing a sign, and expecting a relatively simple path to a fill-up. And it's not exactly a news flash that gas stations are becoming increasingly scarce in the downtown core.

But maybe this poor blue sign could be moved to the spiffy newish 11th Street/Southeast Blvd. exit.

Ditto on all of this for the similar blue signs pointing drivers coming south out of the 3rd Street Tunnel to the South Capitol Street exit.

(And to think that this was originally just going to be nothing more than a snarky tweet of the photo of the blue sign!)

The request has been altered a bit since I last wrote about it in February, but the gist remains the same.

First, DCHA is looking to move 30 affordable units outside of the Capper PUD boundaries and onto the block where WC Smith is developing the Park Chelsea, 800 New Jersey, and a third as-yet unnamed residential building.

Second, instead of being held to the originally approved unit counts on the blocks known as squares 767, 768, and 739 (as described in the fuzzy graphic above that I snagged from the Office of Planning report), the Housing Authority requests the flexibility to change the configuration of the 206 total affordable (ACC) units on each square while not ever going below 15% of the total number of units for that square.

Agency representatives testified at length about the progress at Capper, including that the community center is finally underway. But they told the commission that the current "financing atmosphere," especially for mixed-income residential projects, is increasingly constraining, and so having some flexibility built in could make it easier to work with potential development partners and financial institutions on designing projects before coming to the commission for Stage 2 approvals. (The four-year process and convoluted solution that included a "mountain of documents" to secure financing the mixed-income Lofts at Capitol Quarter was used as an example.)

However, it's been known for a year that one of the creative scenarios that DCHA has come up with to move forward on Square 767 would be to sell half of the block to EYA (developers of the Capitol Quarter townhomes) so that a market-rate condo building can be built, and then taking those proceeds to fund a second building on the block that would be all affordable units.

And while this particular zoning case does not specifically cover that not-yet-finalized plan, and putting aside that any plans for that block will have to come back to the Zoning Commission for approval before moving forward, a number of Capper/Capitol Quarter residents along with incoming ANC 6D07 representative Meredith Fascett used the hearing as a forum to make clear their displeasure with the idea of segregating incomes in separate buildings, saying that it violates the spirit of the entire Hope VI mixed-income vision that the Capper redevelopment has been based on. (Fascett's written testimony is here.)

David Cortiella of DCHA did say that the agency believes many of the issues with the two buildings/two incomes plan on Square 767 "will be addressed" once a "community engagement process" about the project gets underway, specifically mentioning a "shared courtyard" for the two buildings so that a "more friendly environment takes shape."

The zoning commissioners did not seem overly troubled by the requests covered the current zoning case (though Michael Turnbull made sure to say that they "will look very carefully" at future second-stage submittals).

The Office of Planning supports the flexibility request--however, DCHA is still wanting to further modify the modifications that OP put forward in its most recent report, both because of some concerns about the wording about the units to be constructed by WC Smith but also because the Housing Authority wants to come up with a cap on the number of ACC units on each square that is different from OP's suggested 50-percent cap.

It's expected that the commission will vote on this case at its January 26 meeting; if and when this case receives its final approval, there would then be a vote on a concurrent case to grant a five-year extension to the Capper PUD (which I didn't even talk about here because no one is reading at this point anymore anyway).

One other Capper-related tidbit coming out of the hearing is that movement is continuing on the planned 171-unit rental building on the south side of L between 2nd and 3rd, with work on the financing "well underway" (helped no doubt by getting a cut of a $142 million funding pot.)

(Editor's Note: Leading off with a convoluted post about zoning after an extended holiday layoff is not optimal.)

So of course I wandered around with my camera to get some photos of the feel around Nats Park on this beautiful and crisp first day of 2015, and the shots confirm the size of the throngs, and that most everyone was indeed Rocking the Red.

Could a victory propel an evening of revelry in the neighborhood? We shall see!

Go browse the gallery to see them all.

While tickets aren't easy to come by without a sizeable wad of cash, there will be events around the neighborhood where the both lucky ticket holders and unlucky ticket unholders can congregate before, during, and after the game.

* OFFICIAL FAN FESTIVAL: As mentioned previously, the official SPECTATOR PLAZA PRESENTED BY GEICO will be set up at the Fairgrounds at Half and M streets, SE, from 9 am until 1 pm, with all manner of attractions, prizes, food, music, and purchasing opportunities.

* ROCK THE RIVERFRONT: Starting at 10 am and running until 7 pm, Canal Park will celebrate the Winter Classic with its own free "Rock the Riverfront" festival, with CBS radio station 106.7 The Fan broadcasting live from the roof of the Park Tavern before and after the game. There will be live music, beer from DC Brau, food, ice skating (natch), former Caps players (including Dave Christian), and more. And the game will be broadcast on multiple TV screens.

* OTHER VENUES: Willie's will open at 8:30 am, the Big Stick at 9 am, Bluejacket at 10 am, Justin's Cafe at 11, and Biersch at 1 pm (because of a private event earlier in the day)--the Post's Going Out Guide has more on what these places will be offering. And of course my Food Options map gives you the complete lineup of eateries and drinkeries in the area.

* CAPS MASS: St, Vincent de Paul church at South Capitol and M SE is providing a special Winter Classic Caps Mass at 11:30 am.

* BIKESHARE: (ADDED) There's going to be a corral from 11:30 am until 30 minutes after the game at the dock at 1st and N SE.

And now, the buzz-kill items:

* ROAD CLOSURES: MPD has announced road closures from 8:30 am until approximately 6:30 pm, including Potomac Avenue south of the ballpark, 1st Street south of M, N Street from South Capitol to Tingey, and Half, Van, and Cushing (?) between M and N.

* PARKING: Even though it will be New Year's Day, don't be thinking you can park free and clear on the streets in the neighborhood: DPW has announced that residential parking restrictions will be enforced. My map of close-by parking lots should be relatively accurate in terms of locations, though probably not prices. UPDATE: However, apparently meters will not be enforced.

Finally, if you are desperate for not-necessarily-hockey-related outdoor festivities but can't wait until Thursday:

* NOON YARDS EVE: On Wednesday, Dec. 31, from 10 am to 1 pm there's the free Noon Yards Eve. Billed as "a fun daytime New Year's Eve celebration for the family and children," it will feature a big countdown and balloon drop at noon, along with lots of activities for the kids and a "trackless train ride" through Yards Park.

Quite simply, here's the lineup of restaurants and retail offerings that opened east of South Capitol and south of the Southeast Freeway since January 1, 2014:

Coming in 2015, assuming all goes well? Banfield Pet Hospital at 4th and Tingey is the only retail offering announced, but in terms of food, there's The Brig beer garden at 8th and L, the Navy Yard Oyster Company and Due South at the Lumber Shed, Bonchon at 1015 Half Street, and Scarlet Oak at 909 New Jersey. Plus CBS Radio. And maybe Nicoletta? I would also imagine there will be some things we haven't heard about yet.

You can see full list and locations of all the neighborhood's eateries on my Near Southeast Food Options map.

And here is the year in big buildings and holes in the ground.

But I'm giving it a shot, and at least you can quickly see the current state of all of them. Click to go to the project pages.

Vertical (or About to Be)

And we should also use this space to bid a final farewell to Spooky Building 213, which came down (sloooooowly) to make way for Forest City's "Parcel A" plans:

What big buildings are looking to be starting in 2015? More residential at New Jersey and I, a Homewood Suites hotel at Half and M, hotel/residential/retail on 1st Street (and maybe its office component, too). Late in the year, there could perhaps be the start of the first condo project at the Yards and a movie theater. And who knows what else.....

And so a Happy Holidays to all, from the entire staff of JDLand.com! Including from George, pictured at right.

* MOVIE THEATER LATEST: I mentioned this on Twitter last week, and appended it to my post on the subject, but I've heard kvetching from certain quarters that I did not specifically post anew that last week the DC Council passed the emergency versions of bills that among other things declare portions of the DC Water site at 1st and O as "surplus." This will allow the process of Forest City developing its movie theater there to move forward another step.

* VAN NESS KINDERGARTEN: I have been embarrassingly slow to report that earlier this month DCPS made known its decision that Van Ness Elementary will open next year with two kindergarten classes (in addition to PK-3 and PK-4). There will be 15 out-of-bounds spaces in these classes. The school system also released this FAQ about Van Ness's opening if you are just catching up.

* 100 M STREET SOLD: GlobeSt.com reports that Lionstone Investments and Hermes Real Estate have purchased the 100 M Street SE office building, with a source "pinpointing the purchase price at $78.9 million, or $324 per square foot." The building originally went up for sale back in 2012. This is the Gordon Biersch building, for those of you who don't look at address signs.

* METRO BALLGAME USE: WMATA's "PlanItMetro" blog took a deep dive into ridership patterns on Nationals game days at the Navy Yard-Ballpark and Capitol South stations. "Carrying an average of 11,000 riders to every Nationals home game, Metrorail maintained a 34% mode share to Nationals park in the 2014 season." There's also a good discussion of what the numbers may mean in the comments of this Greater Greater Washington post (along with chit-chat about the new Southeast Blvd.).

This is the "office building-oriented concept" from the company, with a full Subway menu but with a coffee-shop vibe, meaning that there's big cushy seats and premium caffeinated beverages in addition to the sandwiches.

If these reports are indeed true, has anyone ventured in?

This is in the same building where The Big Stick opened last week. It is on the northwest corner of Half and M streets, SE, kitty corner from the west entrance of the Navy Yard Metro station and one block north of Nats Park.

This document, technically known as the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS), describes the new "revised preferred alternative" (RPA) design that tweaks the original preferred alternative in the Final EIS released back in 2011.

The bullet points for what the project plans are north/west of the Anacostia River are in the graphic at right (click to enlarge). The changes in this new RPA include:

* Changing the design of the bridge from a moveable span to a fixed-span bridge, which would save approximately $140 million in construction costs;

* Shifting the orientation of the new Douglass Bridge to an alignment parallel to the existing bridge, 30 feet down river, which avoids the need and lengthy process to acquire some land from Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling as well as a number of expensive relocation and reconstruction issues that a new alignment avoids (see page 2-91 of the SDEIS for details);

* A slight reduction of the size of the traffic oval on the western side (at Potomac Avenue):

* Replacing the previously designed circle on the eastern approach with an oval, located entirely in the DDOT right-of-way;

* And several other changes on the east side of the project that I will leave to others to discuss in detail. (See page ES-6 of the SDEIS.)

The initial design of the ovals and of the bridge itself were met with some consternation during this revision process. The SDEIS notes that in response to these concerns, DDOT has created a "Visual Quality Manual" for the project, which identifies design goals that are to "reflect the vision of providing a grand urban boulevard, which will be a gateway into the nation's capital, an iconic symbol of the District's aspirations in the 21st century, and a catalyst to revitalize local neighborhoods and the Anacostia Waterfront." (page 2-26).

As for the bridge itself, the version in this RPA will support three travel lanes in each direction, along with 18 feet of bicycle and pedestrian paths on *both* sides of the bridge--an 8-foot lane for pedestrians and a 10-foot birdirectional bike path. (Enlarge the image at right to see that I'm not lying about the bike/ped stuff.)

And the design of the bridge is to "make its primary aesthetic impact through its position (alignment), and the shape and sizes of its structural elements" and is to " aesthetically appear to be part of a continuous urban corridor." This includes the avoidance of "using elements, solely for aesthetic effect, which do not contribute to the support of the bridge." (page 2-28)

Plans for the reconfiguration of South Capitol Street as a "grand urban boulevard" have all along called for changing the intersection of South Capitol and M streets to an "at-grade intersection" (page 4-79), which would also mean that K and L would have signalized four-way intersections with South Capitol, unlike today. The wide median seen south of N would be established on the north end of the street as well, now all the way to D Street SE in the RPA. Also changing in this new plan are a few new left-turn options at I Street SE/SW and L Street SE.

Revisions have also been made to the ramps from South Capitol Street to I-395 and I-695, but the basics from the original plans remain, most notably the demolition of the existing suspended ramp from northbound South Capitol to the SE/SW Freeway.

Even with the revisions made to cut the costs of the new Douglass Bridge, this isn't a cheap project. The five phases together are anticipated to cost over $1 billion, with Segment 1, including the new bridge and traffic ovals, estimated at $480 million. The "grand boulevard"-izing of South Capitol Street is estimated at $153 million, and planned streetscape improvements to New Jersey Avenue between D and M streets SE at $42 million, plus another $358 million in east-of-the-river improvements (page 2-11).

Worn out yet? I sure am! (I've mostly lost track of how much of this is truly even "new" news at this point.) But perhaps you can regain your strength by Jan. 22, 2015, when the public meeting on this SDEIS will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, 2616 Martin Luther King Ave., SE. The public comment period is running until Feb. 2. DDOT is also still amidst the design/build proposal process, with proposals expected sometime in the spring.

The SouthCapitolEIS.com web site is now focused mainly on this SDEIS, of which clearly I've just scratched the surface; you can slog through my piles of posts on all of this over the years for the historical rundown.

UPDATE: Here's the WashCycle take on the latest plans, from a bike/ped perspective.

Considering it looked like this nine days ago, the pedal must have been put to the metal.

Anyone want to report from there? I'll be interested to see how the signalized section at 11th Street handles the presumed new influx of east/west traffic.

The planning project to come up with concepts for how the road could look and function in the future continues.

UPDATE, 9:15 PM: Dark? Rainy? What a perfect time to try out a new road! I was coming home a little while ago on the SW/SE Freeway from Virginia, so decided to follow them there new signs for "Southeast Blvd."

I crossed 11th Street at the bottom of the exit ramp from the SE Freeway, then drove east on the new road to the light/merge at Pennsylvania Avenue just before the Sousa Bridge, where I'd still be sitting if I hadn't decided to finally run the light after waiting and waiting and waiting. (The stretch of road that continues eastward under Barney Circle is not reopened, though there is line striping for a lane to eventually head that way, it's just blocked off.)

Then, after a fun reversing of course that involved doubling back via DC-295 and two of the new ramps to and from 11th Street SE/MLK Blvd., I went westward on Pennsylvania Avenue and took the exit "To I-395." That goes under Barney Circle as it used to, and eventually I returned to 11th Street SE at the new signalized intersection where I could have chosen to go straight to get onto the westbound SE Freeway.

Impressions? Hard to tell in the rain. The MC Dean folks were out working on the signals, there's still a lot of cleanup work going on in the median, and a lot of heavy construction work is still in evidence on the eastern end by Barney Circle.

But if the city wants to rake in the dough, they'll set up speed cameras to enforce the SPEED LIMIT 30 signs that I LOL'ed at as I drove past them. Call it a "Boulevard" or call it a limited-access divided highway, but it is not a streetscape that screams 30 MPH.

(Photos will have to wait until the sun is actually out.)

UPDATE, 12/23: Via my very poorly paid stringer (Mr. JDLand), one shot of the now-uncovered signage for Southeast Blvd. eastbound on I-695/SE Freeway.

Justin tells me that it will be a limited menu for the first few days, and of course there's always some kinks to be worked out, but open is open. As we've found out, the menu will be centered around a beer-and-sausages lineup, with other European-type offerings as well.

Believe it or not, this is the first new (non-temporary) retail establishment to open on Half Street, SE since the revival of Near Southeast began in the late 1990s. If you had told me when the announcement of the site choice for Nats Park was made in September 2004 that it would take a decade to see the opening of just one restaurant on Half Street, well, it's fair to say I would not have believed you.

If you go, give a report in the comments.

A kind official, taking a wild guess at who that old lady shooting photos of construction might possibly be, guided me in for a quick peek over the crest of the hill, eastward toward Barney Circle:

The new road will be two lanes in each direction, separated by a fair amount of non-road area, as you can see. At the new signalized intersection with 11th Street, the lanes align with the new ramps to and from the Southeast Freeway. Here's what the approach to 11th Street looked like in 2012, when the freeway still ran beneath 11th, along with the similar-but-higher-up view now. (Click to enlarge, and use the massive freeway pylons and flyover to orient yourself, especially in terms of the vertical change.)

As I have written about previously, there has been a fair amount of consternation over this road, both in terms of what some people feel is a rush to get it reopened along with much unhappiness when DDOT unveiled its initial concepts for the road's long-term design. The Office of Planning has since been working on a new set of designs to better meet a goal of reintegrating this area with the surrounding neighborhood, and last week there was a public meeting to go over these concepts, seen below and laid out in detail in the presentation slides.

When comparing these concepts to the road about to open, you can see that the general layout of the traffic lanes and available space are the same, though Concept B has just one lane in each direction just one new two-lane boulevard heading eastward while A and C have two lanes in each direction (UPDATED to fix how B is characterized). (And bike lanes! There are bike lanes!) However, all three would build up the boulevard so that it would become level with L Street, and would then allow 13th, 14th, and 15th streets to intersect with the boulevard for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

At right is a side view showing the proposed elevation for Concept A, running from L Street at left over to the train tracks and then down to the river.The CSX train tracks that run to the right of the road's footprints prevent further connection of these streets to M Street and the river, but there could be pedestrian bridges built to bring people across the tracks. (Note that all three concepts show the position of the planned 1333 M Street residential project just south of the boulevard.)

Two of the designs call for development within the huge median, either of low-rise multi-family buildings or townhouses or some combination thereof (at right is a rendering of the Concept A vision). The third design leaves it as a wide-open park space. And two of the three plans show the parking beneath the boulevard for buses that seems to be a requirement from DDOT's point of view.

I'm not going to go into great detail about what was said at the meeting--you can browse the presentation slides and read Capitol Hill Corner's report, which includes the many concerns of nearby residents, especially the ones who don't have much interest in connecting L, 13th, 14th, and 15th to this road.

At this stage, these truly are just concepts. There would next need to be a feasibility study/traffic flow analysis done by DDOT, an undertaking that has no timetable. There is also the issue of this land having been turned over to the city by the feds with the requirement that it be used for "transportation purposes," which raises questions about whether plopping residential buildings in the middle of it all would be an issue.

In the meantime, the new version of this road should open early in 2015.

Here's one more before-and-almost-after, looking eastward from down in the depths back in 2012 (left) and then an expanded version of the current view. Use the apartment building and retaining wall at left to orient. The embankment in the median in the "before" photo is the remnant of the ramps from the old 11th Street Bridges to and from RFK.