Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Southbound at Waterside Drive, NW Environmental Assessment


The National Park Service is making available for public review and comment an environmental assessment (EA) for the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Southbound at Waterside Drive, N.W., in Washington, D.C.

The proposed project evaluates the no action alternative and three action alternatives, including the National Park Service preferred alternative, to improve traffic flow and to minimize vehicle accidents along the parkway in the vicinity of Waterside Drive. The proposed project also addresses erosion that occurred along the stream banks of Rock Creek in the vicinity of Waterside Drive, the result of flooding after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee moved through the Washington, D.C. area during consecutive weeks in the August/ September of 2011. This erosion is affecting the stability of the adjacent Rock Creek Multi-use Trail. The no action alternativemaintains the current condition at the intersection of the southbound parkway and Waterside Drive, N.W.

Proposed safety improvements at this location originally were part of a larger planning effort, undertaken by the National Park Service and the Federal Highway Administration in 2006, to reconstruct and rehabilitate Beach Drive and the parkway from Calvert Street, N.W., to P Street, N.W. At that time, an EA was prepared for this project, part of which discussed safety improvements at Waterside Drive, N.W. and identified a preferred alternative. In July 2011, soon after construction began at the intersection, the National Park Service determined that this section of the project was not following the preferred alternative discussed in the EA. Consequently, the National Park Service halted construction at Waterside Drive to re-initiate planning and compliance for this portion of the project. Construction of other portions of the project has continued as planned.
 
Comment Period: Closed        Aug 1, 2012 - Aug 30, 2012
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