There’s been a lot of big transportation news in the last two days. Between the Purple Line vote and Sec. Ray LaHood and Rep. Jim Oberstar’s competing proposals for the transportation bill (a topic that you should definitely follow over at DC Streetsblog), there are a lot of major political decisions being made about transportation.

At the same time, some of the most important changes needed to create a sustainable transportation system in D.C. have nothing to do with transportation at all. For example, redeveloping the old convention center site downtown would be a major victory for sustainable transportation in D.C.

Here you have a 10-acre site in literally the middle of downtown that is filled by…a surface parking lot. Zoom in on this Google Map – you’ll see a concrete-paved scar in what is probably the most densely built section of the District:

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Now, imagine what impact it would have for this site to be redeveloped. The current plan for the site calls for 680 units of housing, 250,000 square feet of retail and 450,000 square feet of office space. This will be two blocks away from both Metro Center and Gallery Place, so it will be accessible by every single Metro line. That means that there will be 680 families whose primary mode of commuting will be subway (or walking.) It means that there will be four city blocks of offices that are easier to get to by transit than by driving (the plan does include 1,700 parking spaces, though it is not clear how those will be distributed among residents, shoppers and workers).

Sadly, it is far from clear when CityCenter DC, the proposed development, will be built. The developers last posted a news item on their Web site in May 2008, claiming that they would be breaking ground by the second quarter of this year. That, of course, has not happened. Moreover, the second quarter projection was itself a delay from the original proposal of breaking ground this January, and you can only assume that the developer’s unwillingness to post updated news on their site means that the project has only stalled further. MVTriangle reports that they expect construction to occur some time this year, which would be great. That said, hope springs eternal and I’d like to see some confirmation elsewhere, given how difficult it is to find financing for real estate development.

There’s probably nothing more that the District or its residents can do to speed this project along, as nearly everyone is already aligned in wanting the project to be built. But the old convention center site should serve as a reminder that shifting people into sustainable transportation doesn’t always require a new transportation bill or better bus coverage or dedicated bike lanes. Increasing density in transit-rich, walkable neighborhoods can go a very long way.

noah kazis

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