395 - GSA Development of St. Elizabeths Campus

1 Introduction1.1 Project Description and LocationThe St. Elizabeths Campus is located in the Southeast quadrant of the District of Columbia,within Ward 8, directly south of the Historic Anacostia neighborhood. The Project LocationMap is shown in Figure 1-1. There are two campuses, East and West, located on either side ofMartin Luther King Jr. Avenue (herein referred to as MLK Jr. Avenue). The West Campus,currently vacant, is a 176-acre former mental health facility that is bounded by residentialcommunities to the north and south (Barry Farm and Congress Heights, respectively); MartinLuther King Jr. Avenue to the east; I-295 to the west; and Shepherd Parkway (National ParkService lands) to the southwest. Figure 1-2 shows the Regional Roadway Network. The EastCampus is a 173-acre site located directly across Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue from the WestCampus. The East Campus currently houses the new St. Elizabeths Hospital, which is ownedand operated by the District of Columbia. The East Campus is bounded by Martin Luther KingJr. Avenue to the west; Alabama Avenue to the south; the D.C. Unified Communications Centerto the north, Suitland Parkway to the northeast; and Washington Hebrew Cemetery to thesoutheast. The St. Elizabeths East and West Campuses are designated as a National HistoricLandmark, including the brick wall running along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue on the WestCampus grounds. Figure 1-3 illustrates the Existing Land Use within the Study Area and Figure1-4 includes the Anderson Land Use classification (land use cover) for the immediatesurrounding area associated with the proposed transportation impacts.Under the current proposal by the General Services Administration (GSA), the Department ofHomeland Security (DHS) Headquarters will be relocated and consolidated into a distinct,secure location between the West and East Campuses of St. Elizabeths. The new DHSHeadquarters will be designed to accommodate a total of 14,000 DHS employees, dividedbetween the two campuses as follows: 10,900 employees will relocate to the West Campus, and3,100 will relocate to the North parcel of the East Campus. The influx of employment in this partof the District of Columbia (the District) is expected to produce significant strains on theexisting transportation network. Thus, it is important to provide a comprehensivetransportation impact analysis in order to determine the effects of the additional trips associatedwith this action, assess the impacts of various network and operational changes, and suggestmitigation strategies that may lessen the impacts. The Transportation Analysis Study Area hasbeen defined to be commensurate with the additional travel demand generated by anemployment activity center of this size (i.e. the Traffic Study Area assumed in the original St.Elizabeths West Campus Final Environmental Impact Study (EIS) performed by GSA has beenexpanded). The Study Area of the transportation impact analysis is bounded by a number ofroadways, as follows:• 11 th Street Bridges in the northeast• Frederick Douglass Bridge, South Capitol Street (SCS) in the northwest• I-295 interchange at the Naval Research Laboratory to the southwest• The divergence of South Capitol Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue to the south• The intersection of Alabama Avenue and Suitland Parkway in the southeast1-1