395 - GSA Development of St. Elizabeths Campus

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transportation hub because of its large park-and-ride garage (1,150 spaces) and convenientaccess to bus transfer stations (with 14 bus bays) at both station entrances. This station generatesa significant portion of the transit and pedestrian traffic in the northern half of the Study Area.The other Green Line station within the Study Area, Congress Heights, is smaller bycomparison and provides only short-term metered parking (67 spaces) and a modest Metrobuscirculation/transfer area (with 7 bus bays) in comparison to Anacostia Metro Station. Severalschools and churches along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue also attract pedestrian and vehiculartraffic.Similar to the higher-capacity routes associated with regional trips, the main local arterials ofMartin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Alabama Avenue predominantly carry northbound andwestbound trips in the morning, with the reverse being true at the end of the typical workday.Good Hope Road is another local arterial that runs parallel to Suitland Parkway on the southand Pennsylvania Avenue on the north and carries significant westbound traffic in the morningby providing a transportation link to the 11 th Street Bridges via the intersection with 13 th Street.Malcolm X Avenue serves as a major interface between the local roadway network and theprincipal arterials, as well as the primary entrance for Bolling Air Forces Base; as such, trafficpatterns along this arterial are highly correlated with commuter traffic patterns seen at theregional level. Firth Sterling Avenue, which runs parallel to I-295, connects South Capitol Streetwith Howard Road and serves as a transportation link between Anacostia area, Barry Farm andthe Anacostia Naval Station. Travel patterns along this facility are similar to Malcolm X Avenue,but less pronounced.2.2 Existing ConditionsIn order to provide a basis of comparison for future conditions, it is important to understandthe existing conditions within the Study Area. The existing conditions play a significant role indeveloping and evaluating alternatives under the proposed build conditions associated with theDHS Headquarters relocation to St. Elizabeths Campus.2.2.1 Overview of ConditionsExisting travel conditions with the Study Area are characterized as follows:• Heavy vehicles (commercial trucks) account for between 2 percent and 18 percent of thetraffic within the study, with 10 percent representing the average across facilities• Based on the traffic count data collected, peak period traffic was observed to occurbetween the hours of 5:30 – 9:00 AM and 3:30 – 7:00 PM within the Study Area. Peakperiods demonstrate substantial peak spreading, indicating that peak-hour trafficcongestion remains constant for several hours in both the morning and afternoon. Thepeak hours within the peak periods for the Study Area were determined to be 7:00 – 8:00AM and 5:00 – 6:00 PM.• Interchanges along I-295 and South Capitol Street exhibit failing operationalcharacteristics during all hours of the AM and PM peak periods. These characteristicsinclude average travel speeds that are a fraction of the free-flow speed, queues thatoriginate at the ramp terminals and overflow onto the freeway mainline, and vehiculardensities that are equivalent to Level of Service (LOS) F.2-2
• Travel times along principal arterials are severely degraded, resulting in spill-over trafficon secondary arterials and local roadways. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. Avenueand South Capitol Street assume additional traffic volumes from vehicles exiting I-295 inorder to avoid recurring congestion.• Most signalized intersections within the Study Area are congested during the AM andPM peak periods. In some cases, especially along Firth Sterling Avenue, SuitlandParkway, and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, queuing spills back from one intersectionto the next, resulting in a stream of continuous delays along major local corridors. It iscommon for queued traffic to wait two or more cycles at major traffic signals beforeclearing an intersection. The resulting traffic congestion reduces the accessibility of localside streets because it increases the difficulty of turning movements to and from arterialroadways.• Pedestrian traffic is heavily concentrated along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, HowardRoad, and Sumner Road. In the northern end of the Study Area, the high occurrence offoot traffic is largely due to the Anacostia Metro Station, the 11 th Street Bridges, andsurrounding land use.2.2.2 Causes of CongestionCongestion within the Study Area is due to several factors, including the limited capacity ofarterials, the lack of continuous parallel routes on the north and east portions of the Study Areaas well as connections between these routes, a highly unbalanced modal split in favor ofautomobiles, and the competing vehicular and modal demands at intersections. Several designdeficiencies within the Study Area also contribute to congested conditions, such as intersectionswith tight turning radii, locations with bottlenecks or cut-through traffic. Highlights of the mostprominent congestion areas are summarized below:• Because Suitland Parkway is the only major east-west principal arterial in Southeast DC,its operational characteristics are characterized by through volumes that achieve orexceed the capacity of the facility, as well as extensive queues and delays at two at-gradeintersections within Ward 8: Firth Sterling Avenue and Stanton Road.‣ The intersection at Suitland Parkway and Firth Sterling Avenue is one of themost congested locations within the Study Area. This intersection’s proximity tothe Anacostia Metro Station East Entrance and Metrobus transfer hub results in ahigh occurrence of buses and other transit vehicles through the intersection, aswell as a comparatively high incidence of pedestrian traffic than otherintersections in the Study Area. In addition, Firth Sterling Avenue is frequentlycongested because of its function as a primary linkage between local and regionaltransportation networks; it provides the principal connection between the BarryFarm neighborhood and the Anacostia Metro Station, and transitions into thenorthbound on-ramp to I-295 just north of the Suitland Parkway Interchange.Thus the competing demands exceed the available capacity.‣ The intersection of Suitland Parkway with Stanton Road represents one of thefirst major interruptions to free-flow speed inside the District, resulting insaturated traffic flow conditions at the traffic signal. This intersection contributesto long queues and delays because of the sheer volume of through traffic2-3
Page 1: Department of Homeland Security Hea
Page 4 and 5: Contents1 INTRODUCTION ............
Page 6 and 7: List of Figures:FIGURE 1-1: PROJECT
Page 8 and 9: List of Tables:TABLE 3-1: ROADWAY P
Page 10 and 11: 1 Introduction1.1 Project Descripti
Page 12 and 13: FREDERICKCOUNTYBALTIMORELOUDOUNCOUN
Page 14 and 15: MLK JR. AVELegendVarious ForestedMi
Page 16 and 17: 0 1,250 2,500 5,000 FeetW STFREDERI
Page 18 and 19: The purpose of this TTR document is
Page 22 and 23: travelling westbound (in morning pe
Page 24 and 25: 2.3.1 SocioeconomicForecasts for th
Page 26 and 27: Headquarters to St. Elizabeths and
Page 28 and 29: 2.4.2 Build Transportation Alternat
Page 30 and 31: 2.4.3.1 Interchange of Malcolm X Av
Page 32 and 33: Campus. The West Access Road would

395 - GSA Development of St. Elizabeths Campus

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