More Details Emerge About the North Capitol Street Promenade

• January 29th 2020

by Nena Perry-Brown

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Earlier this month, UrbanTurf previewed the potential design of a proposed park spanning the North Capitol Street underpass. Now, more details are emerging.

The promenade would be atop a deck covering portions of North Capitol Street between V Street and Seaton Place. A "streetcar café" would sit at the northernmost portion approaching the intersection with Rhode Island Avenue. Streetcar tracks would be incorporated into the park on the opposite side of Rhode Island Avenue, and a lawn would have seating areas and a green buffer from the street.

A timeline feature covering the history of the abutting neighborhoods would line the park along the tracks as the promenade continues south, and an amphitheatre and splash park would be located just before the T Street intersection. 

Project leaders Bloomingdale Village Square, Bloomingdale Civic Association and North Capitol Main Street envision the park as reuniting the neighborhoods on either side of North Capitol, which include Bloomingdale, Eckington, Stronghold, Truxton Circle, and Edgewood. The renderings and plans were shared with the community at a meeting this past weekend, and those in attendance expressed unanimous support for the project.

A similar plan is in the works to create a deckover park in Dupont Circle. That project has been on the boards for several years and just received a funding allocation in the city budget, so it could be 3-4 years before the North Capitol deckover gets funded. The project may also require approval from the Federal Highway Administration in addition to the city's approval process, making it difficult to pinpoint when ground could break. In the meantime, the deckover team is focused on getting political will on their side.

Over the next 45 days, the team is engaging with government officials while enlisting volunteers to drum up support and enact information campaigns within the community. ZGF Architects is the designer.

All renderings courtesy of ZGF Architects.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/more-details-emerge-about-the-north-capitol-street-promenade/16393.