Klingle Valley Trail
Klingle Road is a street and former motor road in a narrow valley in Washington, D.C. Its principal significance today may be that it has been the focus of a long dispute between District residents who wanted the road repaired, and residents who wanted to keep this portion of Rock Creek Park free of automobile traffic.
Location
The valley forms the boundary between the Woodley Park neighborhood to the south and the Cleveland Park neighborhood to the north. A small stream, usually called the Klingle Tributary, flows through it, and empties into Rock Creek. Much of the valley is administered by the National Park Service as a part of Rock Creek Park. The mouth of the valley joins the mouth of another narrow valley occupied by Porter Street.
Route
Klingle Road connects the neighborhood of Mount Pleasant, east of Rock Creek Park, to Woodley Park, west of Rock Creek Park. Road design in the area favors radial traffic flow between the downtown of the District and the residential areas lying to the north, close to or beyond the boundary between the District of Columbia and Maryland. Connecticut Avenue, east of Rock Creek Park, and 16th Street, west of the Park, are multilane arterial roads supporting heavy traffic in that radial direction. There are no east-west routes with comparable traffic handling capability. East-west traffic is limited not only by a scarcity of roads with substantial traffic capacity, but by traffic signal lights that strongly favor traffic flow on the radial commuter routes. Klingle Road, despite being a narrow, winding road with very limited traffic capacity, was a favorite for residents with east-west travel needs. Schools west of the Park were especially favored by residents east of the Park, being viewed as superior to schools on the east. Much of Mount Pleasant, east of the Park, is in the area designated for Deal Middle School, west of the Park.
Klingle Road was especially popular as an east-west route for these residents because it passes underneath Connecticut Avenue, under the Taft Bridge, thus avoiding the notoriously long traffic light delays on roads crossing Connecticut Avenue, e.g., Porter Street.
Closure and ensuing dispute
A section of the roadway was closed in 1991 after erosion severely damaged a 3/4 mile (1.2 km) section.[1] The District decided against rebuilding the road, because of the high cost of reconstruction even though the road served over 3,200 cars a day. As all roads in Rock Creek Park there always is the continuing problem of road damage due to stormwater events in this valley and the stormwater damage had to be addressed. This decision led to a strong effort to overturn that decision and have the road rebuilt. [2] A competing campaign, led by the Sierra Club of DC, agitated for replacing the road with a bicycle, hiking, or bridle path.[3]
Pressure for the rebuilding of the road led to a detailed study of its feasibility by the Berger Group, an engineering consultant to the DC government, published in August 1999.[4] This did not end the dispute, as no options were ruled out by this study. In 2003, Mayor Anthony Williams expressed opposition to the demands that the road be rebuilt,[5] but was overruled by the Council of the District, which in 2003 passed a line item in the District budget bill requiring that Klingle Road "be re-opened to the public for motor vehicle traffic."[6] The construction schedule called for the road to be re-opened to traffic in 2007.
An environmental impact study (EIS) was required prior to road reconstruction, in order to obtain Federal funding for the road.[7] Repeated efforts at this EIS were returned by the Federal Government to the District for rewriting and changes, leading to speculation that the Federal Highway Administration was intentionally obstructing the project.[8] In 2008, District Mayor Adrian Fenty attempted to bypass the EIS by providing full local funding of the automobile road. But Councilmember Mary Cheh, representing west-of-the-Park neighborhoods, succeeded in replacing this appropriation with a provision calling for the road to "remain closed to motorized vehicular traffic," and the right-of-way employed instead for a recreational trail.[9] Councilmember Jim Graham, representing the east-of-the-Park neighborhoods, attempted to restore funding for the automobile road, but his amendment was rejected by the District Council by a 10 to 3 vote.[10]
Outcome
After nearly two decades of disputation, it appears that the road may be replaced with a trail for hikers and bicyclists.[11] An Environmental Assessment is under way, to be completed in July 2010.[12] If that is acceptable to the Federal Government, and funding for the construction is found, then the recreational trail may come into existence by 2012, 21 years after the closing of the road due to stormwater damage.
Additional funding will have to go back to the DC Council for approval at which time the Council may find it too expensive to build a 3-block neighborhood hike/bike trail in the middle of the roadway. The Council may, instead, find building the road as more fiscally responsible, and serve the greater public good.
In addition, the Tregaron Limited Partnership will be able to sell the land to build houses on the closed portion of Klingle Road, providing additional tax revenues to the city.
References
- ^ Jonathan Abel. "D.C. Weighs Options for Opening Klingle Rd", The Washington Post, July 22, 2005, pp. B05. Retrieved on 2008-06-15
- ^ http://www.repairklingleroad.org/
- ^ http://www.klinglevalley.org/
- ^ District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT)(2001). "The Klingle Road Feasibility Study."
- ^ District of Columbia. Executive Office of the Mayor (2003). "Klingle Road Update." 2003-01-31.
- ^ District of Columbia City Council (2003). "Klingle Road Restoration Act of 2003." Section 2401 of Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Support Act of 2003 (Act A15-0106).
- ^ DDOT (2005). "Klingle Road EIS."
- ^ Wiener, Elizabeth (2008-05-07). "Council panel reopens Klingle Road decision" (PDF). Northwest Current.
- ^ District of Columbia City Council (2008). "Klingle Road Sustainable Development Amendment Act of 2008." Sec. 6016 of Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Support Act of 2008 (Act A17-0419).
- ^ Thoms, Ian (2008-05-14). "Council votes not to reopen Klingle" (PDF). Northwest Current.
- ^ Wiener, Elizabeth (2009-10-07). "Agency readies study of Klingle Road trail" (PDF). Northwest Current.
- ^ DDOT. "Klingle Valley Trail Environmental Assessment." Accessed 2009-12-31.