Farmers Market Follows DOT to New Home

Ballpark and Beyond is from Jacqueline Dupree's blog on development in Near Southeast Washington, an area between Capitol Hill and the Anacostia River that is being transformed by the construction of the Nationals baseball stadium.

It was a bit breezy, and a rhythmic soundtrack of pile-driving was provided, thanks to the Nationals ballpark construction one block away, but on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched a weekly farmers market at the plaza on the southwest corner of the new DOT headquarters, at 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE. It will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, offering "Farm-Fresh Produce, Baked Goods and More!" You can then sit on the new plaza, by the new "water wall," and munch on your goodies.

This is not technically a new undertaking -- a weekly market was started 10 years ago at the old DOT building in Southwest. DOT is now bringing the tradition along to its new home on M Street SE.

Sidewalks on New Jersey

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Work began last week on new sidewalks on portions of New Jersey Avenue between M Street SE and the Southeast Freeway. The D.C. Department of Transportation tells me that this is part of the planned South Capitol Streetscape improvements that we'll be seeing over the next few months, with makeovers planned for the Near Southeast portions of New Jersey and Potomac avenues and First, I, N and South Capitol streets.

These will not be fabulously artsy sidewalks in this phase, but new smooth concrete is better than the old broken concrete walks and dirt pathways -- and as office and residential projects are built, the developers will be responsible for bringing their sidewalks up to the fancier Anacostia Waterfront Initiative standards.

Having new sidewalks all the way north to the freeway will make it easier for people to make the 0.3-mile trek to the south edge of Capitol Hill -- and by extension, to the Capitol South Metro station a few blocks north of the freeway (take note, fans planning on going to the new ballpark in 2008 but looking for an alternative to the Navy Yard station).

Ballpark Update

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For those of you not obsessively checking the Nationals stadium construction webcam at five-minute intervals, here are a few recent highlights of the stadium construction's progress:

A 200-foot-tall crane is in place along South Capitol Street near P Street, to help construct the Nationals' new office building on the southwest side of the ballpark.

On the north end of the site, concrete columns are being poured for the two three-level above-ground parking garages.

Inside the stadium itself, along the first-base line, the first area of "cast-on-slope" seating is almost complete; the drilling of what will end up being nearly 100,000 holes for anchoring the seats in the stands has begun; and workers are also installing the cast-in-place aisle steps between the seating sections.

And, away from the camera's glare, drywall framing is in progress in the locker rooms and other service level areas.

But if you decide to drive down there for a visit, beware of dust clouds, massive potholes and heavy construction vehicles. (Actually, right now that description pretty much applies to all of Near Southeast between South Capitol Street and New Jersey Avenue. Enter at your own risk!) To see images from the webcams that update with photos of the construction every few minutes, follow the link from http://www.dcballpark.com.